Go in peace

Our last day in Israel was spent in Tel Aviv. Lenore and Allen left early for their morning flight but the Mansbach 5 had the full day to spend. We started by walking down Dizengoff. Jodi bought some new sandals and Orly and Jodi found some fun jewelry along the street. Our destination was Dizengoff Center where we were told there was a pool on the roof. After asking puzzled folks in several stores in the mall where it was, Ross finally found his "friend" who gave us directions. Unfortunately, it was really a gym with an exercise pool with folks swimming laps and not really suitable for swim time. Bram was entirely disappointed. The other kids rebounded and we headed over the market at HaCarmel. We gave each kids 40 shekels each to buy whatever they wanted -- as long as they did the negotiation and paying. Orly bought candy and earrings. Bram had his eye on lots of toys made in China but Jodi prevailed on him and he finally got some toy soldiers, a key chain, a little wood alligator and candy. Eli made a big candy purchase but really didn't find anything else. I'd highly recommend the craft market at Nahallat Binyamin right near HaCarmel which is held on Tues and Fridays. 

After market, we headed up to the beach near our hotel, Grand Beach, near the Hilton. Packed with Israelis enjoying a Friday afternoon.  The water was great, the kids stayed in a long time and we ended up being there until almost 6:30. We found the guards who stay in a huge stand set far back from the water barking out commands, telling people to come back in, etc. highly entertaining though we understand little except for the yeladim eem haboogie (kids with boogie boards). Eventually they signed off with Shabbat Shalom though the beach and water stayed pretty full. Quick showers at the locker room there and then it was time to pick up our bags at the hotel for the trip to the airport. We had a short amount of time so we walked over to the Israeli version of Whole Foods and had a little picnic on a bench outside the store. Then it was off to the airport for our nightflight back to Atlanta. Happy to be home but missing the good times and good feelings of being in Israel!

Along the Coast

Leaving Vered Hagalil was not easy. Not only was it a beautiful spot but we also were not all that practiced at making sure we had everything. It took two times returning to the ranch once we departed (once because Eli had his room key, the second time because Orly left her favorite sweater at breakfast) to get underway. Our first stop was in Akko on the Mediterranean. This was our first glimpse of the sea. Very very beautiful. Like many other spots in Israel, Akko has a long history of multiple cultures living sometimes peacefully and often conflicting. In Akko, the Crusaders had a big influence on the city. We focused mainly on walking through the old part of the city. In the market, Ross bought some saffron and date honey. Then we went through a recently discovered tunnel under the city.

From Akko, we drove through Haifa, saw the Bajai gardens (greatly expanded since the Lox family trip in the 80s). Ikey wanted to do something for the kids so we stopped at some 1,000,000+ year old caves where one of the oldest human skeletons has been found.  Quick lunch of shwarma and then onto Caesarea.  Had I known how much they now have at Caesarea, I definitely would have spent a half day there for sure, at least. There are two great educational but not cheesey films that we all enjoyed.  There are also all kinds of shops, restaurants and a really pretty beach you can swim at. Since we didn't have time for it all, we got some ice cream and then walked along the coast, seeing the Hippodrome (which Orly loved) and then the Roman ampitheater. The kids had fun pretending to be actors in the Roman days. They must have been excited for our next stop -- Tel Aviv -- because soon the van was filled with singing in the back seats serenading us in our final leg with Ikey. Arriving in Tel Aviv, at the Melody Hotel which I would highly recommend -- it was time to say goodbye to Ikey. We'll miss his endless stories and the extreme pride he -- like so many Israelis -- have in their country. And we'll even miss being told when we are asking dumb questions or when he's told us something before, once or even twice!  In Tel Aviv, we quickly went up to the hotel's roof top terrace to watch the sunset then walked over to a restaurant called Jeremiah in a really nice residential neighborhood. 

Israeli bees, Golan Heights

Catching up a bit on the blog. Not writing in real time but wanted to get everything down before we settle into home routines. Another full day of touring with our first stop - a special request by Ross to see Kibbutz Shamir where they have a fairly extensive bee keeping operation.  We had a lovely explanation by a woman there who was very impressed when Orly found the queen bee in their demonstration box in less than a second! Ross focused on the details but we all learned a lot and emerged with lots of fun honey and honey infused beauty products.

Next stop at Tel Dan, a natural park in the far north of Israel packed with Israeli and Arab schoolkids. It's a real attraction in Israel especially the fresh cool water wading area. It was a hot day so everyone enjoyed the refreshing wet break but it was especially fun to watch the expressions on the visiting schoolkids' faces as they experienced this treat. Lunch at Kibbutz Dan and then a big driving loop up through the Golan Heights stopping at a military outpost overlooking Syria that is not being actively used but was important during the six day war. Since it is high up there is a coffee shop there called Coffee Anan (Coffee in the Clouds) but people think it's funny because it sounds like Kofi Anan.

