Only in Israel moment of the week: while shopping in the market, I see that instead of Santa on the bottles of coke that I'm used to seeing, here in Israel, the soda wishes me a happy holiday, in Hebrew. And not a Santa to be seen.
On to the fun stuff. I might have possibly mentioned (basically to everyone I know) that all of my kids were going away on an overnight with scouts. It's also possible that in my ulpan class, each time we have to write a story or speak in class my sentence always began with something related to this trip. So basically, my whole ulpan class knew that my kids were going away and that I was going to the beach for one day. Did I mention that? We planned a 19 hour getaway! It's not that we don't love our children. We really do. It's just that we also sometimes like it when we have three minutes to ourselves. (or 1140 minutes in this case)
And before you comment on the glam sunglasses. I decided that since I'm moving to a hot and sunny country, it's time to buy real prescription sunglasses. They weren't actually necessary for this photo but I might have left my regular glasses behind in the car which was really far away. And if you're wondering what are all of those people doing behind us?? Well, they are doing yoga of course! On this cool platform 80 steps about the beach. And I know how many steps because we went up and down exactly 100.
So anyway, the kids went camping at Masada with the scouts, had a blast, climbed Masada, had some ceremonies, ate a bunch of food, returned home in one piece and were all thrilled. They all had a great time. I am so proud of them. Not only have we moved to a new country, with a new language, and a new culture, but we sort of tossed them into activities. They have mostly been pretty gung-ho about it all, but some were nervous to go on an overnight. But look kids, mama had plans to go to the beach so you were getting on that bus!
Now, let's return to the important part of this story. I drive to Tel Aviv to pick up my other half. We'll I've never driven in Tel Aviv but use driven in Manhattan. It's sort of similar except I have no idea where I'm going, I'm listening to the news and I don't understand a lot of it, the streets are really narrow and the elements trick bikes and motorcycles arw zip ingredients past me. But luckily, I still have the little black tic tac, so it was all good.
We went to the beach in Herziliya. I've never been there before, but a few people recommended it. If you save all of you shekels, I recommend it as well. It was amazing. Sometimes (almost all of the time) I forget that I'm living so near to paradise.
So yes, it was crazy expensive. But also, it was awesome. Just to be able to drive forty minutes and have a beautiful hotel, amazing views, water, beaches and a selection of kosher restaurants is amazing. And since we are talking about food. Wow. We got some good advice on where to go (you know who you are) and it was the perfect choice. Do you like meat? If so, do I have the place for you!
And something unexpected. Our hotel stay included breakfast. Now, usually when we stay at a hotel that includes breakfast, the only kosher items are cereal and coffee and sometimes hot chocolate. But we are in Israel. So our hotel was kosher. So we had about fifty choices of breakfast foods. We didn't know where to look first. So yeah, food here is not an issue.
What is an issue is that now I'm like, wait.... I live here now and I can travel around Israel whenever I want. I mean, I won't be staying at a fancy hotel that often but we can do youth hostels, kibbutz guest houses, etc... Wow, I need to start planning the next getaway.
Except I don't, because my cool neighborhood has planned it for me. Did I mention that they apparently travel together?
Glad your get away was as good as the kids' getaway. You can play tourist any time you want. You were there last year, but you hadn't been there for so many years.
ReplyDeleteGlad your get away was as good as the kids' getaway. You can play tourist any time you want. You were there last year, but you hadn't been there for so many years.
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