Once Again, We Come Home

It rained for most of Tuesday, our last day in Rome, and we spent the whole day resting and reading and relaxing. It's not what you think you will do when you are in such an exotic place, but it was absolutely the right thing to do since we knew we would have to get all the way home the next day. Jon really spent the whole day in bed. I sat at the table and read and wrote, looking out at rainy Rome.

But the three of us went out for dinner, walking downhill through this elegant neighborhood, on wet streets, dodging the cars, looking at all the huge residences looming over the walls -- apartment buildings, mostly, so European and colorful and gigantic. The restaurant was a little over a mile away and we took our time. Ate outside and it sure felt like Paris to me. By now we have been with Ronni long enough that we are talking about big ideas, not just our own domestic stories. This is what happens when you have the privilege of intense time with a like-minded, curious, thoughtful, generous person. Big thoughts, lots of analyzing of the problems of the world. 

We got a good night's sleep, amazingly. Jon has been coughing and coughing forever, but Tuesday night was miraculously restorative.  Ronni found us a cab (much harder during a rainy rush hour morning) and we set off once again for the airport:  taxi -- fast train (yay) -- long time hanging out at the airport which is set up for maximum shopping -- three hours to Lisbon where once again they dump you out on the tarmac and you take a bus to the terminal to hang around -- couple hours of waiting with lots of noisy American students -- nine hours from Lisbon to Dulles but we got to sit in the exit row so that made everything much less claustrophobic. We watched movies.  On this trip, both of us saw "Hidden Figures" which we liked a lot. The first thing I noticed, as we marched from the plane to the shuttle in the wee hours of the night, was there was no more translating. People just barked directions at us in English. In Europe and Israel, they explain everything twice. Oh, the other thing we noticed was a young family with three children: a little boy and two girls, roughly two years apart in age. That was us 30 years ago. The boy in this family was even named Benjamin. The older girl was totally melting down from middle of the night fatigue, and the dad carried both girls from the plane all the way through passport control. We used to carry our children too, but I don't think we ever tried to carry two at once. We were never that young and strong.

When we got home, 19 hours after walking down the steps from Ronni's apartment, Jon went to Kaiser to get assessed. We knew there was something happening in his chest. Yep, he has pneumonia. But they didn't make him go to the hospital, so it's not as bad as it could be. He has antibiotics and he is in his own bed, sleeping.  It is good to be near doctors again.

It was an ambitious trip and we knew there was a chance we would have to take it very slow sometimes. But we got to all our destinations without trouble and we spent a lot of time on trains, which is certainly so much easier than driving rental a car in Italy, except for all the walking and carrying stuff. But we packed lightly and we only brought what we needed. Who knows if we will take another trip like that again. Maybe not. Maybe next time we will spend money more freely and fly directly, or pay to sit in the bigger seats, and not go to so many different places. But we love all the people we saw, and it was great to be surrounded by so many languages and to walk slowly through hilly, beautiful, ancient cities and eat in restaurants with people who speak Hebrew/Italian.  

Not sure when or if there will be pictures added to this post, but who really needs pictures of rainy airport days. 

Back to Rome, As Tourists

On Sunday morning we walked to meet Yael and Benjamin and Liana for breakfast, a nice farewell meal. When we went back outside it was still Purim, with some kind of a kiddie event with balloon twisting and games and costumes. Purim never ends in Israel.

Jon was feeling tired and short of breath so we decided not to do any of the ambitious plans we dreamed up. They were too much anyway. Instead, we went to Benjamin's and Jon took a nap on the couch, Liana took a nap on Benjamin, I sat at the table and wrote, Yael taught a lesson.  Eventually it was time to go and Benjamin dropped us off at the train station.

It is much less stressful, every time we buy tickets and find the right train.  Everything is more familiar. It didn't really matter that the scrolling announcement, saying where the next stop was, was about three stops behind the whole time. It was useless but we knew when we would get to the airport. We had a leisurely lunch at the airport and we got onto yet another fully packed plane.

