I arrived last evening in Kuratau as small village on Lake Taupo, a large fresh water lake about 50km long and very deep. I am staying at Tongariro Adventures on the shore of the lake. My hosts Barb and Mike are lovely people. They listen well to my endless stories. I ate dinner at a high quality restaurant overlooking the lake. I had to take my motorbike to get there which curtailed my consumption of wine.
This morning I awoke to blue skies, cool temperatures which warmed up during the day. Mike advised me to ride up to Whakapapa Village ( that really is its name) and then up to the ski resort on Mt. Ruapehu. It was a wonderful ride up windy roads to the base of the mountain. The scenery begins with rolling hills and sheep and eventually breath taking views of the mountain. The mountain is covered in snow half way up, but the season was ending and I didn’t see any skiers.
Half way up the mountain, I became aware of the idiot blinking light (for idiots) warning me that I was almost out of gas. I continued up the mountain anyway as I figuered that I could always just roll back the mountain in neutral. I have been riding motorcycles for over 50 years so it is amazing that I didn’t check the reservoir before starting out. At the base of the mountain I struck up a conversation with Ben, one of the mountain employees. It is really easy to meet people when you are alone on a bike. Everyone wants to know where you are from, how long you have been in New Zealand and what are your plans for riding. I told Ben that I was out of gas. The next gas station was 10km away, a bit risky on an almost empty tank. ‘No worries.’ While I sipped a cappuccino at the cafe, he called over his friend Grace who drummed up a canister of gas for me. She was a world traveller and had worked in a ski resort in Prince George, Northern B.C.
We filled up my tank and I was on my way back to my hotel. A group of motorcycles passed me at breakneck speed. I can’t and don’t ever want to go that fast.
Love,
Brian
Photos taken on the road from Kuratau to Whakapapa
It’a amazing, that when you are travelling, you can have good days, better days and fabulous days with only the occasion blip. Today, after breakfast, I elected to do a walking day to give my 9 hour, motorcycle bum a rest. I walked down from my hotel to the waterfront, passing through the town. Tauranga is a lovely town, doubling as a beach resort and a large industrial port. The downtown area has the usual amount of shops with a number of them specializing in hiking and sporting equipment. I did a lot of browsing but no purchasing, responding to the sales people that I was only a tourist vacationing.
I found myself at the waterfront overlooking an old railway bridge which took me across the bay. The bridge had a walking lane used by hikers, runners and bicyclists. It was 800 meters long. I walked across and found myself on a road that followed the beach on the other side. I walked for an hour and eventually a car stopped to ask me if I was lost and could she give me a lift. Her mother was in the back seat and was probably about my age. I told her that I was from Canada and that I had just completed a triathlon as she had notice the number tatoued on my arm. She drove me a few kms to the local bus station. She explained to me that she was of Mauri origin. The Mauris are the original settlers here, arriving from Polynesia several hundred years before the white man. Mauri culture is very evident here as many of the villages and mountains are in Mauri language and are unpronounceable and difficult for me to memorize. There are only 5 million people in all of NZ, many of whom are Mauri. On the bus, the stations are announced in Mauri and English. We could take a lesson from them in Quebec. Our native Indian culture is visibly lost in our everyday lives.
The bus took me to Mount Maunganui and the bus driver asked me politely if I was going to hike up the mountain. When I acknowledged that was what I was here to do, he responded ‘that is what I figured.’ I took that as a compliment as I guess that he also had seen my tatous. I had a cappuccino and muffin for lunch and spoke with a young couple from Italy, travelling around and working as cooks. I suggested to the young lady, Noel that they might find work in Whistler as they were quite interested in the fact that I was from Canada.
I asked the waitress about how long it would take me to climb the 300m mountain. She looked at me and suggested that I try the climb tomorrow as I had just consumed 1 muffin and 2 cappuchinos. I started up the mountain and asked a few young people if I could climb up the mountain in 1 hour or so. They politely smiled. There were several paths to take, longer with a gentle slope or shorter but steeper. I took the latter to go up and the former to walk down. On my way back I spoke to a young fellow who lived here and then with an Estonian waiter who is a sea captain. You meet so many people when you travel alone.
All of the pictures below were taken in Tauranga and on Mount Maunganui.
’Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag and smile, smile, smile.’ I repacked my already stuffed to the brim, suitcases. again. i had to find a place for my new medal and had to really push to close the bag. I called an Uber to take me to my motorcycle rental place across the bridge in a suburb of Auckland. I am getting rather good at ubering and can summon up one all by myself. I arrived at the motorcycle shop and met the man in charge. He explained the workings of the bike to me and gave me some advice of windy roads to take for my next leg of my journey. I rented a Honda 500 Rebel CMX which is rather small and easy to manoeuvre on the hilly narrow roads that I will travel on. The bike came with 2 saddle bags and an over the wheel trunk. I repacked taking only what I would need for the trip. All bikes are geared the same, one down and 4 up. For one second I forgot and started the bike, ready to go in 1 up, second gear. The fellow looked at me and I could see by his face that he was wondering if this was my first time on a bike and should he be really renting it to me.
When ever I get on my bike, I always say to myself, ‘this could be my last ride.’ So far I have been wrong. The bike although small, was not really small. Riding a new bike with the gears on the opposite side as my triumph is always a challenge. They drive on the left side of the road here. My TomTom motorcycle GPS allows me to choose primary, secondary or tertiary roads, hilly, very hilly and very hilly roads, curvy, very curvy and very very curvy roads II had chosen to ride on the latter of all three choices. I started up the engine and wondered to myself if I had not bitten more than I can chew, as usual. 1 hour into the ride, I had gained back my usual over confidence and knew that I could easily master the low cut Honda.
The drive out of Auckland was rather boring as I had to go back over the bridge and through the entire city. The city has small towns, attached to each other and go on for 1 hour, not very interesting. Finally, I arrived in the country side. I drove on for several hours through rolling hills and small farms. I arrived at the turning point where I had to decide whether or not to continue on to Tauranga or head north up the peninsula and follow the ‘spectacular road’ that the motor-shop man had described to me. I chose the latter and headed up the peninsula. This was supposed to add 3 hours to my journey. It added another 5 hours but it was really worth while.
The road was narrow, windy, hilly, and curvy to the extreme, perfect for my first day on a new motorcycle in a new country. A real baptism by fire. The road wound along the sea with the mountains often coming right down to the water, The road was often cut out of the mountain. Finally, I arrived at the top of the peninsula and road across to the other side. Here the road cut through the mountain with hair pin turns and switch backs. I road in 2nd or 3rd gear for the most part doing 30-50 k/hr. Many turns were marked 25 k/hr and it was impossible to go faster. Later on the roads were marked at 100 k/hr. I never dared to go over 80.
I arrived in Tauranga, 10 hours later, having stopped only once for lunch and many times to take photos. I usually don’t like to ride a bike after dark or in the rain. I finished my journey in the dark and with a light drizzle. My GPS lady got lost and I drove around Tauranga for 1 hour before finding my hotel. I was ready for a beer.
Love,
Brian
All the photos below were taken on my motor cycle journey, from Auckland up the peninsula and then back down to Tauranga.
Today is an absolutely gorgeous spring day, sunny, blue skies, 20C. I started off the day with a cappuccino and a muffin at Starbucks, very original for my trip in N-Z. It was wash day and miraculously, my hotel has a laundromat in the hotel. If you have read my previous blogs, you will know how much I love laundromats. This one was a little different, consisting of a cupboard and 2 small machines, one on top of the other. I filled the machine with my laundry and returned to my room to catch up on emails.
Pamela, the lady who offered me champagne on the plane here, had advised me to take a day trip to Waiheke Island by ferry boat. I picked up the ferry in Auckland Harbour and floated over to the Island. There were 1 foot waves and the wind was blowing at 15-20 kts with white caps. The view was splendid. There are a few sailboats out and 1 fellow was windsurfing. How I wished that I could be out there, on a sailboat. ‘You can’t always get what you want so be happy with what you got.’
I took a seat on the back of the ferry boat and got a great view of Auckland Harbour. My spirits were high and I was taken back to a time 55 years ago. I was travelling for 1 year and had just finished 2 months of skiing in Austria, Switzerland and Italy. I had dropped off my skies in Germany and was hitchhiking to Greece. I stopped off in Zurich and bought a pair of white Adidas with 3 black stripes. In retrospect they were good walking shoes but not the type that one should have in Israel with 35C to 40C weather. The weather was about the same as today and I had only 7lbs of luggage in my back pack. My pill box weighs more than that now. I was bouncing along in my new shoes without a care in the world. I was eventually planning to go to Israel to work on a kibbutz. For what ever reason, the song ‘my sweet lord’ was in my mind and I was singing the song to myself. That moment in time was a moment that I was the most free in my life. I was never that free before, and I was never as free afterwards and probably will never be that free again. I had no responsibilities except to myself. I had very little money, just enough to get along. Everyday was a new adventure to experience. I wonder if anyone else reading my blog has ever had a similar experience.
