Tres bien

May 17, 2006 - 1:29 PM by David Brinn

Ronley reports from Tel Aviv:

Last night the city of Tel Aviv and France put on a massive fireworks display.
According to some reports over 250,000 people attended.

The fireworks were “shot off” from boats off the coast of Tel Aviv/Jaffa (opposite the Dolphinarium) – it was done by the same team that lit up the Eiffel tower on the Millenium and the opening ceremony at the Olympics games in Athens.

fireworks

I went to watch the fire works with Rimonah. I knew that it would be pointless to take a car into TA. And so we caught a bus at 18:45. The fire works were supposed to start at 20:00.

The bus ride, from Ramat Gan – usually takes 20 minutes, but after 40 minutes of traffic, and seeing that the bus was not getting there we decided to get off and walk the rest of the way (about 8 blocks). So we joined the heavy stream of people all making there way toward the south end of the coast of TA/Jaffa.

So we joined the heavy stream of people all making there way toward the south end of the coast of TA/Jaffa.

Once we reached the Tayelet we got onto the beach and continued to try get as close as possible. There were people everywhere, making themselves quite comfy on the beach using beach furniture, if they were lucky enough to find any, sheets, and some people had brought their own fold up chairs.

We chanced upon a stack of beach beds which were unguarded, as the teen who rents them out was no where to be seen,
People were quickly taking these beds and setting them out, and so we did too. We got very comfortable in anticipation of the fire works show. The time was 20:15 and it was beginning to get quite dark.

Shortly afterwards the beach bed salesman came back in hysteria calling for everyone to return the beds. No one complied. And in fact I was quite happy to pay the boy 10 shekels or what ever he may have wanted. Luckily he refused payment, as he rushed off to go shout at the people beside us who were laying out on the beds.

He noticed that the more he shouted and rushed about, the faster his beds were disappearing, so he decided to stay put and guard the rest of the pile from the public. Had he charged 10 shekels per bed he would have made a fortune, In fact I should have taken the opportunity in his absence to charge people 10 shekels. I would have come away a rich man…

At 20 45 the fireworks began. They were simply gorgeous, and extremely impressive lasting until about 21:05.

Then we had to make our way home.
Rimonah checked her timetable for a bus back to Modi’in and we decided that the best place would be to go to the central sus station, So we headed off in that direction.

The crowds heading off in all directions was enormous. Virtually impossible to walk at a fast pace, and anyone who wanted to drive out of there was quite stuck…

Finally we got to Dizengoff Street and thought to catch a bus, but realized quite quickly that no bus would arrive due to the crowds and traffic. So the quickest way to get to the bus station would be to walk (about 5 or 6 km).

Along the way we bought a real fruit juice freshly squeezed. I chose a fruit mix, and Rimonah chose an Apple and Pear mix (Without ice).

Walking through Tel Aviv towards the bus station was quite an experience. Hordes of people all in excellent spirits, (if they were not in a car) were walking in all directions, every restaurant was full, everyone eating something – falafel or pizza or what ever.

Eventually we got to the bus station – at 22:50 in time for Rimonah to catch her bus at 23:00
and I went off to find a bus to Ramat Gan.

Because I got onto my bus at the beginning of the route I had a seat, but the next stop filled the bus very quickly , which got so packed that the bus driver did not even stop at the next stops until someone wanted to get off.

I finally got home at about midnight, extremely exhausted but so happy that I had gone to view the largest firework display that Israel has ever seen.

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