Easing into it

We spent our first full day in Israel taking it easy as we tried to get over some jet lag. Atara woke up as expected at 4:15 a.m.  The boys thankfully slept in until 7:30. We hung out at our apartment waiting for the stores to open. Our first item on the agenda was to do a bit of grocery shopping. I picked up my sister and off we went trying to navigate the market. Thankfully I arrived with about $100 in shekel as the money changing place wasn't open yet.

We sat outside a bakery sipping coffee and chatting enjoying the mid-November sunshine. By this time Atara was in obvious need of a nap, so we went back to our apartment. While she napped we finished putting our things away. The plan was to pick up my niece and head out to Castel Fortress (one of the important battle sites of 1948). By 2:15, she still wasn't back (we didn't exactly let her know our plans before hand) so we decided to head out without her. The National Parks close at 4pm in the winter. We arrived at 3:02. The park ranger would not let us in, since it was after 3. Too tired to argue, I phoned my sister for any random place to take the kids that wasn't too far and still open. We ended up at the Biblical Museum in Yerushalaim.

While we were purchasing our tickets the man at the booth suggested we buy the English comic book guide. For 20 shekels I went with it. The comic book acted as a guide going from exhibit hall to exhibit hall explaining the history and importance of the rooms we were in and having the kids do activities such as locate certain objects on display or drawing parts of artifacts or completing word puzzles. It really took us through the museum in an interactive way. The museum is rather small with several small objects behind glass. There were a few city mock-ups and some sarcophagus, but not much else. This museum is not a must see in my opinion, but if you do go, get the comic book guide.

Our ride back to Ramat Beit Shemesh was a creative route made by Waze. While we didn't have any traffic I attribute our success in getting back to my years of playing Pole Position. Dark, snaking road with impatient Israeli drivers right on my tail. Good times.
That night my nieces watched Atara while my sister, brother-in-law, their oldest daughter and her groom and the rest of use went out to dinner.
It was certainly a less busy day than I typically plan, but a lovely start to our trip.