Bauhaus and Pasta and About Last Night

 I took a two hour self-guided tour to look at the Bauhaus architecture that was among the reasons Tel Aviv was named "The White City" and a UNESCO world heritage site.   Bauhaus, or International Style, architecture is based on a set of principles:  emphasize volume over mass, prioritize balance over symmetry and no extraneous details.  The original Bauhaus school was founded in Germany, and German Jews who left out of fear of antisemitism in Germany, came to Tel Aviv and put the principles to work here.

And this is where I think of Groucho Marx saying "Who are you going to believe?  Me or your own eyes?"  If I wasn't on the tour, with a headset and audio guide, I would have had NO appreciation for the buildings the tour highlighted.  

apparently this building has been nicknamed "the thermometer"

There are classifications of the Bauhaus buildings in Tel Aviv which designate them (roughly) as preserve at all costs, allow modification as long as it's set back (which is done to add floors to a building) and "let's hope someone saves this."  Aside from the question of their esthetics, some of them are in disrepair because they are rental buildings with strict rent control so the owners don't get enough income from the buildings to maintain them.  And they do occasionally get torn down, much to the chagrin of the champions of Bauhaus architecture.

As for the esthetics, I can appreciate the details that make a building Bauhaus style but the whole strikes me as less than the sum of their parts.  The balconies, the relative smallness of the windows, the large areas of blank facade ... are (dare I say) ugly.  That said, the Bauhaus Center has a really good audio tour and a charming shop and it was a beautiful day to walk and look with fresh eyes at a defining visual for Tel Aviv.  

When the tour ended and I turned in my headset, I started toward Natchalat Binyamin 84 for lunch.  My guide from days past, Bena, told me that there was a little place with the best pasta in Tel Aviv, maybe in Israel.  It was hard to find (note to anyone trying to find it -- it is not opposite 83 Nachalat Binyamin, there's a nice looking Indian restaurant there) as it was unmarked and the street numbers don't make much sense.  And yet, I saw a crowd of people around a doorway and peeked inside to see fresh pasta in the refrigerator and knew I found it.  That, and when the owner saw me and said, "Bena sent you? I'll make something for you."  

The puttanesca was truly excellent.  Thank you, Bena.

Now -- about last night (I'm pretty sure that has some meaning beyond, literally, I'm going to tell you about last night).  I went to Tzfon Abraxas for dinner.  I sat at the bar, right next to the kitchen where the magic was happening.  Honestly, I had several really delicious things to eat.... but when I asked for help choosing which things to have, the bartender might have given me the head's up that there was a lot of similarity among the things I ordered.  They had really fantastic bread that was served with tomato seeds and a huge dollop of creme fraiche.  Yum, so far so good.  Then I had a roasted pepper that was served with homemade ricotta.  Delicious, but a dish that was too much ricotta for one person to eat.   My next dish was a charred potato with horseradish and black pepper ... and more creme fraiche.  I don't think I'd be exaggerating to say there was a full 2 cups of dairy on the three things I'd ordered.  I also had spinach, which was garnished with grated parmesan.  I did comment to the bartender, when she asked if she could clear "plates" (some things were served on paper bags), that I wished I'd chosen a better variety of things.  I had to laugh when (mistakenly) I was brought a pavlova style dessert.  I had a plum tart with frangipane and left the whipped cream on the side.  I'm sure if I ordered meat or seafood I wouldn't have had the same issue and I'll know better for the future. 

Today's adventure was much like yesterday -- this time only 5 hours of walking before I returned to the room to take a break.

Tomorrow's my last day!  Very sorry this trip is ending, it's been amazing.