The trip from Gehenim. (Back in the USA)

Last you heard, we were in London and our time had been completely wasted there. Our flight to America ended up taking us to Washington DC. We traveled British Airways and had actually a very pleasant flight in and of itself.
However, we had no Kosher meal because El Al forgot to book it. By the time we got there, we were told it was too late to get them. That was strike two. Luckily, a lovely frum couple who was flying in the same terminal but to Israel from London gave us their sandwiches that they had purchased in the Jewish area for themselves, before we boarded our flight to DC. I was so thankful to them and it was such a beautiful thing they did. They actually saved us because as I'll explain, we didn't end up eating again for 3 days. But I digress.

As I said, the flight was good coming to DC. Unfortunately, when we arrived, we found that one of our bags, again, was missing. We also found that another bag was severely damaged and will need to be replaced. We did clear customs ok and headed to the domestic terminal to re-check our luggage for our flight to LAX. When we got to the kiosk, we found out that yes our bags had been ok weight for international travel, but they were overweight for domestic. Thus, we were charged an additional $50 per bag. Thank you again, El Al. Also, we once again did not get and would not be able to get kosher meals on our flight. Strike 3 and 4? Needless to say, a formal complaint with demand for reimbersment will be made to El Al.

Then we had to go through security again. And because you know how Jews fly airplanes into buildings, we were flagged for extra super duper security inspection -- with physical pat down. Meanwhile the hundreds of Muslims at the airport went through security with a wave of the white-guilted hand. I had to demand a female guard to search me. We were made to stand in a plexiglass box in front of everyone. It was rediculous and demeaning.

Once through the Nazi checkpoint, we headed to a terminal in which we were told by an airline employee had a kosher restaurant. It turned out when we got to said restaurant that their specialty was bacon cheesburgers with popcorn shrimp. I have no idea what the employee was thinking. Either he was incredibly ignorant or a jerk.

No matter, when we reached our gate, we found out that our flight had been over booked (thanks again, El Al). So we voluntarily gave up our seat in exchange for two free airline tickets. So that was awesome. We now have a free flight anywhere within 48 states to use within a year's time. We also got comped to go to a hotel for the night. Also, we got free meal vouchers (which we were not able to do a thing with).

After we were given passes, we had to go to customer service to get it squared away. We camped out in line for 4 hours at customer service, surviving on candy bars and potato chips. Finally, we got everything squared away and went to the hotel, which was actually very lovely. However, we were incredibly tired and very much not wanting to be traveling.
The next day, we woke up early for our LAX flight. We went through security again. Unfortunately, I had forgotten to put a jar of honey in my checked luggage. I had purchased it also in Tel Aviv at the airport's duty free shop. It was sealed and had the tag still on it! It had made it through security in London and extra SUPER DUPER security in DC. But this particular morning at the DC airport, there was a particularly sadistic Nazi officer on duty. They took my jar and chucked it. At this point, I'd had enough. This was my last straw. I just started bawling. Michael pleaded with him to reconsider, to no avail. I shouldn't have done this, but I just started yelling as we walked away that if I were wearing a hijab, I'd still have my jar. Honestly. When was the last time a Jew hijaked a plane? This stupidity that they now do at the airports in America make us no safer. If anything, it's even more dangerous! They only aggrevate good people into wanting to leave the country (and go to, say, Israel!).
At any rate, we got on our flight. No food for us. We'd spent three days in airports. When we landed in Los Angeles, my mother picked us up and we picked up our luggage (that arrived the day before because we gave up our seat) and then talked to British Air about our lost bag. We found out it arrived back at our apartment in San Diego that day so it was safe. After that, my mother took us to get food. Thank G-d! Then, We stopped off to pick up Michael's car and headed home.

All in all, this was an amazing time we spent in Israel. At this time, we're already trying to plan our next trip. I know that next time (and also never again) we will not be flying El Al nor Virgin Atlantic. I refuse. We will take British Air and we hope to perhaps on purpose have a day in London to tour. But it's all in the talking stages at this point.

