A weekend in Tel Aviv!

Two of Lee's co-workers are leaving Animation Lab and moving on to other projects elsewhere, so to send them off in style, some of the guys coordinated a day of fun in Tel Aviv. Paintball, go-karts and a fancy pants dinner.

As my good friend Eyal lives in Tel Aviv, Lee and I had already made plans to hang out there this past weekend - this just ended up giving us concrete things to do with the time. (That didn't necessarily involve doing shots and taking recovery naps!). Due to the size of the group, paintball was scheduled for 8:45am....which meant leaving Jerusalem at 7:30 to get to the course in time. Considering we normally don't get out of bed until after 8 most mornings, this was a challenge in itself!

Per usual, half the carpool crew were late - arriving closer to 8am - so we raced down the toll road (up to 180kph - nice driving Paolo!) to get to the course by the reservation. Eyal met us there, and gave us a total of 10 players - 5 on the yellow team, 5 on the orange team. Only about half of us had played paintball before, so the teams were split among those that had and those that hadn't.

The yellow team kicked ass- winning 3 of the 5 games, with the other two being draws. I never knew I had such a penchant for gun play! I'm apparently a headshot ringer, I knocked more people out with smacks to the face than any other targets. And for the record, paintballs HURT. I took photos of all the battle wounds received...the ones that were G-rated at least. I don't believe any one of us walked away completely unscathed, and I'm still sore in a few places that got shot...ow!


(Go team yellow!)

After paintball, we headed to a small city called Natanya, which is just outside of Tel Aviv (Eyal works nearby), and grabbed lunch before go-karts. I had my first burger here in Israel. Mmm burgers. There are several burger chains here - Black Burger, Tal Burger, Big Burger...they all sorta look the same, and I assume they all have their own spin on a burger 'specialty'. Black Burger had the Black Diamond, which was a burger stuffed with sweet potato. Weird, right? Over half of our group went with this option, including Lee, and I can say that it actually was delicious. And I don't even like sweet potatoes! We had originally tried to eat at Max Brenner's HOUSE OF CHOCOLATE AWESOME EVERYTHING, but the wait was too long, and they weren't serving 'lunch' items until 2pm.....too late for us. So, burgers.

After lunch (including beers - apparently a necessity before jumping in a go-kart!), we headed across the street to the indoor track for a race! We had to be debriefed before they'd let us get in the karts, and were warned that people who 'suffered from high blood pressure, stomach ailments or pregnant women' shouldn't race. That begged the question (amidst howls of laughter) about who, precisely, suffers from pregnant women. Giggles aside, we had a nice time on the track- the karts weren't timed correctly, or universally, so there was some disappointment among those who were in the slower karts- and that negated the 'race' atmosphere somewhat. It still was fun for me - if a bit bumpy and crazed. As far as the warnings were concerned, one of the racers (Kurt) actually did have to run outside after our heat and hurl. Stomach ailments indeed!




(Lee ready to rumble; The race times)

The plan for everyone was to head BACK to Jerusalem to clean up, then BACK to Tel Aviv for dinner.....fortunately we were with Eyal and had plenty of time for a good nap before getting cleaned up to go out. Heading out into a massive winter storm (thunder and lightning and rainstorm, oh my!), reservations were at 9 at a Georgian restaurant on the south side of Tel Aviv - and that's Georgian as in Russian, not Georgian, the belle of the south. There is a large Russian population in Israel, and as such, a large variety of Russian restaurants. The three of us that were on time (Eyal, Lee and myself) had a few cocktails, and waited. And waited. And waited. We finally broke down and ordered an appetizer at 9:40....when more people finally started to arrive. Several plates of fried beef and goose dumplings later, we ordered mains, which consisted of heavy meat dishes - stews, kebab, mmmmmmeats. Needless to say, we left stuffed around midnight and wandered down the blocks to find a bar to get the night started.


