The Laughlins

Today we met Seth for lunch at Aroma. He is one year into the same MA degree that Mark is doing, so he was a great resource for Mark. Mark was able to ask him lots of questions, and Seth came prepared with lots of info and suggestions, so that was very good. He is also interested in visiting some of the places that we would like to go to at some point. It is good to find people to travel with both to split costs and to have a greater sense of security in some areas - especially the more remote areas. Right now, we are thinking that it would be cool to do a 2-3 day trek in the Negev Desert in October on camels with a bedouin guide. Again, that would be something we would want to do with a small group. After meeting with Seth, Mark and I took a taxi to the Israel Museum. We found out that this was the only day that they opened at 4pm, so we went across the street to the Bible Lands Museum instead. We only made it through 6.5 of their 20+ galleries though, so we'll have to go back again. I was not allowed to take my camera inside, but you can take the virtual tour of the museum at this link: Bible Lands Museum Tour
After the museum, we walked around trying to find something to eat, but instead we ended up making a large circle around the very large Sacher Park. We walked to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs building, and took a taxi home from there. Here is a little side note on taxis. For those of you unfamiliar with taxi drivers in Israel, it goes something like this. You flag them down, tell them where you are going (and see if they understand you), and then ask "Meter Bavakesha" (Turn on the meter please). Most of them are pretty good about it (if you catch the officially endorsed taxis that have a certain sign and look to them), but some of them will refuse and ask a certain shekel amount before they will take you. We quickly exit those taxis, and take the next one. The first time that a driver was very persistant about a price up front and would not turn his meter on, Mark got pretty upset (more internally than externally). He basically said, "You're not going to turn your meter on? Then we're getting out. There are a million taxis around here that we could take." He wanted 30 shekels, and we knew the drive was only about 20, so we hopped in the next taxi and got home for 18 shekels. Today a guy wanted to take us to the Israel Museum for 60 shekels. We said, "No thanks," and a taxi pulled up right behind him with a very nice old man driver that took us there for less than half that price on the meter. There is always another taxi seconds behind the one before, so it is easy to be picky. We're getting used to the pushy attitude of some taxi drivers and marketplace merchants, but others are very cordial and low-key.