Monday 2/6 Exploring Tel Aviv

We got up early (well, at least a fairly respectable time) so we would have the day to get lots of things done. The hostel supplied a breakfast and it was much better than we've had at hostels before. They gave us coffee and a large pastry. Filling and tasty.

We asked our hostel reception person for directions to shops. Somehow their instructions led us to walking up King George V street. Some really nice shops were along there, plus plenty of stencil art. It gave the impression of King street in Newtown. Most of the places were little boutique clothes stores or other random little stores and not the big electronics or book stores that we were looking for.

Our walking eventually brought us to a large shopping complex spanning two blocks. Entry to buildings like this apparently require you to go through a security check (bags and metal detectors). This brought a bit of the reality of living in Israel to us, but we could see how it was necessary, even for peace of mind while doing something as everyday as shopping. We walked the massive place over, in search of an English Lonely Plant guide to Israel, going from book store to book store, to no avail. Eventually, we found a decently-sized store and it had one copy left! So, of course we bought it. It turned out to be half price too, down by 50 shekels, and came with a free bag, perfect for laundry runs =)

We walked around and over to see the Rabin memorial but it was closed off because of celebration decorations not cleared away yet from the 60th thing. We sat in a shady area of grass and read through the LP guide a bit. We started walking back to the hostel and on the way stopped in to a hairdresser where I finally got my hair cut. It was far far past its due date for a cut.

We headed back to our hostel to see about booking tours. They directed us to another hostel close by on the same street, Sky hostel. There we booked for a Petra day tour and a Dead Sea & Masada day tour. It took them a long while to get all the confirmations through, which was a bit annoying because it left us sitting there waiting for an hour and a half when we could have been exploring more of Tel Aviv. But, at least we got it done.

We went back to the shopping centre where a camera store we were waiting for had opened. Unfortunately, it didn't have the camera that we were looking for. We popped down and had a slice of pizza at a place where we used wifi for a bit, to check email and book accommodation for Eilat. We also found out there was a camera place up the road from us. We made our way there and joy! Emma got her new camera, the same model as mine but in pink.

We went back to the hostel, grabbed our washing and walked down the street to a Laundromat. It was good to have nice clean clothes again (not that they seem to last that way for very long whilst travelling). For dinner we went back to the same place we ate the first night, but had shuama in pita this time. Because we came back, the owner offered us free salads. I took some authentic Israeli pickles. Very tasty, and fresh.

We made a decision to go out that night. We got dressed up, decided on a few places to check out, and headed into the city centre. After much walking and disappointment it became apparent to us that places here have an age limit of 25, 27 to get in. I was pretty annoyed at how stupid that was seeing that the legal drinking age is 18. We eventually just made our way back to the hostel and got some sleep.