Or: How did I not see this coming?
Forgive me Haifa, for I have sinned. I was always sarcastic and never gave you a fair chance.
Well, you know how it is… Eye rolls and eyebrow raisings in response to rumors of “something cool that’s happening in town”, are like a national sport to us Haifa natives. Isn’t that so?! ;-)
Similar to most of my friends, I too left Haifa in favor of “the city that never stops” about twenty years ago. Since then, my visits to Haifa have narrowed down to Friday night dinners with my family and watching videos of wild boars chewing up public playgrounds. But 24 hours in your company, made me realize that you’re basically what other cities aspire to be like – you have a female mayor (!), public transportation and commerce that is active on Saturdays, true coexistence, recreational and leisure culture… And wow! You are absolutely beautiful!