The last portion of our trip to Israel was spent in the Galilee. Leora, Fred, Anne, David, and us stayed in some cottages in a village called Zippori. Each had a kitchen, living space, patio, private bedroom, bathroom with jaccuzzi bathtub, and a loft space for children to sleep. The Zippori Village Cottages is run by an American (Mitch Pilcer) who was helpful with understanding where things are. As part of B&B, we were given every morning a picnic basket was foods (cucumbers, tomatoes, goat cheeses, yogurts, cereals, and bread) from the local farms. Pearl loved going to get fresh eggs from the chicken koop, and boy were they great for breakfast. So good, I didn’t miss the Chalula Sauce.
My Aunt Sarah and Uncle Asher had a dinner the night before. All my immediate relatives from were there. Alon and Efrat joined, Ronit joined with her daughter Maya, Orit, Amir, Ilan, and Ella were obviously there. In addition to Leora, Fred, Anne, and David getting to know my Israeli relatives better, so did Ronnie, his fiance Lara, and our friends the Walkers. It was like a continuation from the Bar-Mitzvah lunch at Ima’s.
In fact the next day, the party continued with most of my cousins joining us to Alon and Efrats for a day relaxing and eating leftovers. Pearl played with Maya in the pool and we got to watch Ma’ayan swim. He really likes the water. Gabriel did not join us. He was with my parents and Sara/ Asher getting a tour of the Golan.
This would have been enough, but Saturday night was the big gathering. And family from all over showed (even relatives I did not know about). I met the parents of friends I had when I was a toddler. It was nice to hear what they are up to and how we behaved. My folks organized a band called Trio Lotem. They sounded great and there were many good speeches (especially one from my mom’s cousin Yoel). We even got to meet Orit’s boyfriend Ori. If the roads were not so tricky, we would have stayed well past midnight.
