Last Friday (i.e. the weekend) I had a lovely day walking around the city and visiting the Tel Aviv Museum of Art. Walking in Tel Aviv is fantastic due to the high number of pedestrian walkways with beautiful trees (see below), bocce ball courts, coffee stands, lots of dogs (and not just small dogs many have full grown huskies!), cats, playgrounds, and much more. The people watching is incredible!

Last week Kelley asked my if there are many homeless people and I said no… Alas I found some! They have established a tent city that would rival any occupy movement (do you remember what that was?).

The other thing you can not help but notice walking around the city is the incredible amount of building happening throughout the city. On this building alone there are 4 cranes! It is incredible because the whole city is littered with them. Bubble anyone? Especially when you read headlines like this… “Israeli home prices going nowhere but up, say experts”

These buildings look rather benign but they are actually really cool… One is a circle, one is a square and the other is a triangle. Glad they learned their shapes in pre-school too! My mom would be proud! Here is some additional information: link.

Okay finally to the Tel Aviv Museum of Art! The exterior is relatively boring architecturally but I was surprised they have art from some of the masters: Rembrandt, Renoir, Monet, Van Gogh, Picasso and more. A lot of the modern pieces are focused on Israeli artists which was great to see. 

The artwork in the entrance is neat because it changes depending on your angle of view.

To this…

To this…

And then downstairs there was some modern art from Alma Itzhaky who you have probably never heard of but “she collects scenes from the immediate geopolitical space she encounters daily and carries them back to her studio as subjects for her paintings” (Link to some of her work).

And then there was this really cool bike sculpture, which was not welded at all just bolted together. I love bikes!

Recall that I mentioned the architecture on the exterior was kind drab but the interior in one part of the building was designed to look like a ships hull. 

In another room this painting was innocuous from afar but…

Upon closer inspection all of the white in the painting above were sequential numbers, crazy!

And then another exhibit had some works by a famous Israeli jewelry artist named Vered Kaminski. Her work really reminded me of some of the pieces our friend Viki does since they incorporate a lot of raw stones and metal working. For all you men out there here is her website: http://www.jewelrybyviki.com/ , you cannot really go wrong buying something for that special someone. For you women out there, you will literally love every piece! 

Probably one of my favorite exhibits was this on that was living sculptures. Pictures don’t quite do it justice but here is a video I took of the exhibit: https://vimeo.com/148926034

And you will by happy to know that teenagers in Tel Aviv are the same as the US – always on their phone.

And then there was this room. Is it art? Or is it a dirty garage?

After the museum I walked through HaYarkon Park and then along the waterfront. Along the way I passed by this cat sanctuary! In the span of about 1/4 mile I must have seen 30-40 cats! It was ridiculous! They were sunning themselves on cars, on pouches, on fences, on trash cans… I am not sure if Bob Barker’s message of having your pet spayed or neutered has reached here yet. On the way home from work the other day Josh and I encountered this women who was literally surrounded by cats she was feeding out of the back of her car. I tried to get a picture but it all happened so fast. Now that is a catwomen!

After a while I arrived at the board walk and the waves were cresting 2-3 feet, which allowed for some great long exposure photographs. 

And then of course the beautiful sunset!

All in all a great day in Tel Aviv, which is starting to feel like home more and more every day.