Tassie....

Just beginning our adventure into Tassie. Haven't met such warm and outgoing people in a very long time. Starting at lunch on Friday, a local couple overheard us chatting about our plans and graciously offered to give us tips and advice starting with the local bakery on Battery Point that both had delicious pastries but also wonderful views of the harbor. The special bonus with that little hike (and it was a very little hike) were the music students playing their classical instruments in the park sitting above the harbor view. It was a story book experience.

Yesterday was the market at Salamanca Place for which Hobart is renowned. It's a market of diverse offerings from arts and crafts to food, flowers, antiques and everything you can imagine. We bought fresh jam, organic cheeses, bread, marinated figs, a breed of pears we' never heard of, fresh blueberries, poppy seed cake and many more delicious things that I can't remember. We have enough food for at least 2 picnics and probably more.

We also attended a service at the oldest Jewish Congregation in Australia, built on the land of a Jewish convict -- and we even saw one of the benches where they brought convict Jews for Saturday services. It was a lovely old shul which included a prayer on the wall for the safety of the Royal Family and a plaque commemorating the gift of a sephardic Torah from Lady Sara Ezra, a member of the famous Sassoon family from India. You get a real sense that Tassie was a trading crossroads and the Jews were very much a part of it. Flash forward to 2010 -- we were 7 people at the service: my friend Shaul and I, a few native Aussies, a British couple, a woman of Dutch origin, a woman whose family came from Egypt via Spain (just like in the history books) and one other American. They welcomed us with open arms and in fact the British couple almost begged us to come visit them at their home. In the spirit of connecting with real people on this trip, we are going to have dinner with them tonight. It will be a special evening I'm sure.

We're off on out day trip to see some of the wilderness sites that are ubiquitous on this island. Updates to follow...