Finding an apartment in TA is based on a combination of connections (i.e. knowing a landlord or someone who is moving out) and sheer freak luck. In my case, this apartment had been in the school family for three years, and when the last teacher took off, I asked for his lease. It's about the same size as the place I left in Seattle near Portage Bay in 2008:
There's even a bit of a kitchen. The oven works, the hot plates work, the fridge works. What more could anyone ask for?
The street-front window has a roll-down wooden shade (most modern ones are made of metal) to keep out the heat and provide some privacy in the evenings. I keep it open on the weekends to get some light in here:
The view from one of the windows:
The chair and ottoman. Good place to decompress after a day at the farm.
Entryway:
The boulevard itself. Probably the most pleasant street in the city. It cuts a curved northern line through the southeastern part of the city. Benches, bicycles, and walkers down the center, and some trees so they don't get fried by the sun. I love seeing this when I walk to my car in the mornings.
Tons of old-and-new around here in some great juxtapositions -- take either era away and it's not the same. Here are some 1920s buildings with the looming financial towers behind them.
Moses. Kind of like the Red Robin of Israel. Great burgers and a disturbing mascot.
This is a few blocks south on the same street. The yoga studio I'm going to is on the third floor, on the right (the three open arch windows).
Public art - it's a green chair on a giant green platform that is illuminated by a spotlight at night. I haven't yet summoned the chutzpah to sit in it.
Every so often there's a kiosk in the center of the boulevard. Lots of people hang out at these for hours, especially in the afternoon after work.
5 minutes up the street and around a corner is a Tiv Ta'am in the City -- a kind of mini-grocery. They have nearly everything, including a meat and cheese counter. Walking for groceries might be one of the best things about city living.
In order to have their excellent selection, Tiv Ta'am has to cram everything in the submarine-like store. It's there; you just have to look for it.
Cafe Noir is around the corner on Ahad Ha'am. They are an immensely popular and very friendly diner. I usually cruise over here on Saturday mornings for a breakfast of eggs, veggies, bread and jam, salad, juice, and coffee for about NIS 46 ($12-13).
There's no dedicated parking for my place, so I usually circle for a spot two or three times. You can kind of see the line of cars in this photo. My parallel-parking skills are becoming almost Jedi-like with daily practice.
In the foreground, this is a cage for recycling plastic bottles; there are a lot because of the volume of water people drink.
The Hitchcockian main stairwell of my building. The laundry facilities are on the roof. I do all the laundry I can on Sunday while most people are at work.
And, the roof! Lots of places in the city have rooftop "gardens" (minus the plants) and this is a great place to be once the sun goes down and the laundry is finishing up.
Finally, if you want to see the layout of the places in the neighborhood, here's a Google Map:
View Harvey's Tel Aviv 2009 in a larger map
(If the embedded map doesn't work, it can also be found at:
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=en&msa=0&msid=105868027483503687570.000470afc6b0d599b2ab3&z=15)
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