Exploratory Endeavors Also Known as Training Runs

            On Saturday mornings, if I’m not travelling, I get up and run, because time is ticking down before the Tel Aviv Marathon and it’s one of the best ways to get to know the area, especially when everything is closed for Shabbat!

            When I first arrived here, I had come to the conclusion that the pedestrian walk sign would change on a timer automatically; there was no button to press.  Apparently, that is explicit to Tel Aviv, or rather, not a rule across the entire country.  In Herzliya, there are buttons. Another note on traffic lights.  They go red, yellow, green instead of the American green, yellow, red.  And every left turn has its own set of traffic lights, which seriously throws me off sometimes (luckily I’m not driving).
            As I leave the roads and head down to the beach, tons of surfers in wetsuits crowd the water near the marina where boats worth millions are docked untouched.  

It is cold today, so cold that I threw on a long-sleeved underarmour shirt before my run; I was burning up within minutes.  I’m comfortable running along the beach.  There are few runners out, but few acknowledge me as I pass (am I imagining that Americans and Canadians do that?).  Later, on a stormier day, running on the beach is difficult, as the waves push the water all the way up the somewhat narrow beach, and it’s a race between me and the water levels to keep my feet dry. 

            Eventually, I wander until I have absolutely no idea where I am, but I like it that way, as I wander onto a dirt (I might even call it sand) road, and drag myself uphill, looking out over the city of Herzliya when I get to the top.  I twist and turn through this unknown turf until I’m completely lost, and then start searching for a way back down.

                               

             Finally achieving my goal, I find this and have no idea what it is.  It looks old and kind of cool though.  
            I had full intentions of just posting this picture and telling you it was a mystery to solve… but it was surprisingly easy to uncover the answer.  I just pulled out my phone at lunch at work, showed one of my coworkers who just so happened to have lived in Herzliya for the last 12 years, and he explained to me that it was Tel Michal, but apparently the pillars don’t really mean anything.  They might be a restoration of something, but it’s mostly a nature reserve. 

            Then, I double back through Herzliya, glancing at my mapMyRun app on my phone to determine what direction to head in (okay, so I don’t like being completely lost). 

            I find a national park (Appolinia; haven’t gone in there yet but it’s supposed to be cool for a quick visit) and this mosque (which isn’t used all that much anymore but looks pretty sweet and the ocean is right behind it).  

Then I come across some cats (yes, I know we’ve already talked about the cats) and some kids playing cricket in a park (who knew that was an Israeli thing?  They’re there playing the next time I’m in the neighborhood too.  Shows just how many cultures have meshed here). 

            Another day, I wander up to a fellow runner on the beach and ask her where I should run; she offers to show me where the park is, and guides me back through Herzliya, past the train station, to a park packed with tons of Israelis celebrating Shabbat by walking in the park.  The 1000 meter track is substantially smaller than the park we have back home, and yet, there’s tons of people around (I suppose that’s because the weather’s better, but it still blows my mind because the parks in Buffalo can be pretty desolate sometimes). 

            Finally, I weave through the streets of the international college here, the IDC.  I am astounded by how many traffic circles they have here (I mean, I guess it solves a lot of potential traffic jam problems; see below dragon), and how they decorate the middle of each circle differently (it actually has helped a lot for navigation).  Finally, I push through the final few miles, cross the pedestrian bridge by the train station, and head back to my apartment. 
                                

            It was a good run :)

            Catch you later.