Paloma and I met at an outdoor coffee shop on King George Street (one of the main streets in Tel Aviv.) We sat outside and discussed food, traveling, and Israeli culture while I sipped on my delicious iced coffee. In Israel, iced coffee is basically a coffee smoothie/milkshake and is one of the greatest things I have ever tasted. I digress... anyway, Paloma and I discussed some business plans and ideas for how I can make the most out of the 6.5 weeks I have left here. She also gave me restaurant, bar, and club recommendations in Tel Aviv and I cannot wait to start experiencing these places! Paloma then told me about an interactive map her American friend made and that she would send it to me. We started walking down King George Street and who did we run into but her friend she was just talking about! Talk about small world... but it gets smaller! Turns out he is from Highland Park, but is 29 so we didn't know anyone in common. Jewish geography fail at it's finest. But literally how funny that 1. we run into the guy and 2. he is from HP?! Small world, small world.
Last night, a bunch of friends decided we would go to this "culinary experience" thing in Southern Tel Aviv. We really didn't know what to expect but it involved 1. exploring and 2. food so obviously that is an automatic YES in my book. So, we all hopped aboard the 25 bus towards the city center to go explore. As we departed, out of the corner of our eyes we saw a guy from our trip sprinting to make the bus, and he failed miserably. Later on about 5 stops later, we see him literally hauling ass to make the bus! He had ran probably at least a mile following the bus step by step until he finally made it on, with sweat dripping down his face. We were all dying of laughter because he could've just taken the next bus but instead he decided to sprint down the streets of Tel Aviv in order to catch ours.
So about this food thing...it basically was a food market/festival where there were samples of food (spreads, cheese, bread, hummus) and then you could purchase anything you liked. We spent most of our time at the cheese and beer station, sampling everything in sight. Of course this wasn't enough food to hold us over so we decided to go out to dinner at a place nearby called Greg. They didn't have a table big enough for the 8 of us (since we aren't in America and people don't go out in herds here) so we split up 4 and 4. I had the sweet potato ravioli in a cream sauce which was delicious and way too creamy for me to handle. After dinner, which we finished around 10:30pm, we decided to head back to our dorms. We walked down the cutest street in order to get to the bus, and I literally stopped at every store to window shop. Needless to say I know where I'll be spending my weekend!
Tonight is "White Night" or Laila Lavan in Hebrew. I experienced the same celebration in Florence but it was called Notte Bianca, in Italian. Basically, shops, restaurants, and vendors stay open all night long and it is one outrageous party! There are also activities going on in different areas and squares around Tel Aviv. For instance, in Rabin Square there is a headphone party, where everyone tunes their smartphones to a certain station, put in headphones and everyone is dancing yet if you take off the headphones it is silent. So basically we look like a bunch of idiots dancing in the square because no one knows what we are listening to. Another activity is yoga on the beach at 5:30am... don't think I'll be attending that one.
Anyway, I will definitely have pictures and stories to share from Laila Lavan so stay posted....
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