Israel in a Week! The End of Pamela's Visit

After taking Brian to the airport, Pamela and I headed to Mini Israel, a really cool museum that shows models of all of Israel on a 1:25 scale, so you can walk through the whole country in about an hour!! Google maps told us it was a 15 minute drive from the airport, so we caught a cab and headed to Latrun. 25 minutes later, we started to worry- the cab price was going up fast and we were nowhere near Mini Israel! Panicked and hoping we weren't lost, we watched the cab fare increase for a few more minutes. Finally, we saw the sign for Mini Israel and breathed a small sigh of relief. 130 shekels later (about $40), we were at Mini Israel! It really is a cool place, we walked through all the sections of Israel, taking lots of pictures and getting really excited when we recognized places, even though we knew most of them. We saw all of Israel in just 2 hours! We didn't even need the whole week. Well, okay, it's cooler to go the places in person, but still, the models are nearly exact replicas of the buildings. They even had skiiers on Mt. Hermon, even though ski season is only about 1 week long. We went to Tel Aviv, Yafo, Jerusalem, Haifa, the Golan Heights, the Negev, the Dead Sea, Masada, and even Eilat.

We decided to catch a bus back to Tel Aviv, since it was so expensive to take a cab on the way there. However, this was easier said than done, and for a while, we weren't sure we'd back it back! We walked for about 10 minutes to the bus stop, where a rather nosy Israeli told us we were going the wrong way and wouldn't let us on the bus (he wasn't even the driver and we definitely DID NOT ask for help). The bus he sent away without us turned out to be the right one, which we found out about 20 minutes later when we waited for a bus that never came to the bus stop across the street. We asked a soldier for directions, and he said he was also going to Tel Aviv and we could follow him. So, we waited for the original bus we wanted to get on and began our adventure back to Tel Aviv. This adventure included traveling most of the way to Jerusalem, only to get off the bus in the middle of the highway, climb up some rocks/dirt and walk across a bridge to another bus stop. We were about to get on the bus to Tel Aiv when all these people rushed the bus and got on before us. The driver told us he was full and wouldn't let us on! We were cold, tired, and angry by the time the next bus came, and we weren't taking crap from anyone. Like true Israeli's, we pushed our way, blockaded the people behind us, and made sure we were the first ones on the bus. We made it back to Tel Aviv after almost 2 hours of traveling. What a day. By that point, Brian's flight was still delayed and he hadn't even left Israel. He could have come with us!
We decided to change it up for dinner on Thursday and shared fetticini alfredo, leaving room for Max Brenner Chocolate Bar for dessert! We took our time digesting dinner and walking up to Rothschild to get dessert at the wonderful Max Brenner Chocolate Bar. We decided to share waffles with nougat and white chocolate syrup and ice cream and a chocolate banana milkshake. It was delicious! We took our time eating, since it was such a rich dessert. Once again, we walked along Rothschild and enjoyed the warm night and the pretty walk home.
Friday morning, we went back to the arts market on Nachalat Binyamin to buy whatever was left that we hadn't already bought (which wasn't much). I got a really cool ring with the Hebrew words for love, happiness, health, and success inscribed in the silver. Pamela and I both bought some more artsy things we liked and decided we had to leave after we ran out of money yet again. We went back to my apartment and got ready for our trip to Ra'anana for Shabbat. We stayed with Uncle Dexter's aunt and uncle and spent a lot of time with their children and grandchildren. When we got off the bus at Ra'anana Junction, we figured it was a short walk to Estelle and Jay's. It ended up being more like a 35 minute walk, but since Shabbat had started, we didn't think we could call them to tell them where we were. When we got there, they were worried and relieved that we made it. We didn't have much time before we went to Estee and Ari's for a wonderful Shabbat dinner. We had homemade challah, vegetable soup, chicken, meatballs, rice, and zuccini quiche for dinner. Estee is a great cook! For dessert, we had apple pie. It was great spending time with the family after not seeing them for 3 months.
Saturday morning, we woke up early and went to Shabbat services. We were only there for a 45 minutes, though, since they ended early. We had some time to relax and read our books before Shabbat lunch. We spent most of the day Saturday reading and relaxing. We also went to Estee and Ari's to hang out with Noga, who is our age, and her friends. We hung out and played Clue! It was really fun Shabbat afternoon.
Shortly after sunset, Pamela and I headed back to Tel Aviv for her last night in Israel. We ate dinner really late because we were soooo full from the delicious meals we had in Ra'anana. We went to an Italian cafe for dinner and I had really good tortellini stuffed with spinach and ricotta in a rose sauce. We shared cheesecake for dessert, and were truly stuffed once more. We walked around for a bit, then went back to my apartment so Pamela could pack.
It was a wonderful 10 days with Pamela and 6 days with Brian. I really enjoyed having them here and we managed to do/ see a lot! We had an amazing time together and I was sad to see them go.