We got to Rome at 9:00 and it took almost two hours to get ourselves back to Ronni's just because everything takes a long time. So we missed Marco who had to go to bed early enough to get up to fly to DC, alas.

The next day was sunny and warm and we got ourselves ready for a day of walking. We told ourselves we could come home anytime and there was no particular destination. But we also knew it would be rainy on Tuesday, so whatever we wanted to see by walking around, it would happen on Monday.

We walked down the hill and straight to the center of Rome, where all the tourists were filling the streets. Last time we were here it was January, now it is the week before Easter. Big difference. Mobs. We paused at various points of interest and read about them on Jon's phone, minimally. Obelisk brought back from the first successful campaign in Egypt (very long time ago), twin churches, Spanish steps, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon (and we identified where we stayed when we were here with Rebecca 9 years ago), then on down toward the Jewish ghetto. Crowds in the streets, at the sidewalk cafes, all around all the antiquities. We bought a paper cone of roasted chestnuts and Jon didn't eat a single one because they are dry and a little mealy, but I like them. It was funny to see the menus at the Jewish/Italian restaurants, written in Hebrew and Italian. 

We decided to go into the Italian Synagogue and museum, and we left the crowds behind.  There was a lot of display space dedicated to Purim, and then rooms full of artifacts and explanations about Jewish history, practice, Jews in Italy, what happened during World War II in Rome -- while Rome was the only European city that did not expel the Jews from the second century CE up until the present, there was still a time when people were rounded up and taken to the concentration camps. Then we had a tour of the grand synagogue. It still has an active congregation, with Torah services three times a week. Orthodox, of course. The temple was built in the early 1900s, filled with gold and non-representational art and all the artifacts from the centuries of Jewish life in this region.

One connection I got to make, slowly, was that rimmonim refers to the decorative silver caps that go on the top of the Torah scrolls. I kept thinking, isn't that what Mika likes to eat so much? Pomegranate? Exactly. The first tops were in the shape of pomegranates and that was what they have been called ever since, even though now they have evolved away to a different shape.

From there we walked across the Tiber to Trastevere (which the guide on the train had told us means "across the Tiber") and started to look for lunch. At 3:00 we chose a restaurant with an outdoor dining area in the back. We arrived just at closing time, but we were not alone. Jon got spaghetti with clam sauce and I had fettucine with mushrooms, plus we had bruschetta with terrible tomatoes but the bread was good. It was a perfect lunch. 

Then we wandered around and went into a few churches. One of them was dedicated to a saint we don't have any associations with, and they have a piece of his skull carefully displayed in a lighted box up on the altar. Oy. At another church there were ten nuns chanting/singing in Italian but there were no congregants. And then they quietly got up and processed through a door. 

Then it was time for some gelato since the temperature was starting to drop and it would be too late pretty soon. Since we were still reasonably close to the Circus Maximus, we crossed the river again and went to see that grand space again. It is easy to imagine horses being able to get up to full speed on that big flat racetrack, and then to have hazardous situations as they careened around at the end. Couldn't find the taxi stand that was supposed to be there, so kept walking up toward the Coliseum.  

So much we don't know about what we were seeing, but we can read about it later. Still no taxis so we pushed through the crowds and walked down the avenue with the archaeological excavations of Roman fori (forums) on both sides. 

There is nothing new to say about this city, but it is amazing to imagine all that is underneath the streets we are hobbling along.  By now, my feet were sore. It was getting to be evening. The crowds continued. Finally, many steps later we found a taxi stand that was where it was supposed to be (Ronni had explained to us that you can't hail a taxi, you have to find a taxi stand and start from there). Another video game-style ride through pedestrians and buses and motorcycles and so many cute little cars and we were back up the hill to our quiet haven by 7:00. That was a lot of walking and looking and eating and sitting. We walked almost ten miles and peeked at the remains of thousands of years of human history, while pressing through the crowds of today's humans.

