Locked in an Israeli Saferoom!

Unfortunately I have come down with a miserable cold.  It started in Tel Aviv as a hacking cough and has only gotten worse.  Our apt in Jerusalem is 4 bedrooms - Alexis & Rob took the master with the room next door (two single beds) for the girls.  Mike and I took the room on the other side of the apt.  It also has a small bedroom next to it - with 1 single bed.  Since I tend to  cough for extended periods at a time, I decided to sleep in the small room so everyone else could get some sleep.  I went to bed early - shutting the door.  It was very heavy and hard to close.  The first couple of times I got up to go to the bathroom - drink water, spray cholorspectic on my throat - grab a roll of toilet paper for my continuous nose blowing - the door opened fine.  At 4:30 am I made another trip to the door.  I yanked and pulled, pushed, pounded, yelled, nothing happened - no one came.  Finally I called my husband on my phone, no answer.  30 minutes later, I texted him.  Another 30 minutes I called again.  I tried to sleep, but by now I can't breathe.  So I prop my pillows into the corner and try to sleep sitting up.  Just as I am dozing off around 6am, I hear someone struggling with the door.  Several minutes later, after many tries my husband managed to open the door.

We had noticed a similar room in our Airbnb in Tel Aviv.  We joked that it was the prison room.  I suspected that these two rooms were safe rooms.  I elected to stay in the apt today to see if I can recoup from this cold - and the rest went out sightseeing.  Our owner/manager stopped by around noon to drop off some things.  He confirmed that it was a "atomic room".  And said he would have warned us, but he thought we would not be using the room.  The room is built to protect those inside if a bomb hits the building.  There looks to be a window - but it is not.  I did some research.  These rooms are meant to be small as they are so expensive to build.  There should be nothing in the room that would fall - like bookcases or cabinets with things in it.  A lot of people have tried to make the room usable by turning it into a bedroom or sometimes a laundry room.

Trust me, I will not be closing that door again!! 

Last day in Joffa

The pace of traveling changes when you have small children with you.  Their stop, slow walk, and then running pace is difficult to keep up with.  Natasha in particular goes full tilt until suddenly she is done.  It is good to know I am not the only one holding up the group! 
We got a late start - leaving the apt only an hour before lunch.  We walked towards old town Joffa and stopped at the ice cream shop to indulge the two youngest members of our party.  Lia chose pink and Natasha blue.  No idea what they tasted like.  These two love ice cream.  Then on to the Clock Tower.  We stopped for lunch at one of the many Shawarma places along the way.  We retraced the path we took with our guide yesturday and Mike gave a history tour along the way. It was nice to be on the opposite side of  the street and get better views of the mosque and oher buildings.  As it is Saturday there are a ton more tourists out.  The seafront is crowded and very hot.  We went a different way up the hill and saw the ampatheatre which we missed the first time.  Then wandered around old town Jaffa before heading home.  The young family stopped at the playground on the way back.  Mike and I headed back to take naps.  Tonight, we are having left over pasta and hamburgers and cabbage.  Tomorrow we are taking a cab to Jerusalem.  It turned out to cost only slightly more than taking a bus or train with cabs on either end. 
A mosque near us - seems to be under renovation.

 The ice cream shop.

 Street scenes along the way to old town Joffa.

 What I didn't see the first time through, as we were on the mosque side of the street.

 Enjoying the Medaterian.

Old town scenes.

 

 The ampatheatre stage.

 Entrance to Greek Orthodox church.

 More scenes along the way.

Jaffa Tour and Invasion of the Amsterdam Hoard

This morning Albert is going to take us on a tour of old town Jaffa.  We met at the Clock Tower.  It took us 30 minutes to walk from our apt to the tower.  The walking tour lasted 3 1/2 hours and then walked home, another 40 minutes.  Needless to see we were exhausted.  The pictures are not in order. 

This picture below is of the Tel Aviv skyline, taken from the beach near the fish restaurant we went to dinner.  We met a business acquaintance who just happened to be here at the same time on a Jewish heritiage tour with rabi's from the Temple Albert in Albuquerque. 

 The Mediterranean.

 Serious photography going on here.

 First stop of the tour.  This is not a fountain - The directions tell you to wash your hands and feet before you go to the Mosque, which is just around the corner.

Water front buildings.  This is the location that used to be a famous castle.

Ottoman Customs House on left.  View of harbor and Tel Aviv in back ground.

Street views old town Jaffa.   Famous house of Simon the Tanner. where the apostle Peter once stayed.

Ha-Pisga garden.  Three pillers tell three different Bible stories.

 Monastery of St. Peter.

 The Egyptian Gate.  During the Egyptian period it was the gate into the city of Joppa.

 The Clock Tower - popular spot for tours to start.

I couldn't resist taking a picture of this shop behind the Clock Tower.

 Detail of the clock tower.

 Clock tower with a mosque in the background.

 Last place on the tour was to the American/German quarter.  Interesting story - some Protestants from Maine decided that Christ was not going to come back until the Jews returned to their homeland.  So a group of about 44 families took a ship to Israel and started several different colonies in Israel in 1866.  They were going to help the Jews come home.  They built New England style homes in a section near Old town Jaffa.  They lasted 2 years and decided life was just too difficult.  Lucky for them, a group of Protestants from Germany took on the mission.  TheAmericans sold their homes to the Germans and went back to Maine.  The Germans added more homes in the area more in the German bulding style.  These are all so different than what you see all over Israel.  Below -a cool tree.

 We could not take pictures in the Monastery of St Peter (Catholic church) as there was a service going on.  But it was in sharp contrast to the simple church below.  The steaple 2nd photo below is this simple church.

 Random art work in the middle of the roadway.

 Fake orange tree - one of several we saw.  The oranges are an added decoration.

The kids arrived around 3pm.  It was pretty much bedlem after that.  Very hungry little girls.  Quickly fed them.  Dad and I still exhausted.  Kids go shopping for food for dinner and then take little ones to playground,  Dad and I nap.  Made dinner at Airbnb and then to bed.