Shalom and Au Revoir

This was our last day in Israel. The Canadian branch of the family went to the airport and we decided to start walking around in Old Jaffa. It was the four of us and Mike's aunt Marina for a little while. We started off walking right by the port and then went a little inland and drank the best orange juice that I have ever tasted. It was a pleasant and relaxing day.

Mike's two cousins and his great aunt came and joined us. We left the aunt with Lena and Marina and went walking around Tel Aviv's Neve Tsadik neighborhood. I tried to remember where the Israel apartment was from the last time I was in Israel, but since we didn't take the beach I could not find it. If anyone remembers where it is, I would love to know. We went as far as Allenby before turning around. The day was bittersweet for me. I love Tel Aviv, and didn't really get a chance to show Mike what I liked about it when I was there last. I will have to come back with him at some point and just spend a couple of days there.

Our airport experience was thankfully pretty painless and were slept all the way to Brussels this time. With five  hours at our disposal, Mike and I separated from Lena and Ann and just walked the streets by ourselves. We got to see the Grand Place without anybody else there. We tried to go to Parking 58 again, and again it was closed.

*** Apparently, Brusseliers (or Brusselians as Mike likes to call them) drink like fish and are the nastiest partiers in all the land. As Mike and I walked around the old city, we saw a large amount of groups stumbling around clearly dressed in previous night's clothing. At 7-7:30 in the morning I find that to be record setting. People were getting greasy breakfasts, falling into ditches, having dramatic tear stained fights and making up. Color me impressed. Also, the amount of trash on the street was ridiculous. Shop owners were hosing off their business areas and street cleaning machines were in full swing. The streets were covered in (as Lena delightfully put it) piss and puke. By the time we were leaving for the airport, most of this had been washed off and the streets smelled more appetizing.

After our second defeat at Parking 58, Mike and I went south and walked the southwest part of the old city. The sun was slowly warming the street and everything looked peaceful. I felt that this was a proper goodbye for us. We walked around until about 8am and then ran to Mokafe located in a pretty cool indoor mall. Lena and Ann were already there eating waffles. Use-It recommends the waffles at this place, but I think that they are better at Le Paon, however, the crepes here - are from a different planet. I had the crepes flambe and Mike had the banana chocolate crepes. Oh. My. God. Throw in two great cappiccinos and the world is a wonderful place. After our wonderful breakfast we tried to go to Parking 58 and got rejected for the third and final time. I guess it just wasn't meant to be. Au revoir Brussels!