We left our house about 8:00 pm EDT on Oct 16 for an 11:00 pm EDT flight. We went through London on Oct 17 changing planes there. We landed at Ben Gurion about 11pm Israel Daylight Time (7 hours earlier than EDT) on Oct 17.
For the first time we used the Premium Economy seats. They are the middle seats in the image; regular economy are on the right and business class seating is on the left. British Air offered us a discount to upgrade to business class (which would have been about two and a half times the cost of regular economy with the discount) but we didn't take it.
Premium Economy costs about twice what regular economy costs but as we are getting older, the cramped feeling of regular economy is hard to take for long flights.
I have more to say about the various airports on the post describing the trip back.
We stayed at the Carlton for a few days as Ann was attending a conference/celebration for ORT (Organization for Rehabilitation and Training). This is a charity that was founded in Tzarist Russia to give people a useful trade when they emigrated to the US. We have given quite a bit of money to ORT over the years. The conference lasted from Thursday Oct 18 through Sunday Oct 21.
The Carlton is a five star place. One of the reasons for this rating is the views.
The first image is a view from our room which faced west. You can see the skyscrapers of eastern Tel Aviv and western Ramat Gan. The buildings closest to the hotel are of 60s vintage and pretty shabby on the outside but based on our view, they are nice on the inside.
I tried to find out information about the tower that looked like Gumby but couldn't. We did have a view of what is called 'Crazy House'. I purposely left an image of this off my blog because I think it's ugly and stupid, but you can follow the link in the previous sentence if you want to see it.
Another reason for the five star rating is because the Carlton has a rooftop swimming pool and hot tub. The second image shows the pool at the Carlton with the Mediterranean Sea in the background.
The third image shows me looking north (literally) up the coast. It is taken from the roof pool garden of the Carlton. The Hilton, which takes up much of the view is of mid 70s design and 80s construction and inspired when architects thought concrete buildings should emphasize their concreteness. It is sometimes called the brutalist period.
There are some beach areas between the Hilton and the Carlton. I swam in one of them. The water was comfortably warm, probably about 80F and the temperature was in the mid 80sF during that day. A few days after we left the Carlton for Ramat Gan there was some rain, and it cooled off quite a bit.
The fourth image shows me looking south (again literally). It is also taken from the roof of the Carlton. Between the hotels and the beach is the Tel Aviv to Jaffe promenade.
The promenade was, at the time of our visit, about 4 miles long.
In the background (near the top of the part of the image below the sky) is the Jaffe prominence which is the south end of the promenade. Just north of the Hilton is the north end of the promenade.
There are joggers, Segway users, bikes, electronic scooters, etc. on the promenade at various times. These devices are also on many streets and sidewalks and it makes being a pedestrian more of a challenge than it used to be.
Our breakfasts were on the ocean side of the promenade rather than in the hotel so we had an even closer view of the Mediterranean while we ate.
The breakfast was big and fancy and include both Champagne and Vodka for those who wanted that for breakfast (fifth image is from the hotel's web page).
One of the amusing things at the hotel was the sabbath service I attended. It was a sefardi bar mitzvah and the 'friends' of the bar mitzvah kid brought about a gallon of candy to throw at him. As it was a rather small space, the kid had difficulty protecting himself and was pummeled thoroughly. I did get some of the candy and it was soft so it may not have hurt. Irritatingly, some of the people attending took took cell phone photos during the service (including while the bar mitzvah was reading the maftir) but I don't think I was in any of the photos.
A funny thing happened at check out. Motzei Sabbath we had a supper at the hotel restaurant. The total of our charges (we also had other charges than just that supper) was $135. At checkout, the bill for this line item was only $85. So I asked what happened. The checkout clerk went through the items we had for dinner but left some out. I asked, "so you didn't charge for the cheese." The clerk said, "You were such nice guests that the cheese is free for you."
After researching this, I found out that we got a $50 discount on anything we bought (it actually says this on the overlay of the fifth image) since we had a 3 day stay at the hotel but, anyway, kudos for the quick thinking desk clerk.
During our stay at the Carlton, Ann and Beth (although she goes by the name Tamar in Israel, and incidentally Tamar spelled backwards is Ramat, as in Ramat Gan where she lives) went on several ORT trips and I went on one with Ann.
