Pesach Travel Adventures - Day 7

Day 7 – Tuesday, April 10 – Amsterdam


On Tuesday morning we got an early start to the day. We said goodbye to Eric as he left for work, and Jeremy and I left the apartment and walked along the canals to Museumplein, the main square in the middle of the museums. We started our day at the Rijksmuseum, the Dutch National Museum. Even though the museum is under renovation, they have moved the master works into one wing of the museum that visitors are allowed to visit. We displayed our museum cards (thanks B&E for those!) and started our tour of the museum. Unlike in the museums we visited in Paris, this one had a clear path that we were meant to follow. We saw some beautiful and famous works, including Rembrandt’s The Night Watch, Jeremiah Lamenting the Destruction of Jerusalem, The Jewish Bride, and Vermeer’s The Milkmaid. There was also a display of gigantic doll houses, which I of course enjoyed. 


From the Rijksmuseum we made our way down the block to the Van Gogh Museum. Again, so glad to have our museum cards that let us skip the line. The Van Gogh museum is the most visited museum in the Netherlands, and houses 200 painting, 400 drawings, and 700 letters all by Van Gogh. The museum is a narrative of his life, taking the visitor chronologically through his life and work. On the bottom floor were other artists who had influenced him, and at the top were artists who had been influenced by him. We saw the famous Potato Eaters, Sunflowers, Yellow House, Self-Portrait, and the Bedroom, just to name a few. One part of the exhibit showed how Van Gogh used his canvases over and over again, with methods of revealing what had originally been painted underneath. I thought that was very cool.


We met up with Becky as we left the museum, and spent a few minutes visiting the main square of the museumplein, which houses the much-photographed “i am-sterdam” sculpture. From there we walked to De Pijp and through the Albert Cuypmarkt, which is sort of like a combination of the Machane Yehuda shuk and Kobey’s swap meet. I was very happy to find a giant pickle for just 1€, and had a little pre-lunch snack. Becky picked a cute little restaurant for lunch, and we were back on our way. Since Jeremy can always eat, we stopped at a toastie stand after lunch so Jeremy could taste this Dutch specialty (think grilled cheese but without the butter on the bread). From the market we walked along the canal to Leidseplein, one of the main Amsterdam shopping streets. From there we walked up through Kalverstraat and stopped at a famous French fry stand to try the fries. They were, indeed, delicious, topped with a unique, tangy sauce. From there we walked along Spui to Begijnhof, one of the oldest inner courtyards in Amsterdam, housing the English Reform Church. One of the oldest buildings in Amsterdam (dates back to the 1300s), the pilgrims who eventually made their way to the New World came from this community.  


Our next stop was the Amsterdam Museum, which was a really interesting mix of various items relating to the history of Amsterdam from the middle ages to the present. The museum is very modern and uses technology in a really interesting and effective way. When we entered the museum we were each given audio guides, and when we got to each video we just touched them to a little metal plate and they started playing in the right language. Very cool. From the museum we made our way to Dam Square, built on the dam that stops the flow of the Amstel river (Amstel-dam → Amsterdam, get it?). In the plaza are the New Church and the Palace, although we did not go inside either. Our next stop was a walk through the infamous red light district, then we made our way to the Oude Kerk (Old Church). After being in London and Paris I was definitely expecting a much more grand and ornate interior, but the building was still beautiful. It was interesting to see how the entire floor of the church was gravestones. After a brief stop at the national monument (a WWII monument in Dam Square), we jumped on the tram and headed back to Becky and Eric’s apartment. 


Once Eric got home from work we made our way to dinner at a really great Indonesian restaurant. Becky and I both had the vegetarian rice table, and each and every dish it included was delicious. Eric and Jeremy both had rice tables that included meat, and the empty dishes left on the table makes me think theirs were delicious as well. There really is no such thing as “Dutch” food, but Indonesian is the closest thing to a national food they have.

