Friends and family

After the rigours of the previous three days we were please to have a leisurely start to our last full day in Israel. Mira had to spend some time at her former work, so dropped us off just after 9am at the bus stop from where we took the 30 minute trip to Tel Aviv. Brian had arranged to meet two old Wellington friends, now long-term residents of Tel Aviv. Mary Aarons had been a classmate of Brian's at Island Bay Primary School, and the two of them have kept in touch by email over the past few years. We had spent some time with Mary when we were there previously in 2014.

Meanwhile, Brian had known Barbara Schwartz (nee Vamos) for even longer, all his life, in fact. His parents and hers had been members of the Hungarian community in Wellington and close friends, though he and Barbara hadn't seen each other for about 60 years. Last time we were in Tel Aviv, Barbara had in fact been visiting her sister in Wellington, so we hadn't managed to catch up on that occasion. Mary A and Barbara had vaguely known each other through the Jewish community in Wellington, and had met a few times more recently in Tel Aviv. Anyway, the four of us caught up at the Dizengoff Centre and spent several hours talking and generally reminiscing. We could have kept going for many hours more, but unfortunately Barbara had another commitment and had to get away just after midday. The two Marys and Brian then continued talking for a couple of hours more over a pleasant light lunch at the Dizengoff Centre. The three of us then took a leisurely 15-minute wander to the Sarona Centre, where Esther and Yossi live. They'd invited Mary and Brian to come back to their unit. Gil and Mira would drive down from Jerusalem and join us there for dinner.

We bid our fond farewells to Mary Aarons then headed up to Esther and Yossi on the 13th floor. For the first time since we'd arrived in the Middle East the air was clear of heat haze, so we were able to enjoy the terrific view right out to the Mediterranean Sea. The time went very quickly as we chatted about all sorts of things, then around five o'clock we were joined by Gila and Mira. Esther and Yossi are great hosts, and they treated us to a wonderful Hungarian meal of paprika chicken and nokedle (dumplings) along with numerous accompaniments.

We talked for quit a while afterwards then made our sad farewells and drove back to Gil and Mira's at Jerusalem.Read more