Tel Aviv - Independence Hall

Israel's declaration of indepence came at a bad time.  All the surrounding Arab nations were at war with the nascent state, and were blockading access to Jerusalem.  The British had proposed  disjointed, indefensible boundaries separating Arabs and Jews. U.S Secretary of State George Marshall said any declaration should wait. Despite that, David Ben Gurion and five other of his provisional Council of State, a bare majority, voted to go forward with the formation of the new nation of Israel.

Architecturally, Independence Hall underwhelms.
But it's a very secure building, important in a war zone.

I learned about this precarious beginning while attending a tour of Independence Hall, the former residence of Tel Aviv's first mayor, Meir Dizengoff.  The ceremony took place just before Shabbat, at 4 p.m. on  May 14,1948, and just before the British renounced rights to the territory.  The wording of the declaration was finalized an hour before the ceremony and David Ben Gurion read it while the assembly, including a young Golda Meir, cried with joy.

Leah, our tour guide, in front of the famous podium. 
Ben Gurion sat to her left, under a portrait of Herzl, who first envisioned a Jewish state. 

From Israel's Declaration of Independence:

Accordingly, we members of the People's Council, representatives of the Jewish Community of Eretz-Israel and of the Zionist Movement, are here assembled on the day of the termination of the British Mandate over Eretz-Israel and, by virtue of our natural and historic right and on the strength of the resolution of the United National General Assembly, hereby declare the establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz-Israel, to be known as the State of Israel. 

Tel Aviv - The Long Walk

View of downtown Tel Aviv from Shayim Levanon Street, near Tel Aviv University

After some quality time at the Diaspora Museum, and an excellent cappucino out on their patio overlooking Tel Aviv University,  I started walking.  Since I had already been to the Diaspora Museum, which is all about Jewish life outside of Israel, I thought I'd walk to the Eretz Israel museum, which is all about history and life within Israel.  But by the time I got to the museum, having been distracted by views of downtown Tel Aviv and the botanical garden, it was only open for another 70 minutes.  That didn't seem time enough to do it justice.  So I changed my plans and decided to walk to the city center, and like Forrest Gump, I just decided to keep on going.

Typical apartment building  in Tel Aviv/Ramat Gan

I ended up on Namir Road, which is a one of the major north-south roads in the city.  I headed south, passing over Ha 'Yarkon park and the big muddy Yarkon river, then along streets lined with apartments, most quite elegant, others falling apart.  Most share the same architectural style (excluding the Bauhaus buildings).  Think a tall concrete box, held up with concrete pillars.  The open space is used as a car park, landscaping, or not infrequently, for weeds and feral cats.  Laundry and Israeli flags hang from the balconies, and A/C units from the windows.  Mixed in with these utilitarian apartments are shiny new apartments, all with modern styling.

Note the concrete supports on the ground floor.
An apartment building in the Ultra-Orthodox section of Tel Aviv. 

Addendum: Today I chatted with a professor at Bal Ilan University about these utilitarian apartment buildings, which are ubiquitious in Tel Aviv and Ramat Gan.  He informed me they were built during the socialist period in the 1940's and 1950's.  The uniform design saved money; esthetics were not a consideration.  As for the recessed entry, he wasn't sure of it's purpose.  But in keeping with socialist ideals, each building had it's own building committee, and the open space was likely used for meetings and gatherings.  The unsightly A/C units came later.

Many of these apartment buildings are in disrepair, but they are also occupied by low income residents.  Many of these residents, again according to my Israeli professor, are ultra-Orthodox.  The husbands are not employed; instead they study Torah full time, while their wives, who are not well educated, are employed in low paying service positions such as housekeeping.  They also tend to have large families.  All of this contributes to their lower standard of living.

The professor also confirmed my own observation that it is expensive to live in Israel. He compared Israel to an island.  It is surrounded by unfriendly nations, and so all imports must come directly to Israel, not overland through surrounding countries.  As a tour guide told me yesterday, only fruits and vegetables are cheap in Israel (the 17% VAT tax does not apply!). 
 

