WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE?

Haven't opened this blog in a few month! Now, as I was looking in the stats, I saw that there are few dozens of constant visitors, who are actually reading my blog.. I'm surprised. People who are you? I want to know you! :) Anyway, as the fall kicked in, I dream to be on the sandy beaches of Tel Aviv...Galushki was just 8 month and just  discovered the sand.. Enjoy!

The pianist

I hate riding subways in summer, it is terribly hot in there. I simply cannot sustain it. This was the reason I moved to the City two years ago, so I can walk. I usually run fast to get to my train and trying to be out of there as soon as possible. 

Three years ago, changing trains at Union Square,  I stumbled upon this boy. 12 years old Jason Cordero 

from Ecuador, was sitting there and playing Beethoven in a white synthetic suit. It was about 95 degrees outside and probably 100 inside, but all of a sudden I didn't care. I stopped. I was standing there for about 

half an hour listening to him with another 30 or so people. I wanted to cry, he was so good. His father was 

standing near for the safety.Back then I took a picture and posted it on Facebook saying that I have seen an

amazing boy.

I didn't forget him, but I haven't seen him anymore. I also stopped using subways shortly after.

Jason Cordero, Summer 2010

Tel Aviv, the tastes of.

It is very hard to be in Israel and not to eat good. It is simply impossible not to eat. Israeli culture swivels around eating and even if you land at an average restaurant, you will not be disappointed.  Though I had a long list of places I wanted to visit, I reached to only part of them. Below are my quick impressions. 

24/7 breakfasts at Benedikt from around the world. Rothschild blvd 29,+972 3 6868657

Galilee the Wine County

During this trip I have been reminded again and again that Israel is truly a beautiful and a magnificent country. It has it all. Beautiful nature, people, food, art, attraction of all sorts and mostly brain. Everybody here loves to say, that Israeli brain works all the time and will manage everywhere. So, it manages very well in the upper Galilee, creating one of the best wines in the world. Not many of you know, but Israel has a very substantial wine making market and Galilee is the heart and soul of it. Situated 1000 meters above the sea level, Galilee has a rich history of cultivating grapes and making wine as long as 2000 years ago. It has the climate, the soils, the slopes, the elevations and everything necessary to create the unique tastes and qualities that can easily compete with Napa or France. Dalton, Yarden, Gamla, Barkan etc., are the famous commercial  brands, that export millions of bottles every year world wide. Among them there are also medium size wineries and the boutique ones. You will need at least a month to visit all of them, we had only one day.
I was lucky to find a map of all Israeli wineries in the blog of somebody called Yossi. Comes out Yossi is a wine lover, who made an outstanding job of mapping all the wineries of Israel with their websites, addresses and phone numbers, on one simple Google map. "What a great man this Yossi"- I thought thanking him from the bottom of my heart for doing this. From now on I'm faithful Yossi's blog subscriber. Consequently, based on the map we started to head North to the Upper Galilee.

As expected the panorama was absolutely stunning. We couldn't help, but to stop every 20 minute to photograph again and again. Just breathing the air and enjoying this nature alone was already worth the trip. All I wanted was to pull out a blanket ,to lay down on the hill, to watch the sky and to get lost in it.

JerusalemILoveYou

It was erev Shavuot when we decided to go to a day trip to Jerusalem. The weather was beautiful, savta* didn't work and could babysit Galushki, visiting Kotel on erev hag* was a given. Everything seemed to work our way and what a great day for driving.