Israel Trip, Winter 2008-2009: Post #1: Arrival

There was so much to write about my last trip to Israel two years ago and I unfortunately neither wrote/posted about it during the trip, nor much afterwards. However, I will be writing more about this trip (in part, assisted by writing on my iPod (that my wife got me over a year ago and that also assisted me in my keeping track of our honeymoon)).

We took an Austrian Air flight from JFK airport to Vienna, then, after a brief layover, we flew to Israel (by the way, it was my first time flying to Israel on an airline other than El Al). We then got picked up by my wife's brother's wife, who drove us back to the house they are renting for the year, where we got showered up, had pizza for dinner, headed to the mall for a bit, then went back and retired for the evening.

The next day was a Friday, so, since things close on the early side in Israel on Fridays, we decided to just stay in town and walk around, exploring the mall with the older of our two nieces.Then it was shabbas and it was rather restful (I got around 16 hours of sleep, which was good (I think my body was still trying to adjust to the new timezone and to my lack of sleep throughout the flights)).

Following shabbas, my wife and I went with my wife's sister-in-law and her daughter and were around the Talpiyot mall and got pizza at Pizza HaShikmah for 27 shekels (less than $7) - definitely a great deal! Then we went back to the mall, got some pastries, and then headed back with my wife's sister-in-law to Modi'in.