Nuit Blanche/100th Anniversary of Tel Aviv

On Wednesday night it was the 100th Anniversary of the city of Tel Aviv. They held their Nuit Blanche or White Night Celebration that night for the big party. Hundreds of thousands of people were out on the main street and on the beach for all of the various events. We were really tired from our long day in Jerusalem but we knew we had to go because it is obviously a once in a lifetime experience and we were HERE. We've been to Nuit Blanche in Toronto and it was great -- a city simly stays awake all night and has activities around a them....usually in T.O. it is art in every form available. Here it was party in every form available.

We rested up for about an hour and girded our loins for the all night event. Benj headed out with Yael and we got the task of picking up her mom -- Smadar -- and then Smadar would direct us into town and lead us around. We didn't even have a map so we had to rely on her. If I could tell you how horribly wrong everything went you just wouldn't believe it....it reached a point beyond which it was impossible to be angry because everything was so crazily whacked. Just so you know...we left the condo at 9:15 and Abe parked the van at close to 1 a.m. and we hadn't made it to the party yet. This is NOT a big city. My niece came home and wrote up her account of the night and I'm sure there are a million details missing. I have to say though that when Smadar told us she had to call her friend Susie, who is from South Africa, that this is how the phone call went.

beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep (beeping continues for the rest of this conversation)
Ashleigh...where is she calling?
Me.....maybe South AFRICA?
Me....she must be texting
beep beep beep (Ashleigh can see numbers on the screen)

Susie didn't answer! We laughed for the rest of the night about this little incident until Abe nearly went insane. The part you have to remember that Abe was being directed here, there, and everywhere in the car, getting on highways, off highways, merging her, doing u-turns, etc. ..and this after having driven four hours already during the day. He was not impressed with her guiding skills. anyway....here's Ashleigh's little account of her night that never was. Enjoy.


Beeeeeeeep
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Wed 5:39pm
SO long story short, tonight was the most hilarious night of my life. We tried to go to the 100th anniversary of Tel Aviv but it didnt quite work out like thatFirst, we had to pick up Smadar but for the life of us we couldn't find her place after an hour. We ended up meeting her at Dominos. Gung ho to the partyThen, she gets in the car after we had been lost and tempers were shot, only to tell us she is bad with directions and doesn't know how to get to the party...excellent. So she decides to call her friend Susan from South Africa and after dialing 874359048739754 numbers (beep beep beep beep) Susan is not answering. Moving on.We decide to pull into a parking lot, to then take a cab (where are the cabs?) and talk to some sketch bus driver chillin in his bus in this lot....bomb much? Turns out, the lot is closed...damn lot...FInally we get to Tel Aviv after being in Herzliyya and Ra'anana for a hundred years and wedge into the TINIEST little parking space I have ever seen. Smadar, bless her heart, had to call her friend to ask if it was legal to park in that spot long after we had decided it was happening regardless.(she has lived here over 20 years and doesn't know her way around...how is that possible?) We walk a hundred years, can't get a cab (they tell us a) they dont know Tel Aviv...ahem, they are IN Tel Aviv) b) they don't wanna go to the party because there are too many people there and c) see b. It was like Christ, denied three times. FInally we decide to give up and go home (we are parked at Levanon and Hargoe and have to find it again of course) but I had to stop to get a Mars bar :DThen in the car, Aunt Kathy and I 'hang ourselves' at the same time.Then we decide we need a drink so we go to a cafe that Smadar says is open...after going through security to get in, we are informed its closed. We then ask Smadar is places in Ra'anana are open late and she assures us they are open well past midnight. SO we go to another place that is evidently closed and Smadar changes her mind and says places there close at 12 because its not a party town...its 12:02. So we decide to drop off Smadar and head to the Marina for a drink...we know its open. Poor Uncle Abe is frustrated from all the driving and decides to drop us off. We have noodles and vino and here we are..facebooking about our horrendous/marvelous night. You may not understand the hilarity of it all but wow, I haven't laughed that hard in a long time. Loved every second and I am sure I am missing a million details. Church anyone?