letter from seaside …
Greetings from sunny Tel Aviv. This place has worked its way to the top of my list of best spots on earth. There’s just something beautiful, intelligent, and strong about this city on the Mediterranean Sea. There is a present and a future here. And there’s also a past. A connection to all of the other human endeavors that have occurred along the shores of the Mediterranean back through the millennia. Alexandria, Athens, Rome, Carthage, Tunis, Beirut, Istanbul … Constantinople. They are all here, along with Tel Aviv.
Christine and I are ensconced in a seaside hotel just next to the French embassy — which is an interesting spot to be just today, given that some newspaper in France published some cartoon depicting The Prophet Muhammad, in some manner, a couple of days ago — and more power to that newspaper, by the way. There is so much silliness in this world. Some of it deadly, unfortunately.
We have already survived a night flight to Tel Aviv populated with more screaming children than I have ever seen or heard in one place. Somehow Christine Ann managed a few winks of sleep. I went through four episodes of Season 4 of The Wire on my ipad (with noise cancelling headphones :). I love that show. Thanks to bit torrent I’ve run through the first three seasons in the last couple of weeks.
And thanks to the Wi-Fi here at the seaside Mezada Café (open 24 hours) I have downloaded IOS 6 for my iPhone while slurping down three cappuccinos (so far).
Christine was up early today and enjoyed the Israeli Breakfast at our hotel. She’s napping now. After I have a bite — cause I’m about to pass out from espresso on an empty stomach — we will swim in the warm sea till the sun sets.
Shalom!
Tel Aviv, Israel; 21 September 2012
