Israel...Part 2...Day 9

March 14, 2019

Day 9: When we woke up this morning we could feel that the air had changed. Overnight the clouds rolled in and for the first time since arriving in Nazareth our room was chilly. Our Old City tour began in the top floor of the mansion and it was deja vu when a familiar face walked in and introduced herself as Mona, our tour guide. Mona was our tour guide from three years ago and she had such a passionate and vibrant personality that she left a mark on my memory and was part of the reason why I wanted to return to Nazareth. The really crazy part is that she remembered me too! This woman gives tours almost every single day, and has for the past three years and somehow she remembered me; described my husband and children and the background information that I had shared with her. After the tour she hugged me and asked if I would ever be returning to Nazareth again. I told her that I hadn't expected to have returned this time so you just never know!

Mona and I

Historic Nazareth

Old Spice Mill

While on our tour we ran into none other than Mustache Man!!!!! He was playing cards in the oldest coffee shop in Israel. Just imagine how giddy I was!

MUSTACHE MAN!!!! Ignore the guy looking at me. Sheesh, can't a tourist take a picture???

We had to say goodbye to Nazareth and drive down the coast to Tel Aviv where we had to say goodbye to some of the friends we made and have been staying with for the past week. I was surprised that I felt so sad!

It took us for-ev-er to get back to Jerusalem and it was a hair raising experience as our driver bobbed and weaved through bumper to bumper traffic. I honestly do not know how every car in Israel doesn't have huge scrapes down the sides of them.

The weather got downright ugly on the way back to Jerusalem 

Once we got back to Jerusalem we checked into our room and were relieved that we had a reservation because it turns out that Jerusalem is hosting some marathon or something or other and there are literally ZERO rooms to rent in the entire city. Apparently it's shutting down traffic in much of the city so our visit to Yad Vashem (Holocaust museum) is going to have to be moved. It's a little crazy here in the Abraham lounge right now, where I'm sitting and writing this while unwinding with a glass of complimentary wine.

I'm getting ahead of myself here...after we checked in we decided to brave the elements and find a specific place that Joanie researched that supposedly serves the best sabich in Israel. We had looked for this place when we were in Israel last week but couldn't find it. So we asked someone where it was and he pointed us in the right direction. Thank goodness we did because we would never have found it on our own! The entire place didn't have a word of English and it was filled with people who did not look like tourists. Since I had never had sabich I wasn't qualified to argue whether or not it truly was the best, but all I do know was that what I ate was beyond delicious! The atmosphere was very festive and it got even better when a bell rang and the guy behind the counter called me up and handed me three shots of Israeli Anise liqueur. Now I'm no fan of black licorice but I wasn't about to turn it down. That would be rude, right? When in Israel do what the Israelis do...

SABICH!!!! (I could go back to Israel JUST for this)

While my mom was surprisingly accepting of the Anise liqueur, we couldn't get her to order a sabich so we found the food that unites the universe: pizza. We all walked through the cold, windy, rainy streets of Jerusalem soaked, but our bellies full.

Looks like our plans for Yad Vashem are hosed so we will have to improvise tomorrow. We know that we need to prepare for Shabbat so at least we know there will be a trip to the market. What else? I guess we'll see!