Leaving On A Jet Plane

In about three hours I will drive Nancy and Stuart to the Hof HaCarmel train station down by the beaches. They are taking an 80 minute ride from here to the airport in Tel Aviv, then flying home at about 5:00 am local time. It has been really nice to see them in Jerusalem, and then here in Haifa. In a lot of ways this visit was similar to the many times they have come to our house in Champaign, which has been helpful as we continue to try and get comfortable here.

On Saturday, Nancy’s cousin Michal (whose house we visited in Tiv’on a while ago) came to our apartment. She is a great conversationalist and I learned about the politics surrounding the ongoing decision of where to site the country’s second international airport.

Sunday morning, we dropped the girls off and had a light breakfast at Cafe Pilpelet in the Dan Panorama indoor mall. We lined up for the free Baha’i Gardens tour, but eventually learned that we were at the wrong gate and needed to sprint about 100 meters down the street. We made it in time, but listened as the Russian lady at that gate turned away a mother and daughter who had driven hours but neglected to cover their shoulders and lower legs. There were several men in cargo shorts who were not asked to cover themselves.

The tour lasted about 45 minutes and the group descended nine of the 18 terraces that make up the gardens, terminating at the Shrine of the Bab. During the tour, we learned that the holiest place for Baha’i believers is actually across the bay in Akko and that the largest Baha’i community in the world is in India. Here is a photo of the Baha’i Lotus Temple in Delhi that I took during my visit with Arnab and Saket in 2016.

It was interesting to see how the view changed as we made our way down the side of the mountain. A few of the better photos from the tour are included below.

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After picking up Aviva, Stuart and I took her to the park down the street. There is a cannon and monument at the edge of the park. One of the kids (Stav) from Aviva’s class was there and they played hard.

We met the others for dinner at Pizza Torino on HaNassi Blvd, then picked up an early birthday cake for Adena at Dulce on the way home.

After the kids were ready for bed, Adena and I went to a movie at the cinematheque around the corner. It is a very nice movie-house that reminded me of the Carolina Theater in Durham, NC. We liked the movie and were thankful for the opportunity to get out two weekends in a row!

Today Nancy wasn’t feeling good, but the Adena, Stuart, and I took the Carmelit funicular down to the port area for breakfast and coffee at Cafe Palmer.

We walked over to the outdoor market in the Wadi Nisnas neighborhood, but concluded that Friday and Saturday are probably the best days to visit, as not very many shops were open.

We picked up onions and pita, then made our way back home on the Carmelit. Tomorrow it’s back to work and there are no more holidays until early December.