Three months sounds like a long time but it's passed much too quickly. I'm now counting down in terms of "last" ... Monday was my last shiur at Yeshurun, tonight is the last of a series of lectures I've been attending at Pardes, tomorrow Sid returns from Sar-el for the last time, Friday is our last shabbat. AND I'M NOT HAPPY ABOUT IT.
When we got to this apartment and saw how small it is I thought we'd feel claustrophobic and hemmed in. We do, but that doesn't translate to being happy to leave, altho more than ever I will appreciate the space we have. We've made the apartment work, and I've become rather adept at producing a meal with 2 burners and a toaster oven. Over the past 3 months we've integrated into the neighborhood. Because we walk everywhere we've learned the shortest short-cuts (there's a saying in Jerusalem that for every short-cut there's a shorter cut.) We see people on the street and say hello. We know the people at the local laundry and the supermarket (one of the checkers has a big crush on Sid). I have a new best friend in Machane Yehuda (the guy who sold me our Thanksgivukkah turkey). I know which bakery has better cakes and which has better bread. It feels like home in a way that Chicago doesn't. It's small town familiarity vs big city anonymity.
We've been busy for the past couple of weeks, particularly when it dawned on me that we only had 2 weeks left.
The original plan was for both of us to go to Sar-el for the last 2 weeks of our trip, but we found out that our granddaughter Meital had been accepted into a high school semester abroad program and was coming to Israel a few days ahead of her group and wanted to stay with us. What grandparent would say no to that kind of offer? So I opted out of the army and extended our lease. Sid went to Sar-el on January 19, serving at Matzrap (the central medical supply base) for the fourth year in a row. He reported that nothing on the base has changed, but he worked in a different warehouse this time. The thing about working at Matzrap is that it's hard to come up with a clear winner as to whose warehouse is the best. All the managers (civilian employees of the military) have their own personalities and ways of working, they are all amazing people and very appreciative of the volunteers. The Sar-el volunteers provide 150,000 man-hours annually and do work that would otherwise have to be done by reservists.
The day he went to the army I met Batsheva at the bus station and we spent the day in Tel Aviv. It's only an hour drive and the bus service is excellent. We were on something of a mission; she had to locate a source for Purim supplies for the child care center she runs. There's a place in Tel Aviv not far from the bus station which is party city. I've never seen as many toy stores in one place in my life. The area is adjacent to a small market specializing in spices, cheeses and housewares, so more exploring. From there we hopped on a bus to Jaffa and went thru the flea market which is a destination in itself. It's a conglomeration of everything you would expect in a flea market and then some. Like everywhere in Israel it's experiencing a revitalization, so lost of construction, new boutiques and restaurants. We walked till dark, got on a bus that took us near the central bus station and walked the rest of the way thru a fairly seedy part of town. But seedy doesn't mean unsafe, at least not till much later at night. We got back to Jerusalem around 8.
Next day we went on our overnighter. I had an appointment to see the new Ritz Carlton which opened in December (as we hunkered down with the snow storm) in Herzliya, a very upscale suburb just north of Tel Aviv. The Ritz puts Israel in the big leagues of international luxury brands; the idea of putting it in Herzliya is somewhat risky but I think it will be a success. From there we headed to Netanya, about half an hour to the north. I hadn't been to Netanya in about 40 years, and I remember it as being rundown and seedy in spite of it's fabulous location on the Mediterranean coast. A lot has happened since the last time, and similar to my new appreciation for Tel Aviv, I came away with an entirely new appreciation for Netanya. The new mayor has done wonders beautifying the city. There's a promenade along the shore, similar to the one in Tel Aviv. The low-rise buildings downtown are badly in need of an upgrade, but there's a stunning new plaza right in the middle of the shopping district with sidewalk cafes, sculptures and fountains. In a way it reminded me of the plazas in some of the smaller towns in Mexico. There's also a skateboard/bike rink which keeps homicidal teenagers away from pedestrians. What Netanya lacks is a really good hotel. It's not on the tourist map so there isn't much of a demand from the foreign market, and the locals who come for weekends and holidays are satisfied with the modest properties that are the antithesis of the glitz of the Dead Sea and Eilat. But like everywhere else in the country, things are changing. Netanya has had an influx of immigrants from France, and the effects are felt everywhere. Hence the beautification projects. And the incredible amount of building. And the restaurants. There is something very French Riviera-ish about the city. We totally lucked out with the hotel, randomly choosing the Seasons. It needs a facelift, but we had a suite with a huge balcony, the staff was very friendly and efficient, and the breakfast was first class.
The following day, Tuesday, January 21, we took a train ride. This was one of the things on my to-do list and for some reason Sid and I never made the time to do it. We just wanted the experience; it didn't matter where we went. On the way to the train station I somehow took a wrong turn and wound up at a construction site - several beachfront high rises that should be finished in the next few months and it's going to be beautiful. We finally found the station and got tickets to Tel Aviv, which is only about 20 minutes away. The train was on time, clean, quiet and quick. It let us off at a major mall with direct access from the station. We had about an hour to kill, and managed to do some shopping. Then back to Netanya to pick up the car and go to the airport to get Meital, whose plane landed 40 minutes early. Fortunately Dori was waiting for her in the arrival terminal; we got there about 5 minutes later.
For someone who just got off an international flight Meital was amazingly wide awake. After dropping her suitcases off at our apartment she and Dori took a walk and I met them later for dinner. I left them to their own devices and walked back home. Meital came home a while later, thoroughly done in and ready for a solid night's sleep.
On Wednesday morning the girls went out on their own and I met up with them for lunch at Pinati, another well known hoummous restaurant which none of us had been to, altho it's been around for eons. The hoummous wasn't bad, but as I've written previously, not as good as Maatuk's. From there we went to the shuk to start shopping for Shabbat. The girls again went off by themselves for the evening, and I went to the third in a series of four lectures at Pardes, a graduate-level institute of Jewish learning that offers very high level courses and lectures and has been around for about 40 years.
On Thursday Meital and I had a day by ourselves and we went to the Bible Lands Museum. We walked, which is something that can only be appreciated by someone who knows the local topography. Sid and I had been to the museum, but the special "Book of Books" exhibit was well worth seeing a second time. There was a little boy, maybe 7 years old, at the exhibit with his mother. He was looking at a 1500 year old torah in a display case and started chanting, and did quite well. I complimented him later. It's astounding to think that a 7 year old can walk up to a 1500 year old scroll and chant from it as if it was printed yesterday.
Sid came home from his first week in the army on Thursday afternoon and the four of us went to dinner at a place I've wanted to try at the Mamilla Mall - Luciana. The food was amazing. I had gnocchi with chestnuts, to give an idea of how creative restaurants have become.
Friday was all about food prep, laundry, cleaning and getting ready for Shabbat with our granddaughters.
Enough for one overly-long post. Time permitting I will be able to write a concluding post covering our final week before we leave on Sunday.
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