Waiheke Island has a similar atmosphere that you find in Jersey, one of the Channel Islands, Martha’s Vineyard or the island Brehat in France. Everyone seems to be relaxed and taking it easy. The tourist season has not started and the cafes and bars have only the locals in them. I am sitting in a cafe overlooking the ocean in a small village on the island. The island is famous for its wineries and if I am lucky I will find one open to sample the wine. If not, I will order some wine for supper here.
I got on a public bus and travelled up the island. The island is surprisingly hilly, with windy narrow roads. It would be a great place to ride a motorcycle but probably very difficult to ride a bike unless you are in really good condition. I got off the bus, half way up the island and walked down to the beach. The waves were rolling in onto the beach and the water looked inviting with many sailboats moored in the distance. 2 ladies were coming out of the water so I asked them about the water temperature. They said it was cold but when I tested it, it was much warmer than Laurentian lake water in June. They informed me that there were no jelly fish or sharks here as the water is too cold.
I took the bus back to the little town and am once again enjoying the view from the terrace of my Italian restaurant. I will take the 930 ferry back to Auckland after dinner. I will pick up my motorcycle tomorrow and head off on the motorcycle part of my journey.
All of the photos below are either taken from aboard the ferry boat from Auckland to Waiheke Island or on the island itself.
Today was a travel day, my last day in Australia and my first day in New Zealand. As usual during this trip, my day was filled with adventure. Each day when I wake up, I never know what new experience the day will bring. I packed last night and woke up early to have a buffet breakfast and get on the shuttle to the airport. The breakfast was supposedly included with the room, but it came with a $20 price tag, an $8 reduction in price. I didn’t mind as the buffet was worth while. We piled into a regular size bus that took us to all 3 terminals. Terminal 1, the international terminal was huge and miles away. I arrived 2 hours early and had no time passing through customs.
I had an hour and a half to spare when I realized that I had purchased an ipad and could collect a tax refund. There was a long line up and I didn’t think that I would get through in time. After a half hour, an agent announced that a TMT online form had to be filled out. I had paid $251 in tax, so I figured that I should give it a try. I think that TMT means ‘too much trouble’ as the form was multiple pages long and required all sorts of secret numbers imbedded in the receipt. I must have looked discouraged as the man next to me offered his assistance. He was able to go through the form with me, filling in the blanks and even getting a required emergency email documentation from Apple. We spoke for a while and he explained that he was originally from India and was an IT expert. He had worked in many countries and had visited Canada many times. We exchanged email addresses and I promised to take him to dinner if he ever comes to Canada. I also gave him my blog site of course.
I had a good seat in the plane, just behind first class with extra leg room. I struck up a conversation with the lady in the seat next to me. She was Australian and had worked for many years in Utah. She was a frequent flyer with Qantas Airlines and was offered multiple glasses of ‘Australian bubbly’ for herself and her ‘guest’. That certainly started the day off well for me. Qantas offers a good meal for airline travellers even on 3 hour short time flights. United Airlines could take a lesson from them in service for clients. United, offers water and chips on 6 hour flights and $30 sandwiches. We exchanged emails addresses and she promised to read my blog. I now have over 10,000 visits and 4000 visitors to my blog site.
I am staying at a 4* downtown hotel which is very convenient. Auckland is a lovely city, very clean and a beautiful waterfront. I walked down Queen St. the main shopping avenue and arrived at the waterfront. There are a lot of sailboats, and big motor boats. You can take a boat tour of the port and go out to 1 of the islands which is supposed to be very pleasant. I will probably do that tomorrow.
The waterfront is quite developed with numerous restaurants and bars. Sunday night is rather quiet. I chose a nice Italian restaurant with white table cloths catering to a middle class, middle age cliental. No matter what country you are in, if you choose an Italian restaurant, you will always eat well.
