Day: February 25, 2018

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The weather: Lots of sun!  Also water and sand…not always where you expect them.

I hate to bring this up, but the weather here has been amazing, mostly mild and sunny since we have arrived.

Just down the street from us…yes, this is winter

The weather does have some quirks however.

First, it is the rainy season, and although it has been drier than normal for this time of year, it does occasionally rain.  And when it rains, well…pardon the expression… but it can be biblical.  The winds sweep in off the Mediterranean, and the rain comes down in torrents, and with little warning…it feels as though there is someone throwing buckets of water from the sky.  Since there are few or no storm sewers, the water rises quickly and before you know it you can be ankle deep in water as you step off a curb, tempting you to leap over giant puddles…which is a risky strategy, since the streets can be very slippery. So waterproof boots are a must; oddly so are sunglasses since it clears up in a hurry.

This can take only minutes

I was out on a walking tour the other day as part of my Hebrew course (trying desperately to put a coherent sentence together…not succeeding), and the skies opened. We had to duck into a construction site for shelter, which unfortunately was only marginally drier due to its sieve-like roof… As we dodged the interior rain drops, my instructor took a selfie of the two of us…you’ll note our friendly photo-bomber!  After about 10 minutes huddling there, we made a dash for a local café…very crowded with like-minded rain refugees and spent a pleasant half an hour waiting for a break in the weather. (I am happy to report that I can now order coffee in Hebrew. Also wine and beer on other occasions…you will note I do have my language learning priorities straight).

Notice our new friend

Fortunately for us, but not for the country, it has rained rarely during our stay, and the rest of the time it has been bone dry here.  I was surprised by this because I am used to humid weather in Tel Aviv, but in the winter, the winds often blow in from the east, i.e. from the desert, and they bring in very dry air.  I am not the sort that takes a water bottle everywhere, but there are many times I wish I had. I even had to go out and buy a super intense moisturizer from AHAVA to battle my parchment-like skin. I figured if anyone understood how to combat desert air it would be them…and I was right.

Sometimes during those very dry periods, we see a brownish haze over the city.  A little like Toronto on a very humid day. But there is no humidity and It is not pollution as we know it either. So our good friend, Eran, filled us in…Carried along by the dry winds from the desert, this haze is actually a very fine sand!  It does not really feel like sand as we think of it, more like a very fine dust so you don’t see the particles, but it is pervasive, and sneaks into all kinds of nooks and crannies, including your throat.  Tel Aviv can also have stronger and more obvious sandstorms, but so far we have only experienced the sneaky kind.

Our view with dust
And without

But mostly we have had days like this.

Tel Aviv University Dec 25, 2018

 

 

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Parking or “Oy…What a Balagan” (mess)

Tel Aviv is a young city, established only in 1909, (younger than my daughter’s Toronto house!), on sand dunes north of Jaffa.  It was meant from the beginning to be a modern city, with sewage and running water, and with plans to create an orderly grid structure.  A city for the future!

Well the grid did not really happen, as Mike and I have often discovered as we set out in one direction, say west, and find the street has sneakily wound around and we are facing north, or south.

The grid plan

And for all the planning, the notion that people might acquire cars, did not appear to cross anyone’s mind.

As a consequence, the majority of apartment buildings, which line every street in Tel Aviv, have no parking at all, and the residents are obliged to park on the street. Since these buildings are generally four-five stories, with anywhere from 8-12 units within, and space in front (if any) for maybe 3 cars…you can see where the supply/demand equation for parking can quickly get out of hand. Most streets are one way, so as to allow parking on both sides.

And even so they are on the sidewalk

And it is not unusual to see cars parked in creative ways, at right angles between two parallel parked cars, for example.

Smart cars…very handy
Who is this handsome guy?

 

Sometimes they are on the sidewalk  Actually…often they are on the sidewalk. Sidewalk parking is something I encounter every day as I walk along King George.  This creates short bottlenecks where hapless pedestrians (like me) have even less room to compete with the ever aggressive bicycles and scooters that dominate the sidewalks. I can’t imagine that parking this way is legal, but clearly whatever penalty might be attached to such an action, it pales in comparison with what a bus driver might do if a driver dared to pull over and block his lane.

