Saturday in the Sun

This morning was rough getting up, but once I was, I had a great day.  Michele and I went to the Eretz Museum and spent several hours wandering the exhibit.  It wasn't really much to write home about (no pun intended) but was a lovely way to spend the day.  The most interesting parts, to me, were Jotam's Parable Garden and the Ethnography and Folklore Pavilion.

Jotam's Parable Garden was essentially just a garden with the native trees and plants of Israel labeled and a mini history.  The problem with the history was that it was only in Hebrew, so I missed most of the info, but it was cool to know the names of the plants you see everywhere.

With a gorgeous olive tree!

The Ethnography and Folklore Pavilion was actually a little museum of Jewish tradition and history, and it talked about the holidays and the symbols of Judaism and how they came to be. I thought it was really interesting.  The most incredible part was the room with Kettubim, or marriage documents, that dated back to the 1700's and came from India, Iran, Iraq, England, Spain, Netherlands, Denmark, and, of course, Israel. It was fascinating to see the breadth of the Jewish community around the world.

We also saw some cool archaeology and some traditional buildings for wine and olive oil pressing.

The old oil press building

Inside the oil press

Archaeology dig

I love the contrast of the archaeological site with the surrounding skyscrapers and modernization of Tel Aviv.

Hey, look! I learned something new and cool!

After the museum, we walked down to the pier. It was super crowded. We learned that coming on Shabbat is not the greatest idea. We couldn't hardly move. However, we did enjoy some tasty ice cream and I even found a spiral potato to nosh on!

YUM!

Oh, a word for the wise. Don't try to drive in Israel! I've never heard so many horns honking or so little space between cars. I was scared as a pedestrian. It was also faster to walk - we would be walking and the cars would go past, then we'd catch up and pass them, then the light would turn and they'd pass us. We did this with one particular car seven times... We beat him to the parking lot, where he then sat for probably a ridiculous amount of time. I was glad we were walking.

Classes start back tomorrow, so it's time for homework.

Lilah tov!