Ronni had an elaborate dinner all ready. We certainly don't expect or deserve this much generous hospitality but that's what you get when you visit here. We have talked for hours and hours, over two breakfasts and two dinners and beyond. We have not yet solved all the problems of the world, but we have certainly identified most of them.

Later in the evening, Jon started to feel worse again. I don't quite know how he got through the day so well, but I am a big believer in the power of being outside, and we were outside for many hours. 

On this rainy Tuesday, we are resting in this luxurious apartment, looking out over a vast swath of Rome, and wondering whether we will go outside if it stops raining.

I think I will publish this without pictures since Jon is napping, and later we will add those in.

Shabbat Shalom

It is sunny and about 63 degrees out and everyone is having a Shabbat afternoon nap. We spent the morning wandering around a flea market -- a Saturday morning activity for some subset of Haifa. Mika agreed to wear a tutu in honor of Purim, over her cargo pants, and she meandered through the crowd, looking at the piles of pots and pans and rugs and toys. Her mother was the only one of us who was actually shopping, although Jon did spend a fair amount of time looking at tools and boxes of sockets. After we had wandered around for a while, we went to a little cafe right next to the shuk, with outdoor tables and a very limited menu. Perfect -- pickled vegetables, Israeli salad, pita, hummus and cheeps (French fries). 

Juxtaposition of architecture.

Musicians are of particular interest, especially to mother and daughter.

Last night we had Shabbat dinner with Yael's parents, as is their family tradition. This time we thought ahead a little bit and I said that Jon and I would like to cook something for dinner. There is a lot of variety in what this little family is willing to eat (from vegetarian Benjamin to completely unpredictable Gadi who mostly likes meat and potatoes) but dinner ended up being a very nice combination of salads and cooked vegetables and salmon and knishes. We all ate happily, and the girls provided plenty of entertainment. It is a rare moment to have four grandparents all at the same time, at a regular family event and not something momentous. No one dressed up, Hedy sat on the floor with Mika and played a memory game, Liana offered many sweet smiles to Gadi, we had homemade hamantaschen and fruit salad for dessert, and we talked about the future of the building they live in. It will be torn down and remodeled with many new apartments added, starting sometime in the next year. They need to figure out where to move after about 40 years in this space. 

Yesterday morning Jon and I walked to the supermarket which is about 5 minutes away. This neighborhood on the top of the hill is within walking distance of lots of shopping and restaurants and other destinations. Gadi says it is the nicest part of Haifa. Haifa is a hilly city with lots of greenery and there are stunning views of the sea -- we are way up at the top where the wealthy people live, it seems. Anyway, the supermarket would satisfy most of our needs if we lived here and the produce was top quality. Fresh and shiny and beautiful. Benjamin says he usually shops at the smaller establishment right next door (same building, same awning, one shared wall) because it is locally owned and has just about everything they need. They barely eat any bread or noodles, mostly just fruits and vegetables and whole grains. I am not a shopper, but I appreciated the diversity in the supermarket, and that it was relatively small compared to home. Being able to walk anywhere is a delight.

Completely familiar, and utterly foreign.

Jon wasn't feeling great yesterday so he stayed home to rest while I went with Benjamin to pick up Mika from gan at noon. Her school has a nice airy feeling, with places to play that are outside and classroom space that has lots of light. It was Purim so the kids were all in costumes -- firemen and pilots and animals. Mika was part of a four-doll set: Yael had made a full set of Russian nesting doll costumes for the family. Mika steadfastly refused to have red dots painted on her cheeks.

At least there will be one plumber in the family.

