Shabbat Shalom

It is Friday, we have had a good night's sleep and ready to start exploring Israel. We are staying with friends Shulamit and Hannoch in Kadima, and have a lovely room with a comfy bed. Hannoch was a camp counselor at the Trenton JCC back in 1981. We have stayed in touch all these years and it is so great to be here visiting with him and his family.

We slept a little late and then took off for adventures in Tel Aviv. The ride is about a half hour and we are in the old commercial section of the city called Florentine. This is not an area we have seen on previous trips. There are coffee shops, many small shops and great food stands as well as original Bauhaus era homes. Many of the homes and buildings are becoming refurbished and young people are moving here.

Our mission is to buy towels and pillows for use on the army base as we did not want to bring them from home. Along the way we window shop and eat. The streets are narrow with cars parked bumper to bumper.  First stop was a visit to the coffee shop which Shulamit's daughter Nathalie runs with her fiancé Tal.

It is a tiny place that opens to the large promenade in front if it with many large ficus trees.

We sat outside and sipped tea, coffee and orange juice. Jeff and I had excellent cookies while Shulamit and Hannoch had good looking sandwiches filled with vegetables and other goodies. We started to see children and some adults in costumes.

Tomorrow is Purim and schools had parties today to celebrate. We even saw a dog dressed up. So many stores had costumes displays with long lines waiting to buy wigs, hats, masks and more.

We walked along and stopped when we found a towel store and then Shulamit and I bought some face cream.

When we reached to food area we topped at an appetizing open air stand where there was a large variety of olives, pickles and peppers.

They also had cheeses and quiches and everything looked marvelous. Shulamit found a corner store where she got Malawi (sp?) which is a sweet that looks like a light pudding flavored with Rose Water with nuts on top. I tasted and liked it. We passed many shops with incredible displays of spices and nuts. Everything was in open displays so you could smell wonderful aromas as you walked by.

Jeff was getting hungry and Shulamit promised him there was great schwarma nearby. The place was a counter where you purchased your meal and we sat outside at a tiny table. Jeff had the lamb
schwarma on pita with some French fries layered in. He was so happy and declared it the best he had ever eaten.

We walked back to the car and found most of the shops had closed early for Shabbat. So we drove to
Jaffa still looking for pillows. We found an Arab store that was open and purchased two fluffy pillows for a good price. Along the way we got to see the downtown area with the clock tower and a quick glimpse of the Mediterranean. Many old buildings here are being regentrified and young people are moving in.

Finally we head back north to Kadima. Before getting home we stopped at a produce stand where Hannoch hopped out to get a few items and the best fresh squeezed orange juice and white grapefruit juice (mitz escholiot) for Jeff.

We just awoke from a nice nap and ready for Shabbat dinner. Hannoch has made a pot of vegetable soup and it smells delicious. After the bracha and motzi we enjoyed the soup, herring, hummus and other salads and quickly got ready for the evening activity.

After dinner we drive again to Tel Aviv to see a show titled Kazablan. It is at the Cameri (chamber) Center which is much like Lincoln Center with several theaters in one building and the opera house and Tel Aviv Museum of Art all on one magnificent plaza. The play is a musical which has been playing over a year. It is a full Broadway style production with great songs and dance numbers. Of course, it is in Hebrew so we did not understand most of it, but got the gist. They do have super titles over the stage and on the sides, but tonight it was in Russian which didn't help us much. Shulamit and Hannoch prepare us with a synopsis of the story and whispered in our ears during the show to help with important themes. It was like West Side Story with Askenazi and Moroccan Jews in the early days of Israel.

Afterwards we drove down Rothschild Boulevard which is a trendy area with beautiful apartment buildings, bars and restaurants. There is a wide promenade down the middle which was full of young adults strolling in their Purim costumes. We drove north and stopped at a roadside cart for snacks and got home about 2:00 am. We haven't been up this late in a long time.