September 24, 2010
See, now I'm 4 days behind on this, and most surely I'll be leaving out the many details of the last few days that I've forgotten. On a slightly related note, this feeling of behind several days behind on the blog, as well as very behind on my email (due to expensive internet prices at the hostel, lack of free time, and my blackberry not really working in Israel -- it is working now that I am in London again) reminds me somewhat of the feeling of being back at work, of the list of things "to do" creeping up very quickly on me. Now, in addition to blog, email, I also have to catch up on unpaid bills, and figuring out what the heck I'm going to do between now and October 13 when I leave for Iceland. Am thinking of renting a car and driving up around Scotland, and if any of the 3 or so people who read this have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them.
Okay, back to the story.
Friday morning, last day in the Little House in Baka in Jerusalem. I forced down breakfast yet again (theme of Israel -- now that I am finally confronted with large sized portions, my reduced appetite has become a real liability; I see huge portions of delicious food in front of me that I can hardly bring myself to eat!)
The next step was returning the car to Avis, which should be a one liner here, simple, right? But no, the place is packed, once again with Orthodox Jews. Even though it is only 10 in the morning, it is hot, and I'm sweating. And I remember we have to refill the car with gas, which ends up costing about 60 dollars (this for a tiny car). We consider how much more convenient it would be to drive the car to Tel-Aviv, and drop it off there, thus avoiding the bus as well as facilitating any last minute touristy stuff in Jerusalem. We discover that even though we would not be charged extra for this, this plan will not work because:
1) The Avis in Jerusalem closes at 1:00 p.m. because of Shabbat, which last time I checked starts at sundown and
2) The Avis in Tel-Aviv closes at 2:00 p.m., also because of Shabbat.
3) Meaning we would have to leave almost immediately to drop off the car and thus forgo anymore touristy stuff in Jerusalem.
I found this incredibly frustrating, but quickly accepting that this is just part of travelling in Israel -- being inconvenienced by Shabbat.
There was a group of Germans and an American of Swiss/Dutch background at the Avis who had trouble figuring out Natalia's accent.
We walked to the Israel Museum, the largest collection of ancient Israeli artifacts in the world. The walk from the Avis (because we had to return the car) was up steep hills in the sun, and my body melted, the Orthodox guys with black suits and beards and hats carrying lulavs seeming completely undisturbed by the heat. The Israel Museum would close at 2:00 p.m. because of Shabbat, which starts at sundown, so we had to hustle. The ticket line was long, and I was one of few guys not wearing a yarmulke. A guy behind me in line wearing a yarmulke laughed hilariously while watching a woman clumsily attempt to push a baby stroller through a revolving door. The security was relatively lax. I was asked:
"Do you have a weapon?"
"No!"
"Do you have a gun?"
"No!"
"A knife??"
"No!"
"Then go ahead!"
The museum was excellent, but I need not bore you with the details of its contents. We focused on the section containing artifacts from the Holy Land starting from prehistoric times through about the Ottoman Empire. Really great stuff, not just from the Hebrews (which was cool too) but also the Canaanites they replaces, the Phoenicians, the Philistines, and the Assyrians. Lunch was at the museum cafe (pasta again). I attempted to sit down at a table at a cafe next door to the one at which we had ordered and asked the waiter if this was okay: "it is very not okay! This is a meat restaurant and that is a milk restaurant!"
Across the street was the Knesset. We didn't go in, but we looked at it. It does look like a fortress.
While intending to walk to the bus station (about half an hour away), we were approached by a very aggressive cab driver offering to drive us there. Given the heat, we allowed ourselves to be persuaded but I talked down the price from 40 shekels to 35 shekels. Once in the cab, he aggressively attempted to convince us to take a cab all the way to Tel-Aviv for 300 shekels (about 80 bucks). Why on earth would we do this, when the bus cost only 35 for the two of us?
The small bus we rode back to Tel-Aviv was different from the large bus we took there, and initially a bit more expensive (60 for the two of us). Throughout the ride, however, this Indian guy screamed at the driver, for reasons we could not exactly understand, but seeming to do with the price. At the end of the ride, the driver refunded everybody enough so that the price was only 22 shekels each.
I had not taken a close look at the area around the Tel-Aviv bus station when we had first arrived there a few days before. This time I noticed that the area looked quite different from the rest of Tel-Aviv. Not only was it even dirtier, everybody was either African, Thai or Filipino.
So what, it's now Friday at around 5 p.m. and we have plenty of time before any sort of evening plans. I spent some quality time on the internet (the last time until now), and then we went on a walk north up the Tel Aviv beach. There we so many runners, that Natalia was inspired to go on a run herself, so we walked back to the hostel, she went running for about an hour and I read Freedom on the balcony of the dorm room.
The plan was to eat at Manta Ray, a fish restaurant recommended by my friend, as well as the hostel, located on Alma Beach near Yaffa old city, but of course, it could not be found. The cab drivers hadn't heard of it. No one had any idea which beach we were on, or where Alma Beach was. When I called the restaurant, she said I couldn't miss it, since it was the only restaurant on the beach. This was not true, so we ended up at another restaurant, the name I can't remember, but which was quite good. Some not so expensive but very good wine from the Golan Heights, a salad appetizer with pickles, olives, garlic bread, Challah, lettuce, and a whole fish and veal sausages for entree. And right on the beach.
While initially ambitious about a night out in Tel-Aviv, after dinner we were kind of tired and returned to the hostel, to find this really obnoxious guy (Jewish, from Orange County) I had met in the afternoon fighting with a young German girl about feminism. Of course, he was portraying it as a threat to mankind, and an attempt to strip men off all rights, which I attempted to counter, although I don't think I got anywhere. He later shifted from misogynistic to racist, and I won't get into that aspect of his rant. We did meet an Australian guy though, right around this time, who argued alongside us, who had done some amazing traveling around the middle east, including to Iran I think. First of two extremely fascinating Australians we would meet in Israel.
Paul Simon -- Silent Eyes
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