After gan we went down the mountain to meet up with Yael and Liana at Robin Food, where Benjamin used to volunteer when it was a restaurant. Their friend Shai started this business as a response to food waste -- he re-purposes surplus food and feeds people who need access to good food. Now he doesn't run a restaurant, he has a catering business and makes pickles and other preserves. The sign says, "Save Food -- Eat Well -- Pay as You Feel!" On Fridays he serves lunch on his tiny outdoor sliver of sidewalk. I told Benjamin that might have been my peak Israel experience, sitting at one of those scrappy, self-made businesses that characterize Israel, with people in costume for Purim, eating good vegan food outdoors in a fairly run down industrial part of town. Israel is so scruffy and yet so purpose-driven. No time for pretense. Benjamin calls it a First World Country on a budget. A bus load of tourists arrived for lunch -- Americans from a group called Adamah, here to work for a few hours at a kibbutz, visit people and places who are doing good work in sustainability. One of the visitors focused on Benjamin and family and asked lots of questions about their work, how they earn a living, what it's like to be here. But they picked a family that is probably not all that typical, since they enjoy a lot of privilege through family subsidies and Benjamin's income comes from the States. On the other hand, Benjamin is happy to talk politics and current events and his English is impeccable so it is possible they picked a good conversationalist. And the four of them were just so cute in their matching attire.

Naptimes use up much of the afternoon. We are not working hard to get out of the toddler/baby bubble. In fact, we are not working at all to do anything that they are not already doing. Tonight we will go to temple, which they are excited about because it will be their first time as full members. And Yael loves Purim.

... Update:  we went to temple and it was a two hour service with lots of singing and no English and it seems like they read the entire Megillah, word for word, breaking it up with various announcements and a sort of a Purim Schpiel that was a line-up of readers who read in about ten different languages, including Chinese and French and Yiddish and I wasn't paying enough attention early enough to figure out what was going on. I used my time looking around at the congregation and the costumes, holding Mika or Liana from time to time, practicing my Hebrew by trying to read along on the screen but they read like the wind. I am sure no one had to practice to get up there and read very long stretches of Hebrew, but there was a big parade of readers who got applause after their speedy and dramatic performances. Everyone admired Liana who looked like a doll. Mika was in a bit of a mood because no one would let her eat as much hamantaschen as she wanted, plus it was really long. 

We have to travel in two cars since there are six of us, so the parking is twice as arduous everywhere we go. Liana really doesn't like being in the car so there is a lot of crying when you are in the car with her. Mika is mellow and just zones out with her pacifier in her mouth.  

I got to put Mika to bed all the way tonight, and we talked about the airplane that Papa and I are leaving on tomorrow. She is prosaic about these transitions. I said she was going to come and visit us sometime and she said, "on a different airplane."  She was asleep before I started the second song. It was a long day. 

Mika and Liana Day

Well, to tell the truth, Liana is still not so sure about me/us. She looks at me dubiously when I am holding her and then sometimes her little face just starts to look sadder and sadder and then eventually she starts to cry.  But she is better if you hold her facing away and she can watch all the activity around her, especially Mika. And she is best if she is on the floor playing with things she can grab. She can do that for a good long time, and anyone is allowed to watch her.  

But Liana spent most of the day out with her Mama at a mothers' day out event, wearing Purim costumes together. Yael built their whole costume set out of a leopard bikini that someone gave Liana. We will have to get some copies of the pictures. They are over the top.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Mika woke up feeling a little bit better. Benjamin said she perked up considerably when she heard me arrive. Jon was shopping for breakfast supplies for us. Mika and I had some breakfast together and then we got organized to go to the doctor for a check-up since she had a fever for a little over three days.  

When we were sitting out in the waiting room, Mika said, "I don't want to go in that room." And when we did go in to see the doctor, she stayed in Benjamin's lap and wouldn't look at the doctor, getting increasingly agitated. By the time the doctor wanted to listen to her with the stethoscope, Mika was howling. She didn't stop protesting until the exam was over, including a throat swab. The doctor was very nice, spoke to Mika directly in Hebrew, but Mika wasn't giving an inch. She never said a word to her.  Afterwards, when we were sitting in the pharmacy waiting for a prescription (possibly strep but the real test won't say until Sunday), I said, "that was a nice doctor."  And Mika responded, "But she did bad things."

Lunch, does it seem all the pictures are of us eating?