I woke up early, had a light breakfast, closed up the house and figured out how to put the key in the security box all by myself. I spent 1 hour trying to change my method of payment on the Uber app. AI finally gave me a hand. Some of these apps are not made for people with white hair. I called an Uber and the driver arrived in 15 minutes. He refused to take my bicycle and would not drop down the back seats. He wanted to charge me $8.00 as according to him, I was cancelling the ride. I threatened to give him a bad report so he relented and cancelled the ride himself.
My neighbour offered to drive me to the railroad station but by that time I had already summoned up a new Uber. We had a nice conversation and he told me that he had built the semidetached house and sold the other half for $1.9 million. Real estate is very expensive in this area. The Uber arrived and took me to the railroad station. I had 2 bags of luggage, a knapsack with my souvenirs from the triathlon and a bicycle. It was obviously unmanageable. A nice gentleman of similar vintage to me took charge and helped me get my baggage onto the train. They were doing work on the train line so I had to get off the train and take a bus. The gentleman accompanied me for a few blocks to get to the bus station. People are so nice here.
The first bus was too crowded to take me with my bike. The second bus arrived 15 minutes later and gave me the same lame excuse. By that time I had run out of battery. I went into a Dominos Pizza Restaurant and the waiter called an Uber for me. He would not accept any payment! The Uber arrived and refused to take me with a bicycle. He did accept to call a bigger Uber. I arrived at the train station and somehow boarded the train to Sydney. An Uber took me to my Ibis Budget Hotel. I checked into the hotel and decided to bike from the airport to downtown Sydney to drop off the bike. The GPS lady told me it should take about 35 minutes. That might be possible for an Australian but certain not for a senior Canadian. I ran out of battery life 1.5 hours later, so I stopped off at restaurant to charge up my iphone.
I was hungry so I had some sushi. It was the worst sushi that I have ever eaten. By the time my iphone was charged up, I had to purchase more data. That is not easy to do if you have no data left to go online and buy more data. It was a vicious circle. Eventually, I got in touch with the Livelo bike shop to drop off my bike. The shop was closed. The man told me that he was in Wollongong picking up bikes. He gave me the address of his house which was supposedly 2km away. It turned out to be 5k away through a lovely hilly area of town with much parkland. I dropped of the bike and headed off to the train station to go to my Ibis Budget Hotel. The train took me to Central Station but there were no connecting trains to the airport as there was track work being done. They did supply an airport bus several hundred meters away. The bus dropped me off at the Domestic Terminal and I proceeded to my hotel on foot, 15 minutes away.
I am sitting in an airport hotel restaurant, finishing off a nice fish meal and sipping my second pint of Australian beer. I am wondering if I should have a 3rd one.
I arrived in the airport in Sydney with 2 bags on rollers but still rather unmanageable. My Ibis Airport Budget hotel was a few a few hundred meters away, so I rolled and bumped my baggage along for 20 minutes. Needless to say on arrival that my Ibis Hotel with a slightly different name was in the opposite direction. I wanted to check in early but they wanted and extra $30 for the privilege so I just left my bags in the locker. I took a train downtown to visit Sydney.
While in the airport at San Francisco I managed to get my ipad stolen when I looked away for an instant. The plane was leaving in a few minutes so I had no time to make a police report. I went to apple in Sydney and they blocked all the data and locked the ipad. The app ‘find my ipad’ showed me that my ipad was still in the airport. Maybe someone found it and turned it in. In any case it is insured so I bought another one from apple. Apple transferred all the data to my new machine so I was in business. I was rather discouraged and hungry so I drowned my sorrows eit a Caucchino and a muffin. In an hour or so once I started writing on my new toy, I felt better. I switched my sim card for an Australian sim card I minute to late and received a welcome to Australian message from Bell Canada that cost $30.
I picked up my rented bike on the other end of town and bumped along with 2 bags and a bike to a train station that took me to Wollongong, a small town on the ocean where the triathlon is takeing place. I rented a house with another couple about 10k from the village , on the sea. We are staying in a 4 bedroom, 2 story very will appointed house with a garden. The beach is just down the street. My house partners are a couple from Australia who are very nice.
Yesterday afternoon we went to the triathlon site to register. They gave us our tattoo numbers, a large bag, a swimming hat and instructions for the race. We had a meet and greet dinner with the Canadian team at a beach restaurant. Later in the day all the teams got together for the Parade of Nations through town. The streets were lined with 10,000 spectators and there were a lot of television camera. There are 4000 thousand athletes here from 73 countries. There are many races here including the elite race, the age group races , the sprints, the olympics, aqua bike faces and duathalons. I am doing the sprint, age group 75 to 79 race.
