I was up early to accompany Jack and Sylvia to the bakery that makes this unbelievable treat!
Kurtosh – a hollow bread that is baked with cinnamon, nuts, halvah, and chocolate, OR, with any combination. The dough is rolled out, cut into strips, wrapped around a thick skewer, and brushed with something that makes the spices/nuts stick. It is then baked in a rotisserie-like oven. Yummmmmm is all that I can say. A kurtosh store in Philadelphia would be fabulous, particularly when I need to re-invent myself.
My day was empty until I had a date to meet my sister and a friend at the airport later in the afternoon. I would facilitate the airport transfer with them since we would be traveling on public transportation. Not having any luggage to take with me to the airport, I have time to check out the train station on the way.
Doris had first pointed these out to me and they are fascinating! These vending machines sell a meal in a box. When you scan the box, the microwave knows how much time is required to heat it. Pretty cool, huh? Full service rail stations in Tel Aviv without human contact!
The rendezvous was seamless and I was so excited that Gail and I were together in this country that I loved so much. We went elbow to elbow with the soldiers to board the train and made an easy transfer to the city bus. Next stop: Hotel Adiv.
Being the tour guide for the day, I barely let Gail get settled before we headed down the street to the Mediterranean. Rain was in the forecast, and I didn’t want her first “toes in the water” to be a washout.
It was a glorious moment!
My buddies from Sde Teiman also returned to the Adiv after their third week on the base. It was a real love festival in the lobby of the hotel as we drank wine to celebrate the official end of our Tour of Duty. It was even better that I was able to share my new friends with my sister.
We joined Steve Schwartz for dinner, this time only walking as far as Jaffa. We ate outdoors at the Aladdin Restaurant, high on cliff overlooking the sea, with a backdrop of the Tel Aviv skyline. Very cool! (Look carefully for the lights of the city)
As promised we woke to rain and lingered over breakfast. The cousins had arrived! It was a great mix of family and friends for me.
The Erezt Israel Museum had a highly recommended photography exhibit of the Haredim ultra-orthodox sect and we decided to see it.
Menachem Kahana began photographing the ultra-orthodox community in 1995. A surprising sight of ultra-orthodox people bathing in a spring piqued his curiosity and he began wondering about the concealed life of ultra-Orthodox Jews outside the routine circumstances in which we frequently see them. He created a close and trustful relationship with the Haredim community. This was no easy feat. The ultra-orthodox community regularly faces ridicule, derision and disrespect from secular Jews. Kahana managed to investigate their world in depth. The photographs are intriguing, and at times disturbing. It was a mutually beneficial relationship as its members began trusting him and eventually used his photographs for their own purposes.
The exhibit has been very controversial, with many detractors incensed that the museum would allow such an exhibit. Some have described it as “appalling and un-Jewish”. There is nothing like the camera for opening locked doors.
It was still raining when we left the museum and cousin Lynda went out to flag a cab; Gail was under cover outside, and I was inside watching the whole thing!
We went to the synagogue on Bograshav for Friday night services. It was yahrzeit for my Uncle Mandy (my father’s brother). The rabbi was pleased to see nine of us walk in. We provided him with a minyan(the quorum necessary to recite certain prayers, consisting of ten Jewish adults)and services started. It could not have been raining any harder when we left the synagogue: cats and dogs is the description that comes to mind. We had to split up to get cabs and eventually reconnected at a restaurant: Barbunyia. Dinner was great and of course another Kodak moment. The family adopted Sar-El Scott this night.
The next day was dry and windy. Did I say really windy? I had a flash back to the sand storm in the Negev, and had little interested in walking by the beach.
We abandoned those plans and headed toward Rothschild Blvd. On the way, while I was assisting a young man with the local ATM, the rest of the crew was waiting on the corner. It was an amazing convergence on that corner as a motorcycle rider pulls up, takes off his helmet and gives my cousin buddy a big hug.
It was Etei, an Israeli who was a friend of his daughter, Joanna. I had met Etei a few summers ago when he and Joanna were touring around Newport on a cold and rainy day and sought shelter at the Pooc for a cup of hot coffee!
We stopped at this sculpture on Dizengoff and noticed that the “private parts” were rubbed very smooth and shiny!
We needed to be back at the Adiv for a rendezvous with the other cousins and our guide. The Packer Cousins Israeli Tour would officially begin.
The adventure continues…
1 comment:
Lovely ! It looks like you people enjoyed lot there in Israel. I was also there last year and indeed, its very beautiful place for visiting & will definitely go there again.
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