I woke up very early this morning for a shower, and a knock on my door at around 7:30 revealed that Jordan was the sole person who had expressed interest in our day trip who hadn't backed out (I'm looking at you, Maciej). I told him we'd meet in the lobby in ten minutes, then grabbed some breakfast-type snacks, packed my bag, and headed up.
I was soon joined by Lisa, who also had some food (fruit and yogurt) and Jordan. We started off for the train station, where I got some chocolate milk as we waited for the train to arrive. All of us were very tired, but Lisa was very giggly as a consequence of her exhaustion, which was entertaining to Jordan and me. When we got on the train, Jordan opened up Ulysses, and got a good amount of reading done before eventually falling asleep. I didn't have any delusions; I closed my eyes immediately.
We had to switch trains at Binyamina, so it was necessary to wake up from our naps and cross the platform. The rest of the ride was less easy to sleep through, as it took us alongside the sea until we reached Haifa. We got out at a train station which looked like it belonged in the 70s, and oriented ourselves as we walked. Luckily it was relatively easy to find the sea, which was our first goal. We walked along the Promenade (or Pomenade, as the website Lisa had been consulting last night called it), getting a gorgeous view of the water and mountain, to the foot of the cable car, near which our first stop was supposedly located.
We wandered into a restaurant to ask about the Museum of Clandestine Immigration, but they couldn't help us. It turned out to be right across the highway, with the Maritime Museum, but also happened to be closed (despite what my book says). We therefore crossed back over the highway and found our way into the building which housed the bottom of the cable car. Although it was of course overpriced, we bought one-way tickets and got into our own round car.
The view was incredible, and grates in the car wall gave us an almost cool breeze as we ascended. A few lookout points at the top made the journey even more worth it. The entire city lay sprawled out beneath us, looking, as Jordan put it, as it you could just reach out and move the pieces. The red train wove its way along the coast and towards downtown, where tall buildings partially obscured the port area. Trees coated the mountainside, touching the edge of the developed area, and faded into a haze in the distance.
We got our fill of the view, then crossed the street and covered ourselves before entering the Stella Maris monastery. It was a beautiful building, but we were only permitted in the chapel area, so didn't spend too much time there. After we exited, we caught a cab to take us to the Tikotin Museum, which bills itself as Israel's only museum of Japanese art (as if there would be more than one...?). The exhibits included a gorgeous collection of colorful, painted kites, as well as a room full of drawings, sculptures, and other objects depicting interesting mythical animals (like the shishi, or lion-dog, and the baku, with the head of an elephant and assorted other body parts). The final rooms displayed photographs taken by a Jewish photographer during a trip to Kapan and printed from negatives discovered after his death.
We headed upstairs in hopes of finding more exhibits, but instead found a table full of apple juice and cookies. Being hungry and thirsty and having no shame, we lingered a bit and stealthily helped ourselves. We also sat to consult the tour book for the remainder of our stops and to try to coordinate meeting up with Dan, and called him as we sipped our juice. Having oriented ourselves, we grabbed a last few cookies before heading out.
Outside the museum, we walked a few blocks to our next stop: the Mane-Katz museum. While my book had said the Tikotin had a fee and the Mane-Katz museum would be free, the truth in fact turned out to be the opposite. We paid the small fee and entered what I think is the most interestingly arranged museum I've ever seen. Instead of spreading out the works, having them all at an adult's eye level, and forcing you along a path, this place was more like a collage of his paintings, Judaica collection, and photographs and news clippings detailing events in his life. Two timelines ran along the walls, one at the top (his biography) and another at the bottom (historical events during his lifetime). The place clearly used to be a house, and therefore had interconnected rooms. We wandered about with no semblance of a method to our madness, until we were satisfied and headed out.
The next part of ourday was the sketchiest in terms of planning. We wanted to make our way straight down the mountain to meet Dan in the Arab area known as Wadi Nisnas, but of course the steepness of the terrain meant no roads went straight down. Luckily, instead of following the sidewinding sidewalks available, we stumbled upon a set of stairs with signs that indicated they led straight to the area we wanted to go, and followed them. Aside from a few blocks where they ceased to exist, they took us all the way to the City Hall (in other words, most of the way down). At this point we tried to find a good intersection to meet Dan, and headed there ourselves.
When we found it, Jordan went to scope out lunch possibilities while I conversed with Dan in an effort to lead him to where we were. Soon he found us, and we sat down at the most crowded hummus place I have ever seen. This turned out to be the positive endorsement we had hoped. They brought us rice and falafel and pita, and we ordered one hummus with mushrooms and another with meat. Everything was delicious, and we all drank lots of water. Before leaving, we asked for directions to the Carmelit, Israel's only subway. We were right to think it was nearby; two blocks down the road we found the entrance.
We each paid our 5 shekels for a ticket, inserted it in the machine for validation, and entered the station. A few minutes later, the car arrived. Now, this subway basically goes up and down a mountain, so the tracks are constantly sloped. Therefore the car is built to accomodate this slope. The catch is, though, that the angle of the tracks changes slightly from station to station, so for the first part of our ride, the car's tilt was more than that of the tracks, so we felt very...lopsided. This evened out by the last station or two, but then the steps next to the tracks were not sloped enough when we got out of the car, so the entire journey was, in sum, rather off-putting (but also hilarious and enjoyable).
