The first thing on today's agenda was touring old city Jerusalem and visiting the Western Wall. I arrived at the wall with my note in hand, thinking I was prepared for everything... little did I know I would encounter the biggest surprise.
I saw her first from the back, and you'd think the hair and backpack would have been a dead giveaway, but it took me a while to be sure it was her. But when I knew, I wasted no time in running up to her and hugging her (while getting stared down by the more orthodox jews). I was in Jerusalem, thousand of miles from home, and I had just run into my sister.
After the initial shock, I introduced her to my friends and she did the same. Crazy how things work out.
Our next stop was Tel Aviv (cue party song) and I was pleasantly surprised when I found out that the place we were going had the only gluten free falafel in the city. The raving reviews that I had heard thus far did not disappoint, as I devoured the meal in next to no time. We had some free time to shop around in the market, sifting through cheap tourist traps attempting to find something special for our friends and family back home. The Israelis bought me gluten free bomba, which I later found out that they ate on a drunken night. Too bad.
Luckily, we had some extra time to stop by the beach, and while the water was much too cold to go in, the scenery was breathtaking. Some of the boys dared to dip there feet in, most of us girls opted to take sunset jumping pictures, but everyone had a great time.
For dinner, we went to Idan's (as well as many other Israeli's) favorite restaurant: Dr. Shakshuka's Shakshuka House. The meal was served family style, and salads and pita were passed around (rice for me of course). When the main course came, we stared at the pans of tomatoes and eggs blankly, wondering what was so special about this meal and why we were eating it for dinner.. but it did not disappoint. The climax of the night, however, occurred moments later, when Idan's face lit up and he did a few double takes from the kitchen to the cardboard cutout of Dr. Shakshuka, eventually confirming that it was indeed the legend himself in the kitchen. He rushed over to take a picture with his idol, shaking for the rest of the night from his brief but overwhelming brush with stardom.
