Bloomfield Science Center & Givat Ram

In contrast to yesterday, when the newest site we saw was about 1000 years old, today we experienced a very different, modern side of Israel. We spent a fantastic day at the Science Museum (which felt like such a luxury of our long visit, as we never would have gone there on a shorter tour of the country). Some of the highlights of the museum were the shadow and light exhibit, the exhibit about Israeli technological innovations (computer chips, drip irrigation systems, a system to recycle plastic bags into blankets and handbags, and more), and the exhibit about computer science. Ella loved the "computer therapist." Jonah loved trying to beat the computer at tic-tac-toe and a station where people could help a computer interpret words on a scanned in ancient manuscript which were not clear enough for the computer to figure out on its own. And Sylvia loved the machine where you put in marbles to see how the computer translates numbers to binary (although she really just enjoyed the marble aspect, not so much the binary aspect). Later in the afternoon, the kids all enjoyed playing in the outdoor water exhibits. I'm not sure if they were supposed to, but they took their shoes off and waded into the pools (we figured it was as close as Sylvia is going to get to a bath this month, since our apartment has only showers and she's not too keen on taking baths in the kitchen sink). At one point, a film crew came by and asked us to sign a release to film our kids for a video they were making about fun things to do in the summer in Jerusalem. They said they will send us a copy by email, so we'll see if they make it into the final cut!



At lunch we took a break from the museum and walked across the street to the Givat Ram campus of Hebrew University (where Abe lived during his junior year abroad). What a beautiful campus (apparently much improved since Abe was there)! We had lunch at the cafeteria in the administration building (we're still un-jaded enough that even college cafeteria falafel and kabob are delicious!), and then followed a walking tour around the campus. A couple of highlights of that were the gorgeous stained glass wall in the National Library building designed by the artist Mordechai Ardon, the amazing gardens, and the Belgium House, which is a really beautiful round building with a faculty club, a guest house and a cafe where we stopped for a snack (like an army, this family marches on its stomach).

Since we are incurable explorers, we decided to walk home from there -- a great walk which took us past the Knesset and the Israel museum and through Rehavia Park and the neighborhood of Rehavia.
The kids are making great strides in Hebrew. Today they mastered "left", "right", and "straight", as well as lots of food related words, and other basics. And, I don't know whether this is a good thing or not, but Sylvia now asks for "oogala" (Rugelach) by name. Abe wants to buy the recipe and start a rugelach business when we get home. We're a bit obsessed!