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Thursday, June 16, 2011

How I ran away

Some of you have been asking where we went. .

About three months ago, one of my group buys offered a tzimer (literally a room, but more like a bungalo) for one night other than the Sabbath for NIS 250 (regular price NIS 550 $1 = NIS 3.4 these days). They offered only 50 spots. The tzimer is in Yavne'el, a peaceful little village about 12km east of Tiberias (pictured). It had to be used before July 31. I bought a voucher and figured I would surprise Mrs. Carl. (If anyone wants details on the tzimer, please send private email).

As it happens, logistics of the two of us getting away without children are way too complex for me to keep this a secret until we get in a car to leave, especially since our car died three weeks ago. So before I left for the US, I told Mrs. Carl what I had done and asked her to arrange a date. The date was Tuesday night.

So Tuesday afternoon (much later than planned), we drove to Yavneel, which took about two hours. After I took a nap and still fell asleep again in the synagogue waiting for the afternoon service, we decided to head to Tiberias for dinner and not risk waiting until after the evening service. Surprisingly, there were far more super-Kosher (Mehadrin for those in the know) restaurants in Tiberias than we ever thought there would be. We found dinner and came back to Yavneel to sleep.

On Wednesday morning, a private guide took us for a two-hour hike through a wilderness area. Then we drove to Tzfat (Safed), which is about an hour's drive, and spent a few hours wandering around the old synagogues and the artists' quarter. Then we drove to Meiron (probably a 20-minute drive, but we made a wrong turn coming out of Tzfat which added to the trip) and went to the tomb of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai (which was crowded!). Then we drove to Netanya, where I took Mrs. Carl to a restaurant I ate in last year and really enjoyed, but to which she would never agree to drive just to go to dinner (it's about 90km from Jerusalem). And then we came home.

So we had a couple of days away from the kids (the 20-year old and the 17-year old took care of the three little ones, although we did need a babysitter for a few hours tonight), and now we're back and exhausted raring to go.

UPDATE 1:20 AM

Forgot to mention that I did not see Abu Bluff's family home in Tzfat, but did see some horrific stories about how the British tried to make sure the city went to the Arabs when the Mandate ended. Will try to remember to post tomorrow.

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4 Comments:

At 1:48 AM, Blogger NormanF said...

Its good to see you had a vacation, Carl. Hope you and Mrs. Carl enjoyed the sights of northern Israel!

Look forward to your blogging again Thursday!

 
At 2:16 AM, Blogger Sunlight said...

Readers who haven't been to Israel, please note that Carl drove Mrs. Carl hither and yon all across the northern part of the country in a matter of minutes. Look at the map and you will see that they covered some major territory percent-of-Israel-wise. It is a tiny country. (BTW, Yavne'el is 12 km east of Tiberias? South?)

How did you find the guide for hiking? That sounds fun.

 
At 6:26 AM, Blogger Avigdor said...

Carl, how did you find this "Super-Kosher" restaurant? Do you happen to know if there are up-to-date lists of kosher restaurants in Israeli cities printed or posted anywhere?

In the US it's fairly easy - go to google maps, type "kosher restaurant", and you're likely to find whatever there is nearby. Is there anything like that in Israel?

Thanks,
-Victor

 
At 10:28 AM, Blogger Carl in Jerusalem said...

Victor,

This is the list we used to find a restaurant in Tiberias on Tuesday night:

http://www.restaurants-in-israel.co.il/SearchResults.aspx?name=&area=10&city=&FType=&Kosher=true

 

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