ORT personnel took official photos at a number of these places (various ORT schools in Israel) and when I obtain them, I'll try to post them on this page.
One of the trips was from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem to see the President of Israel Reuven Rivlin (first image). He spoke about how much the State of Israel valued their partnership with ORT. There are over a dozen ORT schools in Israel, with all of them, I think, jointly funded.
The person in charge of ORT in Israel is named Nechama Kenig and in the second image she is with Ann in front of the statue called "Jacob and Sisyphus at the Well". The statue is in one of the garden terraces at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. We had a nice supper there. A description of the statue (and a bigger image of the statue), which was acquired about 10 years ago is here.
As part of our 'insiders tour', we were told about the acquisition of a painting by Nurit David called "Care of the Sick". It is actually a life cycle painting which has representations of the painter from early childhood (coming down the slide) to death (being carried down the ladder on the right). It was painted in 2010 and acquired in 2017 by the museum. Nurit's website is here.
On October 22, Ann and I decided to go to an art museum or two in Ramat Gan.
According the internet, two art museums were open that day. One was an Israeli Art museum about 2 miles from Beth's place (on Abba Hillel) and the other a Russian Museum about 1 mile away from Beth's House (on Hibat Tsiyon) and in the opposite direction.
We hailed a cab on Bialik to go to the Israeli Art museum. The cab driver told us that this museum was closed for reconstruction. So we asked him to take us to the other museum.
We got there and found out some other interesting facts. First, the museum was adjacent to the Ramat Gan municipal library. Second the museum is actually two museums under one roof (and not very expensive or crowded either). There is both a Russian Art Museum and a Far Eastern Art Museum.
The first image has four paintings by a Russian named Dimitri Sitkotski. I was impressed by them but I couldn't find anything on line about the artist. The information on the plaque explaining the art indicated he was a late 19th century artist.
The second image is a tapestry pair. It is in the Far East museum. It shows the 8 immortals who were born about 13 centuries ago and who control how long people live in the Chinese Tao belief system. The tapestry pair is an early 20th century product.
The third image is also a tapestry. It shows Shou Xing. It is also an early 20th century product. Shou Xing is a god of longevity in Chinese culture and connected with a bright star in the southern part of the sky.
I don't know whether or how Shou Xing interacts with the 8 immortals and I couldn't find an explanation in the 30 minutes I researched this question on the internet so I gave up.
There was a nice looking cafe near the entrance to the public library but it was closed (also the library was almost empty).
We were told that the Russian art museum had recently sold a painting at auction and received somewhat over $10M and that this money plus various other donations, is to be used for renovation and more acquisitions at the Israeli Art Museum.
On October 23, we went to Jerusalem for the day (leaving in the morning and returning just before midnight).
We took a taxi to the 'slow train' station, took a slow train to the Ben Gurion Station and then the new 'fast train' to the Jerusalem Station.
The fast train is to eventually hit 100 mph but the day we took it, the maximum was probably more like 65 mph. We were, at our peak speed, traveling faster than the cars on a nearby highway but not much faster. We also accelerated pretty slowly after we boarded as only half the power stations were operating.
The first image shows one of the bridges that carries the fast train.
About 25% of the distance between Ben Gurion and Jerusalem is underground. The Jerusalem station (second image) is about 120 feet underground and connected via a short tunnel (after you go up 3 long escalators), to the Jerusalem Central Bus Station. Overall the trip from the Ben Gurion Station to the Jerusalem Station took about 40 minutes. It is to eventually be reduced to 20 minutes or less.
Once we got to the Central Bus station we got a cab to the Jewish Quarter of the old city. The cab driver was an Elvis Presley fan who had been to Graceland and told us about the large increase in Chinese (China-Israel trade has boomed recently per article here) and East European visitors to Jerusalem in the past year or two. We visited the plaza in front of the Western Wall for a while. At the western edge of the Kotel Plaza, a visitor's center was under construction (or that's what it seems to be as per my guess when I saw it and also an article on line here.) We started ascending the steps to the upper Jewish Quarter but then decided against it.
We departed the Jewish Quarter and took a cab to Ramot, which is one of the Ring neighborhoods of Jerusalem. We went to the Mall there and ate at a food court (the image shows a large poster of the Grace after Meals in front of one of the vendors).
The mall is, apparently, also a place where parents can rent little cars for their kids.
