Shabbat Dogs at the Dizengoff Mall

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  Tel Aviv, Israel
Friday, September 5, 2008

Another great 24 hours in Tel Aviv...last night we headed back to Jaffa for dinner and a wander through the old city at night...Very quiet and at times we had the place to ourselves, which was strange at times...Great dinner overlooking modern TA from a 3,000 year old port...amazing....Returned to the beach zone and finshed the night at one of the outdoor beach ultra lounges...Tables and chairs set into the soft, soft sand, special lights set into the sand, full bar service and a DJ spinning European and Israeli trance, deep lounge and eventually dance music...Nothing gets going here until very, very late...Happy hour at the bars starts at 8:00 p.m. (that's when most people go home in Victoria)...dinner is late, 10:00 p.m. and none of the barrs get going 'til midnight....

Today is our first Shabbat (Shabbat) in Israel and the streets are packed with shoppers rushing to get things done before sunset.  After meeting up with Gabby, a friend of Chris's from the Victoria jewish community, we went to the Dizengoff mall for some shopping.  What an experience, a huge shopping mall that on Friday fills up with food stalls to accomodate Shabbat shoppers.  Dozens fo stalls selling every type of hot and cold Israeli and middle eastern cuisine...Like a huge pot luck supper..We, off course, had to have a kosher hot dog wrapped in filo pastry... A Shabbat dog at the Dizengoff mall....

Friday and Saturday are the Israeli weekend and throughout most of the country shops, restaurants and even public transportation shut down for 24 hours of Shabbat observance....But this is Tel Aviv, and because of the secular nature of the city their observance of Sabbath is quite different....It's a time to go out, go to the beach, party...In fact we're on our way right now to a sunset party on Chinky (how do they get away with that!) Beach....Should be fun...

We continue to have to make entries from an internet cafe' because the hotel server (still) isn't working...So no pictures yet....Here's hoping everything will be working in Jerusalem...Tomorrow we're off on a road trip to Nazareth, Tiberias and Capernaum...Will report on that trip in the next day or two...

So we're off to Chinky beach for sunset.....Shabbat shalom....Stephen and Chris...

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