Spain and Israel 2018

We wanted to get to the Tel Aviv airport the recommended three hours before our flight, so ordered a cab to be picked up at 7:30 am.  Julia had to get all her stuff back up to her dorm and then get all the way back across time to work, so she left when we did it. We had a final Israeli shakshuka in the airport and boarded our plane. Our strategy of choosing a middle and an aisle and another aisle worked this time (it so rarely does) and Rachel and I were able to enjoy 11+ hours with no one between us.  Layover in Canada and landed with fireworks around 10 pm on July 4th, nearly 24 hours after we began.

With not much time for a sit-down breakfast before our market tour and cooking class, we walked to the bakery on the corner closest to where we are staying, the one that happens to have Julia's favorite croissant.  Rachel put together a sample platter of little pastries to try and after we had eaten all of those I suggested we each get another of our favorite one.  Jim said that was a bad idea but I utterly disregarded his opinion and gave Rachel money for one more treat for me and her. Feeling satisfied, we walked to meet our guide/instructor for the day - the lovely Yael (organization Eat and Meet Jerusalem - I HIGHLY recommend).   She walked us back into our neighborhood, where she also lives, because she explained before you can understand the history of the market, you have to understand the history of this neighborhood.  I had just been saying I really want to know more about this cool place we are staying (see blog from a couple of days ago when I said...

Jim still hadn't really seen the market a few blocks from where we are staying, so we decided to go there for breakfast.  A Monday morning in the market looks very different from the bustle of Friday mornings.  While on Fridays you can barely push your way through the crowds, today the market was just starting to open and we sat at stools outside a little croissant shop and watched the vendors setting up their shops. Julia left for work and Jim, Rachel, and I headed back into the Old City to see some of what we had missed yesterday.  I heard from Sandra about a place named Jerusalem Pottery that is supposed to have the best pottery in the city.  My mom just emailed me to tell me to pick up a birthday present for myself in Israel, so that was our first stop.  We spoke to a man who was the third generation of pottery makers. His grandfather and a few of his friends were brought to Jerusalem from Turkey/Armenia to work on restoring the tiles on the Dome of the ...

Julia had spent the days Rachel and I were in Jordan exploring the neighborhood of our airbnb (whose history I still want to learn, according to wikipedia:  Nachlaot is a grouping of 23 courtyard neighborhoods in central Jerusalem, Israel, known for its narrow, winding lanes, old-style housing, hidden courtyards and many small synagogues).  Julia was able to guide us out of the neighborhood out a different route to a breakfast place she found on one of her runs.  We ordered shakshouka (surprise) and a Norwegian breakfast that was delicious.  She went off to work and Jim, Rachel, and I set out to explore the Old City. Our audio tour of the Jewish Quarter was to start at the Zion Gate so we thought we'd walk along the outside of the wall to get there but discovered we couldn't do that without going up on the ramparts.  We were torn about going on another ramparts tour, but then we saw it started with a spiral staircase (an item on our summer scavenger hunt) a...

We went down to breakfast at the hostel and whereas last week we had walked out when we saw a crate of raw onions, this time we figured out they were just supplying ingredients for us to cook.  There was a full kitchen for everyone to use and a young man (from Palo Alto!) making himself breakfast.  Julia and Jim walked to get pastries (time is limited and there are many pastries in the world to try), I scrambled us up some eggs and Rachel made a cucumber and tomato salad.  It was strange to be cooking again, and even stranger to be washing dishes.  It was tasty though - and all before 7:15 am, when we were picked up by our tour company to go to Masada and the Dead Sea. I was really worried at first.  We don't usually travel in tours and this company picks people up from all over Tel Aviv and takes them to a central location to divide into different tours heading out in different directions.  So, you really felt like part of a factory until it all got sort...