Jon brought piles of fruit when he came to join us, and the strawberries were the biggest hit (for Mika, "tutim" is still a word that can be used for any desirable food in her imagination, but strawberries are the best).  We spent the afternoon hanging out. When Mika woke up from her nap, the three of us went out for a walk because it was so sunny and beautiful. 

We weren't sure how far we would get, but our destination was the park (gan) that is their main walking destination. Uphill most of the way. Mika marched all the way to the gan, got a turn on the swings, played with Jon on the see-saw, we shared an orange, and then we walked to our apartment. After another little snack, we started the walk home. 

Mika got about 100 feet from the door and went on strike, silently standing still without moving a muscle, expressionless, comatose. It was her passive way of saying she had walked far enough, thank you. So I carried her the rest of the way home, downhill all the way, something I could never have done last year.

Back to their house.

Yael teaches dance on Thursday nights, so we hung out with the girls while Benjamin tried to get a little bit of work done. I don't think he got much done, but Mika did get a bath and Liana survived her grandparents, mostly. Jon made dinner from what was in the kitchen (not his style, but he toughed it out). Mika and I started the bedtime routine and she was in her bed when she heard the front door close. "What was that?" "I don't know, should I go and check?" "Maybe it was Mama."  It had been a long day without Mama, so that was perfect.

It was a grandparents day from start to finish. I was impressed with how far Mika walked after being sick at home for so many days. She is certainly getting better. When I told her that Liana didn't really like me yet, she said pensively, "well, I like you." And this was after I had washed her hair, another activity that makes her howl.

It's a long way to go for a day with Mika, but we are already thinking about the next time we come.

Friends and Family Tour

We never even saw Mika and Liana today because one vague plan of including them in our day of touring was derailed by Mika's illness. So Jon and I got into the borrowed car at about 8:00 in the morning and headed down off the mountain, in heavy traffic. We were going to see the only other people we know in Israel.

It was a three hour drive to Gedera, mostly along the coast. Lots of crazy motorcycle drivers weaving in and out of traffic, not as many big trucks as in the US, traffic was heavy the whole way. This is a green time of year in Israel and we think that the acres and acres of tropical-looking trees under a protective cover were bananas. They don't look quite like the bananas in Hawaii, but what else would they be? As we got further south, the towns and suburbs and cities got more continuous. Many signs and Israeli flags and giant banners about bringing the hostages home.

We got to Nir and Hanna's house right on time at 11:00. We stood outside on the street for a few minutes, studying the house and fence because it looked completely unfamiliar, and there was no street number (that would never be allowed in the US). So we called Nir and he came to open the gate for us, saying that the house had been completely renovated with a new second floor added on, and the gate was required in order for them to get the building permit. Well, that explains that.

Nir knew we were coming and we had arrived as planned, but he was clearly fitting us in between a few other things. We first met him in 2006 when we went on the congregational trip -- he was one of the tour guides. Because Nancy is so good at maintaining connections, we have stayed in touch with Nir and in fact he let Benjamin stay at his house for the first month when B. came to Israel about 10 years ago. That was incredibly generous, considering that he meets hundreds of people every year and I certainly hope that not all of them asks him to host their kid at his home, but we did, and he took in our 26 year old who was making aliyah.

Anyway, he asked if we had eaten breakfast yet and then he went into cooking mode, chopping tomatoes and cucumbers, boiling eggs, filling the table with condiments, talking the whole time. We had come partly to hear his opinion and perspective on the situation in Israel. He is a professional storyteller, as a tour guide, so he can tell you a lot without sharing his real opinions. We wanted to know what he thought. He has lived his entire 65 years in Israel and this is the worst it has ever been. The family lost close friends on October 7 (including a young woman who had practically grown up in their house) and his business stopped completely on that day. He is completely clear that Netanyahu has to go now, and he thinks that a civil war is an imminent possibility. The only thing that is keeping that from happening is the ongoing war, and that is one of the reasons that Netanyahu is dragging this out so long.

