Day 2 - As Far North as You Can Go

On Tuesday, we started our day with breakfast. A lot of breakfast. Let's just say that the Dan Carmel offers a very extensive breakfast buffet. Unfortunately for Ayelet, she woke up not feeling well, and was unable to enjoy the variety. She did not mind the coffee, though. The rest of us had a great time, and then we had to go upstairs to recuperate. After a little recovery time, we packed up and headed for Rosh Hanikra, which is by the Lebanese border. The drive was pleasant, and we arrived rather quickly. Here is the view from the top.We took the cable car down to the grottos

and spent some time walking through the tunnels to search for mermaids - at least that is what we told Lola, who was only a little surprised not to find Ariel and Flounder. We actually explained grottos to her as underwater caves - like where Ariel hid her human treasures. This is the rock we decided looked like Ariel's singing rock - though she was not currently there.We took a few photos, then it was off to the audio-visual presentation. We really enjoyed the movie, which was shown in one of the railway tunnels. The film was a big mishmash of history, nature documentary, and legend, showing how the land and the sea unite at Rosh Hanikra. I don't know if I necessarily wanted a close-up of a turtle laying her eggs, but we learned a lot. Also, because of the heat, we enjoyed getting spritzed by the water spray that highlighted some of the show. Then it was back up the cliff in the cablecar, and working hard to keep the younger kids from reciting the old saw "I want that, you buy me that" on the obligatory walk through the gift shop to get to the exit. We also saw the border, where things were quiet.

Then we paused for a photo break.After another stop at the rest room - we were drinking a lot, as we should have been - we headed for Nahariya for lunch. We again enjoyed the traditional Israeli lunch of pizza, though David decided to be all touristy and have falafel. It was still very hot, even under an umbrella(notice how pink the kids look),

so we decided to forego Akko and head to Kibbutz Lochamei Hagetaot. The museum there was excellent and beautiful. It didn't feel like a take pictures kind of place, but let me emphasize that it was extremely well done - both planning and execution. Shana was also career inspired by the exhibits - she says that she would probably enjoy designing and building museum exhibits, or at least making the best diorama book reports ever. The exhibit about the Warsaw Ghetto was particularly interesting to look at, especially from Shana's perspective as an artist. Also important to note - the bathrooms were very nice!

We headed back to the hotel and the pool, and then headed out to El Gaucho for a celebratory dinner - it was Tu B'Av and our three year anniversary of making aliyah. After some very yummy South American barbeque, we walked back to the hotel and called it a night.