We really hope everyone has enjoyed sharing our trip with us and we also hope that everyone who hasn't yet, will consider heading over to Israel some time soon. It is a great vacation place, very rich with history and splendor. If anyone needs travel advice, we're willing to help!

This blog may be used again in the future. At this time I am not sure what to do with it. For now, let it stand as a journal, documenting our honeymoon. It can be read over and over again, if desired. I will be putting together a photo album with more pictures than what was posted here. I hope to share this with friends and family as well.

Thanks for reading!!

London Calling.

Guess what? Better yet, guess where we are? If you guessed London, then you are absolutely right! Who called it? Eh? Who? Oh, yea. It was me.

Long story short? We made it to London on the El Al flight from the underworld. Children screaming. No personal air vents. Middle section seats with no chance of seeing out a window.

El Al, being so intelligent, left only an hour and a half window from the time we were scheduled to land to the time the new flight was to take off. El Al took off in Tel Aviv very late. By the time we arrived in London, we were 45 mins into our hour and a half window -- and still had to go through security AGAIN. 35 other people were on the El Al flight transferring to the Virgin Atlantic flight. Everyone ran to get there in time. Security's line was packed. There was lots of yelling and chaos. The supervisor who was taking care of our connection broke the "que" and everyone bum-rushed the security. Screaming from the staff insued. Michael and I got sent through immigration because of some duty free items that were not sealed properly while the rest of the others went through. While in immigration, we missed our flight.

I found out later that when the other people who kept going, the second they got to the gate, the doors were closed on them and they, too, missed the flight.

But it gets better. We spoke to Virging Air first and they told us the problem was El Al's fault (of course) and to talk to them. Because we went through immigration, we were seperated from the group and, hence, had to go all over the air port to the departure terminal to talk to El Al. When we reached the kiosk, no one was there. Why, you may ask? Because they were on a break. This was 3:00 London time. El Al wasn't due to open again until 7pm. Yea.
We camped out on the floor in front of the El Al office. We found a really nice lady who worked for them and she was as helpful as she could be, which was actually very nice. However, it was only soothing to our nerves, not to our actual problem. All told, we spent seven hours camped out on the floor in front of the El Al office while they were trying to scramble to place 35 tired, hungry, and slightly irate people in a hotel and a new flight.

Basically, we're never flying El Al again, despite the couple of nice people we dealt with. Any other airline would have taken care of this immediately. There was no reason for any of this to have taken 7 hours, especially when we were through immigration for the last five of the seven hours while everyone esle was stuck trying to attain Visas because of being Israeli citizens. There was no reason for us to be camped out on the floor in front of their office while they ate bananas and everyone else was going through immigration and couldn't be helped anyhow. It was rediculous.
By the time we got to our hotel, it was too late to tour. Seven hours in London was wasted due to stupidity that we could have spent doing something other than staring at luckier people leave the air port.

We have an early morning flight that will, G-d willing, bring us to America. We've got more connections though and are basically spending the next 24 to 48 hours in transit. More details to come. Keep posted.

Zoo and beyond!!

Believe it or not, we totally made it to the Biblical Zoo today! YAY!!!

The day began well. We slept in a little, which was lovely. Then we headed out to get some lunch at Sbarro's. Unfortunately, it was disappointing in that it was $14 US for the two of us (Two slices of pizza and two drinks -- that's it for all that money) and not very good at all. Mostly bread with a little cheese and it wasn't even cooked all the way. My restaurant ratings are low for this one and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone, sadly. But we ate it and we were satiated, for a while, so it wasn't all bad.
After lunch, we headed to the central bus station to catch our bus to the Zoo. We made it there in no time, really. Here's a sampling of things we saw ...


The Biblical Zoo is not so large. I'd say, it's probably not even a quarter of the size of the San Diego Zoo. However, what it lacks in quantity, it makes up in quality. I have to say, this was one of the nicest animal parks I've seen. And it had some really neat stuff for both adults and children (or children at heart). Plus, you could really get in and get very close to the animals (while maintaining a safe distacne of course), which was great!

