a day in the big city

I like Tel Aviv. The problem is that I get there maybe once or twice a year only. It is actually not that far (a 60-90 minute drive), but only really possible for me to go there on a Friday. And Fridays are usually spent cleaning the house, making grocery shopping and try to steal 1-2 hours for myself for knitting/ sewing etc.

Last Friday I surprised my husband with a day in Tel Aviv. He turned 40 and we still had to celebrate a bit. I organized his mother as a babysitter and this way we had the luxury of one whole day for ourselves. 

I like these trees with the beautiful flowers- no idea what they are called...

Of course I had a tiny bit of self-interest in going to Tel Aviv- I needed to buy fabric. The Nachlat Binyamin Street in Tel Aviv is fabric heaven. Yeah well- I know at least one wonderful shop in Switzerland too- but I am not there and prices are of course  m u c h  higher.

I could shop fabric for hours. But I made a small list only and set an approximate limit to my spending. I will regret it during the year when I have things I want to sew and won't have fabric- but I can't and don't want to bore my husband too much with it.

my fabric shopping results...

olives in all kinds of shapes and colours and tastes at the Carmel market

We ate lunch in a very nice small Greek restaurant next to the Carmel market. Loved the blue and white decoration. It felt almost like being on a real holiday. We ate a very tasty meal consisting of a lentil-tomato salad, fish ceviche and meat on a pita.

For the afternoon I bought tickets for a concert of the Red Band. A great show! The lead singer is Red- a puppet that has a bit of a rude, vulgar personality- which was really fun. I loved the songs, I was impressed by the actor/ singer that played the puppets. I can really recommend this show.

After the show we walked around Neve Zedek and went for dinner at the Giraffe Noodle Bar for Asian food with friends.

I very much enjoyed the day. The feeling of being in the big city, the time to enjoy as a couple, to talk, to be together.

Back in every-day-life I am currently in a bit of a strange mood. I very much miss my "home"- the green fields, the green forests, the mountains, the "indian summer", my parents and sisters and nieces/ nephews, brothers in law and other relatives and friends in Switzerland.

I am once more asking myself all kinds of questions- like why the hell I work in an office job, if I really want to stay in this country, why after all these years I still do not connect with a lot of things in Israel (besides a lot of nice things…)… I get into moods like this once in a while. Usually I manage to push them away after a few days.