It's Been A Lovely Trip

So the Ds summoned Uber (tm) and an affable Haitian fellow came to Villa Wifey with his large SUV, and spirited us all to MIA. We left the bags at the Swiss counter, and headed to their Biz Class lounge. The trip had begun. I popped a xanax when we got on the Airbus, and after a few glasses of fine champagne and a vodka (the Ds said it was a double -- I didn't notice), I slept most of the way across the Atlantic. We arrived in Zurich, and merely stepped across the hall for our Tel Aviv flight --and D2 met a UF friend on his way to Israel with Birthright. We arrived in the Promised Land, and cabbed it to Tel Aviv, and a boutique hotel that might as well have been in the East Village. TA was fine, and VERY young. We joked that Wifey and I were the only people we saw past 40. It brought back some distant memories of my first trip there -- in 1969! We walked to Yaffa, and ate shakshuka while watching photos being taken of a Persian JEwish wedding. We walked and walked -- all along the Med coast. We met D2's boyfriend's sister Eva, and her boyfriend, at a German themed bier garden called the Sharona -- newly renovated German Templar settlement, in sight of the IDF headquarters. The next night we met one of D1's friends, Rebecca, who is a lawyer in TA, and she told us the salaries are low, and the rents are high. Then we fetched Michael, Norman's boy, and drove the Jerusalem. D2 followed D1 with some food poisoning/virus, and stayed in the room while Michael showed us the old city at night. We saw Christians in the Church of the Sepulchre kneeling and kissing a rock where Jesus's bones might be buried, and we watched observant Jews slip prayer papers into the Western Wall. I did it --figure it couldn't hurt... The next day Michael walked us all over -- with an emphasis, as the Liberal Humanist he is, on the Arab quarter. I imagined I was an ancient -- the place was packed, ant the yelling in Arabic and Hebrew was amazing. Alas, I got a bad feeling -- the same one I got years ago when my college girlfriend and I wandered deep into the Black Grove during a Goombay festival, and I realized we were the only white folks. Nothing happened, as it didn't in the Arab section, but we asked Michael to take us away. I wish we could overcome these prejudices -- but they're really so deep. We checked out and headed for Haifa. The hotel was gorgeous, with a view of Mt.Carmel, where Wifey was born. Michael took us to the road overlooking the whole city and Med Sea. We dug Haifa -- a true San Francisco vibe to the place. The next day we went to Akko, where Michael worked on historical renovation, and went with Wifey's 2 cousins and their husbands. One, Hadassa, is the daughter of Wifey's Dad. I had met her before -- she and her man Sam, and Israeli, live in Brooklyn, and now have a TA apartment. Tova, my father in law's sister's girl, was way cool, as was her man Shimon. They hosted us in their suburban Haifa house. We met the 4 for lunch, and then they invited themselves with us to Akko. In classic Israel fashion, they also had strong opinions about where the best hummus was. But I made an executive decision to go with Micael's choice, Hummus Issa, and all agreed it was superior. He drove back to Haifa and had pizza and beer with Michael, as he continued his fine Israeli and Arab history lessons. It was a treat to spend 3 days with him, and he headed to his apartment -- he had classes the next day. We drove (thanks, GPS!) to a town near the airport, and napped and ate before heading to Ben Gurion to our flight back to Zurich. We experienced Israeli security -- a fellow interviewed us, and you could just tell he was highly trained. He was polite but direct -- asking us questions and observing us carefully. Once we passed -- there was no taking off shoes, or ditching liquids. The Israelis figure once you're kosher to fly, so to speak, you can take your water on the plane. I loved Israel, but didn't feel any sort of deep attachment to the place. I'm proud of it, I will support it, but it didn't feel in any way my home. I guess my family's three generations in the USA have had an effect. The flight left at 4, and we sat in the cramped Ben Gurion lounge -- laughing at the older suburban NY family next to us complaining about EVERYTHING. We learned that their grandson Jason wasted SO much time seeing a pulmonologist, when he really needed a gastroenterologist... The plane to Zurich was small and cramped, and "Business Class" consisted of leaving every other seat open. D1 is going to call AMEX for a partial refund. We are indeed the kvetching people... All in all, though, we loved Israel. And 8 days was plenty of time for us to spend there. On to the land of chocolate, watches, anc cuckoo clocks...