My First Week in Israel

Well, I made it to Israel in one piece, without any trouble from passport control. My backpack made it to Tel Aviv in one piece as well. Barak was waiting for me right outside the baggage claim and we just made it on the train into the city to get into bed at around 4:30 am. The following day, Wednesday the 11th, we had lunch with his mom Varda, aunt Shula (who lives in NY), sister Inbal and her boyfriend Avner. It was an amazing meal and the company wasn't too bad either. Being nervous and only having 4 hours of any sort of quality sleep made me a little bit more on edge than I thought I would have been. But they all made an incredible effort to speak in English and help make me feel comfortable. That night after a nice long afternoon nap, Barak took me for my first walk through the city. The streets are really alive with young people meeting up and socializing where ever they see fit. I got a general orientation of the area before we headed back to his place. The following day, we made the trek to Netanya, Barak's hometown, where his parents still live. It was wonderful to be in his family's home. Again, the Mendelsohn crew made me feel so warm and welcome. After a big snack and smaller but still quite tasty supper, Barak showed me the night life of Netanya. We ended up at a bar that he frequented in his youth for the night. The scene wasn't much different than the US, there just a guy with a metal detector wand standing at the front door. We spent Friday during the day walking around Netanya's shopping district, running small errands and observing Netanyans enjoying their weekend. After another quick meal at his parents' we drove to see one of Barak's best friends since childhood, Asi, his wife Tzafi and their two boys (Yoav,3 and Yonatin, now 3 weeks). It was great to see Barak interact with someone he has known his entire life who is outside of the family. Asi and Tzafi are two of the most genuine people I have met in a long time. It was really nice to get the chance to meet and chat with them even though we were only there for a little over an hour. Then back to Barak's parents for dinner and then off to Tel Aviv to meet up with one of his former roommates who is stuck in her apartment with a broken leg. It was an intense first couple of days, but as the week started on Sunday, Barak went back to a normal work schedule at the university, and I got some time to explore Tel Aviv on my own. Spent most of it just wondering the streets and at the beach which is amazing. The water is so much warmer than either the Pacific or Atlantic oceans and it is so clear that you can see schools of fish swimming nearly to the shore. The sand is packed with Israelis and tourists alike baking in the Indian Summer sun. After just a couple of days, I had to pack some stuff up to catch a flight back to Athens for a technical RTW ticket issue. If I skipped my leg from Athens to Tel Aviv on the "One-World" alliance airline partner, the rest of my ticket would be cancelled. More about Athens next time.

Pictures of Barak's Apartment - 87 Allenby - Tel Aviv

The City that Spans Two Continents

Istanbul is a must see for so many reasons. I been obsessed with going there for several years now to be in one of the most fascinating geographical locations on this planet. Anywho, I was really excited to get out of the comforts of Europe. I met an amazing group of people in my room at my hostel who made the trip even greater. Nick (another Aussie), Stef and Tim (Brits) and Claudia (Swiss) were a great bunch of companions who had so much travel advice to offer. They were all very laid back individuals longing to see as much of the world as they possibly can before getting caught up in settling down.
I was in and around Istanbul for almost a week before coming to Israel. My hostel was in Sultanahmet, the old part of the city, about 3 blocks away from the Hagia Sophia and Blue Mosque. What was particularly amazing was the proximity to these places. There is a huge festival/market for Ramadan set up in the gardens between the two. About 200 vendors sell everything from yummy baklava, kebabs, falafel and other middle eastern varieties of food, scarves, jewelry, etc. There is even an open air theatre where they booked both traditional Turkish music artists and modern. Once the sun went down, that place was alive with a great array of Muslims from all over the Middle East and Europe. It was my favorite part of the city.
I also spent some time in the newer part of the city, across the bridge in Asia and down the Bosporus on the Prince's Islands, a vacation site for many wealthy Turks back in the early 1900s.

Here are some photos:


The Blue Mosque


Commercial Street on the Prince's Islands


My new friend Stef (right-green shirt) and me with host from good Turkish place near our hostel

Catching Up - Budapest

Hi all,

Sorry again for the delay, but here's my adventure highlights for Budapest.

