Tel Aviv, always something new and different...

Noa and I went to Tel Aviv and Jaffa (Yafo) and stayed with our friend Katherine, a Fulbright Scholar we met on our trip north last month. Her apartment in Jaffa is amazing, in a new building but decorated in Arabic style. We quickly left for the beach and saw an amazing sight...no not Noa all grown up in a bikini..., as I was laying on my belly I looked up to see what was shading the sun, umm that would be a horse walking by and stepping on our blankets' corner. Huh, a horse going for a swim? After getting too hot in the sun, we opted to walk back to Katherine's for a shower we left for our usual 15 mile walk.









I love this city because people are secular for the most part, and don't have all the hang ups or issues about showing shoulders or knees, heaven forbid cleavage. I promised Noa we would go back to her favorite restaurant... again. Benedict is a 24-7 breakfast restaurant, and is always packed. Our waitress's name was Noa and she told me there were 2 other Noa's at a table of young women celebrating a birthday. Being the sly dog I am, I arranged for the other three Noa's to stop by our table when my Noa came out of the rest room. After the MOM**** (why do you do thing that embarrass me all the time), they all posed for a photo:-) Nice ladies.



Jaffa is a fascinating place as Israelis and Arabs get along. The area called the "flea market" that has shops full of fleas:-) and even then the fleas give it a 2nd thought, next door you can have a hip new restaurant with people at tables eating and drinking past 2am. Lots of small boutique shops are moving in too. Photo is from our balcony, it is typical to toss (or hoist) their garbage onto the roof, I suspect this is less expensive than paying to have it removed.

Enjoy the phot0s of Yafo, our favorite Bridal dress (yes it does say I'm in love and cost $15,000), and Katherine's apartment.