Below is my summary:
Saturday 4/13/19
On Saturday, April 13, I spent most of the day packing. Dan and I headed to my dad's hour after that and ate out at a Chinese Restaurant in Monument and spent the night at my dad's house. I was really excited and nervous. I wasn't sure I would have access to a laundry in Israel, so I brought enough clothes to last me for more than two weeks. I even brought soap, paper towels, kleenex tissue, napkins, towels, shampoo and conditioner, and plastic bags! The two pieces of luggage I planned to check included my Razor scooter and ice skates and even a small sleeping bag. It took a few days to pack.
Sunday 4/14/19
We asked Southwest Airlines form a pass for Dan. We both went through TSA, but Dan and I separated to do that since I had TSA Pre, but when we reunited I bought myself a salad to eat on the plane for dinner and Dan stayed with me until I boarded the plane. My plane took off around 4;30 pm I think and I arrived in Newark, New Jersey around 10:45 pm. After I obtained my luggage, I took a shuttle to the Newark Airport Marriott and enjoyed a wonderful night in a very nice hotel room. I watched Netflix and slept late.
Monday 4/15/19
I woke up around 10 am (remember in Colorado it was only 8 am) and got dressed. I then went down to the hotel lobby and got some decaf and took it back to my room. I relaxed in my room and ate a muffin I'd brought from Colorado from Wooglin's Deli and began watching the last episode of Shtisel on Netflix. I got a late checkout at the hotel and left the hotel at 1 pm. I then took the hotel shuttle back to the airport and the United Terminal.
At the United check in area, I did a self-check in and then dropped off my luggage. After getting through TSA, I got some decaf and soft pretzels from Annie's. I thought I had quite a wait, so I turned on my computer with the idea that perhaps I'd update an unfinished blog post. A woman from Puerto Rico thought I was doing work at the airport, and we had a friendly conversation. She was excited about my trip to Israel and she seemed glad to have someone to talk to since her flight was delayed due to weather. I didn't get to relax though since I heard over the loudspeaker that those on the flight to Israel needed to get to the gate to go through extra security, so I headed towards my gate. It was around 2:30 pm and the announcement said that all passengers had to be in the closed off area near the gate by 3:30 pm.
After going through that extra security, I waited and marveled at all the "Jewish looking people" that were in that area! The area was full of many Hasidic Jewish families. There were also many women with head coverings and strollers. I had a brief discussion with a lady from New York City who was going to Jerusalem for Passover. It was obvious that everyone on my plane was traveling to Israel for Passover.
When I finally boarded the plane (boarding began an hour before the flight was scheduled to leave since there were so many passengers), I found my reserved window seat (45A) which was next to an Orthodox (but not Hasidic couple) form New York City.
The flight took nine hours. I watched Mary Poppins Returns and Crazy Rich Asians and then tried to watch other stuff, and perhaps slept a bit. In the morning, I woke to what seemed like a plane of men davening and praying anywhere they could stand on the plane. The Orthodox couple that sat next to me had the woman sit in the center seat and then man sat in the aisle seat. I woke to see him reading his prayer book and wearing tefillin and praying.
Tuesday, 4/16/19
I arrived in Tel Aviv at 10:30 am and after getting my luggage and going through Passport Control and Customs I found Annabelle!
We hugged and hugs and then we got some coffee at the airport at Cafe Aroma (Israel's equivalent to Starbucks) and relaxed together. We ate some of the leftover food I had from my plane flight (no appetite on plane) and my leftover Annie's pretzels. Then we called Rebekah on her 23rd birthday (Rebekah was in Malaysia). After that we walked around the airport and then finally took a Gett (Uber like cab) to our Airbnb in the Florentin area of Tel Aviv which was only three blocks away from Annabelle's Ardvark Israel program apartment.