I got to the Hungarian capital on Friday Sept 29. The hostel I stayed in was relatively small, only 30 beds and located in the 5th district of the Pest side. Pretty much right in the tourist center of the city. A guy I met in Bratislava was also staying in the same hostel so I had a buddy from the start. We met up with some British girls, Sarah and Gina, that evening for an interesting introduction to Budapest nightlife. We went to this bar, not too far from the hostel, with sawdust on the floor and a unique decorative pattern. The theme was centered around obtaining a push pin and tack anything you have on you to the walls, ceiling and posts. There were thousands of business cards, IDs, passports, bus passes, ect. all over the place. The entertainment was also a hoot. They had a karaoke set up, but there was no rotation. One, very attractive women, sat at the helm the entire time singing American and British pop songs. After a couple of rounds, we all had a great time laughing and talking with other travelers and locals.
The next couple of days were filled with typical site seeing mostly on the Pest side although I did get a long walk in around Buda on my last day.
I ended up finding another bike tour company. This time I was again with a local as well as two more British girls and two guys from Spain, one of them spoke English, the other just chain smoked for the 5 hours we were riding around. The first half of the tour was pretty standard, introduction to the city, mini history lesson, blah, blah, blah. The our guide, who never introduced himself, suggested that we stop a local market for some snacks. Snacks turned into four rounds of beer and some interesting fried pastry with cheese and sour cream. Needless to say, the last hour was interesting. I'm not sure how everyone managed successfully to navigate Budapest afternoon traffic, but we all returned to the bike shop in tact.
I absolutely loved Budapest. It was clean and charming. Each district has its own unique character. The people were incredibly friendly. Even on the train into the city, they had a tourist bureau representative coming around asking if anyone needed maps or directions to their accommodations or questions about the city. The bridges are amazing and the Danube is breath-taking. I did indulge in a mineral spa experience. Sitting around in a very large, luke-warm bath tub with several old Hungarian women was surprisingly relaxing. My $12 15-minute massage wasn't bad either. Another city on my list to visit again in the future.


Heroes' Square


Me touching the "golden pen" - like the blarney stone - this one has special powers. It is supposed to give me the gift of articulate writing. By the merits of this blog, I don't think it works, but I got to take a photo next to a funny looking statue of a monk. His importance: commissioned to write the history of Hungary.

Bratislava

No catchy title, because it was a less then catchy city. Getting there was a bit of a headache as I had to go back through Vienna and get to a different train station, not to mention the weird people at the Bratislava station who try to convince you to stay in their homes.

Let's clarify one thing. I don't like scary movies, so before deciding to go to Bratislava, I had no idea that the horror film "Hostel" was set there. In fact, I learned about that in the hostel common room while posting my reports on Prague and Austria.

Well, like Prague most of the important historical things to see are located in the "Stare Mesto" or old town. There are a couple of churches, small museums, palaces and the like with tons of over priced cafes and ice cream shops in between. The government's done a good job of putting up directional signs in English and German to
direct travelers so finding things on one's own is not that difficult.

Most of my time in the city was spent at this one pub - 1 Slovak Pub, which is a student hangout. They even have specials on the menu for students who bring in "A" papers or exams. I actually saw this one happen. It's a pretty significant discount, a whole 50 cents, but when your meal costs 2.30, it counts. The first couple of times I went to the 1 Slovak by myself and quickly learned that Slovak men are not intimidated by the fact that neither of us speak the same language. Within minutes of sitting down, some guy would be at my table, drink in hand. I let them talk for about a minute or so before letting them know that I in fact was not a country woman and would not be partaking in their ritual. But unlike everywhere else in Europe, these men persisted and some even tried to use the waiters as translators. This is when the wedding ring I picked up in Chico becomes especially handy. I soon learned that putting my mug of beer to my lips and then holding up my left hand was the best defense.

After learning the sad fact of not being able to go to the cheapest and tastiest place in town alone, I started recruiting hostel goers to join me for a pint or 3. It became our own ritual and so most of my time ended up being with a group of regulars from the hostel with cheap and relatively tasteless Slovak beer and various dishes stuffed with potatoes and bacon.

Three days of drinking and saying my life story over and over again to new additions to the group, I left Bratislava rather underwhelmed, but glad that I went.


The Stunning Bratislava Castle


The Novy Most (New Bridge) over the Danube - designed by the Commies back in the '70s

Failed Foto Frenzy

Tried again to upload photos with no avail. Here's a pic of me on the London Eye.