Kids eager again to get back to the ranch for more swimming. Big news of the day was that Bram kept himself afloat and did some real swimming strokes for the first time. He was so excited he wanted to stay at the ranch until the next day when the pool opened again. Unfortunately, it was time to leave this very pretty place and head over to the coast and down to Tel Aviv.

Lounging at the ranch

The Mansbach side of the family requested a slow day which meant that we slept later, enjoyed our first Israeli buffet breakfast and sent Lenore and Allen off to Safed and Rosh Pina with Ikey. Back at the ranch, Jodi, Orly and Eli went on a great horseback ride with our guide Soof along the banks of the Kinneret while Ross and Bram played chess. By the time we returned from the ride and had a snack, Ikey and the grandparents had returned and picked us up to visit Golan Heights Winery (makers of Yarden, Gamla and Golan) where there was a cute movie, quick tour and great wine tasting. Orly, Eli and Bram fully participated in the wine tasting showing a definite preference for the dessert wine, a moscato type, which they gulped down. Everyone was happy to be back at the ranch early. The kids spent two full hours in the pool and then we sat under the canopied area for evening backgammon, watched a beautiful sunset and had another good dinner here including American favorites chicken wings and chicken in the basket along with a bottle of Gamla Pinot Noir. The evening ended on the late side with Orly falling asleep, Bram shining everyone's shoes and Eli and Ross playing one last round of backgammon.

To the hills

We are sad to leave Jerusalem but ready for our next adventure. Today we came to Vered Hagalil, a ranch north of the Sea of Galilee. Before leaving Jerusalem we stopped at the new Herzl museum with a multi media experience describing Herzl's life and the founding of the state of Israel. Cheesy but really good explanation for all ages. Then it was a long drive (by Israeli standards) maybe an hour and a half to Bet Shean to view the ruins there. Ikey spared us from standing too long in the sun there and gave us a quick overview -- amphitheater and an especially well preserved bath house. Very cool. Next stop-- the kosher McDonalds for lunch. McRoyal for Jodi. What a treat. A challenge ordering in Hebrew though.

Our next stop was to Gan HaShlosha, a place that Ross and Jodi had been to during our trip in 1994 and requested that we return to. It was more beautiful than we remembered -- a beautiful series of three big pools with perfectly clear water and 26-28 degree celsius water. Amazing. We loved lounging in the pools and swimming. Ross and Eli jumped off a big cliff. Glad we did not see.

From there we came straight to Vered Hagalil, a horse ranch north of the Sea of Galilee. After some room shuffling (Lenore and Allen ended up with a lovely room with a view of the sea. THe Mansbach side of the family was convinced by Orly -- and disgruntled management -- that a view of the riding ring is a desirable thing. According to Orly, a ranch shouldn't be nice and the smell of horses when you wake up is primo). Nevertheless, we settled in and had a good dinner and off to a good night's sleep.

A day underground -- digging, bullet factory

After a restful two days, we are back on our relentless (in a good way) tour with Ikey. This morning we headed to Bet Geurin for an Archeology Seminar dig. We were lucky to be out there on a day when they did not have any other groups or families even so we had Ian, the head of the organization's personal tour and attention. First we went dowQuicn into one of the caves that they are currently excavating and he gave us an overview of the area. Then we got to play amateur archeologist and dig through the ground in some of the rooms. Since we were essentially digging in an antiquity dump as they kindly put it there was instant gratification all around. We immediately found shards of pottery and bones dating back two thousand years. After some digging we went up to the surface and sifted through the dirt finding a few more small treasures. Then Ian led us through a system of caves that had not yet been excavated to give us a sense of what it's like to find them. Last he showed us pictures of some of the larger finds from the area. In the end, we were able to take shards of pottery from previous digging because our batch will need to be catalogued first (before it is given out to future tourist diggers). Overall a fun process. We all thoroughly enjoyed it and the kids were so proud to show Ikey their pottery. If you haven't done this in Israel, it's an experience not to be missed. Here's a New York Times article with a bit more about it. http://travel2.nytimes.com/2006/07/16/travel/16family.html?pagewanted=2


Quick lunch and then off to the Ayalon Institute otherwise known as the bullet factory. An unbelievable story about a kibbutz that secretly produced the ammunition for the war of independence in an underground bunker practically next door to a British army camp. Really incredible and something that those of us who have been to Israel had not seen before. Then back to Jerusalem with a quick stop at the menorah at the Knesset. Kids could not wait to get back to the neighborhood -- Orly and Bram wanted to get to the playground. Bram and Ross headed to Pittuyim (a great cafe) for backgammon. In the evening, Lenore and Allen had a peaceful dinner at Selina on Emek Refaim while the five Mansbachs went off in search of Rav Chen movie theater to see Night at the Museum 2. The kids never stopped talking about seeing Ice Age 2 in Mexico so we thought we continue the tradition. An American movie in English, for sure, but always interesting to see it elsewhere. Back at the apartment it's now time to pack up. We head to the Galilee on Monday!