(And the rain rain rain came down down down; Eyal's parsley and anise flavored drink)

Tel Aviv is wonderful- large and bustling (even on Shabbat!), and right on the Mediterranean. It's a resort town in every way, and a beautiful one at that. On Saturday (after a late night: Eyal came in at 4!!), we wandered down to the beach, and through a HUGE park that surrounds a big river feeding into the sea. I can see how, on a hot muggy day, Tel Aviv would be THE place to be for Israelis looking to cool off and be seen. Very cosmopolitan and modern, I expect we'll spend a significant amount of time there during our stay here. So much to explore!



(La Mer; The riverbank and park area)

We ended our weekend at a bar called Apartment 98, 2nd floor. It opens at 6pm on Saturdays (when the sabbath ends) and stays open until everyone has left. It seems that's how it works here. Bars are open as long as there are people to serve. The bar was located in an old apartment building, and was a converted flat - the kitchen still had the old apartment stove! There was a live band, and a very relaxed crowd. I look forward to returning there next time.

Back to work for Lee today, and we found out we're moving TOMORROW NIGHT. So, I'm packing tonight and tomorrow, getting to the new apartment, and immediately packing for my flight back to the US on Wednesday morning. Phew- busy week for me here!

Butt Crack Guy - gets his own post

Prologue: The hike on Saturday was mainly comprised of technical people, and their girlfriends. So, geeks, pretty much. Big ones. Nothing wrong with a good geek, I'd like to add, I'm actually a big fan, so no judgment is implied here.

After we finished the hike, Eyal, Lee and I were standing around and I made the mistake of turning around to look back out over the canyon.....and got a full view of another sort of canyon. The kind that sticks out of the rear of someones pants when they bend over. Particularly if the pants are ill-fitting, or perhaps the gut is a little too rotund. Me, being me, laughed, and said to Lee what I'd seen, and he replied that he'd caught a glimpse of it, and had been actively engaging strategic visual avoidance.

Eyal, hearing us talk about this, turned around to see and said "Hey! I have a story about that guy!"

Apparently Israel does a lot of spin-offs of western shows (Big Brother, Survivor, Beauty and the Geek, etc.), and BCG had been on the first season of the Israeli Beauty and the Geek (it was no wonder he made it to the show, by the looks of him!), and didn't make it to the final. That is pretty cool, actually - and according to Eyal, almost everyone in Israel knows someone who knows someone who was on one of these shows- the country isn't very big, after all.

The funny part of this story came later at dinner. Eyal comes to the table laughing, and says "Hey, Butt Crack Guy was outside and got recognized by a woman walking out!" I guess he's pretty gracious about it, being sorta famous and all. Then we got the story from Eyal about him running into BCG at some meditation/holistic/earth dance festival a few months back (....the story of how Eyal wound up at this thing was funny enough....the things men do for girls....).

Eyal to BCG: Hey! How's it going ?
BCG: Uh, hi. Oh, you must recognize me from TV.
Eyal: No, you donkey. We went on a hike together last weekend.
BCG: Oh, yeah, right. Hi...

Apparently "donkey" is a pretty good insult - obviously equating to ass or the like in Hebrew, but what I found really amusing is that this totally unassuming uber geek gets to say things like "Oh, you must recognize me from TV" on a regular basis.

And we all saw his crack. Almost all the way to the holy land!

Mahane "Madhouse" Yehuda, and Pizza: part deux

I'd been hearing about this really big open air market here in town for a little while now - apparently it's a "must see" in Jerusalem. After banging my head against the brick wall that is the Jerusalem bus routes/non schedule for over an hour, I decided to hoof it the 4.4km to the Mahane Yehuda market.

The day was sunny and wonderful, and Google Maps suggested a new path for getting across town that took me down a road I hadn't traveled yet- Bethlehem road - which is a few blocks from our current apartment. It runs through the German Colony, and is brimming with cafes, shops, green grocers, and restaurants. I expect Lee and I will return to do some eating/drinking in the next week or so. (The German Colony has two main roads- Bethlehem is one of them, both are chock-full of shops/bars/cafes....good places to go hang out).

