Our foreign travels-2

We landed in Israel at about 1:00am local time. At this point our internal clocks were completely confused. We picked up our rental car and drove north to our son's kibbutz.One thing that has radically improced in israel since our last visit is the highway system. getting to the kibbutz was easy. Getting in at 4:00am was less than easy.

The kibbutz has an electric gate. To get in, one calls the family you are visiting on a cell phone and then they call a code into the gate. it's a longer distance version of buzzing someone into your apartment. Unfortunately, we didn't have a cell phone. We drove to a gas station several miles. Israel used to have a pretty terrible phone system. Cellphones have been universally adopted. We begged the gas station attendant to let us borrow his cellphone. He did and we made our call.

We were let into the kibbutz, got into the house we are renting and crashed. We woke up in the early afternoon and went to visit a dear friend of my husbands for dinner.The dive on the hilly twisting roas was spectacular with the setting sun turining the hills shades of pink and orange. Hedva lives in a little hilltop community just north of Karmiel. Before dinner we climbed the spiral staircase to see the view. From Hedva's roof one can see the full width of the country, from the Kinneret all the way to Haifa. It isn't all that far. israwel is a pretty small country.

Hedva's house is simply beautiful. Each corner of the house is filled with visual surprises, arched windows that frame astounding views, old pre 1948 fruit crates that decorate the kitchen walls, Middle Eastern art deco furniture.Hedva's house is cozy and inviting.We had a wonderful and simple dinner with Hedva and her family and then drove back to the kibbutz. We would be seeing our son foe the first time since October the next day.

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sarah in nyc

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