Typical day on King George

 

There is little point driving within the city, but not so much because of traffic.  It is because having actually secured a street parking spot within walking distance of home, it is very risky to get in the car and drive anywhere in town; i) because there will be no parking at the destination, and ii) because when you come back your spot will undoubtedly be gone.  And good luck finding a new one!

The search for parking can provide plenty of opportunity for drama, as cars jockey for position and prepare to pounce on an empty spot (think Yorkdale on the weekend).  A driver with a passenger is at an advantage in this game. Once a spot is identified, the passenger is dispatched to stand in the spot and fight off the competition, while the driver takes the necessary circuitous route through the one-way side streets to get there.  The passenger then provides an extra pair of eyes to ensure that there is at least one centimetre left between the newly parked car and both its neighbours. How drivers manage to squeeze into some of these spots, and then get out again, is a mystery to me.

How do they do this?
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Eating Out in Tel Aviv

I did not come to Tel Aviv to cook, and so far, I am succeeding admirably on that score.  It is possible that this is the most densely “restauranted” city I have ever visited. Even more so than Paris. You may recall I marvelled at the number of hair salons…well, restaurants and cafes outnumber them exponentially. And they are all full, pretty much all the time, and this is the “off season”! There are days when I wonder if anyone eats at home. Or goes to work for that matter.

There are some establishments that are really clear (to say the least) as to what is on offer, and I have been collecting photos of these commonly themed restaurant signs which I will share throughout the post. I find them to be a fine example of the direct approach for which Israelis are famous.

Like I said…is there any doubt what is happening here?
Or here

Over all, we notice less take-out than at home; it seems that Israelis prefer to eat freshly made food, right away. I am not sure if it is the “fresh” part or the “right away” part that is the deciding factor; I suspect the latter.  With such a temperate climate you can eat outside most of the time, and people do.  In fact, many restaurants have more outdoor space than indoor…and there are more than a few casual eateries that look a lot like someone’s main floor kitchen with a bunch of tables on the sidewalk. The joy of eating al fresco can be somewhat dimmed by the fact that this also tends to be the smoking section, and also by the proximity of some of the outer tables to the bicycles and other motorized vehicles that whizz by ON THE SIDEWALK, narrowly avoiding your table.

Classier…but still to the point

In all but the really “upscale” places, portions are huge; it is not unusual for us to take half home.  Pastries and baked goods are delicious and abundant, and the gelato is excellent and widely (too widely) available… but people are mostly thin. This is an irritating trait that Tel Aviv shares with Paris, where we used to observe pencil-slim young women ask for extra whipped cream on their third course desserts (requisite dog at their feet), with a complete and utter lack of concern for weight and/or diet. The other day, the same thing happened as I ate my salad at Aroma.  The thin young woman next to me had to sit down and savour a giant, and I mean giant, piece of cake. It happens all the time and it is really not fair.

Getting the picture?

In our immediate neighbourhood, just around Rabin Square, we have a 24 hour French-style brasserie, (although the French themselves would NEVER eat around the clock), a Vietnamese restaurant from France (kosher), a Hawaiian Poke place (built around marinated raw fish, and also kosher), 5-6 Italian places, a fine dining international style restaurant, several meat places, and at least 20-30 casual cafes with a wide range of menu items.

The Hebrew letters are the transliteration of the word “red”…

And that is all within a 10 minute walk…within 20 minutes we are numbering well over 100 places, maybe more, and so it goes.  So much choice…so little time. And don’t get me started on the bakeries.

This is quite a classy place in Neve Tzedek

Our current favourite for a late breakfast or lunch is actually a book store on Rabin Square; it has a small, eclectic selection of English and Hebrew books, with maybe 12-15 tables wedged inside, another 6-7 or so outside, and a dairy/vegetarian menu as long as your arm. The first time we went there, I had 2 slices of challah french toast, with fruit, crème fraiche and date honey to die for.  It was in the “small breakfast” section of the menu. (BTW, date honey is amazing…move over, maple syrup.)

Nice

I cannot really account for the prevalence of unambiguously “meat-based” restaurant signs but I sure enjoy seeing them.