I walked past some now-familiar places along the way to the market, including the first restaurant we had dinner in, and one of the several cafes I've stopped in for coffee. When I got to the marketplace, it wasn't exactly what I'd pictured. I had imagined in my head something like a flea market or arts and crafts festival- rows of stalls set up in a parking lot or open area, with a fence or some other barrier around the outside. It actually was a series of permanent stalls, set up in rows, with canopies between the stall rows - so 'open air' was a bit of a misnomer. The goods themselves opened up into the rows, but could be put away into steel door 'closets', and some of the stalls you could walk into, and shop around inside. (I didn't take any photos this time, as I was alone, and didn't want to whip out my camera in the crowd and draw additional attention to myself. Lee and I have plans to go back together, so I'll take some then.)

The market was much like the Old City - less touristy - with spice stalls, and butchers and cheese and so many fruit/vegetable stands, and clothing and appliances and pretty much anything you can imagine wanting to buy. I walked up and down the aisles a few times, bought some Christmas presents, and stopped at a butchers to take a look at his wares. Fortunately they mostly speak English, so I was able to get the chicken thighs I wanted, and then something interesting. There was a tray of...meatstuff. Thick slices wrapped in foil, and on display. The butcher said "This, this is very good. My mother made it."

me: "What is it? It's not headcheese, is it?"
butcher (laughing) : "No. Traditional food, meat with spices, it is very delicious."
me: (being ever-experimental) "Well, I need to try it then, give me two slices."
butcher: "Good good! Put in oven 20 minutes, will come out perfect."


(Raw(?) ready to go into the oven)

So I walk out of the market with chicken, meatstuff and pressies for the folks back home. I also stopped at one of the green grocers on Bethlehem street, and bought WAY too much fresh produce - not too much for eating, but the carrying back home was brutal. Note to self: buy an old lady roller cart for market outings.

Dinner on Sunday night was....interesting. I made baked cauliflower (Lee had never had it before!), and meatstuff. Which smelled awesome- like a Mediterranean feast in one dish. It cooked up a bit like chorizo, with lots of red flavorful oils cooking out of it. It was spicy and wonderful. Lee will tell you differently ("It's a bit spicy for me, and I don't like these fat bits."), but he did manage to eat the whole serving. I would eat it again, but I am sure I'd be eating solo if I did!


(It was yummy, but I'm the one writing history here....)

The next day I get a message from Lee: I want pizza. There has to be better pizza here.

Fortunately, my friend Esther (hi Esther!) had sent a link in the comments after our last pizza disaster, detailing all the 'good' pizza in Jerusalem. We decided to give Pizza Sababa a try, as it's closest to us (in the German Colony!), and "sababa" means "cool" in Hebrew- a slang term we learned last weekend from Eyal and Amit.

I picked Lee up from work (on foot) and we trundled through the rain last night to the pizza joint. Walking in it was....not what we'd expected. It was small and too brightly lit, and was like any other pizza counter we'd seen. We decided to go through with it anyhow and, electing to skip the corn topping, decided on a mushroom and olive pizza ("You want them both together?" "Yes." "OK!"). We sat at one of the cleaner booths next to the window (me with my beer, Lee with his sensible water), and in a very quick 10 minutes, a pizza was put in front of us, with four cardboard 'plates'. Green olives! A lot of them!


(Holy olives batman! Cardboard "plate")

Pizza has been slightly redeemed. It wasn't good by our standards, but it was miles better than the cardboard Domino's we'd had last time. I suppose we'll keep trying, and I'm dying to try pizza from the curiously named Pizza Obama, which is on the walk to Lee's office, or to the Old City.


(Yes, we can!)

Today: Christmas shopping in the German Colony. I love all the little cute shops!

A hike in the desert. The Negev. Not the Gobi, not the Sahara....

I, happily, have a very good friend who lives in Tel Aviv. We haven't seen each other so frequently since he moved over here, but I am ever so glad to have an established 'local' to spend some time with. The occasion arose this past weekend, with an invitation to go on a hike in a (somewhat) local river canyon - the Gov River.


