Israel Trip Blog 2015

Wow! What a great day, our first whole day in Tel Aviv. We started our day with an unbelievable buffet breakfast at the hotel. Seriously. You have to see it to believe it!  

We then walked to the Mediterranean and saw Jaffa. We also saw a young man kayaking, standing up!  Near the water
we saw an Adult Workout Park (for exercise), something new to us 

We toured N'we Tzedek, the early beginning of Tel Aviv, and learned that it was the first place where Hebrew was taught as  a spoken language, not just a Biblical language.

After lunch we went to the Palmach Museum where we participated in a 90 minute interactive exhibit and learned all about the early beginnings of this "strike force" and how this group of teenagers and young adults helped defend Israel, both before and after it became a state.

Next we spent a wonderful afternoon at the Save a Child's Heart ICU and  saw 7 kids currently there.  We heard from two of the head pediatric cardiologists who Ami Cohen enlisted when he envisioned the program. Clearly this program is as special to them as it was to Ami from HTAA.  We also visited the new Children's Home where the kids go to recover after their surgery or heart procedure.  We talked to the kids, the volunteers, and the remarkable woman who is the house mother.  At the end of our visit, we all wished that the political aspects of the Palestinian/Israeli relationship could work as well as the medical collaboration.

We ended the day with a lovely group dinner at a Mid-Eastern grill -- all kinds of salads /appetizers followed by shish kabobs and dessert.

It was a wonderful first day. We look forward to tomorrow when we head north!   Is tomorrow already Wednesday?