Then a tall, fast-moving young man came in the door carrying a laptop and full of excitement. He had just got a pledge for a big donation from a neighbor. This was Amit, married to a cousin of Nir's, son of Nir's mentor in the army. The donation was for the project that Nir and Amit have started, using their contacts in the States -- they are trying to educate Americans on the true Israel, not the Israel they think they know from current events and news. When Amit saw us there, his plans for a meeting with Nir were interrupted, so he decided to have some breakfast while he waited. He got out a frying pan and some eggs and made himself an omelet and sat down to join us, telling us about the work they were doing. Nir said, we have to do something, and what we have is contacts with American evangelical churches, mostly. There are many more Christians than Jews in the US and we need to get their support. I told him he needed to focus on the young people, and he said they are all having the same feelings about Israel, Christians and Jews, and yes, that is an important demographic. Amit is excited to be working in Dearborn, Michigan as well. 

Easy to feel very at home in Nir's house, certainly Amit, but also us.

Hanna came in from an appointment, was surprised to find us there (Nir had forgotten to tell her), gave us a hug, said that things are very depressing here, the worst she has ever experienced, and then went off for a weekly visit with her mother in Jerusalem. 

Breakfast was delicious, we heard about all the ways Amit and Nir would like to see Bibi gone (none should be published), and it does feel like a very hard time here. 

We went to Tel Aviv and met up with Benjamin at Hostage Square. There were school groups listening to the stories of the families of hostages but everything was in Hebrew so we were just voyeurs. Watching the kids listen, I could see that the stories were very hard to hear.  There are lots of installations that remind us of who is missing, how many we are waiting for.  Mirrors for us to remember that it could have been anyone, notes and bows and ribbons and a whole long table set for dinner in the middle of the square, a tunnel to walk through that is not tall enough to stand in. It is very affecting to think of how much remembering and hoping has happened in the last 5 1/2 months. Photos of the hostages are on posters everywhere, not just in the square.

We walked around a few blocks, stopped for a snack in a sit-down restaurant, admired the many ways that Tel Aviv and Rome are completely different from each other. Tel Aviv is full of skyscrapers made of steel and glass (unlike the rest of Israel), big civic buildings made with the look of Jerusalem stone, wide streets lined with trees. It is a very new-looking city. 

Then we worked hard to find the car in the sprawling parking garage underneath the art museum and the theater and the library and made our way out of town to Hertzliya.  We arrived on time, with no stress, and met Jon's second cousin Ygal outside the restaurant. The last time the four of us had dinner together was 9 years ago in Haifa. We ate in an upscale fish restaurant with a Mediterranean flavor. We learned a lot about Ygal, 64, and the 34 years he has spent in Israel, working his way up to CEO of a company that makes 42% of the air conditioners in Israel and is a branch of much larger corporate conglomate. This man came to Israel with nothing, knowing only Russian, started working in a factory, learned Hebrew and then English and kept on going. He is starting to fret about retirement because he is at the peak of his game and he really doesn't want to stop, nor does he know how to. I think he may be an old fashioned male chauvinist but he also has an unstoppable work ethic and he wants to take care of his family. He thinks he was not a great father. He is a little worried about being a grandfather soon since he has no idea how to do that. We told him you learn on the job, no problem.

That was a long day of driving and visiting. It is much easier to do all of that in a country where we speak the language, but they don't try to make it hard here. Lots of English along the way.

Twelve Hours Door to Door

We woke up before the rest of Rome, but not before Ronni. She had hot chocolate and fruit and cake ready at 6:30, plus she used her app to call us a cab and it arrived in three minutes.  After never taking a cab in our whole lives together, practically, we now have taken two rides in two days. And it wasn't even very expensive. The trip down the hill through empty streets, all the way to Rome Termini (which we later learned has 175 million travelers passing through it each year, or half the US population) took six minutes and cost 12 euros. We should do some more of that.

This is actually from dinner last night, but it is very similar to breakfast this morning. Just the dark window is acting as a mirror rather letting us see Rome wake up in the early morning.