Climbing the Wall

No worries. The kids did not try to climb the Western Wall. But we did end Shabbat here in Jerusalem back at the Haas Promenade where our friends the Yanai's took us on Friday because we loved it so. And in the absence of a ball or frisbee (something we always have on hand for trips abroad but alas not this time) the kids invented a game which involved climbing the walls while the parents and grandparents enjoyed watching the city take on its golden glow as the sun set. Spectacular.

But first our day started with shul at Moreshet Israel, the conservative movement synagogue with Rabbi Adam Frank who Jodi knows from Atlanta. Truth be told, Jodi, Ross, Eli and Orly walked and arrived minutes before the end of the service (in time for the Ladino Ein Keiloheinu) though Lenore, Allen and Eli arrived much earlier and enjoyed the service. We all walked home then had lunch. In the afternoon, the Mansbach mishpacha went off to the public pool which is just a few doors down on Emek Refaim. It was packed with Israelis but a lot of fun.

After the evening stroll on the Haas Promenade, we headed over to Ben Yehuda Street for a quick bite and requisite tourist shopping. Bram emerged with his much anticipated chess board, Lenore with Naots, and the rest of the kids with a whole lot of t-shirts. Jodi also stopped by Turquoise and ordered an earring to replace the one she lost from there -- one of her favorites! Half the crew took a cab home the other half enjoyed another long walk through Jerusalem at night where the evening breezes are unbelievable.

Our other photo here shows the kids favorite Israeli food - schnitzel aka chicken patties!

ZOO TIME

Guest Blogger: Bram

Today we had no tour. But instead we went to the Zoo and celebrated Shavuot. Lets begin first me and my brother Eli slept very late and then had some breakfast. So then we went outside and you see
the title ZOO TIME well here it goes. So when we went outside we got two cabs for all of us to go the ZOO when we
went in it was monkey mayhem monkeys here monkeys there monkeys jumping everywhere! There where howler monkeys all kinds of monkey and I,am serious!

Replacement Blogger: Mom/Jodi
Bram worked hard on his blog posting above and intended to write more but pleaded with me to finish up for him since he is very busy here in Jerusalem. Let's see. Shavuot. Lenore, Allen and Jodi went to services at Kol Haneshama, a progressive shul here which means that it's basically egalitarian conservative to those of us in the US. It was lovely until the folks from Storahtelling acted out the giving of Mt. Sinai all in Hebrew. Fascinating but we couldn't follow much. Back at the apartment the kids all slept in and finally caught up on sleep. Then it was off to the zoo which was great fun especially the Nikki sculptures we are posting pictures of and the boardwalk/safari section. Back to the apt then Jodi, Orly and Bram went off to meet our friends from Camp Ramah, our next store neighbors up there when we spent a month. Itzik, Yael, Noga and Shachar now have a new baby sister Roni. We got to see their very crowded playground in Talpiot and then walked over to the Haas promenade which had the most wonderful view of Jerusalem I've ever seen. Just beautiful. Back at the apartment we had a Shabbat dinner, played games, read and called it a night!

Museums, markets and getting ready for Shavuot

Guest Blogger: Eli

Today was our fourth day in Israel and was exciting too. The day started out when we woke up at 8:30 to get ready for today's sights, the Israel Museum, the Market, and a drink at the King David Hotel. We jumped into Ikey's van at around 9:00 and drove off to the Israel Museum. Before we got there, Ikey talked to us about Israeli politics in Bethlehem. We pulled over halfway to the Museum, and Ikey let us see a great view of Bethlehem. After that, we drove over to the Museum. While we were there, we saw an amazing model of what Jerusalem looked like during the Second Temple Period. Next, we moved onto the Museum Garden. In the museum garden, there were many unique sculptures. The picture for today is Eli, Orly, and Bram standing in front of one of sculptures. The sculpture they were standing on spelled out the word ahava, or love in hebrew letters. Then, we moved on to see the Dead Sea Scrolls which were found by a boy who was looking for his goat near the Dead Sea. The building the scrolls were held in was shaped like the top of a jar, like the one that they found the scrolls in and had water splashing on it. It was really cool. Once we stepped inside the building, we saw artifacts and scrolls that dated back around 2000 years ago. It was amazing. Once we were done, we had lunch at the museum. It comprised of soda and sandwiches. After that, we left the museum and drove to the market. Since Shavuot started tonight, we had to get food for the weekend. Let me tell you, the market was busy. We had to squeeze through everyone and sellers were shouting out deals everywhere. I have to say though, it was busy, but there was everything you needed in about a square mile or less. There were shops selling spices, fruits, vegetables, meat, fish, and so much more! After we were done shopping we drove to our apartment and had dinner. Dinner was made up of bread with butter, salad, cheese, cheese blintzes, olives, radishes, and pickels. It was delicious! Next, we walked over to the King David Hotel. We each got a drinks and sat down and looked at the Old City which was illuminated. It was beautiful. Once we had our drinks, we walked back to the apartment, put together a puzzle, and went to sleep.

