Eilat, Herzliya, Degania

Eilat is not yet over. A few more pics to go ... one proving that Lilah warmed up to the dogs by the end, and one very cute picture of Sue and Maya.

After Eilat we drove to Tel Aviv to drop Frida at the Central Bus Station and M and L were just totally overcome. The place is like this huge 8-story maze or something that is a bus station and a market with all kinds of cheap shoe stores, food, and randomness. We loitered for far longer than I want to admit. After, we continued to Herzliya and spent 2 nights with Shlomit and Ilan in their fabulous apartment. The topiary in front was very cool.

Lilah demonstrated her Cinderella tendencies again by washing the walls and floor of their balcony.
Then we left, but not before meeting Dod Omry at the Ramat Aviv mall. More malls ... but this is among the swankiest in Israel. I used to stop by here on the way to Tel Aviv U when I did ulpan there and used the library while we lived in Herzliya 2000-2002. It's even fancier now than it was then; here we are having coffee.
We then stopped at Ikea on the drive home to the kibbutz. Yesterday was a really good kibbutz day. We went for a long walk in the evening when the weather is more tolerable, and visited horses, nearby Kibbutz Kinneret, and other places. We took tons of shots of flora, but they will have to wait ... except for this one of L picking olives. There is this little grove of olive trees next to the parking lot and a couple of the trees have olives that are nearly ripe (it's early). Brian - I don't want to ruin a surprise, but you're getting some chunks of wood from one of these trees as a couple of large branches split off while we've been here.

Here are sun-dappled Abba and daughter in the beautiful bamboo-filled entrance to the area with the horses here on the kibbutz next to the Jordan River.


And lastly, in keeping with my recent artistic shots of smashed cups on sidewalks, here's a good one from outside Yardenit (the baptism/tourist trap here next to the kibbutz - right next to the horses). Mollie - I may enter this in a future show.


Now I'm off to Hazor for a few days - the rocks beckon.