Our Final Days of the Trip...

JANUARY 1st and 2nd, 2011


Our final days as a group had arrived and we were more than happy to be spending them in the amazing city of Tel Aviv. We were able to take our time and fully explore our surroundings. On Saturday, we all walked to the beach in order to have a wrap up session as the trip was winding down. We discussed our original expectations of the trip and how it turned out in reality. We also discussed how we were going to bring this amazing opportunity back home with us to Pittsburgh and how we could potentially grow it for future J'Burghers as well. It turned into another great brainstorming session with some very exciting ideas to implement.


Our evening ended with a lovely dinner as a group at a restaurant on the water.

Beth, Carolyn, Steve, Evan, Erin, Rachel and Becca at dinner!

On Sunday, many of us took the opportunity to travel to Jaffa. Jaffa is part of the old city of Tel Aviv and is full of restaurants and shopping. It was the most beautiful day outside and we enjoyed walking around and eating even more falafel. (You can never really have enough.)

Sara, Rachel, Hara, Evan, Beth, Kiki, Erin, Becca and Jesse enjoying the Tel Aviv sun in Jaffa. 

Rachel and Evan

Our last activity for the trip was quite exciting for a group from Pittsburgh. We traveled a short way to Mike's Place, which is an American sports bar right in the middle of Tel Aviv. We had to make sure to catch the Steelers/Browns game in style. It was very relieving to see the Steelers win too...I don't think we would have had very many happy participants if that didn't happen. :)

After the game we headed back to the hotel for half of our group's final night in Israel. The next morning, 8 out of the 15 of us headed back to the States. The people that were left continued on their own adventures. Five continued on to Eilat and from there made their way to Egypt to see the Pyramids while the last two did some diving in Petra and hung out in Eilat as well.

Everyone made it home safely and has returned to their lives here in Pittsburgh. It's quite amazing to see that this trip happened and is now behind us. We all looked forward to it for quite some time and we must work on making sure what we saw and learned has a presence here in the Pittsburgh Jewish community. Please make sure to check this blog periodically for more exciting updates about what the J'Burgh group is doing now that we've returned!