We arrived at our Airbnb at around 3:30 pm (since we had debated at the airport about waiting for Larisa and that is why we stayed at the airport until around 2 pm). When we arrived at the Airbnb, we met Boaz our host. He was still getting the apartment ready when we arrived and Larisa arrived about 45 minutes later.
After settling in, we took a walk (JO ANN scootered) to Annabelle's apartment three blocks away and saw her cute dorm like room.
Then we went to this wonderful humus type restaurant and had humus, pita, black beans, and baba ganoush.
We scootered and walked around after dinner on Rothschild Street and had coffee before heading back to our lodging.
Wed 4/17-19
Went to beach in morning and scootered-walked around and then went to Jaffa area and had a really nice breakfast (Annabelle and I had something like French toast outside) and Larisa had an Israeli breakfast with eggs and then we went to the "Shuk" market and experienced the most amazing outside shopping ever. While we were at breakfast we contacted Rabbi Levy who used to be our Rabbi in the Springs and he rode the train from where he lived in Ashkelon into Tel Aviv and met us at our lodging and then we went to a really amazing shopping mall and then out to eat for Falafel. After that Annabelle had a mock seder for her program to get to, but she took us first to the Ardvark building and we got to meet some of the staff and students and see the candy seder table.
Thursday, 4/18/19
We woke up really early and took a city bus (Annabelle paid using her student pass) to the bus station and then got Rav Kav cards to travel on buses or trains and then boarded a bus to Jerusalem. The ride took about and hour. Larisa met a woman named Camila who is a synchronized swimming coach who speaks Russian and Camila invited Larisa to come back to Jerusalem do she could show her around.
After exchanging numbers we were off to see Jerusalem and went to the "Shuk" first and saw amazing wares and food and had breakfast in a vegetarian place (Annabelle had fried eggs) and Larisa had Shakshouka egg dish with tomato sauce (common Israeli dish) and I ate humus and Pita with everyone. Larisa also had Turkish coffee. After breakfast we walked through Shuk more and got decaf for me and hot chocolate for Annabelle at Caffe Aroma and then Larisa bought a cool pair of pants.
Larisa bought a local phone in Jerusalem right at a shop on the streets. She could not get a Sim card since her phone is locked.
Then we headed to the ice rink in Jerusalem by bus and after getting off walked for quite awhile and passed the King David Hotel and a place that is like the YMCA in USA. We walked and walked it seemed and then we finally got to the ice rink and skated!
We left the ice rink area around 6:30-7 pm and it took awhile to wait for the bus and then we got to the main Jerusalem station and boarded a bus back to Tel Aviv. Before boarding the bus we bought Annabelle a pretty dress at a shop in the bus station. We arrived back in Tel Aviv around 9 pm and then walked back to our lodging. Annabelle explained that the area near the bus station is a bad area. It felt creepy walking back at night but as we got back to our area, it felt a bit safer.
Once back, Larisa stayed at apt, but Annabelle and I scooter-walked to a wonderful vegan pizza place and had a great time together. Annabelle's pizza had "pepperoni" and pineapple and mine had arugula, olives, mushrooms, and tomatoes. We got a "half" of a full sized pizza which was plenty for us (each of us had two slices). It was so fun to be together.
Friday, 4/19/19
Jo Ann slept in! Larisa had trouble with her phone so we spent a lot of time trying to fix it and Annabelle made breakfast. Boaz our host came over to check on us and fixed Larisa's phone. After that Annabelle and Jo Ann took the bikes Boaz includes with the apartment down to the beach and we walked our bikes to the beach and had a long ride on the beach bike path. (It was so crowded).
When we returned to our lodging we began to prepare to go to the Passover seder Annabelle had arranged for us to go to in North Tel Aviv. When it came time to go though, we couldn't get a Gett or Taxi. We walked down the street and tried to flag taxis down, but no one would pick us up. We gave up and returned to our apt and called taxis, but their services were completely shut down. Our hostess didn't quite believe we couldn't get a taxi, but once we realized we would never get one, we decided to go to a small 24 market where we got more food and made ourselves a wonderful Seder!