Pesach Travel Adventures - Day 6

Day 6 – Monday, April 9 – Paris, travel to Amsterdam


Monday morning arrived, and we packed up our things to head to Amsterdam. Since our flight wasn’t until the afternoon, we took our bags with us and took the metro to Luxemburg Gardens. The gardens were a beautiful combination of trees, flowers, lakes, and statues, and were a fitting background to the beautiful palace. We spent a few hours strolling in the gardens, bought some beautiful canvas paintings, and then parked ourselves in a little café to have brunch. Jeremy chose the French onion soup (which it turns out is just called “soup” in France) and I had an omelet. After our brunch we jumped on the RER, which is a metro train designed to get between larger distances and is better appointed accordingly, towards Orly airport. Clearly, tourists use this line to get between the city and the airport, as announcements for the airport shuttle connection were made in French, English, and Spanish. 


The Paris-Orly airport is really interesting. It has a small airport feel, but based on the kinds of planes and destinations it serves, there is clearly a high volume of traffic to a variety of markets. The airport setup is very interesting, where check-in, boarding, and arrivals all happen in one area. The nice thing is that they offer 15 minutes of free wifi, after which you have to pay.


Some additional thoughts on Paris:


There are different colored signs everywhere for walkers, bikers, and drivers. We found these to be particularly helpful in navigating the streets!


Although many say that Paris is a really dirty city, and parts of it are, there are trash bags every 10 yards on nearly every street. 


It was fascinating to see which museums contained only French signs, and which had other languages. The Louvre and Orsay had only French, but other museums also had English and sometimes other languages. It was also fascinating that in Paris, many of the big museums don’t try to tell a narrative. In Israel, and so many other places, the museum will try to tell a story. In Paris, the museum’s purpose is to display art. Nothing more, nothing less. Yes, there is organization to how the art is displayed, but it is usually chronological or geographic in nature. It was really refreshing to let the art do the narration.


In the Paris metro, a down arrow means straight ahead, and not necessarily downwards.


Restaurants are much more laid back with slower service due to fewer wait staff.


Paris is incredibly picturesque. Here are our photos:

The British Airways Golden Dove. I mean, that's awesome.

Flight #1:
British Airways #335, Paris-Orly (Mon. Apr. 9, 3:45 PM) - London-Heathrow (4:00 PM)
G-EUOH, Airbus 319, Golden Dove
Seat: Window/middle
ORY: Depart 30 min late at 4:15 PM
LHR: Arrive 39 min late at 4:39 PM
Duration: 1:24


For the Olympics, British Airways is painting a select few planes as golden doves. How lucky were we that the plane that came up to the gate was, in fact, the one and only plane with this paint job in service! Jeremy nerded out a bit in his excitement. Unfortunately, though, the plane is about 10 years old and the interior was not updated like the exterior. After we boarded, the cabin crew made their pre-flight announcements, including consistently referring to this as an “British Airways operated flight.” I mean, duh? 


Once airborne, we had a full beverage service with a snack. Not bad considering we were in the air for 55 minutes (although maybe I’m just used to American standards). We had been delayed because of our inbound plane and although it seemed as if the pilot was able to make up some time in the air, we got stuck in a holding pattern above Heathrow and ended up landing even later.


After a quick dinner at Wagamama in Heathrow airport, we boarded our connecting flight to Amsterdam.


Flight #2:
British Airways #442, London-Heathrow (Mon. Apr. 9, 5:55 PM) - Amsterdam (8:10 PM)
G-EUUE, Airbus 320
Seat: Window/middle
LHR: Depart 26 min late at 6:21
AMS: Arrive 17 min late at 8:27
Duration: 1:06


Again, another delayed flight, but this time, it seemed to work in our favor, since we were delayed on the inbound as well. As we boarded, the purser took a look at our boarding cards and pleasantly greeted each of us on board by name. It was such a lovely touch. Not 10 seconds after we took off, we were in the clouds. Again, we were treated to a beverage and snack service. And again, although the pilot was able to make up some time in the air, we taxied for 20 minutes once we landed in Amsterdam. Apparently, though, that’s very normal.