A Float on the Dead Sea

Guest Blogger: Orly

Yea, about the title; that was just part of our day, yet there are no pictures to prove it. The other parts include touring Masada,riding a camel, and visiting the lowest place on Earth!




I guess we'll start off with what we did first. "Taxi, taxi!" Yea, right. the "taxi" was a camel! It looked fun, so Eli, Orly, and Bram climbed on. If you think camels look tall, you should try to climb onto one! Thankfully, we got a good picture of all the kids before Bram decided that it was time for him to climb off, as you can tell by the next picture, which shows just Eli and Orly.
But on to Masada. During the hour-and-a-half drive, we reached the lowest point on Earth. We passed hundreds of large, desert hills. Finally, we reached the visitor's center below Masada, where we got tickets to ride the cable car.(No trail for us. It was already too hot!) When we reached Masada, Ikey showed us what was most of Masada, but still not all. We viewed palaces, both private and public, and storage rooms, and there was a story behind each one! We rode the cable car back down to the visitor's center and ate a great lunch. We then started out for the dead sea. After more hills, we got into our bathing suits, and got into the Dead Sea. After two hours of mud and floating, we visited the shallow fresh water pools,and sulfur springs. Then it's back to the apartment.
After an hour at our favorite playground, and then out to an Asian dinner. Then it's really to the apartment for real to go to bed. Goodnight!

You wanted a vacation? You are on a tour!

Our trip to Israel is introducing us to a whole new style of tourism. As many of you know, our past trips abroad have consisted of renting rooms at farmhouses in Italy, Spain and France where an ambitious day consists of leaving the farm around 11, one visit to a museum or park and an afternoon ice cream. Well, enter Ikey and a whole new way to travel. Ikey is our delightful Israeli tour guide who we met on Tuesday morning for the first time. And his agenda for each day is nothing but ambitious. When we explained to him that our kids are not used to this pace he said to Ross, "You wanted a vacation? But this is a tour!" So tour we do.

First stop this morning was to the Old City of Jerusalem (after we descended to the Valley of Hell where little children were sacrificed Ikey told the kids). Bram enjoyed acting like a warrior on the walls of the Old City. We then walked through the Jewish Quarter and took a first glimpse and quick visit to the Western Wall. We met up again to go through the tunnels at the Wall where we could walk along the area that has been exposed by archeologists recently. After our tunnel tour, we meandered through the Arab market and stopped for lunch at Burger Bar again! Then it was off to the Davidson Museum to see the model of the Temple and the ruins just outside. By that time we had a tired bunch of kids on our hands so we begged for a rest. A quick stop at Supersal for groceries and back home to the apartment. Before dinner we ventured out to a local playground and then for dinner at an Italian restaurant on Emek Refaim. Phew! We're exhausted!

In the land of milk and honey

We've arrived! As Orly pointed out while munching on honey nut cheerios with milk tonight as a snack, we are definitely in the land of milk and honey. It's been all good for the kids so far! They were thrilled to arrive at the departure gate in Atlanta and see Rabbi Sykes (formerly director of their summer camp) and his daugher Mira also heading to Israel for a visit. An uneventful flight during which the kids slept a good part of it and enjoyed their mini tv screens for the remainder. Jodi and Ross didn't sleep quite as well with the barking dog a few rows behind providing a surreal concert all night long. But arriving in Ben Gurion, finding our driver and getting to our apartment in Baka was a breeze. And the cool Jerusalem breeze a delight as well.

Mom and Dad (Allen and Lenore) had already arrived earlier in the day and done some grocery shopping at the very expensive neighborhood grocery store. Orly is thrilled because the cornflakes that Grandma bought are honey nut not plain. Grandma defends her purchase saying the only English on the box says Corn Flakes but Orly cleverly points out the picture of the honey and nuts! Score one for Orly. I think she's going to do just fine in this country.Tonight we attempted to keep ourselves awake with a stroll down Emek Refaim and dinner at the Burger Barn with the teeny boppers and where we ran into Rabbi Sykes and Mira again! Exciting for mom to have a kosher hamburger! I've managed to stay up until 10:30 but now must sleep. More tomorrow.