David's Blog

What's the world's shortest international flight? Tel Aviv to Amman is 25 minutes and a Google search turned up nothing shorter. It sure felt longer. I sat in the plane more on the ground than in the air. The flight comprised of a steep takeoff heading the wrong way (I'm sure the flight would be under 20 minutes if it took off going east), a turnaround, and then quite possibly the fastest landing (and/or the slowest braking) I've witnessed because we didn't stop for a while. And when we did stop it was nowhere near a terminal. Perhaps special treatment for flights from Israel.

Labels: israel, jordan

Posted by David at 3:48 PM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

One of my gripes about navigating european cities is the lack of street signs. If there is a sign at all it's on the corner of a building which you won't see until passing the intersection. And if it's at night, you definitely won't see anything. Tel Aviv represents the opposite. Every intersection does have street signs and they light up at night. Even in LA you can't see street signs well at night.

Labels: israel, tel aviv

Posted by David at 5:26 AM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

What's this big inflatable yellow duck doing on top of Tel Aviv's City Hall?
A man by the name of Dudu Geva, who was an artist and illustrator thought that Tel Aviv was ugly. To make it prettier he wanted to decorate the city with statues of ducks and other animals. While I don't agree that Tel Aviv is ugly, I do agree that this a great way to bring art and humor into peoples' lives. You can't see a duck on the city hall roof and not smile.

Labels: israel, tel aviv

Posted by David at 5:16 AM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

I made a similar post in July 2006, about a gas station on the ground floor of an apartment building in Paris. This is probably equally as bad. A gas station right next to a residential building. I hope no one there is drinking the tap. A real environmental issue and Al Gore is nowhere to be found. He's still on the trail of Manbearpig. This is also a good time to point out that what we call "gas" others call "gasoline", and what others call "gas" we call "natural gas". For further complication, "diesel" in Hebrew is pronounced "solar" which had me wondering where the taxi's solar panels were.

Labels: haifa, israel

Posted by David at 4:57 AM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

A McDonald's in Haifa would have a hard time installing a Drive-Thru. Cars can barely drive thru the narrow streets of the city. Customers on the go aren't driving by, they're walking by. So how do you cater to their needs? The McWalk of course. It's the walking version of a drive thru. Why bother walking inside, when you can place your order from the sidewalk? On one hand, it's genius, if lots of people walk by, let them order that impulse cheeseburger with kosher meat. On the other hand, is it so much more difficult to walk inside? Further investigation is needed. But don't be surprised when a McWalk opens up near you.

Labels: haifa, israel

Posted by David at 4:44 AM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post

The wiki says that Haifa has the world's shortest subway. But really it's just an underground funicular. Called "The Carmelit", it goes from the bottom of the hill to the top and has 5 stops. I had a hard time finding it. There's no big signs for the station and locals didn't know where it was either. From the train station, walk a couple blocks inland, then go north (left) to Paris Square. The subway station is a small stone building with yellow trim.
It's interesting to have a city on the side of a hill. There's great views everywhere, but there's no main streets through the city. Roads just wind their way up the hill.

Labels: haifa, israel, transport

Posted by David at 4:30 AM | Share this post on:   facebook   del.icio.us   digg   StumbleUpon     | Permalink | Comments | links to this post