(Eyal, noshing before hiking)

Eyal had emailed a translated web page invitation for the hike: a 3 or 4 kilometer easy wander through a canyon, with a few ladder climbs and some very non-technical slopes. Perfect! As Lee and I are without transport, we'd thought about staying at Eyal's in Tel Aviv, and riding with him the following morning to the 6:45AM meeting point. Well, that didn't work out so well, as Eyal was going to some crazy fancy dinner party the night before. So we arranged for him to come pick us up. At 6am.

FORTUNATELY, that changed to 7am, and instead of the meeting-and-caravan spot, we were going to meet everyone at the actual start of the hike. Eyal arrived at about 20 past 7, with his friend Amit, and we got on the road (after several minutes of heated Hebrew discussions from the front seat while poring over a map of Jerusalem- it seems that local to Israel is absolutely not equivalent to local to every city!). It was also revealed that Amit and Eyal were both running on ~3 hours of sleep after a banner birthday party with some gourmet chef cooking them a 6 course meal!

Getting on the road, our path was to take us by the Dead Sea, and towards Eliat, which is a resort town on the Red Sea, somewhere between the Dead Sea and Egypt. The drive was lovely - wide expanses of desert, and for a great deal of it, with the other side against the Dead Sea. Which is huge! And stinks of sulfur. The sea is only about an hours drive from Jerusalem, which means Lee and I can make a single day of spa-ing at one of the resorts butted up against the water, rather than needing to spend a whole weekend getting to and from.

The ride was uneventful: a single pit stop, getting slightly lost trying to find the meeting point, lots of conversation catching up and getting good information about places to visit while we're in the country. I was a little culture shocked at the 'BEWARE OF CAMELS BESIDE THE ROAD' signs every few miles, and the multiple stops we had to make at police checkpoints, which are becoming less shocking to me the longer I'm here.


(The trail head for the Gov River hike)

We arrived at the trail head, which seems to be fairly well used, and learned that we were going to be hiring a student or towns person to guard all the vehicles while we were away from them. It seems that the Bedouin tribes will steal cars left at trail heads, attempt to locate the owner, and sell them their car back. Yep, that's the country we're in. Where wandering tribes of gypsies steal your property and sell it back to you....I'm sure at a discounted price from market.


(Some shots of the trail)

There were approximately 25 other people, all of whom were very friendly, and I hope Lee and I established some new connections here in Israel - it will be really nice to have a group of local friends to go do things with. Particularly as we've got common interests, and these outings sound like a regular occurrence. The three hour hike usually has pools sporadically spaced along the path, collections of rainwater that last pretty much all year. Only there is a drought. In the desert. So the entirety of the hike was sunny and warm, with a few breaks for snacks and letting the big group recollect themselves before trudging on. We met up back at the cars, paid the guard(s), and made arrangements to meet up in Be'er Sheva (translates to Lakes Seven - seven lakes) for a group dinner.

(Re-hydration! Lee being himself on the trail)

We drove another hour through the desert (northeast, headed sorta back towards Jerusalem/Tel Aviv), more camel signs, and a military intelligence base that we weren't meant to photograph, where we saw what looked like a large white zeppelin tethered to the ground. That's all I'm saying about that....I don't know how ardently they screen web traffic around here. We drove through a very impoverished area called Dimona, which is really in the middle of nowhere. There was a stark difference between the shanty towns scattered across the desert (and I DID see camels!) and the larger city of Be'er Shava, which is a college town, and very well built up. There were lots of horses. And people riding horses. And goats on hillsides with goat herders.

Dinner reservations weren't so smooth- apparently the restaurant we'd planned on going to 'lost' our reservation for 25, and we were going to have to wait at least an hour to get seated. Well, that wouldn't do, as we were starving (I was sad to miss out on traditional Yemenite food- we're going to have to find that again somewhere closer to home), so we went to Spaghettim, a chain Italian restaurant nearby. The food was lovely and reasonably priced, and we used dinner to get to know the people from the hike a little better.