After the Zoo, we'd thought we'd check out a mall. But we took the wrong bus and got a bit lost. After finding a bus we knew would take us back, we decided to check out the mall at the central bus station instead and then check out some dinner.

And dinner we had! We went to the fabulous Gong Japanese Festival Restaurant. This was in no way dissapointing at all! We ordered edimame as an appetizer to start and then we dined on salads and sushi that were so unbelievably good, I think it very well may have been the best sushi I've ever had. Since it was our last night in Jerusalem, we decided to splurge a bit at around 200 NIS for the entire meal. Not bad.

We walked home and it was a mix of emotions. Sad because we're leaving, happy because we're going home, excited to see what our last day in Israel will bring us. But all together, it was a great day and a fantastic trip!

Tomorrow, we plan to return our apartment to the Land Lady, do some last minute shopping for friends and family and ourselves, then head on over to Tel Aviv. We figure we'll check out B'nei Brak and try one last time to see if I can find a Shabbos robe. Then we're off early the following morning to London and then the US. We'll see if we make our connecting flight to America in London. EL AL really means Every Landing Always Late, so there is a chance we may miss our connection flight since there's only an hour and a half between the time we land and the time we take off again. If the EL AL flight is late, there's a real possibility we'll stay an extra day in London (here's hoping).

Not sure if we'll get to blog tomorrow, as the internet situation isn't clear. I hope to bring everyone a full update as soon as possible so please keep checking back for more stuff, especially if we do get delayed in London (oh, you'll hear about that for sure) and some closing statements regarding this trip!

I hope all is well! Bye for now!

The Past Few Days

Once again the sickie bug caught us for a spell. This time it was poor Michael that got the case of the yuckies. He got what I had and then right after that, he drank some tap water at the Dead Sea and had a second case of the yuckies. Because of taking care of him and also some more tours I haven't had time, until now, to post. Let me bring everyone up to date ...

Last you heard from me, it was Sunday and I was sick. Monday we were going to try to head to the Biblical Zoo. Unfortunately, it didn't work out because of the yuckies. We stayed home a good part of the day. Once Michael was feeling a little better, we decided to get out for a bit to shop in M'ea Sharim. We got some lovely things, including a mayim acharonim for us as well as some lovely gifts for others (Stacy and Josh, I'm talking to you! Oh and Tova! You got your Labello! Tila, you got your losenges!). I was on a quest for a nice Shabbos robe but unfortunately, I was unable to find what I was looking for.



We went back home and stayed there because Michael really needed to rest. Once he was feeling better again, he was really hungry (not being able to eat all day will do that) and he really wanted steak. We went out to Ben Yehuda St. area and, after a little while, found a really lovely restaurant called Gabriel. This was exremely upscale. Seriously. However, very affordable by American standards.


We had a fantastic foie gras appetizer and Michael had his steak. He raved about how much he loved it and I was so glad he was happy. I had a goose breast and that was also very lovely and it was all together a very lovely experience.

The next day, Tuesday, we went on a tour of Ein Gedi, Matzada, and the Dead Sea. I was not so thrilled with the tour guide that we got this time as he wasn't very knowledgable nor was he interesting. I guess after having Chaim for a tour guide nothing else compared for me. But we had fun anyhow.

Ein Gedi was very hot. Rediculously so, actually. A girl on our tour got very sick from the heat. Michael and I stayed behind on the trail to help her while the rest of the tour went on like nothing. She was so dehydrated that she couldn't keep water down and I was afraid we'd need to get her an IV. For the rest of the tour, she stayed on the bus and didn't go on any further hikes. I felt so badly for her.

Matzada was also hot. So much so that they didn't even let us hike up. Instead we took a cable car to the top, which I was thankful for. It was mildly interesting but I feel as if I really didn't learn anything new about Matzada due to our tour guides rampant incompetence. Still it was beautiful and interesting despite this.

