Monday--Last Day Tel Aviv and Shalom Israel-January 17
Packing has become a challenge. I k now I have too much stuff but still haven’t figured out what I can rid myself of or what I’m willing to give up. There are a few things but they are so small, I don’t think they’d make much difference.
My plan was to get the 10:20 a.m. train to Tel Aviv from the Hof Ha Carmel train station.
I squeezed shut my suitcase, filled the backpack with my toiletries and closed up the electronics bag. I enjoy staying in one place for extended periods but when it’s time to leave it becomes a challenge.
The apartment has several levels of stairs so I take each piece down one by one to the bottom. I check each room three times and the bathroom twice to make sure I haven’t left anything. I’ve already lost more things then I thought I would. I make sure I have the essentials--passport, money, credit cards, camera, computer oh and some clothes. Yep got it all.
I left the keys and another $65.00 for Nuri (the owner). I had stayed 8 nights and he said one week was only 7 night. I dragged my stuff to the road and waited for a taxi. One of the nice things about this city, unlike Santa Barbara, you don’t need to call a taxi, as there are so many they come along all the time.
The 10 minute taxi ride was 30 shekels and the hour train ride was 28.5 shekels. I’d planned to take this 10:20 a.m. train because it was an express, although I wasn’t really in a hurry, I like the idea of express better.
I arrived at Tel Aviv’s Ha Shalom Train station and found a taxi outside, 40 shekels to get to the Metropolitan hotel. O.k. so the train was the best deal of the day. The Metropolitan Hotel on Trumpeldor Street was recommended by an Israeli connection and was a good one. The location was in a different part of town maybe 5 - 10 minute difference from the Dizengoff Suites where I started the journey.
It was only noon but no problem to check in. I’m sure because it’s low season they are not fully booked and it was Monday.
The room was o.k., rather dated but clean enough with a fantastic view of the sea.
I settled into my room and I was very hungry as I hadn’t eaten anything yet today. I looked at the map and decided to go to the restaurant Emily and I had gone for our 1st dinner. This was a full circle.
I needed a few things, 1st I wanted to find a phone store to learn how to change the texting to English on my new phone, and to find out how many minutes I had left on the SIM card. Next, I needed a new small notebook to write in. I don’t always have my computer and want to be able to write and last of all I needed a small packet of kleenex.
It was an easy walk to Shenkin Street to the restaurant. I had an omelet with tomato, mozzerella and basil, wheat toast and salad. I was hungry and ate everything, o.k. only 2 pieces of bread not the 4 they gave me. I was very close to the Ha Carmel (the Israel outdoor market) and thought I’d be able to find a notebook and kleenex. It was so crowded and I wasn’t finding what I needed.
I headed back to the hotel along Ben Yehuda Street where I found a phone store. The girl was very nice and showed me how easy it was to switch the language on the phone and told me to dial *1111 then 4 to find out how many minutes I had left. Turns out I had 17 shekels left. Each minute costs 1 shekel, who was I going to call and this SIM card won’t work in any other country. Oh well. At least I was able to have it while in Israel. Maybe my Blackberry will find me in Istanbul. A few doors down was a pharmacy so I went in and found a small packet of kleenex.
I went back to the hotel to write. I had a nice desk next to the window which I was able to open and enjoy the fresh air. The weather was so nice and I was appreciating it because I knew Istanbul was going to be much colder.
I wrote for a time and then spent some time surfing the internet investigating my options for after Istanbul; other parts of Turkey and Greece.
So far the internet has been very helpful. I check out Trip Advisor, Lonely Planet and other “chats”. When you google something like, “what is the best way to get somewhere, or good hotels in a location”, often you get links to other peoples blogs and/or chats. O.k. Google is amazing.
It’s 4 p.m. and I’m thinking maybe I’ll go to a movie. I look up what’s playing and the times at the Dizengoff Square movie theater. I’m acting like I live here. There are two movies playing at 5:00 or 7:30; “The Tourist” and “The Fighter”. At 4:40 I decide to leave and can tell from the map that it will only take at most 10 minutes walk to the theater. That’s what it took.
Funny how when we were staying at the Dizengoff Suites I didn’t see the theater until the last day and we walked by there so many times. I felt immediately comfortable back in Tel Aviv and was laughing at myself that I was enjoying being here more than Haifa. The bad phone experience really put a damper on my stay in Haifa. Also, I found it much more difficult than I had anticipated to get around in the north. Who knows what I was thinking.
I chose to see “The Fighter”, which was a good movie (Christian Bale deserved the Golden Globe) and way better than “Little Fockers”. It’s funny when you buy a movie ticker here you are assigned a seat. When I got inside the theater there was only two other people. This happened in Haifa as well. Obviously there system is different than ours. I sat wherever I wanted.
After the movie I was kind of hungry. I was suppose to have dinner with Neal but he cancelled because he was leaving for N.Y. the next day and wasn’t prepare. So I was on my own.
I did enjoy being with Emily and her friend. It’s nicer to be with people especially at dinner time. I wasn’t sure where to eat but knew there were plenty of places back toward the hotel. I found a cool street, Bordovsky, that had many restaurants and shops. I heard lots of English being spoken as I walked by the restaurants. I couldn’t decide what I wanted to eat and still hadn’t found the notebook I was in need of. I continued walking toward the hotel and found myself on King George Street which I knew was wrong. I must have made a wrong turn although I thought I went back the same way I came. When I turned the corner the 1st store I came to was an art store. I was able to buy a notebook and a pen. I asked the girl in the store how to get back to my hotel and realized I’d made a wrong turn on Trumpeldor. This turned out to be better because I was able to get the notebook and found a nice restaurant, 'Saquella' across the street. They had a very nice menu and I had an Eggplant Foccacia sandwich. Suddenly I hear a loud noise and see several of the wait staff carrying a piece of cake with a sparkler in it coming toward me. They went to the girl sitting next to me to celebrate her birthday.
Back to my hotel--really wanted to finish the Israel part of the blog (obviously didn’t do that), skype with Emily and pack. Part of the problem with the blog is that uploading the photos has been a very slow process.
I was a bit challenged in how I was going to pack for the airplane. I knew I could only have my electronics bag and one other bag. I didn’t think they would allow me to have my backpack too so I switched to the Le Sport Sac. How was I going to do this?
I had brought the backpack to Israel in the stroller duffle I’d brought with Emily’s things and now had to put it in my suitcase. I was thinking I wished I’d kept that duffle. No matter can’t change that now.
Get the air out of the clothes bags--sit on the suitcase--squeeze everything in--it’s got to work.
I skyped with Emily one last time and was so tired. It was nearly midnight and I turned the light off.
bye bye Israel.
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