But then we paid the price of the frugal traveler. Jon decided last night that we had time to take the slow train, the one that stops a bunch but costs 4/7 as much as the express train.  We would take the 50 minute trip instead of the 30 minute trip. I agreed with this, but neither of us knew that we would have to run about a mile through the station to get to the cheap train.  Really, a mile. It was so far! We arrived at 7:12 and fell into the train. It was scheduled to leave at 7:12. I was still sweaty about an hour later.

Across the aisle, a young man watched us with a smile and eventually said, "You made it!" He agreed that he had not known either how far away Track 28 would be. He was on his way to the airport to meet a tour group, 180 high school kids from a Christian academy, coming for spring break. There would be two other tour guides helping, plus the chaperones. The plan was to spend two days in Rome, two hours in Florence, and visit about five other important Christian sites in Italy in the next five days. There is some place where John the Baptist was boiled in oil, but he didn't really get boiled, so it is a sacred place worthy of a visit. They will mostly visit free sites because if they pay to go inside, every single student has to be present and accounted for at the time of the appointment. If one student is late, no one goes in. They only pay to go into the Colosseum. The rest is walking around outside. While they are here, these students will also be performing some band concerts. The guide reminded me of a young Heinz and he reminded Jon of his high school friend Bill who went on to become a high school principal (a totally sweet man).  The guide told us all kinds of other details that have accumulated in his brain, including how many miles a car that runs on propane can go before it needs to have its valves ground again because propane runs hotter than gasoline. 200,000 km, in case you are wondering. Most people drive about 20,000 km in a year so that's not a repair that will come up so often.

Ronni had told us that the Rome airport was very speedy with security because they process so many people, but Ronni has never traveled to Israel.  That is never a speedy check-in.  First of all, the El Al gates are absolutely at the furthest end of the terminal. Then each passenger gets an individual interview where they try to find holes in your story. She looked at us pretty dubiously when we showed her how much luggage we were carrying. For how many days? How can that work? Where are you staying? Why did you bring so little? (Because we are old and it is hard to carry everything from one train to the next...) And then there were the usual six or seven more passport control stops. I got patted down fully. They always pick on me. Last year when we went through security, they separated me and Jon and tried to make me think that his story was different from mine.

When you get on an international flight, as soon as you get on the plane, it feels like you are in the next country, not the one you are leaving. The plane was full of Israelis (but no black hats, so interesting) and the announcements were in Hebrew, with translations that were half as long so we were not getting all the details, it seemed. The sandwich was melted cheese and sweet potato. I have never had one of those. It was edible but not expected.

Since we just came through Tel Aviv a year ago, we sort of knew where the train was and we knew how to do it better this time. But when it was time to get off, even though we knew perfectly well that Benjamin was already waiting at the station, we neglected to get off at the Haifa Central stop because I was looking for the Hebrew version and didn't see it and because Jon's phone was telling him that he and Benjamin were in Beirut. Apparently Israel has been scrambling the GPS information on everyone's phones since the start of the war, to confuse the people who are bombing.  I have been wondering why Benjamin keeps showing up at the Beirut airport when we are checking his location. A nice passenger told us to get off at the next stop, cross the bridge and get on the return train. So we did, and Benjamin waited for his air-brained parents for 20 more minutes.

Mika has been sick for a couple of days with a fever and a stomach ache so we had to keep wearing masks when we got to their house. She tried to rally and smile, and she managed for a little while, but then she just melted into sadness and had to cry her way through some Tylenol and then fell asleep in Benjamin's arms. Liana is still a wiggling bundle of smiles but she was a bit wary of the masks. She smiled at us from a distance. Jon and I had forgotten what it was like to have sick babies, but of course it all came right back to us, and we could understand every expression of Mika's as she tried not to be miserable. Yael is very much hoping that the whole family is healthy enough for Purim, since they are ready with a family costume. They officially joined their temple, which is nice news for grandparents who are dedicated temple members, if not regular attendees.

