Now for the fun stuff... Israel as a visitor

The tourist part of this trip has continued to educate and influence me. After leaving Jerusalem, I had the pleasure of spending a quality day with Lior traveling to Haifa. We lunched, I think, in Akko, a marine city, and shopped for a couple of items for the kids. I stayed in a place called the Dan Carmel on top of Mount Carmel. At the top of the hotel was a business lounge where Leland, Dave,(coworkers in for this trip) and I spent at least an hour or two every night unwinding and watching the world go by. Below us were some beautiful gardens, industrial ports, the Mediterrean ( I think ) and the hustle and bustle of a modern industrial city. The cadence of life is different here - history isn't so pressing, the tourists are more international / informal / business and less holy city tour types. There is also a more pronounced German influence - both the type of tourist and the presense of schitzel in the cafeteria every day. The city reminds me most of Penang. Our first evening's dinner was at a fabulous restaurant called Remme - excellent french restaurant with a view to die for. Teriaki salmon with mashed potatoes were excellent!

As a business group on monday, we spent an excellent day at Ceasaria - south of Haifa, north of Tel Aviv. Originally built as a harbor in honor of Julius Ceasar - it was a feat of ancient engineering. The artifically created harbor, built in about 12 years, at one point could house more than a hundred warships within its confines. It also served as a monument to Herod's ego. Elaborate palaces, bath houses, a swimming pool, and a hippodrome were built to a) placate the natives, b) protect the Romans who lived in the harbor and c) Exhalt Herod's place in the society. Over the years, as the sea reclaimed the harbor, the port retained symbolic importance - relatively large structures over the course of history were transformed from churches to mosques to refugee camps - symbols of the changing order The scale of the engineering and the cultural implications of this location as a trade port / conflict location made the trip a wonderful reinforcement of the significance Israel has in the annals of history. Sultans, rabbis, constantine's mother, and other dignitaries have called this place, and many have fought and died to control it.

While most of the rest of our time was spent close to the hotel in Haifa - there were at least a couple of other fun experiences. We went as a group to an Irish Pub to eat, and watched the EuroCup competition between France and Italy. I was able to text my friend Susan(who is married to an Italian), listen to people shouting at the TV in 4 languages, and eat Israeli Fare. Along a similar line - a couple of my work colleagues and I had jet lag and were watching the finals between the celtics and lakers in our respective hotel rooms at about 5 in the morning, and IMing comments about the game to each other. Fun and memorable. We never really made it to the beach in Haifa, but drove by it every day! We also formed the Haifa Hummus club.

After Haifa, we sojourned back to Tel Aviv. This city has a 3rd flavor - more arabian, jet set, party tourist - less religious / business sojourner. There is also a much more stark contrast between hotel row and the immediate blocks around the location. I believe this is close to some of the sites of violence from 2000 and 2005, and the population mix is much less orthodox, much more arabic. We arrived yesterday here mid day.

My travel companion - Dave and Leland - had a little trouble finding the hotel, and all had one thing on our minds. We wanted to hit the beach. We stopped for lunch ( really yummy sweet potato ravioli with cream and mushroom sauce covered with cheese!) and just sat for a while. Then we hoofed it across the street and relaxed for the first time the entire trip. There is a series of breakwaters that have created the perfect beach - deep fine sand, shallows for 100 years, crystal blue and turqoise water, and chairs and umbrellas set up to your specification. The water is about 80 degrees, and the breakwaters are just far enough away to provide a challenging swim without discouraging everyone completely.

The lifeguards use a 20 ft long and 4 ft wide surfboard with very long oars to quickly get to tourists in trouble. They are also pretty vigilant - one looked suspiciously at me for quite a while when I was swimming back from one of the breaks, and then asked me to be careful and "was I sure I was OK?" The people here are diverse, interesting, fit, and attractive. You don't have to look hard to see Italian, German, Egyptian, African, and other racial influence, in addition to Jewish.

It was one of the few times recently that I have "lived in the moment." We stayed on the beach for 6 hours - alternately napping, swimming, people watching, walking, and chatting. My IPod provided a soundtrack including the most appropriate song "who wouldn't want to be me?" It was heaven.

When the sun finally set on the second longest daylight day of the year, we slowly turned, returned to the hotel, and looked for sustenance. We ended the day with a restaurant next to the hotel dining al fresco. Yet again - great food ( salmon + mashed potatoes, israeli wine, chocolate desert, and tea with fresh mint leaves.)


I am about to embark on my last day as an Israeli visitor. As I write this, I am watching spongebob in Hebrew. My hotel, an interesting bauhaus style on the inside, will be a jumping off point for a visit to Jappa (an old port in Tel Aviv), to the beach, a recommended restaurant, and to the airport. I will likely not enter another post again before I land tomorrow night in the US. I will be happy to be home, as I have missed my family, friends, coworkers, but for one more day, I am happy to part of this israeli family. Shalom for now.