yullah, yullah, yullah

Descending into Tel Aviv in the wee hours of the morning was kind of magical. Through every break in the clouds I could see nothing but darkness, suddenly we descended below the cloud line and there were the thousand tiny lights making up Tel Aviv and it's suburbs.

I've always heard so much about Israel from my grandparents, who lived there after fleeing Europe on the eve of World War II. My grandma, Shoshanna, particularly always described it in such glowing terms. She told the story (over and over, in exactly the same way) of leaving Vienna at the age of 15, when it was dark and rainy, cold and unwelcoming and arriving in Haifa (a beautiful, San Francisco-esque port city) in what was then Palestine. There it was warm and sunny with palm trees everywhere and the scent of oranges in the air.

She really wasn't wrong in that description. (Unfortunately, you'll have to trust me because I can't access the USB hub on this computer, so no pictures for now!)

But first - Tel Aviv. We arrived at the airport very bleary after 30 hours in transit, and somehow managed to get ourselves on the wrong bus.. ending up on the road to Jeruselum. Luckily a very nice orthodox expat with morning sickness and a bad wig, let us use her cell phone to call my parents who were waiting for us at the hotel. After another bus ride back to Tel Aviv and a taxi to our hotel, we were reunited... only to hit the road again. We drove up the coast through Ceasarea (Roman ruins) and Haifa (B'hai Gardens) and Accre (really good seafood served at a really cool sea wall). After a quick visit with an old friend of my Grandma's, we pulled in to Kfar Blum, the kibbutz that my grandparents helped build and where my dad was born.

We were greeted by a barrage of old folks, and the Hebrew love-fest began. The next day we got a tour by a really lovely friend of my grandma's, Moishe, who is the son of one of my grandparents best friends when they lived in Kfar Blum. It was indescribably idyllic. I really never imagined Israel being so green and mountainous. But, in the north it is. The kibbutz layout really reminded me of the Dharma Iniative from LOST. They have the schools, mess hall, library, grocery store all on campus. And people ride around on the interconnecting sidewalks on bikes (or little bike scooters for the old folks).

The rest of our time in Israel consisted of being driven around by our slightly racist and extremely zionistic driver, Koby, who colored the entire trip with his slightly offensive asides... but... what are you gonna do? Lisa & I exchanged quite a few eye rolls.

We also did Jeruselum, Sfat, the Massadah (epic upward hike in the desert to some ruins) and a spa on the Dead Sea (lots of floating and mud). But I'm running out of time on this computer, so I'll haveto keep it brief. Jeruselum was really kind of odd and creepy, but the nightlife was suprisingly robust... We went through Sfat so quickly, I'm not sure what to say about it, the West Bank was way bigger than what I imagined, and was a total desert as far as I could tell...

Now we're back in Tel Aviv, and have a day to ourselves tomorrow.. we intend on sleeping in and hanging out... I would characterize this trip as packed full, and really hectic. We saw a lot, but we're both competely exhausted. We're hoping Egypt will be slower paced, and will include at least one afternoon by the pool. Hopefully I can figure out how to do a picture post soon!

And I think in the future I'll try to not cram so much in to each post. This was kind of stressful! Hope everyone is doing well at home! XOXO.