The drive home took us across a toll road- which isn't like a toll road in the states. The road is actually privately owned, and not subject to the same speed laws, or restrictions, as the rest of the highways in the country. The speed limit is generally 80kph, and the signs on the toll road are posted as 100kph, BUT as they aren't subject to the same laws, people go upwards of 140-150kph (that's about 95-100mph, for the readers stateside). It was a speedy journey home!

We made arrangements to go to Tel Aviv next weekend for a night of "binge drinking" (Amit's words) and dancing (Eyal's words). I'm excited Lee and I have local friends to go out with. We've also made tentative plans to visit Petra, in Jordon, with Eyal, for a weekend in January. Indiana Jones was filmed there :)


(Hooray for getting outdoors!)

Today I went to the large outdoor market here - I'll write a separate post about that one!

Israel Museum and Dead Sea Scrolls

After settling back into life here, I took advantage of an incredibly lovely afternoon, and grabbed a taxi to the Israel Museum, where the Dead Sea Scrolls are housed.

The museum itself is being completely revamped, and I was told at the ticket booth "you know, nothing is open, yes?" To which I replied "the Shrine of the Book and the youth area, thanks!" and paid my 36NIS ($10) to get in. The entrance price includes an audio tour, but I decided to wait until Lee was with me to get all the verbal down low. (you're welcome, hon.)

You walk through a glassed in lobby, where my bag was searched and I was metal detected, and passed through into the back 'yard' for lack of a better description. Right in front of me was a MASSIVE to-scale model of Jerusalem during the time of the Second Temple. Apparently it was completed in 1967, and unveiled two days before the start of the 6-day war, which is when Israel won Jerusalem back. (remember our first cab driver....."in 1967..."?) The irony of that is that the model was built to give Jerusalem back to the Jews, who weren't allowed to enter it during the time of the occupation, and as soon as it was complete, Israel opened Jerusalem up to everyone.
The model itself is huge and impressive, and it was really cool when I realized I recognized the layout of the Old City by having been there several times. This is a recreation of what Jerusalem was like waaaaaay back when, before the Second Temple was destroyed. The Western (wailing) Wall is the border of the ruins of the Second Temple.


(The model; A closeup of the Second Temple recreation)

After walking around with my mouth hanging open, I started to make my way to the Shrine of the Book, and got thoroughly distracted by the Art Garden that makes up the entire back portion of the museum. Well, the parts that are open at least- the 'under construction' bits are giant, and take up a large amount of property. The art garden is what you'd imagine pretty much; large strange sculptures, spaced out at odd intervals along a graveled path. There were some very cool things: "These stone pipes ran water from Solomon's Pools to Jerusalem during Roman occupation". My favorite piece was one that I stumbled on, it was a cut out tunnel in what appeared to be a solid wall, and you enter into a large pyramid shaped room, with the top cut out and open to the sky. It literally was breathtaking when I walked in. Obviously my photos can't nearly do justice to what it was like inside, but I tried to capture as must as possible.

(thirsty Romans needed water....)


(The hidden tunnel; the amazing open ceiling inside the exhibit)


(Random big art in the Art Garden)

After meandering around in the wilderness for a while (I was by myself for the majority of the time- I'm guessing Wednesday at 2pm isn't a huge rush time for the museum), I head to the Shrine of the Book. The big tamale. The gotta-see-it exhibit. The building is designed underground, with two big pieces above ground to symbolize the battle between the sons of darkness and the sons of light (which play major roles in Hebrew history, as I learned inside the exhibit). Unfortunately, I wasn't allowed to take photos inside, which isn't a surprise considering the fragility of the scrolls.

Once you enter the building, there is a small room off to the left, where some really old book lives. It's really old. And I can't for the life of me remember what it was called. It is the oldest record of all Hebrew prayers for high holidays, in illuminated text, and it was a beautiful piece of art, as well as historical document.

To reach the meat of the exhibit, you have to go through a hallway with dioramas lining both sides. The displays outline the history of the dead sea scrolls, and the bedouins that both wrote and protected the them through some pretty serious times of persecution. Along with bits and pieces of scroll, there were artifacts - sandals, pottery, hair nets (!!), clothing, jewelry - and a bit of history describing life back then. In the desert.