For the parade, each nation marched in as a group. We are about 200 on our team. Israel has a small team here. When I saw them, I went over to them, told them that I had been with the IDF and MDA and asked permission to march in with them. They were very. pleased and shock my hand. Some one walked lover to me and asked me if I would wear a ‘free Palestine bracelet .’ I quietly refused telling him that I was on the other side.
Last evening we went out for seafood. I ate burundi fish that I had never eaten before and it was delicious. Today I will go for a swim, relax and catch up on my writing.
I started the morning off with 1 cultural event, a visit to Erez Israel Museum. It is a nice museum with many low rise buildings featuring the development of Israel fromprehistoric times to the present day. Over the centuries, following the destruction of the 2nd temple by the Romans and the beginning of the diaspora, there were many invaders of the land. Prior to the Romans, the land was invaded by the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Mamyluks, the Greeks, and the Romans to name a few. After the fall of Rome the land was invaded by the Arabs, the Christians and the Turks of the Ottoman Empire. Israel was always a crossroads so many peoples passed through the land. The above list is by no means complete. The final rulers before Israel became a state were the British being given the land by the League of Nations that became known as the Palestine Mandate. I spent 1.5 to 2 hours visiting the museum and as in any museum, one can spend days studying each exhibition.
It was 36C at 1:00 so I went off to the beach for a few hours of sun. As usual I swam out to the breakwater and back, a distance of 500 meters. There was a cool breeze making the day pleasant in spite of the heat. The beach was packed with sunbathers. This is a very different population than what I saw in apartment buildings with MDA. There was 20-25 knots of wind with a westerly wind blowing on shore 1-2 ft waves. There were no sailboats out but the water and beach was filled with kite surfers. At one point I counted 50 kite surfers in the water and flying through the air. It is a wonder that there ropes do not cross each other.
The kite is semi circle about 10 ft long and 2 ft wide. One edge is inflated with air. There are 4 strings attached to the kite which lead into 2 strings that attach to a 1.5 ft bar. The surfer holds onto the bar and also has a belt attachment. The surfer holds board is 4 ft long and 1 ft wide with places for one’s feet. 1 person holds onto the kite and eventually lets it fly. His partner holds onto the bar and puts his feet into the attachments on the board. When the string is taught, the surfer just seems to take off on the water. By switching the bar around, he can control the direction of the kite. Some of the surfers can obtain 20-30 feet in the air. One day when I am older, I must try this sport. It really looks like fun.
Last evening when my new friend Boris and his wife left, 2 young girls sat down next to me. As usual, I cannot forego striking up a conversation with fellow patrons sitting at the bar. My opening line this time was ‘are you American?’ As they were both speaking English and were clearly not English or Australian, American was a safe bet. 1 young lady was here for a short visit. The other lady came after Oct. 7, and has been here for 1.5 years. She started a website on Facebook called Sword of Iron, Israel Volunteer Opportunities. It is a very successful website and has become the go to website for foreigners looking for opportunities to volunteer in Israel. I consult the site almost everyday and often read about the volunteering experiences of fellow travellers. I told her that I write a blog on a website and have been documenting my stay of 2 months last year and 1 month this year with the IDF and MDA. She was most interested in my experience and took note of my blog site. She also encouraged me to write my blog on her website which I will do ASAP. It may drive more readers to my site as well as helping me in the sale of my soon to be published book. I have decided that the proceeds of the book will go directly to MDA.
This morning as usual I was up at 5:30 am in order to get to my base on time. The hotel prepares me a breakfast to go as they only start serving at 6:30. It takes me 20 minutes to drive to the base but 45 minutes to return due to the heavy Tel Aviv traffic at rush hour. Rush hour here seems to be any time after 9:00 am to 7:30 pm. I worked with 2 paramedics with whom I have worked before on several shifts as well as the chief paramedic who is very experienced and according to his employees, has seen and done everything. They defer to him for his opinion on many cases. The cases were very simple today so I will not go into details.