We sat on our couch and "reclined" and did the whole seder without a Haggadah and had a wonderful Passover meal together that included Israeli dishes. We may have enjoyed being together and doing our own thing way better than being at a Seder with a lot of strangers.
After the seder we watched Bubbe's Passover, Lion King Passover, and part of Rugrats Passover.
Saturday, 4/20/19
It was Larisa's 65th birthday!
Jo Ann slept in really late (until like 11 am!). We drank coffee and then watched a Shabbat Service from Temple Israel in Long Beach and then packed up our laundry and went off to the 24 hour laundry and did our laundry. Jo Ann also contacted our Passover host Debbie via text to apologize for not being able to get there and Debbie invited us to their home Sunday night!
Then, we took Larisa out to dinner at a non-kosher restaurant on Rothschild Street and then had after dinner coffee at Caffe Aroma. Jo Ann enjoyed the scooter ride there and back.
We also called Grama Farris since it was her 95th birthday on 4/20/19!
Sunday, 4/21/19
JO ANN did not sleep well but got up early anyway and Annabelle and JO ANN went off to Holon to the ice rink there and skated. We took a bus and it took about 40 min. We also got our Rav Kav bus cards reloaded. We arrived at 9:15 am. We couldn't figure out how to skate "training sessions" but did the public which started at 10 am. The public was very busy and we were allowed to skate for an hour and paid about $38! When Annabelle tried to do a sit spin in the center (twice) the skate guard said, "Only those training here can skate in center..." So weird....
When we got back to the Florentine area we put our skates back in Airbnb and then walked-scootered to Rothschild street to eat and got to pet a little dog that was just sitting in front of a bike shop! The breakfast place we wanted to go to was too crowded and had a long line, so we went back to the Florentin area and ate at The City Cafe.
After eating we checked out the Moishe Rosen Center, but no one was there. Then...we wandered around the Florentin area and bought Annabelle a vegan dessert.
We then returned to our Airbnb and got ready to go to Debbie and Udi Shlider's home in North Tel Aviv. It was 4.5 miles there and JO ANN scootered all the way and Annabelle got one of the bike rentals on street and we had a wonderful time getting there and seeing Tel Aviv.
We had a great time visiting Debbie and Udi and had a light Israeli meal with them and ate some Kosher for Passover cake and enjoyed tea.'
We took the two buses back and went to bed. I visited with Larisa a bit. She saw her friends from Russia who she had not seen since her school days! (Earlier Larisa wandered to Jaffa (Yoffo) but got lost.
Monday 4-22-19
We left early at 7 am and took bus to Tel Aviv bus station and then took a bus from the Tel Aviv main station to Jerusalem's main station. Then we took another bus to the Old City and met our friend Elazar Brandt at the Jaffa Gate.
Elazar led us to Wailing Wall. We began heading towards the women's section but lost Larisa and never found her the rest of the day.
We headed back since there were so many people and got back to Elazar and then went to a food court and went to The Holey Bagel and had kosher for Passover rolls with cream cheese (Annabelle) and tuna (JO ANN) and veggies (JO ANN) and coffee.
We were there at about two hours and then headed back towards to the Wailing Wall and got through. Much emptier. Annabelle took Jo Ann to the Wailing Wall and Jo Ann got to put her prayer in the Wall and touch the wall and pray there too!
After that we linked back up with Elazar and went to the City of David. We drank more coffee there and then saw the remains of David's Palace and even saw an ancient toilet.
We took a couple buses after that to Elazar's home and saw a typical Jerusalem apartment and had tea with Elazar. While there we called Steve Davis!
Then Annabelle and JO ANN headed back to Tel Aviv. We took a bus to the main Jerusalem bus station and then got on a bus for Tel Aviv.
When we returned to bus station we walked down Levinsky Street until we got back to our neighborhood.
