When the Blums Come to Town

Needless to say that a good night's sleep after two weeks of travel is a blessing. The day after arriving back in Israel, two things had happened before I woke. Winter break had begun on our program, and my father had arrived. We moved in to an apartment above on Ben Yehudah Street, next-door to the Nesher taxi service that arranges transportation to and from the airport and Jerusalem. The bathroom was the size of the urinals in Morocco, and the toaster burned easily, but it was a great place, with hundreds of arabic channels, a beautiful view of the street, and yes, comfy beds. But don't worry. This post isn't about how I slept over break. Because I didn't. Instead, the Blum's continued arriving, and the four of us spent the rest of 2010 as only wild tourists would:

Pictures of Winter Break

Old Yafo
Just a stroll through the artist's colony in an ancient city, until we walk in to Frank Meisler's studio and seek out the artist. Born in Germany, Frank has since been working on projects commemorating the Kindertransport, and placing them in Liverpool St. Station and Berlin. He also has a beautiful mezuzah at the residence of the U.S. Ambassador to Morocco, in Rabat. In addition to Meisler, we met a Yemenite artist who specializes in filigree. He was neat too.

Ramat Rachel
Formerly the home base for Kivunim, Ramat Rachel has a history as the southern edge of Jerusalem, and was the site of much violence during Israel's early years of statehood. It's also the site of a some beautiful works of art and nature by Ran Morin (he even has a sculpture in Old Yafo). From Ramat Rachel, you can see Bethlehem as well as Herodion.

Dead Sea Spa
still salty.

Segwayz at Givat Ram
The Israel equivalent of "Capitol Hill," Givat Ram holds the Knesset, as well as the Israel Smithsonian, known as the Israel Museum. Segways add great effect, especially since our guide was my madrich at Hebrew U. This was my first Groupbuy deal, and well worth it!



Herodion
Not my first visit, but an exciting step into many different world: The West Bank, The Second Temple Period, The Bar Kochba Revolt, recent discoveries, and tramping (hitchhiking). The archaeologist I visited here last time had recently passed away after a fatal fall. There is still much digging to be done, but the mountain provides incredible view of the Dead Sea, Jerusalem, and the desert. We hitchhiked together with a secret agent (I'm telling it how it was), who's job was to track down missing people. He was really nice, and while he drove faster than anyone should on curving mountain roads, he waved and joked at the soldiers at the checkpoint, so I had to believe it was okay for my Mom to be sitting in the car seat.

Afrikef Monkey Park
Who knew? I didn't until I discovered it online one day. Not far from Jerusalem, and easily accessible with public transportation, you can not only enjoy many varieties of monkeys, and stamp a little passport with each species you see, but actually walk into a closed area and hang out with 'em!






Bike Riding in Tel Aviv
The city became about 15 minutes long once on wheels. The sunset from Jaffa was beautiful, I found Na Laga'at, and weather was a welcome change from the cold and windy hills of Jerusalem.