First stop in town after we got up was lunch (yes, we slept in late) at a beach-side seafood restaurant called the Manta Ray. Seeing as we are on the Mediterranean Sea, it only makes sense to eat fresh seafood. Spectacular setting on the beach overlooking the sea, and it was a nice sunny day, about 65 degrees by the water. Food was good as well.
According to Kirstin, Tel Aviv is quite secular, with the more conservative Jewish people living elsewhere in the country. Many Jewish people who live in Tel Aviv and very liberal and tolerant of other religions, and don't have much problem with the two-nation solution put forth by the Bush administration (and possibly others... it's been a long time since I studied Israeli politics). It sounds like most people in Tel Aviv just want peace. Interestingly, the restaurant did check our bags as we came in... not real tight security, but they looked.
While we were eating we watch four military sorties of transport helicopters pass by heading down the coast... Kirstin said probably towards Gaza.
After lunch we made a short drive to Jaffa, which is the old part of the city. Jaffa is home to both a Catholic church and a mosque, to give you some idea of the tolerance level of Tel Aviv to religious diversity.
This last photo is of some fisherman just a couple hundred yards from Andromeda's Rock. This is the spot in Greek mythology where Andromeda was chained to be sacrificed to the sea monster Cetus as punishment for being declared more beautiful than the Nereids. Perseus came to her rescue and killed Cetus. (And yes, I had to look some of this up on Wikipedia, though in my defense I also recall parts of this story from the original Clash of the Titans, one of the best bad movies ever made. The remake will do not justice to Harry Hamlin battling an oversized scorpion through the magic of claymation and perspective videography. I digress.)
Jaffa is covered in cats. For all of the complaining about feral cats that goes on the US, European countries and obviously Israel seems relatively unconcerned. I don't endorse the idea of feral cat populations or fail to recognize concerns over zoonotic disease, but it's obvious that some cities have more important things to worry about.
OK, this one obviously needs an explanation. As you walk the narrow cobbled streets of Jaffa, most of the business are art and jewelry stores. Outside on an artists suspended this tree inside a stone container off the ground. Jeana said I should pretend to be holding it up and she would take my picture. I think it turns out to appear like I'm sodomizing the tree. Let's just move on.
Couple more non-touristy photos. This is Claire, one of the happiest babies I have seen. She's a wild woman, loves jumping in her bouncy chair. I may to get a video of Claire, Jeana, and Kirstin all bouncing together. I suspect I will be unable to get Frank in that video, but we'll see,
This last one is of Kirstin and Frank's cat, Squeak. Like any other cat, Squeak likes to lie in warm places... and has staked out the top of the cable box as the ideal spot. Not sure how long the cable box will last with cat hair dropping into it every day, but as long as Squeak is happy...
We are going out to dinner tonight. Tomorrow, Kirstin has arranged for us to go to Jerusalem with a local tour guide who knows the city inside and out. We should have LOTS more pictures from there.
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