The main part of the scroll display is in a circular dome, with the centerpiece being a replica (looked almost like a very high-quality photocopy) of the scroll, including the big wooden spool, that is the earliest written version of the bible. Yeah, the oldest documentation. Around the outside walls were additional pieces of scrolls detailing rituals and processes: purification before eating, proper disposal of remains, how a temple should be built, etc. This is where I learned that Esther is a book in the Hebrew bible. The super old testament. Lee tells me it's a book in the new testament as well, but as I'm not well educated in spiritual matters, I'm gonna just take his word. (Hi Esther!). The scrolls are OLD. Restored relatively well, there were varying states of decay/destruction, but seeing the old Hebrew writing was incredible. The mood inside was somber, as I had expected, and totally surreal. I still have a hard time realizing that this is the real deal, where current religions and modern times began.

As the museum really only consists of these small areas, I was done with everything in about 90 minutes. After a quick swing through the tiny gift shop (I had hoped to find something for the girls, but it was all mostly generic museum stuff), I headed back to my hood for the rest of the afternoon.

I'm going to see an old friend of mine this weekend, perhaps spend some time in Tel Aviv that isn't in the movie theater? I also want to try to get down to Bethlehem. I heard from my cab driver that you can indeed take taxis over the Palestine border, which the rental car companies don't let you do (so much for renting a car to get down there!), so I will be doing that in the next few days. BETHLEHEM. Seriously? Church of the Nativity, here I come!



(as usual, more photos in my photo journal online- hit me up for url if you don't have it!)

A spot of trouble, wot wot? Or, it's cold in England.

It has been a little while since my last post, as Lee and I were out of town, and it's taken until now to get readjusted to being in Jerusalem. (Yeah yeah, I'm lazy...it happens!)

We went to the UK to spend Lee's birthday with his family, which was a nice treat for him, as he's spent the last several years situated pretty far away, and it wasn't convenient to get back frequently. Leaving Jerusalem after work on Thursday evening, we took our first shared taxi (sharut), which is a surprisingly convenient way to get from Jerusalem to Ben Gurion airport. You have to phone 24 hours in advance, and they show up at your door, pick up you and your luggage (and 5-6 other people), and get you to the airport at your requested time. The shared taxis cost 50NIS each (about $15), where a single taxi can cost upwards of 250NIS ($70).

Our flight was delayed for an hour leaving Jerusalem, which gave me the opportunity to do the one thing I do in every country I visit. Eat at McDonalds. I don't like McDonalds, in fact, I don't eat it at home, but it is a good universal measure of the local economy and generally provides some amusing new twists on the ol' Big Mac. I indulged myself with a small McKebab, and laughed at the interestingly named Easy McRoyal (I have no idea what it was, but the name ruled).

(Right next door was the McCafe - for dairy.)

Judgement: Kosher McD's is gooood. As good as it could ever be, I reckon. And they still have deep-fried apple pies (Lee's request!).


(mmmmmm!)

Arriving in London at midnight, an hour past our expected arrival time (it's a 5 hour flight, give or take), we went to pick up our rental car at Alamo's "24 hour" counter.

Which closes at midnight.

And no number to reach anyone at their off-site location. And no help from Alamo or Orbitz, both of whom insisted the counter is open 24 hours. After several hours of frustration, I settle in, resigned to spending the rest of the night in Heathrow. Terminal 1. At Costa's coffee.


(we stole the comfy chairs)

The rest of the weekend was great- rainy and cold, as England tends to be, but spent with fantastic company. The holidays in the UK mean....mince pie! Which we picked up in the little bakery on the high street in Chipping Sodbury, the town closest to Lee's family. ...or is that Yate? I'm still a little confused as to the local geography.


(Chipping Sodbury)

Taking the redeye back to Jerusalem was a bit tougher, with Lee having to go to work almost straight away. I think perhaps next time we'll rethink the flights we take......

Next....on to the Dead Sea Scrolls!