Sunday July 13th, 2008. Tel-Aviv

Photo gallery continued. Today the plan was to go through all the available venues for Dan's interest, rent a car, and in the evening we were meeting with Dan's parents' friends. The plan worked as expected. Venues were disappointing - but then we were not expecting much.

It was really good to walk around the city - the streets that you normally not visit as a tourist. It is confusing city. Some parts are growing uncontrollably, others, like the beach and the surrounding areas around King George Street, Disengoff, and Allenby had seen better days. There does not seem to be central plan for city's growth. Some of the buildings are attractive individually - white, with interesting architecture, but together, they clash and look artificial.

It is also one of the dirtiest cities I've ever seen. There are street beggars, decently dressed, who beg with their heads covered (shame? piety? or they do not want to be recognized by friends and relatives?) There is a homeless guy without a leg who has been camping outside our hotel during our entire stay (save Saturday) right in a middle of the sidewalk. He either sits there with all his plastic bagged posessions close by or sleeps right there. I am pretty sure there are social services here. There is a feeling that no one cares.

On the positive side, we found Central Coffee boutique on Ben Yehuda - a street away from Frishman. Philo pastries with backlava and chocolate and capucchino justify, in part, why no one cares about the look and feel - the taste makes up in the levels of satisfaction.

We went to 7 car rental agencies. Prices for 1-day rental range from $40-80 but there is limit on the mileage 200km, extra km is around $.25-.33. All these places open at 8am and close at 5-6pm - so if you are planning a full day - add more days. We were running out of patience so decided to rent a car at the cheapest place for 2 days (Rent A Car). This would cover the distance to Tzvat and back. We agreed to pick up the car at 4:30pm on Saturday and technically that would allow us to keep it till 4:30 on Tuesday. We told the company we will leave the car on their parking lot to avoid parking on the street. Also got comprehensive insurance for $14 for day - this would cover scratches, theft, and everything in between. They quoted $15 for the next guy who walked in after us.

Dan was not really comfortable renting having observed pretty agresssive driving around and because the city has a lot of one-way streets and is difficult to drive around. But another alternative would be to walk to the main train station, take a train to Acco, wait for the bus to Tzvat and back. With so many changes and taking into account the weather it just seemed easier to drive. Plus we could stop on the way if we saw something interesting.

In the remaining time before the evening we walked back to Jaffa (45 minutes) and went through the galleries again. A few more had opened. We got a painting - it will be painted and sent to us in the fall. The picture on the left is that of a soldier designated to guard the backpacks and guns of the rest of his team while they went swimming. Pile of machine guns looks interesting.

We met with Dan's parents' friends in Neve Tsedek in the evening and had a really good time. Dan's childhood friend Gita visited LT a few years back and did not like it because it was not as she remembered it in her childhood. It was funny to hear her bring up the same reasons as we had about Tel Aviv now - delapidated streets, garbage, penhandlers. I guess it could be because you can assume different perspectives depending on whether on you are tourist or living in the place. It is not that we ignore bad stuff around the place where we live - we choose to focus on the positives and it becomes a more pleasant to live in.

Sharon, a partner from Marathon Investments and a remnant from the GCP project, walked by us in the evening - it is such a small country.