We quickly went through customs, and Becky and Eric were there waiting for us in the airport. The four of us jumped on the metro, and in 6 minutes were at their stop. The trams and metros in Amsterdam really are designed for locals, and we were lucky that Becky and Eric thought ahead and got us cards pre-loaded with euros. We came out of the station, walked about 10 minutes, and were at Becky and Eric’s beautiful apartment. After a long day of travel we were all tired, so we went to bed to rest up for our first day of touring Amsterdam. 

Beit Eden & Kibbutz Gezer

Every year, students at HUC-JIR in Jerusalem take on a t'rumah (offering/gift/contribution) project in the local community. I have been lucky enough to work with one of my classmates, Rachel, at Beit Eden and Kibbutz Gezer this year for my t'rumah project.


Our once-a-month weekends start on Friday when I pick up a rental car and drive out to Ramle, a city in between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv with a rich history including a history of shared-existence between Jews, and Muslim and Christian Arabs. We meet up with Rachel and her boyfriend Geoff at an incredible, family owned and third-generation operated hummus restaurant called, "Samir's," with THE BEST hummus in the world. (I can say that now that we've tried hummus everywhere in Israel) Walking into Samir's at this point is like walking into a dining room in my own home. We set our own table, we serve ourselves drinks, Jalil (Samir's son) just brings out what we want, without even asking. It really is a family business, and we have become family much more than just customers. 


After our delicious lunch, we head over to Beit Eden, a live-in facility for children with severe disabilities (I acknowledge that I'm sure I'm not using the correct term). Rachel and I join Uri (who was Becky's teacher when she spent a semester here!) and Yuval, two volunteers who come into Beit Eden every week, and help lead Shabbat with the kids. As we and the kids have become more comfortable with each other, Rachel and I started playing games with the kids, such as "hamelech amar" (Israeli version of "Simon Says"), and "I Spy." Of course, the kids know almost zero English, but they are extremely helpful and patient with us as we struggle to communicate with them. 


The kids honestly love having guests and light up any time someone new comes into the room. Indeed, the first time we came to Beit Eden, I wasn't sure we would be able to start our program because we were bombarded with hugs. It was moments like those that make Beit Eden such a remarkable and memorable place.


Here's a video of part of a normal visit.






After some singing and dancing, we say goodbye and make our way to Kibbutz Gezer. We usually spend the afternoon relaxing, noshing, chatting, and drinking Starbucks coffee (a REAL treat!) with Rabbi Miri and her husband, David, two of the sweetest, most welcoming people we have ever had the fortune of meeting. We help them prepare for Shabbat, again, as if we are family (last time, I even mopped the floors).


Around 6 PM, we walk over to the Kibbutz's synagogue - a small room that can squeeze around 50 people. Rachel and I lead the music for the Shabbat service. The community sits along three walls, but what makes this community really unique and special is that they don't let the music leader sit or stand at the front. We sit near the front, but we face one of the three sides. While that has presented a challenge in terms of how to adapt our song leading style, from the community's perspective, it means that the community leads itself in song, instead of being sung to. It is a beautiful environment that allows the leader to lead and participate at the same time, since there is a constant feeling of being supported by the community.


After services, we return to David & Miri's where an abundant Shabbos spread is always waiting for us. David's father, who lives next-door, leads kiddush, the blessing over wine, and we all join together in eating the wonderful festive meal. After eating ourselves silly with the filling appetizers (including another serving of Samir's hummus), then their's the main course, followed by David's homemade-from-scratch ice cream. Words can't describe how amazing this ice cream tastes. He uses high-quality ingredients, and you can taste the difference. As he says, "my ice cream would be too expensive to sell in stores." It's true. And it would also sell out in 5 minutes. We usually chat until the late hours of the night, at which point we usually stay over and hang out with the family until Saturday evening when we drive back to Jerusalem.


It's weird to think that yesterday was the last Friday doing these activities this year. I, no doubt, will be back to Kibbutz Gezer and, hopefully, Beit Eden, but it will never be the same as this year. David and Miri have been our home-away-from-home once a month. We have been able to have incredible conversations about Israel and I have learned so much from them, most memorably, David was the one who taught me about "regel achat - one leg/idea" which I taught in my d'var Torah and had inscribed on my Hadaya ring. Being with David and Miri, Kibbutz Gezer, and Beit Eden has been a real highlight of this year and provided us with an experience that we will never forget.

