Hangin’ with my Baby

Israel Day 8, Monday, October 18:

Monday meant back to work, for Dave.  Will and I met him for lunch in one of the coffee shops.  I never knew the name because unlike everywhere else it had no English name
posted.  It looked like a Starbucks, if their colors were Red and Black, but the food offerings were a thousand times better.

After lunch Will and I walked to a park I had noticed nearby. The theme was definitely ropes.  They were used in abundance so I called it the Spider Park.  Will loved climbing around like a little spider.  They had a swing that looked like a big papasan chair made out of rope. It was surprisingly comfy and fun.  Will wouldn’t let me get in a quick nap. One of his favorite pieces there was a rope that was at least twelve inches thick and fifteen feet long.  It was suspended so that you rode it like a horse and it swung like a battering
ram.  Really pretty fun to get that thing going!

After we thoroughly explored all the web-works we hopped on the #29 bus (which I noticed picking up across the street and I had noticed the same number in front of the apartment) and it thankfully took us directly back to the apartment. And, I say thankfully, because figuring out the bus routes here is – how do you say no bueno in Hebrew?

That night we ate at a restaurant on the square in front of the apartment. The waitress spoke English beautifully and thought I looked liked Alison Sweeney – Sami from Days of our Lives and the host of The Biggest Loser. Dave ate a dish that included sautéed chicken livers. He likes things eclectic. The waitress made sure he fully understood what he was eating and then gave him a “crazy foreigner” look. We fed most of the liver to Will because that was the part he liked best (it actually looked like sautéed mushrooms, which Will doesn’t like, or doesn’t think he likes). Plus it has lots of iron – good for a quasi-anemic growing boy.

One of our previous dinners Dave tried to order the Fish and Chips but the waiter explained it wasn’t what he would be expecting. It had french fries and it had fish but it wasn’t battered and fried fish fillets it was a battered and fried fish. He explained that you were supposed to eat the whole thing bones, tail, head and all. Dave went for it and sure enough, out came the whole fish. He had about five or six and they were about six inches long. Dave ate a lot of them but said the spine was a bit too knotty. The waiter noticed and told him he could eat them but he passed. I think he skipped the head and tail too. He’s much more of a culinary trooper than I am (Rocky Mountain Oysters anyone?).

And, since I forgot the Dead Sea pictures from the Masada day, I’ll include them here.  Oddly, I have no pictures of us sitting around in our jammies all day.

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