The 1st case was a Californian lady who married an Israeli and has been living in Tel Aviv for several years. She is a runner and was suffering from a severe acute groin injury. She could not get out of bed due to the severe pain. We gave her an analgesic and muscle relaxant and her condition improved. I think that she has a coxo-femoral inflammation in her hip. I had a similar condition last month and could hardly walk. The radiologist gave me a cortisone shot in the hip joint under ultrasound guidance and I was better in 15 minutes. She will probably have the same treatment.
The 2nd case was an elderly patient with minimal chest pain that quickly improved when we arrived. He didn’t require transportation to the hospital.
The 3rd case was a young man with a cardiac history. He had midline abdominal pain. We brought him to the hospital for an u/s to r/o an aneurysm which was an unlikely diagnosis. I think that he has a semi acute pancreatitis and will have the appropriate tests.
The 4th patient was an elderly gentleman with mild chest pain. In cases of chest pain we always to the routine tests in the apartment and in the ambulance and then transport the patient to the hospital.
Today we finished on time at 3:30. I said good-bye to my colleagues and we took the usual selfies. I invited them to contact me if they ever come to Canada. I promised to take them skiing if they come in the winter or to go sailing on my boat if they come in the summer.
I cannot leave Tel Aviv without making some comments on the Israeli drivers. I actually find the drivers to be quite civilized as long as you follow the rules. They accelerate fast but rarely go more than 10-15 k/h above the speed limit. They are very much respectful if you have the right of way. On the other hand if you don’t have the right of way, forget about making a turn or changing lanes. It is faster to go around the block. Waze is superb here. Without Waze I could never get from A to B. There are too many one way streets and the streets go in circles rather than straight lines. Signalling is theoretical here if you want to change lanes. The horn is a most important part of the car and is used very frequently. I think that most drivers can hit the horn faster than they can hit the gas peddle. There is a green 2 way lane for bicycles, scooters and small motor bicycles. You must not make the mistake or walking in a green lane. They don’t expect you to be there and will give no quarter. They is virtually no J walking like in Montreal. Pedestrians have a green little man on the traffic light allowing them to cross. This very well respected both by cars and pedestrians alike. Pedestrians will stand for several minutes waiting for their turn to cross even if there are no cars in sight. There are also pedestrian cross walks in the middle of the the street with no lights. Cars jam on their brakes if they see a pedestrian showing an indication of wanting to cross. I rented a small Kia for getting around. You must have a small car here as parking is at a premium here and the parking spaces are very small. Israelis can get into much smaller spaces than I would willing to try. I mostly walk here for short distances or take the bus. A young man rolled down his window and asked me if I wanted to sell my car. He was disappointed when I told him that the car was a rental.
I am sitting outside at a table in a sushi restaurant. The sushi is ok but rather expensive for what you get. It is 20C, very pleasant to eat outside. I am alone at a small table writing my blog. As usual on a Wednesday evening, the restaurants are full and I had to visit several ones before getting a table, as many to the tables are already reserved. People really know how to enjoy themselves here.
Today was a great day as usual. I woke up reasonably early, wrote my blog on my feelings of the events in Canada, went down to the beach and let my mind wander to pleasant thoughts. It was 21 C with a cool breeze. The beach had its usual amount of people but very few people in the water. It reminds me of what I have heard about Florida in December. The Florida natives are dressed up warmly and the Canadians are in their bathing suits and swimming. Only a small part of the beach was open for swimming, the rest was black flagged.
After lathering up with suntan oil, I lay in the sun on a rented lounge chair until I was warm enough to go into the water. I swam out to the breakwater as usual but I was the only swimmer out there. There were small waves today but there was a strong current blowing in a northerly direction. Although I had no trouble swimming to shore, I found myself blown 200 meters further up the beach onto the black flagged beach. The life guards didn’t whistle or say anything to me. I guess that they are used to me swimming out to the breakwater. I warmed up by taking a long walk on the beach and had my usual Magnum ice cream for lunch.
In the evening I went for dinner at my cousin Rochelle’s place. They bought a new apartment with 3 bedrooms and their own private safe room in the apartment itself. The safe room is reinforced with thick concrete. After a long talk to get us up to date with family news, one of her daughters took me for a long walk to see the neighbourhood called Peta Tikva. The Israel architecture is amazing. The taller build are no more than 8-12 stories high. Each apartment is different although most are built with the same stone. Each apartment faces in a different direction. There are many parks filled with young people playing soccer and basketball. I was very impressed.
gobriantravel 