Older apartments and shiny skyscraper in the distance, Namir road

While Jaffa, at the south end of the city, is ancient, with human habitation going back nearly 4,000 years, much of the rest of Tel Aviv was sand dunes a hundred years ago, and many of the buildings were quickly and cheaply built and are now in poor repair.  A lot of buildings in Tel Aviv need a good washing, grafitti removal, and some paint.  It's gritty, but I've seen similar scenes in Los Angeles and I also sense that Tel Aviv is gentrifying, as exemplified by the chic new Sarona Market. It's certainly humming with energy. 

I continued walking south along Namir street until it became Menachem Begin Road.  Along the way, I learned that Tel Aviv is building a light rail system to alleviate traffic congestion. Tel Aviv certainly needs it. It takes nerves of steel to drive here. I was glad to be walking.

After walking the wrong way (toward the fancy TVL Fashion Mall and Sanora market) I corrected course and headed South on HaSholam street and eventually, made it back to our hotel.  My walking tour is penned below. At just over 4 miles, my feet have voted not to do it again.

 

Tel Aviv - Diaspora Museum

Exterior of Diaspora museum

Steven today attended an international workshop entitled, "From insulin mimetics to the artificial pancreas." I, on the other hand, went out exploring.  Because there had been a drizzle this morning, I decided it would be a good day to go to a museum, so I picked Beit Hutfutsot (Museum of the Jewish People). The museum, which opened in 1978, sits on the campus of Tel Aviv University, the largest university in Israel, with 30,000 students, and a very reasonable $10,000/year tuition.  (My Gett taxi driver told me many Americans attend the university due to its good reputation and low cost.)

Entrance to the musuem is via one of the guarded stations to Tel Aviv University

I approached the museum after passing through a security gate, a not uncommon feature of Israeli life.  The university is ringed with such gates, but once inside, it's feel like any modern university campus.   

David "Chim" Seymour photo.  Source and more photos here. 

The museum is being completely renovated, so just a few exhibits are available.  One is an exhibit of David Seymour ("Chim") photographs.  Chim, a Polish Jew who escaped the Nazis, was a photojournalist who co-founded Magnum Photos with Robert Capa.  He was killed in 1956 while on assignment.  He captured the effects of war in Europe, particularly on children.

Model interior of the Aleppo synogogue in Syria

The other exhibit provides architectural models of great synagogues, many of which were destroyed during WWII.  Legend has it that the earliest synagogue was built by King David's general, on what now is the site of The Central Synagogue of Aleppo, in modern day Syria.  This latter synagogue was built in 1418, and destroyed by fire in 1947. 

For a touch of modernity, a Torah cover handmade in 2016 was displayed.  I'll let the picture do it full justice.  All the animals in the Song of Songs were embroidered on this cover.

London - Cambridge Theatre and Matilda, The Musical

Stage set for Matilda.

If you thought it was impossible to get tickets to Hamilton in London, you would be right.  However, we didn't go wrong by seeing the musical version of Roald Dahl's Matilda. In fact, we went very right, because it was fantastic. Dahl is a local boy here,  (best known for Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory) and he wrote a delightful book about an extraordinary little girl ignored by her wretched parents, the Wormwoods.  "Daddy," says Matilda, "do you think you could buy me a book?" Her dad replies, "What's wrong with the telly, for heaven's sake? You're getting spoiled, my girl!"

While in America, we'd just say something like "pick up your tickets an hour before the show," the British say it so much more beautifully: "Tickets can be organised for collection on the day of the performance, during the hour before the show."  So we organised the collection of our tickets at about 19:00, with plenty of time to buy a snack and drinks and wedge into the cozy seats at this 1930s theater.  For such a big production, the theater is quite small.  It was also filled with very excited youngsters who got to stay up late for this evening performance.  

London - Victoria & Albert Museum

  Steven admires the ceiling in the lobby of the V&A.  Note massive Dale Chihuly sculpture dangling fromt the ceiling.  Installed in 2001, the ceiling had to be reinforced to carry the weigh of the glass.

We were on "museum row" near the South Kensington Gardens, so we could have gone to any number of museums.  But having recently rewatched the "The Young Victoria" I was curious to see the Victoria and Albert Museum, otherwise known as the V&A.  The Tube deposits you just outside the museum, so you don't get wet, and admission is exactly nothing (though donation boxes discretely suggest a 5 pound donation.)

Original entrance to V&A.
Queen Victoria is pictured top middle, giving out design prizes. 

