Tel Aviv - Day One

Before anyone asks, no, I don't count yesterday as a day in Israel. I got to the hotel and went to sleep. If I'd managed to eat something, or maybe watch some TV, I might consider it a half day - but I didn't so I don't. So today was the real Day One.

Thanks to my new Battlestar Galactica dvds (Thanks, Jenny!) I stayed awake the entire seventeen hours of the trip, insuring I'd be exhausted by the time I got in. I woke up this morning a bit tired, but no signs of jet lag thus far. Fingers crossed. Then again, it probably won't really set in until I leave Wednesday night. Fun. I've also decided that this will be my last transatlantic flight in coach if there's any way to avoid it. Cramped would be an understatement. Oh, and they've taken away my sole consolation at ocean-hopping on the cheap - no free booze! Cheap bastards.

Tel Aviv is best described as the Amsterdam of the Middle East. It's clean, quiet and very cosmopolitan. It shares some architectural similarities with Egypt, but when there's no large sign or billboard covered in Hebrew I can pretend I'm in San Diego or one of the less stucco-hell beach suburbs of Orange County. I don't mean this to sound negative in any way - it's actually a very charming city. Everyone is incredibly friendly - I sat next to people from Tel Aviv on both legs of my flight, both of whom gave me ideas on where to go and what to see.

The meetings I flew over for have gone well so far - there are a few technical issues that have cropped up, but nothing insurmountable. Everyone I've met has been super nice - we went out for dinner and drinks with Gilad and Keren after the day was done. We went to a lovely bar/restaurant right on the beach named Mike's Place (Site seems down at the moment). After dinner, our hosts told us the place had been bombed in a terrorist attact three years ago. Whee!

So, to sum up: Tel Aviv is a fun, lively, modern beach city, with great bars and restaurants that occasionally get bombed. I'm having a blast and am actually sad that I have to leave so soon. With any luck we'll rent a car and drive out to Jerusalem tomorrow night, but we'll see.

Oh yeah, photos. Haven't taken any, but if you can picture one of the nicer parts of an OC beach town you're most of the way there. Just add tall towers here and there. For those of you not familiar with Southern Cal, I'll try to provide photos tomorrow.