More Yaffo

While in Yaffo we stopped by two really amazing art studios.

The first-- AdinaPlastelina. The owners/artists Sami Leder and Adi Prahia use a technique called "millefiori" (it means "a thousand flowers" in Italian) on polymer clay to create really amazing jewels. It's like phemo beads, but much much much cooler and prettier.

The second--the drawing studio of Julien Roux. We bought 5 awesome postcards and will be going back for a larger piece of art before we leave Israel. We were giddy at the sight of his strange work. One of my favorites is a black ink drawing of a Rabbi on a skateboard that has this caption written on the bottom "Cool Rabbins Are Skateboarding"

We didn't take any photos in either studio for fear of annoying the proprietors, but here are are few more photos of our brief time in Yaffo.

A Russian Orthodox church inside the walls of ancient Yaffo (can't seem to locate the name).

Blurry and saintly.

Still inside ancient Yaffo.

This lucky house overlooks the sea, ancient Yaffo.

Really ripe dates!

Vade and other good things

Yesterday evening we put Vade in a taxi headed for the airport so he could get on an airplane headed home. He visited for 3 weeks, coming and going, giving us advice on everything, and generally being the wise sage that he is. We had a great time wandering around Jerusalem together, traveling to Tel Aviv, and eating in far flung (East Jerusalem) restaurants.

Over the course we had some great conversations. Here are some of the topics we covered over the past 3 weeks:

--Food

--Israeli Politics

--Israeli Food

--Things we (Josh and I) do right

--Things we (Josh and I) do wrong

--Don't ask "why questions"

--What to eat on Thanksgiving

--You (Josh and I) are loved

--I Love Janet (we all love Janet, but Vade lead the charge on this one)

--I (Vade) Love Hummus

Our time together was capped off by a trip to Tel Aviv and Yaffo. Yaffo is one of the oldest cities in the world (4,000 yrs).

Out to dinner with my cousin Ariel and his wife, Jana. Our friends Samantha and Sacha were in town as well and joined us for dinner.

Josh and Vade at Yaffo. What you can't hear are two cats fighting each other to the death. It was scary.

We ascended into the Ancient City (in Yaffo).

It stopped raining for about an hour. This is taken during that pause.

Vade. Contemplating by the sea.