Shalom from Tel Aviv

Still hard to believe that I am in Israel, for the very first time.  Linda and I arrived Sunday afternoon to find beautiful weather in Tel Aviv (which didn't last!).  Shortly after getting settled in the Mendeli Street Hotel, the Kaufmans and the Borgenichts arrived.  After a very long walk, we found a great restaurant with wonderful Middle Eastern food (three nights later, the menu changed and it is now Asian fusion!).  Erela's Hebrew for Travelers class has turned out to be a big help - no problem finding the necessities!

Monday we did a ton of walking after an amazing breakfast - we were warned about the breakfasts!  It was warm and sunny (sorry Boston!)  We visited Shuk haCarmel and Jaffa, where we had lunch and visited the Old Jaffa Port, and then walked the coastline back to our hotel.

Tuesday we had a driver take us to Ceasaria, north of Tel Aviv, to visit old Roman ruins.  Another warm day but very, very windy.  Then to Zichron Yaakov and Marat Hanadiv, two beautiful places thanks to the Rothschild family.

Wednesday was very windy, very dusty and then very wet, so we visited the Eretz Israel Museum and the Itzhak Rabin Museum, both of which were excellent,

We are looking forward to the arrival of the rest of the Temple Aliyah group tomorrow afternoon.  The forecast is for more rain and wind, but hopefully there will be enought breaks in the rain for some walking throughout Tel Aviv!

Bruce