Blown away

We went to Anastasia for breakfast again (see extras); god I love that place, the staff just exude good vibes. Left feeling very full at about 10.30 by which time it was getting very busy. Popular place, Tel Aviv’s first vegan eatery if you believe the narrative. The scrambled “egg” was exceptional; not sure if we will be able to replicate it at home.

The Tel Aviv museum of Modern Art was very good, we spent about three hours there. They’ve just opened an exhibition of impressionists and post impressionists on loan from Philadelphia, some lovely pieces including Chagal, Picasso and Degas. The rest of the spaces are worth a look, and the building itself is really architecturally powerful. Great experience. I got to sit in the middle of an installation of fans and pose, briefly becoming part of the artwork. We also walked through the holocaust memorial in Rabin Square (see extra) which is like a giant fire basket but has a very moving and inspiring inscription by the artist as to its symbolism, both historic and optimistic.

We had lunch in Sarona, which was very busy. Clearly not the sabbath in that part of the city. But there was a nice atmosphere generally, Israeli people use public parks for kids parties and family gatherings, putting up trestle tables, stringing balloons between the trees and generally making a big affair out of it. Rather bizarrely we saw a little place selling burgers and frozen custard (see extras); I think they probably meant yoghurt and employed a dodgy translator. But it seemed popular enough.

We tidied the apartment and packed up before having one last beer in the bar across the street from the corner of Shalom Halechem. Then we hailed a taxi relatively easily and had an entertaining ride to Ben Gurion with a cab driver who seemed to have an endless supply of outlandish stories and conversation. He got me to pick two lines of lottery numbers for him and promised to track us down and share his winnings with us if he got the jackpot. If you come across a balding Israeli taxi driver looking for me on social media let me know, it might change my life.

Sad to leave. Been a really great experience. Tel Aviv has a distinctive rhythm, and I think I got caught up in it. Like when you are at a concert and find yourself swaying to a really hypnotic, long tune and smiling as you sing along. TSM and I have had endless easy hours together; it’s been fantastic to talk and hang out for so long. I’ve had lots of energy, drunk too much beer, got tattooed again, and met some lovely people. The weather was gorgeous and I’m brown as a nut where it matters when you are about to go into a British winter. In fact towards the end of the week when we had ditched the rucksack and perfected our handful of Ivrit words of greeting, people assumed we were locals and would throw a stream of Hebrew at us. Great feeling.

I really was Blown away.