Ok, time for a BIG update from Israel...

Up until this point, things have been pretty relaxed here in Israel. I have slept well, ate tons of AMAZING food and hung out a lot with Jack and his family.

I have spent time helping Jack make decisions for the house he is building (which is beautiful). We have gone for long drives through the lush Israeli countryside and I have lounged outside in the evening sun, reading until the mosquitoes have driven me indoors.


Incidentally, incase any of you are wondering about my "Air Soviet" flight, it was fine. The only weird thing was that we took a bus to and from the plane, which was parked really far away. Don't want to speculate why.
Landing in Israel... yay solid ground!
Jack's house. Still a lot to be done, but so far I think it is beautiful.


One day Jack and I and his parents went for a drive, had some delicious pizza for lunch and then they took me up to these beautiful gardens, Yad Hanadiv. The gardens are high in Israel's hilly wine country, near where they live.
When we got to the gardens they were about to close, but we managed a quick walk around. Jack has promised to take me back, but I don't know if we will have enough time on this visit.




Next we visited a town nearby called Zichron Ya'akov, which is also part of the wine region. The Midrohov is a pedestrian-only street, full of cafes, shops and art stores, leafy trees and gorgeous flowers.
Jack's mom and dad. They are so sweet.

I loved the Midrohov so much that we went back the next day!


This is my purse, which I am also quite enamoured with.

Grapes..

If you look closely you can see my two different colour eyes.
Brunch in a coffee shop. Aside from the eggs and Israeli salad on the plate, there is bread and about 10 different kinds of delicious dips and spreads. Some of them are cheese based, but soft cheese, and they often have herbs in them, like dill. There was also an avocado spread, a tuna one, a sesame one (trinah) and others. So. Damn. Good.
Flowers in their family's beautiful yard. I love this yard; it is full of fruit trees dripping with fruit and gorgeous flowers.

Lemons..

Macadamia tree. No nuts yet, but there will be. Last time I was here I took a bunch home for a treat.

This is the herb garden for the tea. The tea is the best tea I have ever tasted.

We had a huge and very delicious barbecue here at the house to celebrate Israel's Independance Day on Tuesday.


We ate chicken skewers, amazing beef kababs and steak, cooked over wood charcoals (so good). We also ate pita brushed with olive oil and paprika and olive oil and zatar (a green herb) and then toasted on the barbecue.

We had a few different salads made from fresh, sweet Israeli vegetables, potatoes, rice with almonds and raisins, homemade Baba Ghanoush (made from eggplant), trinah (a spicy sauce made from sesame), hummous and chimmichuri. Homemade lemonade, chocolate cake and herbal tea from the garden rounded out the afternoon.

Needless to say, I am having a great time here. I am going to hate to leave to go to the ship! Anyway my visit is half over so far, but the second half will be busy! This week we are travelling to Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and it's old port of Yafo, and the North of the country. I can't wait!