What a day! When I woke up this morning (quite early by the way) and took a look out of the window I knew there was trouble to come. A heavy snow storm had reached Munich over night. First I took a look at the website of Munich airport, my flight wasn’t canceled, so far so good. But the website of the city’s public transportation said that buses would be late. Okay, called a taxi for getting to the next train station just to be told that there were no trains at all leaving for the airport because of the snow. I decided that I didn’t want to miss my flight and like to take the taxi all the way to the airport (which cost me 65 euro!). Thank god the highway was free. Being at the gate very early then (10 minutes to 8 o’clock, flight time 10:25 am, security number 005, meaning that only 4 people had checked in before), I found out that I will have to spend the next hours in a tiny waiting hall with nothing (neither stores nor cafes) but a tank in front of the building. Well, at least I talked to an interesting guy (dual citizenship: German/Israeli) who had been based in Israel as a soldier for 18 years when he was younger but now visits the country again for the first time in 20 years!
Our flight was delayed for about an hour because of bad weather conditions, but meanwhile a cafe had opened at the gate and after a latte and a tuna sandwhich I didn’t care much. Tuifly is also a low cost airline (I paid 99 euro for one way Munich-Tel Aviv), but everything was very nice (free magazines, drinks, and a hot meal).
Arriving in Tel Aviv one hour later than expected (4 pm) I was a little worried, because I didn’t book an ordinary hotel but an apartment with check in times from 9 am to 5 pm … I had to wait for my luggage, couldn’t get through when I called the reception, had no trouble at all at the customs, took a taxi again (about 25 euro) … and was there too early. 
But just because the owner of Ben Yehuda Apartments was in hospital and we (me and some other guests) had to wait for his substitute. When I finally opend the door to my apartment I was surprised, and happy! I have a whole flat of my own, it looks exactly like the photos on the internet (Suite Type D) and the price ist great: 31 euro per night! From now on I’d like to rent an apartment in every town I visit, you completely can’t compare this to a hotel or guest house. After leaving my luggage at the room I went to the next supermarket and bought stuff for dinner … and breakfast, just like I lived here. This made me feel at home right from the start. The only thing I miss is a bunch of friends, there is enough space for at least three more people here!
After a short rest around 8 pm (it had been a long day so far) I got up again, because I had to see the sea. Ideally it’s just a 5 minute walk to the marina and the beach and even at 10 pm it was wonderful: still 17° C with a light breeze. There were very few people at the beach which I really enjoyed … until a guy came directly to me and kind of forced me into a chat and didn’t leave me alone. He was okay and the situation wasn’t dangerous, but I just wasn’t in the mood for this. There are cute guys in town, I’ve seen some so far, but at night alone at the beach … no thank you! It reminded me of my visit to Istanbul in Oktober 2008, which was very nice, but somehow annoying that every next 5 minutes another bloke wanted to marry me. 
So I stopped my walk there and went back to more lively streets. Bought a bottle of wine at a supermarket with a security guard and went back to my great apartment. Only access to the internet isn’t stable, tomorrow I will ask the stuff for help …
Right now I’m drinking red wine and eating olives, which reminds me of doing the same with one of my cousins on the first evening of another nice trip to … damn, I can’t remenber, where we went and I’m also starting to mix things up. Have I travelled too much already? No way! 
By the way: I did the same thing (drinking wine and eating olives) with a good friend just yesterday in Munich. It was the first evening of the Spanish lessons we started to take (I love it!) and after the course we went to Bodega Dali, a really nice place near Josephsplatz (Munich). So, hasta luego, amigos! 
