First 24 hours In Tel Aviv

What started out as an iffy scenario, quickly became a very positive situation. When we arrived at Eden House at around 7pm nothing looked good:-( We were all exhausted and our taxi driver with GPS had a rough go of it. We are residing on a VERY TINY street... more about that later. Noa's face was so long when she saw our quarters I thought she would just about burst into tears. Thanks to Paul's work with the American Academy of achievement, (Noa and I always tagged along) thus her idea of hotels were The Four Seasons, Claridge's, Kempinski etc. Not to mention grandma trips Noa only had experiences in the world of 5*. Paul and I had discussed what a mixed blessing it was for her and that we both preferred to travel more in the "local spirit" with trips to foreign countries with backpacks and on bicycle etc. We both wanted her to learn to love to travel in a more modest style. Well Noa has now seen the world of the 2*. I found this place on Trip Advisor as a B & B and it had/has on the top review from ALL that have stayed here. We have a kitchen, bedroom, sitting area and bath. Two blocks to the beach. Think $96 USD/day vs. $300 or more. It is rustic, complete with dry rot in the bath, 4 types of flooring in less than 400 sq.ft,with humble furnishings. To make Noa feel better, we took a walk down the waterfront promenade and found a gelato shop. The flavors were excellent and for the first time in my life I could not finish. We next walked in to the Sheraton so she could see the nice sterile environment with everyone dressed up and playing nice. We decided we would wait until the morning to see if we should consider other digs. The walk home was fine until we got lost and were getting very frustrated to know how close we were. Noa grabbed the map from Paul and found our way home.

In the morning we all gathered around our technology table, the sun was shining and we discussed how well we all slept, so the ugly beds were comfortable after all, and it was so nice for mom to be able to make coffee in the room and we had enough space for a bit of privacy. The kicker was our hosts Serge and Michael sent us to an AWESOME cafe for breakfast a few blocks away. We met a very cool Sabra, a native born Israeli (very liberal, intelligent etc. As in she could be a best friend). We learned that our neighborhood is adjacent to Neve Tsedek the most expensive area to live in In all of Israel. What more could we want, the beach, quiet neighborhood and room to not be in each others way. WE all were sold, it didn't even have to be discussed.

In the late afternoon we walked Rothschild Blvd toured the Bauhaus architecture, and found the funky shopping area of Shenkin Street. Over the course of 6 miles of walking Tel Aviv streets and shopping centers, it would figure that Noa and I would find the only French store in Tel Aviv having a moving sale and buy a few things all more than 70% off! We will be styling now!

To Booboo: yes I miss you, you appear to be everywhere.