After that, it was off to the dead sea. We went to seperate beaches (men and women) and I had a lovely time. It was so interesting to be able to float when I can't even swim. Once, I got too far out and slightly freaked but luckily when I flipped over my head still stayed out of the water. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring an extra tichel and it did get wet. Thus, I had to wear a towel on my head all the way home. When we got off the tour bus back in Jerusalem, I had to walk through the streets looking like a crazy person.
The next day, Michael was sick again (because, as I mentioned, we think it was the water he drank at the Dead Sea). We had another tour scheduled for Rosh HaNikra, Haifa, and Aco. We called to cancle but they convinced us to go and so I went out quickly to go buy medicine for Michael. He felt better and we booked it to the tour meeting place. Chaim was our tour guide for the day once again! We were so happy because a tour with Chaim means that you are going to have the best day ever! And we did. There were a few stomach upsets on the way, but for the most part we had a great time. Michael said that he would have regretted not going and was really glad he did.

First off was some ruins in Rosh HaNikra and then it was off to Haifa, where we saw the Roman Aquaduct and played on the beach. Then we toured the ocean caves by the Lebanese border. After that, it was the ancient city of Aco and the crusader castles. But the best part of Aco and perhaps the whole tour was the Tunisian Synogogue. This was amazing. The shul was covered, head to toe, in mosaic -- all depicting stories or passages from the Talmud. It was amazing. The ceiling was mosaic, the floor, the walls, even the stairs! I was so taken by this place and I found it so inspiring. We purchased the book they sell there and had it inscribed by the mastermind behind the art. It was fantastic.



We had a nice long bus ride home and the next day, Thursday, we met up with Michael's cousin Avigail and headed to Tel Aviv to Michael's uncle Mark's house. We had a lovely time. Friday, we made up with Avigail that we'd spend Shabbos at their place, so we did some shopping to bring over food and relaxed before we headed over. We had a lovely Shabbos, spending time with them and their two adorable children.

Today, Sunday, we are hoping to try once again to get to the Zoo. Wish us luck! More soon!

Minor Setback, But Not Really So Bad

Yesterday was Sunday and we had decided that because this is our last week here, we're going to make the most of it. Unfortunately, we were unable to make the most of yesterday.

It could have been the expensive French goat cheese (of which tasted fabulous), it could have been the wine that we had with the cheese (which was also fabulous, but just drank in excess with the cheese), it could have been the undercooked kubbah from Shabbos lunch, it could have even been a slight stomach virus! Whatever it was, I was out of commission and having a really close relationship with the restroom. Not fun. By the time daylight arrived even, I was still making friends with the toilet. Aside from trying to sleep as much as possible after that, I was weak and tired. Surprisingly, I was starving too.

Once I began feeling slightly better, Michael and I decided to try and embark around 3 or 4 in the afternoon in order to try and find some food and maybe do a little shopping for the items promised to people at home. Our first stop was, you guessed it, the shuk.

We looked for an Iraqi place that the guide book recommended. After purchasing a Hebrew Coca Cola T-shirt for myself, Michael asked the shop keep where it was. He told us it had closed. So we continued walking and taking pictures.

I thought this was a really pretty arch.

We went down a corridor that we'd not been down before. Here I thought we'd seen every part of this place by now. But there was this beautiful corridor we'd not run across with a couple of restaurants and some more shops.

We passed by what I thought was probably the most smallest shul that I'd ever seen. Literally, it was just a room with an ahron and a bimah. It was really pretty though. We walked to the end of the corridor and it led us to the main section.
They were unloading some beef from a truck and I'd never seens such a sight in my life! You could see the cow's ear still attacked to the gory, lump of flesh. It was pretty sick. And in plain view for everyone to see. I think this was one of the subtle reminders that we're not in Kansas anymore, Toto!

At this point (in unrelated trains of thought) we decided to head for the vegetarian place on Yafo. Really only because my stomach had been having issues earlier and we figured vegetarian would be gentle on my system. We walked a few block and then we found the Village Green. Really a fantastic place. It's buffet style and at the end, they charge you by weight.
The meal ended up costing only about $40 US for the two of us. And Michael had a yogurt straberry smoothie included in that too. I had some lovely tofu with noodles and buckwheat and barly salads with a potato and a colliflour quiche. Michael had some of the same and a buckwheat burger pattie. I also had the most lovely muffin that I saved part of for breakfast the next day. I do believe we should go back there for breakfast to see what is offered. It was very lovely!

