Not much can happen in 24 hours, you sleep, you eat, you get engaged…
Its 2 weeks after by now, so excuse me if I forget some piece of info.
Friday may 22nd 1630 local cleveland time
I use the elevator to go up one flight of stairs and enter ladies and gentleman.
L&M is a saloon slesh spa. I have never been to such a place, a barber with a receptionist! I Check myself in, and then taken to a seat and asked to lie back on the hair washing chair. For a few minutes the shampoo girl just lets the water run, I can hear the water trickling behind me, she was probably messaging her own hands, after a while she begins shampooing my hair and giving me a facial. She rubs my face with some cream then puts a steaming towel on my face, and leaves a breathing hole, on top she places another towel. It’s hot, but not enough for me to take the towel off. I sit still, somehow enjoying this new treatment. Then Alla comes over, we are having our hair done together, and smiles at me through the blow hole, then goes somewhere else to do , god knows what (read the Alla blog(no such thing, yet! )). I get a hand message as well, the shampoo girl suggests that I may choose to give up this treatment; but it is free, so I will take it.
When the towels are removed, I feel so, well the same. I am escorted to a barber’s chair and told to wait for my stylist. She arrives, asks me how I want my hair cut (you know the drill). Since I am a blabber mouth and too excited to keep things hidden, I disclose all the plans to my stylist, which now knows a whole lot more than racer in a nearby chair.
Racer of course knows that this is the weekend , but tells her stylist that she “suspects” that something is going on. My hair is done before racer’s and I head home. Racer wants me gone so she can come and show the full and complete hair (it’s a woman thing). Alla comes up for 5 minutes to get ready and an hour later we leave for the evening for the 1st event.
On my way home an hour prior I pull up by Alla’s parents to ask permission, but they do not answer the phone…. So I continue home.
Ok so now we are nicely dressed and head for the 1st event. Racer does not know; somehow I managed to keep things a secret, but on the way I can’t keep this up and hint on the location – the Greek festival. Cleveland has tons of tiny festivals, a lot smaller than in Israel, but more of them. Some festivals are a lot bigger, but those occur on holidays. This Greek festival is small, 3 food booths (gyros), 2 souvenir shops and a big hall that is also a restaurant. We browse the shops then sit to enjoy some Greek cuisine (Calamari, macaroni with meet (very good), something that looks like burekas and other good stuff). We stay for an hour + and get our picture taken by the posters of Santorini and Miconos. From there we proceed downtown. There is a baseball game tonight, the stadium is full of lights, and birds are flying above (wait for the photos). We head for Estoria and order drinks (yes drinks, for me as well). Alla orders sex on the beach, which I like, but want something different , and I try to invent my very own drink. Everybody is either in the baseball game or the basket ball game (game 2 vs Orlando) so the bars are empty and we can actually speak with the bartender and ask what we want. My drinking variety is not existing, but I mix some orange juice, vodka, peach schnapps and cranberries; this is close to sex on the beach, but not quite, so we name it peach on the beach. The bartender says it’s not naughty enough so after a few minutes we have our new official name “Peach on a nude beach”. Btw I have already forgot how to make it… but it was decent. We ordered a good desert as well. A chocolate tart, which looks like my grandmothers cake – I enquire to the origins of the recipe, but it’s Italian.
From there we proceed to west 6, which is the dance bar downtown scene. And every one is glued to the many TV screens they have in each bar. We stop by with 2 minutes to go and the score is tied. We wait for the game to enter overtime, and head up to the roof where you can dance. No one is dancing!!! And the music is bad, we dance for a song or two. Then go back down just for the last 30 seconds of overtime, we see Orlando leads, with a second to spare. I believe it’s over, but we wait for the game to end with dozens of Clevelanders watching. Then Lebron gets the ball and the crowed goes wild. I had my camera with me, though I missed the winning cheers but I got the rest - they were cheering for a long while - link to YouTube will be posted, it was an experience. How did the series end? Never mind that.
Oh before we left for the evening with our new haircuts (Alla looks gorgeous) I give alla an anniversary gift.
Next morning we leave for the hot air balloon festival. No, we do not go on the balloon, it was not possible, but rest assured, that a hot air balloon is on my fun map. We watch them fly above and try to chase them to their landing sites by simply driving around and guessing where the wind is blowing. At one location, we spot a balloon on the ground, head for it , and take photos. Then head back to chagrin falls to walk around the little town that hosts the festival for breakfast; and now we do eat Gyros. I eat a chicken gyro without the cucumber sauce or salad. So basically I have some flat bread and chicken breast, but I add ketchup and mustard from the hot dog stand and the result is yummy, Alla orders the standard Gyro. We eat Ice Cream – a very good one and walk around in the little amusement park they build for this festival; the rides here are for kids, and even I pass on them (barely).
I planned for this event to last longer, and it didn’t, and we go to watch a noon movie , Angels and daemons with ayelet Zorer and some Tom guy . the movie is very good, better than Da Vinci code. From there I go by my many stations to pick up all the things I bought for the picnic. I have everything pre ordered, all I have to do is pick up. Alla is in the car, so I have her blind folded and make 3 pickup points.
We go back home, since I have to pick up things from there as well (like a ring), I give Alla the flowers which blossom beautifully. Alla takes a 5 minute shnutzh while I get organized.
I Blind fold her again, and head out in an indirect way to prevent her from guessing where we are headed.
I pull the blindfold off as we enter the Holden Arboretum, we approach the gate… a gate , hold on, I was there a week before and the gate was up(after hours), and now it was down! (also after hours) I stare in disbelief, then decide to pull over on the side of the park and walk in. we park and start to un pack the picnic things and a park cop pulls over on the side and tells us , that this is a private property, I tell the cop that I am planning to propose… he just sits in his SUV and shows us the way back. Lucky this area is full of parks, so we drive for maybe 2 minutes and hit a local park with the most unfitting of names “Glen penitentiary”. Proposing in a prison ? stuck for life? J maybe it is a good name after all. But there is no jail there, simply lots of grass, lots of trees, lots of nature and lots of romantic atmosphere. I spread the blanket on the grass in the midst of trees and under the stars and pull out all the yummy goodies, open the wine and the Godiva. We sit and talk, and after some time I actually make a speech [private speech, if you please] and propose (while sitting, not on one knee). If you recall, the answer is yes J. We enjoy the picnic while the sun is settings, then drive back.
Alla speaks with her sister on the way and tells her nothing (she wants to surprise in person), I am in shock of that ability. We drive to her parents where she casually shows the ring(not right away). Aaron and Dina quickly pull out a champagne bottle and cake (we just ate) and I take a minor sip ( I still don’t like champagne). And that was that
As I said, just your standard 24 hours…
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