We then put our stuff away and used the to bathroom and then got Jo Ann's scooter and went down Frankel Street to the end and went to wonderful restaurant. JO ANN had a curry dish and Annabelle had an Asian dish. We then went to a cool coffee house after and sat on a couch with pillows and JO ANN drank this really amazing herbal tea and Annabelle had Capucino.
We then scooter-walked back and were relieved to find that Larisa got back to our Airbnb.
Tuesday 4/23 and Wednesday 4/24/19
Tuesday and Wednesday were taken up with our trip to the Negev with Elazar and Krina Brandt. The day started out with a scooter-walk to the train station. From there we took a train to Beer Sheba. After using the restroom in the mall next to the train station, we got in Elazar's and Krina's huge jeep like car and headed to all the sites Krina planned in the Negev.
We first stopped at the Monument to the Negev Brigade and then we saw the Ramon Crater and hiked. Before going to the Crater we had a nice little picnic together that included the food we brought with us.
We stayed at a very nice apartment hotel in Dimona and ate kosher for Passover food at a nearby mall.
The next morning we went to Ein Avdat and hiked (Krina and Annabelle climbed) and after that went to Beer Tuvia and picked flowers.
Finally, the Brandts took us to a train station in Ashdod and we headed back to Tel Aviv.
Thursday 4/25/19
Annabelle and I woke up really early and took four different buses to see Efraim and Jeannie Goldstein to Haifa's train station that was next to mall. We were supposed to meet Efraim at CafeCafe inside the mall, but had to go through a lot of security checking to go inside the mall. We had to show identification to go inside the mall.
Annabelle and I had some coffee at the mall and reunited with Efraim. From Haifa we went to Nahariya in Efraim's car and breakfast by the beach with Efraim and Jeannie.
After breakfast we did a quick driving tour of Nahariya and saw from the outside Jeannie's and Efraim's apartment. (Nahariya looked like a nice beach community in California in my opinion.)
Then, Efraim drove into the hills above Galilee and we got to do a short hike. Then we arrived in Haifa just in time to take the last train back from Haifa to Tel Aviv and scootered-walked all over city on way back from Tel Aviv's main train station. Trains and buses shut down early due to special ending of Passover holiday.
We wanted to eat out somewhere, but most restaurants we closed, so once we arrived in the Florentin area, we ate at our favorite hummus place just before they closed for the holiday and Shabbat.
Friday 4/26/19
We first did our laundry and then went to City Cafe for Israeli breakfast.
After that we walked our bikes to beach and then rode on bike path (played on exercise equipment at beach) and then went to Rothschild Street and rode there. Then we went back to our Airbnb and walked-scootered to Reform Shabbat service at the Ruth Daniel Residence, but at first couldn't find the service since all we saw were a bunch of Orthodox people waiting for a service, but eventually we found the Reform service. We missed half the service, but got there in time to hear the "sermon" and do the traditional prayers and drink Kiddush wine.
On way home, we ate dinner in bar and had vegan pizza with mushrooms and a hummus appetizer.
Saturday 4/27/19
Got up early and scooter-ran with Annabelle on beach. Ate breakfast at our Airbnb and Annabelle made Matza Brie. (We bought syrup before at AM-PM by beach)
We then rested a bit and drank a lot of coffee and then scooter-walked (electric scooter for Annabelle part of the way) to Gordon Beach and watched Israeli dancing and then went to the northern most beach and met up with Steve Davis and his wonderful family. There we had ice cream with the Davis family.
After saying good-bye to Steve and Rachel and Eli and Adam and Amalia, Annabelle ate corn on the cob and pretzel at Arab outdoor market and then we went back to our Airbnb and then got bikes. We walked the bikes to Jerusalem Blvd and rode until we entered a mostly Arab area (saw Chabad house) and then walked bikes back. Went to place (Casah de la Floretin) where Annabelle had Chinese food and Mom had salad and then went to outdoor coffee and tea place and Annabelle had Malabi dessert.