Pesach Travel Adventures - Day 5

Day 5 – Sunday, April 8 – Paris

On Sunday morning Jeremy and I woke up early and took the metro into the center of the city. Unfortunately when we got to the station where we needed to change to another line, we found that the line wasn’t operating. So, we ascended to the street and made our way over to the Louvre. Luckily for us, Jeremy and I had two-day Paris museum cards, meaning we didn’t have to wait in line to get inside. The Louvre is beautiful in a completely different way than the Musee d’Orsay. We started our visit by walking toward the Mona Lisa. Not so much to see the painting, but to see the craziness of all the people trying to see the painting. As everyone says, the Mona Lisa is much smaller than one might expect, and seems even smaller with so many people crowding to take pictures of it. From there we walked through two of the three wings of the museum, seeing many masterpieces and famous works along our way.

At 12:30 we met up with Becky and Eric in the lobby, and after a stop for lunch we made our way to the Marais district. Like in Montemartre, Becky had prepared a walking tour of the area, which was a great way to walk around and see the sights. We started at the Hotel de Ville, and made our way to the Place Saint Gervais, one of the oldest churches on the Right Bank (built in 1494). From there we walked on the Rue Francois Miron and made our way to the remnants of a medieval Paris fortress. It was neat to be able to see the remnants built into the more modern buildings. Our next stop was the Village St-Paul, a cute network of courtyards with small art galleries and shops. Unfortunately since it was both Sunday and Easter, basically everything was closed. We made our way through the streets to visit the Jewish part of the Marais. We saw lots of cute little shops and restaurants and bakeries, most of which were kosher, and thus closed for Pesach, although a lot of falafel shops stayed open and had surprisingly long lines. We also visited the Shoah memorial to the French Jews who lost their lives during the Holocaust.

From the Marais we crossed the Seine to the Latin Quarter and stopped for a snack in a local shop. I was very happy to find salted caramel ice cream on the menu, which I had been dying to try. It was absolutely as delicious as everyone has been saying. From there we parted ways with Becky and Eric and made our way past the Sorbonne up to the Pantheon. The Pantheon is massive, with a crypt underneath at least as large as the building itself. The paintings and art in the domes was as impressive as any other church we had visited. Built by Louis XV, the crypt houses many of France’s greats, including Voltaire, Rousseau, Victor Hugo, and Marie and Pierre Curie. It was really special to be able to stand at the grave of such a leading scientist. From the Pantheon we visited the neighboring church, dedicated to Saint Genevieve.

Jeremy and I had some time to kill before our nighttime boat cruise, so we walked back across to the other side of the river to search out somewhere for dinner. On our way, we happened to walk right past Notre Dame and noticed one strange thing – there was absolutely no line of people. So, we did what any good Jew would do on Easter: we walked right in and attended Easter mass. Since we walked into the visitors’ line, we were able to walk all the way around the cathedral while mass was going on, with great views both of the worship and the architecture and stained glass. Since last year we were in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher for Easter and this year we were in Notre Dame, we figured next year we’d better head to the Vatican.

After mass we found a lovely little restaurant (which had a great quinoa and vegetable dish with a poached egg for me) to have dinner, then walked along the Seine to pick up our night-time boat cruise. Even though it was raining, we really enjoyed getting to see the city all lit up at night. The buildings are just as beautiful as they are during the day. It was also fun to see the Eiffel Tower sparkle, which it does once an hour. I believe I narrowed the 300 or so pictures we had of the tower at night down to my favorite 5.

Pesach Travel Adventures - Day 4

Day 4 – Saturday, April 7 – Paris

On Saturday Becky and Eric went to Versailles, and Jeremy and I attempted a somewhat ambitious walking tour of Paris. We got on the metro near our apartment, and were greeted by two musicians playing music on the metro. The metro in Paris is very different than the Tube in London. In London, people don’t talk on board the train. It’s incredibly quiet and a lovely respite from the outside world. Also, the seats are REALLY comfortable! In Paris, the metro is louder, with many more stops (although, it is pretty cool that in Paris you are never more than 500 meters from a metro station), a much louder beep as the doors close, and less comfortable seats. One cool part about the Paris metro, though, is how the announce stations. As the train approaches a station, you hear the name said with an upward tone, as if asking a question. When the train arrives at the station, the name is said again, but with more definition, as if to say, “Here we are.”

