Israel 18,

July 20,2026,

Yesterday I felt that I had had enough sun so I took the day off to walk around Tel Aviv. TLV is a great city and fun to visit on foot. I needed a new mouse as they tend to break if you drop them too many times. The price was the same as in Montreal which surprised me as everything else, from restaurants to apartments is much more expensive. I still managed a good swim and a run. My afternoon snack consisted of a frozen yogourt at Golda’s but I found the taste too sweet and will stick with ice cream for my next treat.

I met a nice couple from Australia and we spent the evening together watching the World Cup final between Spain and Argentina. Billed as Europe vs South America or Palestine vs Israel, depending on how you look at politics. It was supposed to be a thrilling match between 2 championship teams. Unfortunately, the game was uninspiring for us. We came down to the beach front restaurants at 8:30, expecting to easily find seating. Everything was either reserved or had long lineups to get in. We walked down the beach for a while eventually finding seats off to the side but with a reasonable view of the screen if you had binoculars. There were at least 2000 fans on the boardwalk and on the sand watching the game, eating and drinking at our chosen restaurant.

Spain had 20 shots and 12 on goal. Argentina had 2 shots and none on goal. The Argentina goal tender kept them in the game until the 2nd overtime period, stopping 11 shots allowing a 1 goal victory by Spain. The Spanish midfielders were on top of Mesi every time he touched the ball. The audience was silent for the whole game, as Argentina’s performance gave us no reason to cheer. After the game, we filed away quietly to lick our wounds. The game ended at 1:15 AM so I slept in this morning.

Love,

Brian