At the top, we were about 4 blocks from the entrance to the Bahai Gardens. We found a restroom and freshened up, and Lisa and I put on long sleeves (because the gardens are a holy place) before approaching the entrance. We claimed our reservation and went inside, and sat with a couple dozen people to wait for the tour guide. He arrived and began speaking - in Hebrew. I had been warned, but Lisa hadn't. She was able to understand a lot of what he said, though, which made her happy and kept me informed. We learned a bit about the Bahai faith as we descended the mountain, surrounded by perfectly manicured grass, babbling fountains, and beds of flowers separated by sweeping stone stairways. The Shrine of the Bab loomed at the bottom, with its bronze-colored dome, and beyond it, modern Haifa stretched to the port, backed by the turquoise sea. It was an amazing sight.
The tour took about an hour, so as soon as it was over we hailed a cab to the bus station and boarded the second-to-last bus to Tel Aviv. Jordan fell asleep, but Dan, Lisa and I talked about all sorts of topics during the ride. An hour and a half later we found ourselves at the central bus station in Tel Aviv, and headed outside where we found and boarded a sherut which left promptly. Lisa accidentally paid part of her fare to someone sitting in front of her who happened to be begging, instead of to the driver, but she got some chocolate out of it so it was ok.
We were dropped off near Clore house, and I took a shower before sinking into bed for a delicious nap. I awoke an hour or so later and joined Maciej, Zvonimir and Tanmay at Hertzl Bar for coffee. The conversation topic was police forces (present were representatives from India, Poland, and Croatia to provide evidence and opinions), and everyone was swapping stories about traffic stops and other encounters with crooked cops. I had little to contribute but listened with amusement. Eventually we headed back, and I blogged and caught up on things before heading to bed.
Since I took so many pictures today and don't want to overwhelm you all like last Friday (and, since I live in the future, I know tomorrow won't yield many exciting photographic opportunitites), I will post everything but Bahai Gardens pictures today, and the rest tomorrow.
I was soon joined by Lisa, who also had some food (fruit and yogurt) and Jordan. We started off for the train station, where I got some chocolate milk as we waited for the train to arrive. All of us were very tired, but Lisa was very giggly as a consequence of her exhaustion, which was entertaining to Jordan and me. When we got on the train, Jordan opened up Ulysses, and got a good amount of reading done before eventually falling asleep. I didn't have any delusions; I closed my eyes immediately.
We had to switch trains at Binyamina, so it was necessary to wake up from our naps and cross the platform. The rest of the ride was less easy to sleep through, as it took us alongside the sea until we reached Haifa. We got out at a train station which looked like it belonged in the 70s, and oriented ourselves as we walked. Luckily it was relatively easy to find the sea, which was our first goal. We walked along the Promenade (or Pomenade, as the website Lisa had been consulting last night called it), getting a gorgeous view of the water and mountain, to the foot of the cable car, near which our first stop was supposedly located.
We wandered into a restaurant to ask about the Museum of Clandestine Immigration, but they couldn't help us. It turned out to be right across the highway, with the Maritime Museum, but also happened to be closed (despite what my book says). We therefore crossed back over the highway and found our way into the building which housed the bottom of the cable car. Although it was of course overpriced, we bought one-way tickets and got into our own round car.
The view was incredible, and grates in the car wall gave us an almost cool breeze as we ascended. A few lookout points at the top made the journey even more worth it. The entire city lay sprawled out beneath us, looking, as Jordan put it, as it you could just reach out and move the pieces. The red train wove its way along the coast and towards downtown, where tall buildings partially obscured the port area. Trees coated the mountainside, touching the edge of the developed area, and faded into a haze in the distance.
We got our fill of the view, then crossed the street and covered ourselves before entering the Stella Maris monastery. It was a beautiful building, but we were only permitted in the chapel area, so didn't spend too much time there. After we exited, we caught a cab to take us to the Tikotin Museum, which bills itself as Israel's only museum of Japanese art (as if there would be more than one...?). The exhibits included a gorgeous collection of colorful, painted kites, as well as a room full of drawings, sculptures, and other objects depicting interesting mythical animals (like the shishi, or lion-dog, and the baku, with the head of an elephant and assorted other body parts). The final rooms displayed photographs taken by a Jewish photographer during a trip to Kapan and printed from negatives discovered after his death.
We headed upstairs in hopes of finding more exhibits, but instead found a table full of apple juice and cookies. Being hungry and thirsty and having no shame, we lingered a bit and stealthily helped ourselves. We also sat to consult the tour book for the remainder of our stops and to try to coordinate meeting up with Dan, and called him as we sipped our juice. Having oriented ourselves, we grabbed a last few cookies before heading out.