When we emerged from underground, we finally felt like we were in Paris. Wide streets perfectly lined with trees, old white buildings, and the feeling I thought I would have when being in Paris for the first time.

We started our tour at the Arc de Triomphe. After walking around the base and after visiting the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from WWI and taking the requisite pictures we climbed the 284 stairs to the top. The 360 degree view from the top was absolutely breathtaking – the perfect way to start our first full day in Paris. Each of the street leading out from Place Charles deGaulle was different and led to a different part of the city. Looking one way we could see modern downtown, another led to the Eiffel Tower, and a third down the Champs Elysees.

From the Arc we crossed back under the street and strolled down the Champs Elysees. We stopped for some breakfast and coffee at a local café, and continued our way down the tree-lined street. We passed the Grand Palace and the Petit Palace, and made our way to the Place del la Concorde. There, we took in the sights of the Obelisque and strolled through the Jardin des Tuileries up to the Louvre. Since the Louvre was on our itinerary for Sunday, we turned to the right and continued our walk up the Seine. We crossed the bridge to Il de la Cite, and walked around the back-side of the island to the Memorial des Martyrs de la Deportation (Deportation Memorial), a memorial to the 200,000 people deported from France to the Nazi concentration camps during WWII. The memorial was closed when we got there, so we only got to see the part that was visible from the gate. 

From the memorial, we crossed the park and made our way to Notre Dame. As much as I wanted to go inside, the line was a few hours long, so we went to grab some lunch then stood in the plaza listening to the Rick Steves audio tour explaining the beautiful façade. From there, we did a small walking tour of the island and made our way to Sainte-Chapelle. The line was about half an hour long, and having now been inside, I would have waiting 10 times as long. Sainte-Chapelle (Holy Chapel) is in the courtyard of the royal palace, and was built by Louis IX to house the Crown of Thorns and other relics of Jesus Christ. Indeed, Louis IX was so proud of these relics, he paid three times as much for the relics themselves than the building to house them. Standing inside the chapel felt like standing inside a jewel box. The walls all the way around the room are floor-to-ceiling stained glass in the most brilliant colors. No words or even photographs can do this building justice.

From there we crossed to the left side of the river and walked along the Seine until we came to the Musee d’Orsay. The museum is magnificent. Built in a old train station, it houses late 19^th to early 20^th century French art, including a huge collection of impressionist and post-impressionist paintings. It was somewhat surreal to see such a large collection of original Monets and Degas all in one place. My favorite part of the museum was getting to see Degas’s statue of the ballerina. The incredible beauty of this work brought tears to my eyes. The other feature of the museum worth mentioning is the gigantic clock on the outside of the building, which can be seen backwards from the inside of the building. Very cool.

From the museum we continued our walk along the Seine, past the Musee de l’Armee with its beautiful gold dome, to the Rodin Museum. I have always had a love of Rodin sculpture, and the museum did not disappoint. We arrived just half an hour before the museum closed, so we didn’t get to see all of the gardens, but did get to see The Thinker, The Gates of Hell, and The Kiss. From the gardens we went into the house which is filled with smaller sculptures, paintings, and paintings from other artists of Rodin’s work. As we were walking through the museum we bumped into Becky and Eric, who came to the museum after their day in Versailles.

From the museum, the four of us walked together (with a slight detour for a crepe) to the Eiffel Tower. What a great way to end our first full day in Paris! The tower is just as beautiful and magnificent as it seems in pictures. We were pleasantly surprised by the lack of venders and people trying to sell us things, and also pleased that we were not standing in the crazy line to try to climb the tower. We only have one or two pictures of the tower to share.

