Last Day

In the morning we wandered around the little town of Maskeret Batia, drinking coffee and eating a delicious piece of chocolate cheese cake.

Then we were off to the Eretz Israel Museum near Tel Aviv University, where we split out time between an exhibit of amazing contemporary Israeli art and ethnography, which displayed Jewish ritual objects dating back centuries. It was interesting to see things from places like Iraq and Afghanistan, where virtually no Jews live today.

The day's real adventure took us north of Tel Aviv to Herzliyya to visit Genieo, a software start-up that at no cost to the user builds a newspaper-style page based on the user's Internet interests. The 12-person company is doing some very impressive work using its $4 million in seed money.

Getting back to Maskeret Batia required 3 cab rides, a train, and a bus. We are getting good at Israeli public transportation.

After a final dinner with our gracious hosts, we are now sitting in Ben Gurion Airport waiting for our 5 am flight. Once again we marveled at just how efficient the Israelis are at security and how easy they make it.

We have tossed around the idea of coming back and spending a month in intensive Hebrew some day. But first there are a few more places we would like to see.

It was a good trip, but it's time to get home!

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