We woke up at 8:30am this morning, with Guy again in the other room of our suite, and headed to breakfast. We met up with my parents at their hotel lobby just across and up the street from ours, at 10am. We all drove to my grandparents together.

We hung out with my Grandparents, then my cousin Lital and her son Ido came over to hang out as well. We all chatted, then I played soccer with a tennis ball with Ido.

Later on, we had to go back to Yotvata because we forgot our credit card there the previous evening at dinner. I picked up the card, then my parents dropped us off at the train station in Haifa, not too far away. We took the train to Tel Aviv. Just prior to getting on the train, my brother and I found out the news that LeBron James had signed with the Miami Heat, so that dominated our hour long train ride, while Tobia rested.

Back in Tel Aviv, we walked to a nearby taxi station and took a cab to my brother’s house to drop off our bags. We walked to Dizengoff street to have wonderful lunch at Hashdera 34. It was a nice, happening place with great food. From there it was back to Guy’s apartment, where we picked up our stuff, said goodbye, and took a taxi towards our Tel Aviv hotel.

There was a music festival along the promenade outside our hotel, blocking the nearby street, so the driver dropped us off about 15 minutes away from our room. We walked back, got some water along the way, and eventually checked in. We set up a taxi for tomorrow at 5am to the airport and arranged to get breakfast delivered to our room by 4:45am.

At this point in the trip we had been away for 3 weeks, and both Tobia and I were ready to return home after such a long, wonderful journey.

We woke up at 9:30am this morning in our Haifa hotel. We headed to breakfast with Guy, who had slept in our suite with us in next room. After breakfast we were all tired, and went to sleep around 11, all waking up around 2:30pm.

One of the puzzles Tobia and Guy finished while I was translating my Grandmother’s Holocaust story.

Sunset at Yotvata, Haifa.

After taking a taxi to my grandparents house, I started working seriously with my Grandmother to document her story. Most of it was from the journal she wrote years after the Holocaust. While we spent a few hours doing this, Guy and Tobia continued the puzzle obssession beside us. Eventually my parents appeared and gave us a ride to Yotvata, at the bottom of the Haifa hill, near the beach, where the 3 of us had dinner. Following dinner, we returned to my Grandparents’ house where I resumed translating Grandma’s story, finishing the last of the story orally, as no journal existed for the end of the story.

It was terribly sad and difficult to translate her story. We quite a few breaks during the process, as I felt bad making my Grandmother recall difficult and tragic times. It was also pretty late at night when we wrapped up.

We say goodnight to my Grandparents and took a taxi from their house to Mercaz Ha Carmel again. We went to a free internet cafe, ate, drank, surfed, and just hung out for a while.

Tobia was tired and turned in early; Guy and I went to hunt down some food for him. The two of us hung out a while longer and eventually turned in as well.

Guy’s apartment.

Great view of Haifa from our hotel suite.

We woke up with no alarm, pretty late, then we went to have an enormous breakfast downstairs at the hotel restaurant. Afterwards, I chatted with my brother and ultimately my parents picked us up and took us to Guy’s apartment. We all went to a cafe, then eventually drove North to Haifa.

Family lunch at Abu Yussef.

We couldn’t believe Guy finished his entire fish.

Lunch was at Abu Yussef, our favorite restaurant in Haifa. From there it was off to my grandparents house to hang out for a while.

Chatting with my Grandpa.

My grandmother was ecstatic with the pictures of her childhood home and we got to talking about her family history. It turns out that her great, great, Grandfather came from Krakow, Poland. She came to know this because her Grandfather’s cousin left Poland through (then) Czechoslovakia, and with the help of the synagogue there, was able to find the name of her Hungarian family, and came to Budapest looking for my Grandmother’s family.

My Grandmother and I started translating her Holocaust journal. She actually wrote in Hebrew and started reading it to me. I would listen, translate quickly, and type into notepad files. I will be putting up her story after blogging about the rest of the trip.

While I translated intensely, Guy and Tobia spent the hours doing puzzles right beside us.

Family dinner at ‘Ha Bank’.

Tobia enjoying her favorite falafel.

For dinner, we met with my Uncle, Zvika and family up in Mercaz Ha Carmel in Haifa. We had a light dinner and chatted for a while. Then for the post dinner events, we went to Tobia’s favorite falafel joint in Haifa, very close by, and right next door, sat at a cafe to watch the Spain vs Germany World Cup semi-final game.

Really intensely watching the Spain vs Germany World Cup semi-final game.

Game over, Spain won 1-0.

Ecstatic over the game result.

Post game celebration at the bar.

Guy and I both, not only like Spain, but despise Germany, so the 1-0 win made for an incredibly happy mood for us. Right after the game, Guy, Tobia and I went to a bar to celebrate the victory.