Category: city feature
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Fun, free day in Israel with kids: Visit the ‘Hebrew park’ in Rishon Letzion
Around six months ago, Rishon Letzion opened two new ‘themed’ parks: ‘Gan B’Ivrit’ and ‘Gan Musica’ – big open spaces with a different sort of take on play equipment for kids. On Friday I got to settle my curiousity and we visited the Hebrew park. Aside from a few really gorgeous park equipment setups, grassy…
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Move over Tel Aviv; Yafo is a great day
A few weeks ago we trekked down to Yafo to give the city a little spin. I’ve never actually spent much time there aside from venturing in-and-out for conferences (and apparently writing about it very briefly). We basically parked at the beach and walked up through the port and then towards the center, through the…
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Shabbat away, everyone plays: the Dan Jerusalem hotel review.
Living in Israel with no close family around to take your kids for a few hours… or a weekend… can be rough on two married adults. But the next best thing is getting ‘away from it all’ even if it’s as a family. Last year we went to Shoresh, and this year we decided to…
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Lil Israeli farm zoo at Kibbutz Tzora.
Checked out a new kids’ attraction in our area today: the Eretz Yehuda farm-zoo at Kibbutz Tzora (about 5 seconds outside Beit Shemesh/Big Center). Fun fact: Kibbutz Tzora is also where they make Teperberg wine. Mmmm. It’s a nice place to spend up to two hours with small kids. You can pet the roaming goats,…
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If you miss what you’re leaf-ing behind…
I discovered a place where you can stroll on Erev Thanksgiving and feel for a second like you’re home in North America: Gan HAPa’amon in Jerusalem. The leaves are colorful, noisy, and abundant. You can crunch them, kick them, and show your kid a lil taste of motherland in just a few steps. While learning…
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Modiin’s Anava Park.
On Friday, I returned with my home-peeps to the poor man’s Central Park in Modiin (for the record, it’s called Anava Park, פארק ענבה במודיעין) for a kid-friendly experience in daylight. The main draw for me was the boating (pedals, row, or kayak). Koala’s mama grew up on an island, his pops is from a bay,…
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Ashkelon: city of love…
…or at least, 24 hours of comfortable R&R. Last week the huz and I snuck away for an overnight at a hotel on the beach in Ashkelon… since Bubbe is in town. Well, come on; it’s not all luna parks and kassams:
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City feature: Dead Sea
Last weekend, we took some R&R out in the dry heat and salt water of the Dead Sea. A vacation in the Dead Sea is really a vacation by an enormous hotel pool, with occasional dips in the oily, salty, burning sensation that is the Dead Sea. This, however, is less about the Dead Sea…
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The creepiest thing about where I live.
Not many people know just how far my imagination goes or how morbid and crazy I can be. With that said, I would like to introduce you to one of the freakiest, creepiest things about Israel for me: The teleport at Emek Ha’ela – a valley about five minutes outside of Beit Shemesh – completely…
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City feature: Namal Tel Aviv
The area of the Tel Aviv port – נמל תל אביב – (right before Beach Mezizim) is one of those situations where ugly warehouses went for cheap rent, so trendy designers and cafes opened shop and now all the trendy wendys go out there a beautiful day to shop, eat, chat, ponder life, and whatever…
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Yom Yerusha-what?
Last night, I completely forgot it was the evening of Yom Yerushalayim (Jerusalem Day). If I had remembered, I might have at least considered going down to the Old City to pay my respects and tributes. What is it about modern Jerusalem that makes it so easy to forget? Is it the modernity in it?…
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It’s flag season in Tel Aviv.
Spent the afternoon walking around Tel Aviv. It was the first time I noticed that the flags are out for flag season, or Yom Haatzmaut, which is going down next Wednesday evening-Thursday. It’s Israel’s 60th anniversary this time, so it’s actually more than just personal flags – storefronts, advertisements and highways are more decorated than…