Day Seven--December 30--Tel Aviv Museum of Art

Day Seven--Dec. 30

front of Tel Aviv Museum of Art

Today I ventured alone to the Tel Aviv Art Museum.  It was fairly easy to find and not too far from my hotel maybe a 20 minute walk.  This was a part of Tel Aviv I had not seen yet. Emily wanted to go shopping with her friends and I would meet her later.

The museum has a nice collection of Impressionist paintings, Monet, Sisley, as well as many Chagalls, Picasso’s and others from that period.  They also had a few special exhibits from Israeli artists.  I enjoyed the kibbutz and other paintings of Yadid Rubin , his paintings were very brightly colored and his style was like using large pointillism.  The other exhibit I saw was of AVIGDOR ARIKHA.  There were many drawings and self portraits and also included were drawings he had made of  "A STRAY DOG" that was from a book written by S.Y. Agnon.  

I got hungry and went to the cafe and had a coffee and sandwich.  After eating something I went back upstairs to see another Israeli artist Moshe Gershuni, much more modern and political, but by then I was too tired to really absorb any more.  

After being in the museum for several hours I phoned Emily so I could meet her at the big Azreli shopping center.  It only took me 15 or 20 minutes to find these very tall buildings. It reminded me very much of the Galleria in Houston.  There was a hotel at the bottom and it’s necessary to take an elevator or escalator to get into the shopping center.  Did I mention that every building in Tel Aviv has security so it’s not so easy to enter a building.  No one seems to mind either.  It has become part of the society that people hand over their bags or purses to be checked.  Even I started doing it after a few times.

Being in this oversized mall with hundreds maybe thousands of people was not my idea of a good time but I tried to be patient as the girls were looking for something to wear to “Sylvester”.  That’s what the Israeli’s call “New Year’s Eve”.  I guess it’s a way to get around the Jewish New Year vs. secular New Year.  

I was quite tired and really wanted to lie down.  We all left together and walked back across Dizengoff to our hotel.  We found a local “chain” bakery/restaurant “Aroma” and the girls wanted to get something to eat.  Everything looked so good.  We got a few things both savory and sweet and continued our way back to the hotel.  As it turned out we were quite tired and ended up staying in the hotel watching “Elizabethtown” on Emily’s computer.  It was nice to lay low for a change.