Beckie Loewenstein

Here is a brief guide of how to travel from Tel Aviv, Israel, to Amman, Jordan via the Alenby or King Hussein Bridge over the Jordan River.  My round trip in June 2016 cost $345 , including the visa, transport, and border taxes for an American passport holder. Apply for a visa at the Embassy of Jordan on the 10th floor of the building at 14 Abba Hillel Street in Ramat Gan, Tel Aviv.  Bring your passport, a passport photo, and 360 shekels for a single entry visa.  Return the same or next day to pick up the passport at the given appointment time.  (I could pick my passport up the next day.  A friend patiently waited and received hers on the same day.) After picking up the passport with the visa, cross 14 Abba Hillel Street.  Take bus 42 for 5.90 shekels to the Tel Aviv 2000 Terminal.  Take bus 480 to Jerusalem Central Bus Station for 16 shekels with the Rav Card. From the Jerusalem Central Bus Station, take the tram to Damascus Gate.  Find the yellow, white, and green service v

Life on Bialik Street reflects a modern, secular Israeli community in central Tel Aviv.   The Bauhaus architecture, trees, and parrots give me the feeling of swinging on a vine in an urban jungle.   I explore the neighborhood while staying at a sublet apartment on Bialik Street for the month of May. Firstly, the street emerges from the circular fountain at Bialik Square like a bicycle spoke.   I suppose it’s a communal, pedestrian-friendly feature of urban planning in the 1930s.   The Bauhaus buildings have rounded balconies, large windows, and tall ceilings.   Plastic blinds block the sun during the heat of the day.   Palm trees grow as high as the buildings.   I speed-walk down the smooth sidewalks to gather my impressions of the street.   Rounding the bend at Allenby Street, I window-shop a bit to find the Israeli youth must-haves --- hipster skateboards and Australian Blundstone boots.   Closed red velvet curtains at Bialik Café indicate when m