I would really have loved to do this when I was that age. I would have even put up with clothes shopping in return for 10 minutes in that car.
We then walked to the apartment of some people we know in Ramot (the next image was taken on the way to the apartment).
We had supper with them at a nearby restaurant (for some reason I forgot to take a picture of us with our friends).
By the time we finished eating and talking it was pretty late (almost 11:00pm) so we got a cab from Ramot to Ramat Gan. It didn't take particularly long since by then the traffic had decreased quite a bit.
When I got to Bialik Street in Ramat Gan where Beth lives (after leaving the Carlton), one of the first things I did was go to a place that serves iced coffee. I remember the place as making it the way I like it. Unfortunately, they changed their formula and it looked a bit like the one in the first image. It had some cream on top and they used ice cubes rather than colloidal (slurpy style) ice.
Fortunately there were many other vendors on the street that had ice coffee and one of them made it just like I like it (colloidal ice, no cream on top, no bits of coffee beans).
I also went to find a pedicure business on the street (Ann got a pedicure a day or two after I got mine and at the same place). I got an appointment and with a little time to kill I went shopping. I bought a bottle of Tito's Vodka (that is what is written in Hebrew with the double vov used as a 'w' to imitate the Russian pronunciation Wodka). The proprietor of the liquor store told me that some of his Russian customers think this vodka is better than anything Russia ever made (I happen to agree with this, at least any Russian vodka I've ever had) and told me that Tito's is made of corn and made in Texas, USA (I knew that). By the way, notice that in Israel this vodka has a kosher symbol on the bottle (the U inside a circle).
Also, on this street is a place that had beer on tap. They actually had two types on tap (Carlsberg was the other - so both Danish).
The place also sold Shwarma and that is the Hebrew word above the word "STREET" on the napkin holder. Again it has the double vov for the 'we' sound.
For our second shabbat in Israel, I went to the Great Synagogue of Ramat Gan. It is only a few hundred feet from Beth's place (both her then current and the place she was then in the process of buying) . It has a shabbat elevator to the women's sections, one of the few I've seen in any synagogue either in Israel or the US. It also has a beautiful sanctuary. They did annoy Beth however as someone gave a 'vote for the incumbent mayor' message after the kiddush.
As long as we are on the subject, synagogue prayers in Israel differ in two ways from those in the US. For one thing, in Israel, it seems the majority of minyonim (prayer quorum) use Nusach Sefard (a prayer order that includes some inserts based on the customs of Isaac Luria, a.k.a., Ha Ari, Arizal). The prayers at the Great Synagogue used Nusach Sefard. Also, while mincha (afternoon prayer) in both Israel and the US frequently begins later than the printed (or internet) schedule, in Israel, mincha seems to begin late almost all the time.
While we were staying with Beth, Israel went from Daylight Savings time to Standard time.
This was the week before the similar change in the USA, so we got two 25 hour days in little more than a week.
We left for
the airport in Israel at about 345am on October 30 (Israel had already
switched to standard time the previous weekend so it was only 6 hours
time difference between Israel and Eastern US time). I thought it was
too early because my recollection was that the airline ticketing
counters didn't open until 5am and our flight didn't leave until 655am.
However, Ben Gurion has apparently gone to a 24 hour operation.
This may be just for some months since per a tourism website,
October and April have a peak in tourism arrivals and the year to year
trend is definitely increasing. Anyway, everything was open when we got
there and everything went smoothly getting to our gate.
We changed
planes in London at Heathrow. They also have altered procedure since our
latest trip through there. Annoyingly, we had to go through security
again (both coming and going) and it was a more comprehensive check
(shoes off, liquids out of carry on) than at either Dulles or Ben
Gurion.
Also, since
we had a long wait at Heathrow coming home we used their pay-to-use
premium lounges (second image). It was more expensive than the ones we had in Istanbul
and the chairs weren't as nice but the view was better.
We arrived
at Dulles about 915 pm. Since the previous time we used Dulles after an
international flight, they had merged the passport and customs control
so we only had to wait in line once and we boarded our shuttle at about
1030 pm (and arrived at our house about 1100pm). On the negative side,
before we got to passport control we still had to take a long ride in an overcrowded moveable lounge to
get from our arrival gate to the international arrival terminal area.