From the Eiffel Tower we took the metro back up toward our apartment and had a great dinner at Margarete. They begrudgingly made me a plate of vegetables, and Jeremy had the steak tartar. Needless to say we were all pretty tired from our long day of walking and touring (we walked about 8 miles), and were more than happy to take our shoes off and get to sleep. 

Pesach Travel Adventures - Day 3

Day 3 – Friday, April 6 – Paris


On Friday morning Jeremy and I got up at the crack of dawn (actually, before dawn), and packed up our things to head back to the Tube. Leah was kind enough to drop us off at the Tube station near her house, and in no time we were at St. Pancras to catch our 7am train to Paris. The ride to Paris was fairly quick, and the majority of it was underground. We noticed that on the England side the announcements were first in English and then in French, and once we crossed to France they were first in French. Most of our journey after we exited the Chunnel was above ground, so it was nice to be able to see a little of the French countryside. 


Two and a half hours later (plus a one-hour time change), we arrived at Guar de Nord, Paris’ main train station. Jeremy and I successfully found the information desk, and were able to purchase our two-day museum passes, which we would take full advantage of in our travels on Saturday and Sunday. From the train station we walked a short way to the apartment that Becky had found for us to rent in the Montmartre district. We arrived at our building, walked up the 70 or so stairs, and got settled in which we waited for Becky and Eric to arrive from the airport. Once they arrived we headed out to get some lunch (I had a crepe to get my fill before pesach started), then walked up to Sacre Coeur. 


Since in addition to being erev Pesach it was also Good Friday, we were able to be at Sacre Coeur for the reenactment of the Stations of the Cross. It was so interesting to hear the whole crowd of people singing and see them kneeling as the priest carried the cross. From there, Becky led us on a great walking tour of the Montmartre area. We started up on top of the hill, and meandered through the neighborhood, which once was full of artists, writers, and musicians. We passed by the Montmartre vineyard, the Au Lapin Agile (an 1860s cabaret known for its rabbit stew), and the Moulin de la Galette (a 17th century windmill that is now part of a restaurant). From there we meandered along the streets and stopped in a bakery to get a baguette (again, mostly for me before pesach started). We continued our tour at the famous Moulin Rouge, where Jeremy and Becky danced for the video camera. Walking along the Boulevard de Clichy we passed many houses where famous artists had lived and worked, and made our way to the Place Pigalle. At the shuk-like market we got vegetables and a chicken to make for dinner, then went back to the apartment to drop off all the things we had bought.


On our way back out to do a little more touring we stopped at a neighborhood patisserie where I got an apricot pastry – very delicious.  The four of us walked back up the Sacre Coeur, this time from the bottom of the hill so we could see the views on the way up. Since the Good Friday festivities were over we were able to visit the inside of the cathedral, which was beautiful, yet we were taken a bit by the amount of gift-shop elements in seemingly sacred areas. From there we stopped at a local grocery store and picked up a few more things we needed for dinner, and went back to the apartment to start preparing for seder. We prepared delicious roasted vegetables and a salad to go with the rotisserie chicken we had gotten in the market, and I made an artichoke with a mustard-honey dipping sauce. We boiled some eggs, put together a seder plate, and sat down for our own little seder. Jeremy had put together a haggadah for us before leaving Israel, and led a nice seder. 

Pesach Travel Adventures - Day 2

Day 2 – Thursday, April 5 – London


We started off our morning with a Tube ride toward the center of the city, and ended up right in Trafalgar Square. After some time looking at the statues and the countdown clock for the Olympics, we did a little walking past White Hall, stopped for some coffee, and crossed the Themes on the Jubilee Bridge to the other side of the river. There were some great views along the way, even though the skies were overcast and threatening to rain. 


The night before we had pre-bought our tickets for the London Eye, so we got in a short line, picked up our tickets, then got in a longer line to wait to get on the Eye. Luckily for us the line moved pretty quickly, and within about half an hour we were in our pod and on our way. The London Eye is basically a giant Ferris wheel that takes about 30 minutes to make one revolution. We really enjoyed the views of the city, and of course getting to take some great pictures.