We did some more shopping as we walked back and picked up a few things for friends while places were still open.

Ran across this cat as we were walking back and I thought he was really cute. He turned on his back when I was taking the picture, as if he knew he was being photographed and he wanted to strike a cute pose.

We also picked up our laundry and walked to the place to have it done for us. Dropped it off and on the way back, I saw this in a window at one of the restaurants near by.
Brains, and some other stuff I can't identify really. MMM.

So at some point I took another nap because I was so weak and so tired. By the end of the day though, I really was feeling myself again. In the evening, we were going to go out again, but I was still to tired. So we ordered in Chinese food (which was fabulous) and watched some TV. All in all, Sunday was a nice and quiet day.

While I was sleeping or relaxing during the day (I forget), Michael called and booked us some more tours for Tues and Wed. This week, we'll be heading with the tour company (on those snazzy air conditioned buses) to the Dead Sea as well as Matzada. We'll also hit Rosh HaNikra, Ceasaria, Haifa, and do some cave splunking! So we've got lots of fun ahead.

I think today we're going to try for the Biblical Zoo (I'm determined, really) and also do some more shopping. At this point, I'll stick in again that obligatory reminder that if you have not yet told me what you wanted from Israel, please email it to me because this is our last week here on this trip. Anyhoo, I hope everyone is doing well back at home and we'll see you all soon.

We're off for more adventure today at the ZOO! Later!

As promised (part II)

Now where were we?

Ah, so when we left off, we were almost through with Tuesday of last week. Moving right along, after we surveyed the countryside in the Golan, we went to some more monuments to soldiers lost, as well as a bunker that had belonged to Syria during the Six Day War.

In order to get there, we had to go through a mine feild. The mines are still active and are fenced off so no one gets hurt. Cows, however, walk freely all the time.
Also, there were more fun artillery to climb on ...

After this, we started back. We dropped Chaim off at the bus once more and thanked him for everything. We proceeded back to the hotel for another all you can eat adventure.

On Wednesday, we still had the car (we rented it until Friday at noon in order to get unlimited mileage) so we went off on our own to do a little more independent touring and some more shopping.

First stop was the Naot Shoe factory located on the beautiful Naot Mordachai kibbutz (that's what they do there, they make the famous shoes), Two pairs for me and one pair for Michael later, we were off again.
We passed some more tanks (you're welcome!) ...

Filled up on some gas ...
And toured around the scenery some more.

Ending up at the famous Golan Heights winery!!!

We toured the winery and picked up some interesting information on how the wine is made and we also sampled some lovely vintages (and I got somewhat smashed).


My kinda place! Get sloshed and buy more bottles! Oh yes!

After that, we headed back to Tzvat to see if there was anything we missed before. By this time, most everything was closed so we headed back to Jerusalem. On the way, we hit Tevariah again for some dinner.

The next day (Thursday), we still had the car. So we headed to Tel Aviv to tour a bit and visit some of Michael's relatives breifly.

We walked the beach in Tel Aviv and enjoyed the scene. After that, we headed to Michael's Nana's house to visit with her for a bit.
Then we met up with more of Michael's family and went to dinner. We went back to Jerusalem again that night, after getting slightly lost in Tel Aviv and mildly frustrated with the signs being very difficult. It all worked out and we got back late at night and very tired.

Friday moring, we returned the car and shopped and cooked for Shabbos. We went to the Lapp's for shabbos dinner. Jake was there at his parent's house and we all had a lovely time. Lunch was at home and we relaxed. The weather has been cooler the last couple of days, which has been really rather nice. Tomorrow, we hope to do laundry before the Nine Days start and since this coming week will be our last here in Israel (for a little while) we're going to make the most of it indeed.

I hope everyone has enjoyed this and is now up to speed. If anyone has any suggestions of what we should see our last week here, please feel free to email or leave a comment! Also, this is the last chance if anyone wants us to bring back anything and has not emailed me their list of requested items, they should do so now!

Shavuah Tov!