I’ve been in Tel Aviv for two days now. It is a very different city than Jerusalem. For starters, I haven’t seen a single Orthodox Jew here. Zero. Everything here is much more laid back and secular than Jerusalem. In addition to a very large beach area, it also seems very artsy. Some of the neighborhoods remind me of San Francisco or Portland.
My laptop situation is looking much better. The issue was with my power brick. I didn’t think it was something that could break that easily considering there are no moving parts, but I was wrong. They also ran a diagnostic on my battery when I told them I could only get 2 hours of life out of it. I’m getting both replaced but I have to jump through some hoops by calling Apple, getting a case number than I can give the Apple Store here. As of now I have my laptop and a working power brick, but no battery. That means I have to be very careful about unplugging my laptop.
I’ll be here a bit longer than I had hoped because of the delays with the Apple Store and everything being closed for Passover. That will give me a chance to catch up on some photos I haven’t been able to work on in the last week.
Tel Aviv is also a UNESCO World Heritage site. It is supposed to be for its urban architecture. The problem is, I have no idea what exactly is so special about it. Tel Aviv is known as the “White City” but I’m not sure what I should try to take a photo of to capture it. It has replaced the Sydney Opera House as the lamest World Heritage Site I’ve visited on my trip. If anyone who has been to Tel Aviv has suggestions for a good representative Bauhaus building, let me know.
I’m going to use Tel Aviv as a base to do some day trips north to Haifa/Acre and to Nazareth. It seems cheaper and easier than the hassle of cabs and buses and moving all my stuff.
I was also mentioned in an article on MSNBC.com by Christopher Elliott. Please check it out.