The museum was founded in 1852 by Prince Albert, though not finished until after his death.  It's expanded over the years and now contains over 2.3 million objects on six floors of exhibit space.  We wisely decided to take one of the free public tours.  Our tour guide, a volunteer docent, told us we'd have to cover a total of seven miles to see all the exhibits.  Instead we just got a few highlights, some of which are below. 

Betsy in comfy 21st century duds next to court dress, c1750

How did you get through a door?  Sideways, of course. 

The V&A has a fascinating collection of couture clothes through the ages, including a court dress from the 1750s, that is wider than it is tall.  This silk dress was found in pieces in a box in an attic.  Luckily, someone guessed it might be older and more valuable than first thought. Seamstresses at the V&A reassembled it, stitching it together using the same holes.  Sitting down was almost impossible, and carriages were entered sideways, but this was the fashion at court for many years. 

Figurine collectors' dream

We had planned on taking a stroll through Kensington Gardens, but the rain made us think twice.  So we popped up to the sixth floor to have a look at the world's largest collection of ceramics.  I discovered that the cheap porcelein figures you can buy now look a lot like the more expensive versions from the 18th century.

Hardly enough room - porcelein figurines, c1800

London - Ozone Coffee and Belgo

Exterior - Ozone Coffee

Steven and I are always looking for a good cuppa.  Ozone Coffee wasn't far from our hotel in the financial district of London and the online ratings were good, so we bundled up and went off for Saturday brunch.  A pierced and tattoed hostess with purple hair seated us around the kitchen counter, where we promptly ordered a cappuccino each.  Brunch was an egg and saugage "brekkie" for Steven and a squash kale omelette for me.  (Yes, squash and kale in an omelette. It was delicious.)  We made it in just before the line formed.

Ozone Coffee is in a former warehouse, Belgo is in a basement.  I spotted Belgo as we exited the Cambridge Theatre after seeing Maltida.  Our "dinner" had so far consisted of popcorn and beer, so we were looking for an after-theater bite and Belgo, advertised as "Moules, Frites and Biere" filled the bill.  Belgo is a Belgium restaurant where the waitstaff are dressed as monks, and the biere (beer) comes in small, medium and very large.  The table next to us had a paddle of schnappes to go with their very large bieres. We left before they did; we hope they made it home okay.  (It was a Saturday night and it was time to party in London.)  Steven had a Belgian stew (mpish??) and a Belgo pils.  I had the Belgo pils and a Belgian salad. All very good. And then it was time to join the pub crawlers and head back to our hotel on the Tube.

Underground at the Belgo

London - Churchill War Rooms

Steven watches as the war is plotted on Oct 15, 1940.

"This is the room from which I will direct the war."  - Winston Churchill

Just weeks before Britain entered WWII, the basement of the current treasury building, just across from St. James' park,  was outfitted with office furniture and hundreds of phones.  A small galley kitchen and bedrooms were added later.  This became the command center for Churchill just months after he became Britain's prime minister.  The public can now view all these rooms, recreated as they existed on October 15, 1940 at 4:58 p.m.  (Yes, all the clocks are set to that exact time.)

Politely rationing electricity

We viewed the rooms on an uncrowded Friday afternoon, audio tour guides pressed to our ears.  You do feel transported to that time.  Everything, except the mannequins, feels as if the war workday is in progress.  The Officer of Work's original keys still dangle from a wall; pins representing troop movement or bombs are still pinned to the maps.  Walls have been removed and replaced with glass fronts so you can be a fly on the wall to the action.  Everything is very thoroughly signed to keep the order, sometimes even politely (Notice: Turn off that Switch Please:-" and "Persons entering this Door are notified that Marine Sentries have Order to examine ALL PASSES," and so on.)  My favorite sign reads "Fine and Warm." That's meant to report the weather, though not necessarily accurately.
    

When a heavy air raid was in progress, the sign was changed to "Windy." 

Included as part of the war rooms is the Churchill museum.  Think U.S. presidential library, but with a lot more humor, and a lot more medals. You can view some of Churchill's  landscape paintings here too, and the book he wrote about painting as a hobby.  He didn't just save the free world; he was also a pretty decent painter.  You'll exit by the gift shop, where you can pick up a chocolate truffle disguised as a stogie.