Outside the museum, we walked a few blocks to our next stop: the Mane-Katz museum. While my book had said the Tikotin had a fee and the Mane-Katz museum would be free, the truth in fact turned out to be the opposite. We paid the small fee and entered what I think is the most interestingly arranged museum I've ever seen. Instead of spreading out the works, having them all at an adult's eye level, and forcing you along a path, this place was more like a collage of his paintings, Judaica collection, and photographs and news clippings detailing events in his life. Two timelines ran along the walls, one at the top (his biography) and another at the bottom (historical events during his lifetime). The place clearly used to be a house, and therefore had interconnected rooms. We wandered about with no semblance of a method to our madness, until we were satisfied and headed out.
The next part of ourday was the sketchiest in terms of planning. We wanted to make our way straight down the mountain to meet Dan in the Arab area known as Wadi Nisnas, but of course the steepness of the terrain meant no roads went straight down. Luckily, instead of following the sidewinding sidewalks available, we stumbled upon a set of stairs with signs that indicated they led straight to the area we wanted to go, and followed them. Aside from a few blocks where they ceased to exist, they took us all the way to the City Hall (in other words, most of the way down). At this point we tried to find a good intersection to meet Dan, and headed there ourselves.
When we found it, Jordan went to scope out lunch possibilities while I conversed with Dan in an effort to lead him to where we were. Soon he found us, and we sat down at the most crowded hummus place I have ever seen. This turned out to be the positive endorsement we had hoped. They brought us rice and falafel and pita, and we ordered one hummus with mushrooms and another with meat. Everything was delicious, and we all drank lots of water. Before leaving, we asked for directions to the Carmelit, Israel's only subway. We were right to think it was nearby; two blocks down the road we found the entrance.
We each paid our 5 shekels for a ticket, inserted it in the machine for validation, and entered the station. A few minutes later, the car arrived. Now, this subway basically goes up and down a mountain, so the tracks are constantly sloped. Therefore the car is built to accomodate this slope. The catch is, though, that the angle of the tracks changes slightly from station to station, so for the first part of our ride, the car's tilt was more than that of the tracks, so we felt very...lopsided. This evened out by the last station or two, but then the steps next to the tracks were not sloped enough when we got out of the car, so the entire journey was, in sum, rather off-putting (but also hilarious and enjoyable).
At the top, we were about 4 blocks from the entrance to the Bahai Gardens. We found a restroom and freshened up, and Lisa and I put on long sleeves (because the gardens are a holy place) before approaching the entrance. We claimed our reservation and went inside, and sat with a couple dozen people to wait for the tour guide. He arrived and began speaking - in Hebrew. I had been warned, but Lisa hadn't. She was able to understand a lot of what he said, though, which made her happy and kept me informed. We learned a bit about the Bahai faith as we descended the mountain, surrounded by perfectly manicured grass, babbling fountains, and beds of flowers separated by sweeping stone stairways. The Shrine of the Bab loomed at the bottom, with its bronze-colored dome, and beyond it, modern Haifa stretched to the port, backed by the turquoise sea. It was an amazing sight.
The tour took about an hour, so as soon as it was over we hailed a cab to the bus station and boarded the second-to-last bus to Tel Aviv. Jordan fell asleep, but Dan, Lisa and I talked about all sorts of topics during the ride. An hour and a half later we found ourselves at the central bus station in Tel Aviv, and headed outside where we found and boarded a sherut which left promptly. Lisa accidentally paid part of her fare to someone sitting in front of her who happened to be begging, instead of to the driver, but she got some chocolate out of it so it was ok.
We were dropped off near Clore house, and I took a shower before sinking into bed for a delicious nap. I awoke an hour or so later and joined Maciej, Zvonimir and Tanmay at Hertzl Bar for coffee. The conversation topic was police forces (present were representatives from India, Poland, and Croatia to provide evidence and opinions), and everyone was swapping stories about traffic stops and other encounters with crooked cops. I had little to contribute but listened with amusement. Eventually we headed back, and I blogged and caught up on things before heading to bed.
Since I took so many pictures today and don't want to overwhelm you all like last Friday (and, since I live in the future, I know tomorrow won't yield many exciting photographic opportunitites), I will post everything but Bahai Gardens pictures today, and the rest tomorrow.
The retro train station
Interesting translation... 
Along the P(r)omenade
Old and new
I had to be stealthy to get this one
Too bad it was closed!
Going back up and over the highway
Lisa and Jordan in our cable car
View from en route
A marigold at the top
A garden outside the monastery
A kite in the Tikotin museum
Kabbalah and shopping, in one stop
Jordan in the Mane-Katz museum
An amazing garden, visible from the stairs down the mountain
Jordan, unhappy with the architecture of the building in the background
The subway station at the bottom!
A photo of the subway being built
The subway car
Lisa and Dan (and Jordan's reflection)...note the car not being level despite being built to compensate
?
The station at the top
Exiting the subway
View of downtown and the port from the top
Near the Bahai gardens
3 comments:
Excuse me, I read 40 pages on those two trains.
Jordan,
This error has been corrected. Please observe the edit.
~Becca
All the transportation looks so clean! If only it could be that way here in Philadelphia...
<3
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