When last we met, Naomi and I were about to dine with the Ariav family. We did. And it was fantastic. We went to a restaurant with a fabulous view of Haifa from the mountain-top (not to be confused with muffin-top...I've been doing a lot of walking thank you very much!). They pulled out all the stops. At one point we had some 75 different little plates of food in front of us. We absolutely ROLLED out of the dining experience as new members of the Ariav family. Tali, our new sister, will be thrilled.
Our next day - Haifa tour - was in the hands of Omri Ariav. We picked him up around 11 am and walked to our first stop; the Bahai Gardens. This garden is the signature of Haifa - a giant, 18-tiered garden cascading down the mountain. Apparently Bahai is a new religious movement started around 175 years ago. I'll leave you to Wikipedia it. The garden was wonderful. 700 steps in all, but you get to go DOWN, so it wasn't like being at the gym. I've posted a picture or two that do it no justice. Since it's a religious place women have to cover their shoulders. Naomi is simply never prepared for this and we almost couldn't go in. Omri sprinted down the street to a barber shop to find a shawl while a girl in line with us offered a shirt. Omri sprinted back: you can thank the IDF for his physical prowess.
A panoramic lunch. Omri, attempting to eat light, ordered the "concert salad". I have a picture of it. It also came with two loaves of bread. He muscled through half of it while Naomi and I laughed.
Omri then proceeded to take us around Haifa. After our near-miss with the garden and our tour during the hottest part of the day, Omri took us to an Arab market that was probably amazing when it was open. It was just a dirty alley on Thursday.
No problem! We'll head to the beach to catch a beautiful sunset. Cloudy. We did enjoy a nice time sitting in a cafe (sponsored by Camel cigarettes). Honestly, when I write about it, the day was pretty great; the running joke during the day was that Omri was a terrible tour guide. We all enjoyed the gag at his expense but he did fine. Besides, part two of the tour was a total success and makes Omri into a tour-guide extraordinaire.
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