Our apartment is further up the street this time, but my knee is a whole different knee from a year ago, and climbing the hill is no trouble. We have to go through three locked doors with three different combinations, but the apartment is clean and well-furnished and just lovely. We are much closer to shopping, which is nice (for Jon). 

Lucca to Rome

We didn't push it this morning. Got up slow, packed up, and Helen picked us up at our door at 10:00 and whisked us off to the train station.  We got on the train to Florence and had plenty of space.  We had decided to spend a few hours in Florence since we had to switch trains anyway, and it would seem a shame to skip it entirely since we have no strict itinerary.  We found the fancy bathroom that costs one euro to go in. Shiny and clean and not very many users.  Then we found the place where you stash your luggage when you don't want to carry it around for four hours. And then we set out in search of lunch. 

We went to the Mercato Centrale, walking through and past all the purse and belt sellers. There was one sandwich place with a long line, and it was Jon's inclination to get in that line. First we wandered around and saw all the butchers and tourist packages of noodles and herbs and then we went back and got in line. All the signs were handwritten in Italian, there were no concessions to the many tourists. Take it or leave it. When we got up to the front of the line, we picked two things that sounded okay but who really knew. Panino di Porchetta and a Piatta de Lampredotto.  We knew it would be a pork sandwich and a plate of something.  No English spoken at all, but it was an equal opportunity situation because there were tourists from all over in that line. We squeezed into a table with other diners (all the dishes and cutlery were real and you had to return your tray to the rack yourself). After a few bites of the saucy meat on the plate, I knew I didn't want any more of that. I stuck to the greasy sandwich with the crunchy, tasty pork. I texted Helen:

We are eating lunch in the market. Maybe we got tripe. Not sure. Piatti di Lampredotto. What is that anyway?

-- I think it's eel. Let me check. Might also be tripe which is typical.
-- No, you're right, it's part of the intestine, almost tripe but not quite. How delicious.
(green vomit icon)
-- Very typical Florentine dish for...centuries. Medieval? And not intestine but stomach. Much better. Yum. 

I didn't really eat it. Jon did. I had a pork sandwich that was greasy and crunchy.

-- Good choice.

Then we went back out to wander through the streets with the crowds of tourists in the light rain. Eventually we bought a small umbrella from one of the many enterprising salespeople moving through the crowd.  We were looking for the piazza with the sculptures and we found it. There were tour groups and bus loads of people crowded into the space but that was fine. We were just momentary voyeurs. 

Now we are at the piazza with the outdoor sculptures and wet tourists. Piazza della Signoria.
--Perfect. That is NOT the real David. Just sayin'.
Oh I remember learning that. Smart to leave him under cover. Who's the big guy with the fountain? In Greece it would be Poseidon maybe.
-- Yes. Neptune=Poseidon=Nettuno in Italian.
-- The big building on the left -- (she later identifed as palazzo vecchio or "old building") there was once an attempted coup and the rebels were killed and hung out of those windows for all to see. Which I believe also marks the birth of the word "defenestration."

Note windows behind David replica.

A useful spot in the rain.

We made our way through the throngs and the buses and the ambulances and the motorcycles, back to the train station. Retrieved our luggage and got on the train to Rome. Excellent time for naps.

I just can't not take this picture every time.

Even though I had said we could try to figure out the bus system, I went back on that when Jon said we would have to walk 21 minutes after we got off the bus. We took a taxi instead. It was a long way and it was worth it because at the end there was a very big hill. We would have been very tired by the time we got to the top, even though we travel light.

Ronni's apartment is at the top of the hill, at the end of a small road, almost on the top floor of a fancy building. This apartment is rented by the State Department because it is used to host receptions and dinners, sometimes with only a day's notice (and then the caterers come into her kitchen and take over). Crazy.  Marco is out of town so Ronni did all the hosting tonight. She works full time and she also had a full meal ready for dinner. She says we haven't seen each other since 2019. We had plenty to catch up on. I am sure she has been hosting people since she got here. She says they are ready to come home but she wouldn't have missed this.

From Ronni's balcony, St Peter's Basilica, I assume.