Sunday 4/28/29
Early in the morning we scooter-ran down to beach via Jerusalem Blvd and did scooter-run on the beach. We ran into Ananbelle's friend Odelia who was also running in preparation for the women's race Annabelle and Odelia were to take part in on Tuesday. On way back ate at Bread Station and shared an Israeli Breakfast.
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We rested a bit at Airbnb and then headed to train station and took two trains to the Biblical Zoo.
The second train from Beit Shemesh was filled with Haredi Jewish families. The Zoo had more religious families there than animals!
We then took two trains back and then ate at our favorite hummus place again. Before dinner we bought Annabelle a vegan toothbrush and tea at this cool vegan store. Before heading back to our lodging, we walked-scootered around the Florentin area a bit just to get some exercise after our big dinner.
Monday 4/29/19
We left our lodging early and decided to take a long bike ride and rode our bikes on beach and then went on bike path in park. We ate breakfast and coffee on beach at Cafe Aroma. Jo Ann called Susan Smadja from Cafe Aroma and then called Efraim while bike riding on beach.
We then returned to our Airbnb and rested and packed a bit. Then we did some laundry.
While Annabelle watched the laundry, JO ANN went to Moishe Rosen Center and met Chaim and Shoshana and Greg and someone else. Chaim tried out JO ANN's scooter.
After putting laundry away and taking Annabelle's stuff back to her apt, we went to dinner at the same hummus place again and then scootered and Annabelle biked on Rothschild for a long way and then when we returned had coffee and tea out and then returned to Airbnb and packed and showered.
What a wonderful vacation!
Tuesday 4/30/19
Jo Ann locked the door behind Larisa when she left at 4 am to walk to train station. Her plane left much earlier than Jo Ann's and she wanted to use the train to get to the airport rather than call a taxi.
Jo Ann went back to bed and woke up at 5 am and packed and showered and cleaned our Airbnb a bit.
We got a Gett taxi around 7:30 am and got to airport a little before 8 am.
At the airport we first drank coffee and had breakfast. It was a little sad since I knew it was my last few hours with my sweet Annabelle..
We then waited in line to check in (that area opened at 9:15 am) and then I used restroom and headed towards the gate and hugged Annabelle good bye.
Once I got to gate bought some mints. Boarding took forever and I had to dump water in my water bottle when they went through bags. That is different than in the USA since in the USA we take an empty water bottle through TSA but fill it up before getting on plane. I also left my watch in the security tray since they asked me to remove my watch, but I noticed I did not have it almost right away, and retrieved it. That is also different than in the USA since we are not asked to remove watches at TSA security.
My plane trip very pleasant. I had a window seat (51A) next to two Israeli gay men. The plane took off around 12:30 pm.
On the plane, I read a book about Hasidic man who left and watched Christopher Robbin. I did some sleeping too.
I arrived at Newark Airport at 4:45 pm and it took a long time to get through Passport Control and shorter through customs and then Tom McHugh picked me up and went to McHugh's house and had nice time visiting with Lori and Tom and slept fairly well.
Wed 5/1/19
Did laundry at the McHughs and visited a bit. I ice danced with Tom in Danbury from about 11--1:45 pm., Tom took me to lunch at a Mediterranean place and then I slept and woke up around 8 pm and ate Lori's homemade soup and challah and went back to bed and then woke around 3 am and finished Shulem Deen's book.
Thursday 5/2/19
Packed and then waited to get ready to leave with Tom. Visited with Lori a bit more. We skated at Danbury again for just an hour 11am until 12 pm and then had lunch at a south American restaurant and then headed to La Guardia airport.
Tom dropped me at the curb and I headed inside to check my luggage and then I headed to gate. The plane was delayed, but eventually we boarded around 6:15 pm. It was a long flight (almost 4 hours) and I slept most of the trip.
Was so glad to reunite with Dan once I landed at DIA! Slept all the way home to Colorado Springs. What a trip!
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