After our revolution we walked down the pier for lunch at Giraffe, then walked back over the river to the National Portrait Gallery. Now, portraits aren’t usually my favorite kind of art, but I have to say that I really enjoyed the museum. The displays are organized chronologically, and it was interesting to look at how painting style and the way in which people were depicted changed throughout the years. We spent almost two hours in the Portrait Gallery, and then got back on the Tube to head to Piccadilly Circus. 


We walked through the square and made our way to Hyde Park and Speakers Corner. The park was fairly empty of people, and the majority of the flowers and trees were just about to bloom. You could tell that in about three weeks, everything would be green and beautiful. We walked from one corner of the park to another, and ended up in Speaker’s Corner. My memory from the last time we were in London was of tons of people and lots of noise, but today there was nobody there – somewhat disappointing. 


From the park we took a bus over to John Lewis (a department store that seems to be the love-child of Macy’s, Bed Bath and Beyond, and Nordstrom). Jeremy and I found some really cool espresso cups with the old Tube map on them. From there we walked to a delicious Thai restaurant for dinner, and met up with my friend Gavin, who happened to be in London to spend Pesach with his family.

Pesach Travel Adventures - Day 1

Day 1 – Wednesday, April 4 - London

(This and future days written by Sarah with additions from Jeremy)

Tuesday afternoon I finished up with my meeting, had a lovely lunch with Lizzi, and headed to Chicago’s O’Hare to catch my flight to London. Luckily for me it was a fairly empty flight, and I was able to get a seat in the middle of the plane with nobody else in my row. So as soon as the plane took off I made a bed out of the three seats, and slept all the way to London. I arrived about 20 minutes early, breezed through passport control, and parked myself in Costa Coffee – the planned meeting place with Jeremy and Leah. Jeremy was supposed to come in the night before from Tel Aviv, but didn’t get in until a few hours before I did. Leah is a champ, and not only met Jeremy at the train station at 4am, but came to pick me up at Heathrow just a few hours later.

On the drive from the airport, Leah told us a lot about British culture that were just fascinating:

They drive on the wrong side of the road. That took some getting used to.

A bridge that goes over something other than water is called a “flyover.”

Zigzag lines in the road mean you are approaching a pedestrian crossing.

BBC radio has a shipping weather forecast. It’s so interesting that this information is still part of the broadcast!

Throughout London, we kept seeing cars with signs saying, “Private Hire Cars.” Apparently, these are privately owned cars that operate similar to taxis, except that they must be reserved (no random pick-ups), and they are normal cars. No special equipment inside, no funky paint job outside. Just a Londoner trying to make a few extra bucks driving people around. Very cool.

We parked Leah’s car not far from her house, and took the Tube into the center of town. Our first stop was Buckingham Palace for the changing of the guard. We found ourselves a spot on the very crowded street and waited for the parade of guards to begin. The truth is we couldn’t see much from where we were, but did get to see the band marching and the guards on horses entering the palace gates. Once the new guards were inside the gates, the three of us crossed the street to try to get a better look. We were able to see through the fence and listen to the band play. Funny enough, they started out by playing “We Are the Champions.” Maybe it was a Queen thing? They went on to play the patriotic Michael Jackson song, “You Are Not Alone” and a jazz-samba rendition of “Unforgettable.”

From Buckingham Palace we walked along St. James Park, past the horse guards and the institute of civil engineers (which was very exciting since Leah is, herself, a civil engineer), and stopped to grab a quick lunch at the supermarket. After eating our lunch overlooking parliament and Big Ben, we walked to take a closer look at the buildings. From there we crossed the street and visited Westminster Abbey (not the inside, the line was way too long), and stopped in St. Margaret’s Church right next door. We passed the sundial in the ground (which does indeed tell the right time, although it didn’t account for daylight savings) and came upon the new Supreme Court building. It turns out that the courts are open to the public, so we stopped in and got to tour the different courtrooms. Surprisingly, there was a very modern interior in a very old and beautiful building. Also, because they didn’t have anything else to do with court out of session, the security guards were also serving as tour guides in the various rooms. The stop was an unexpected pleasure in our day’s itinerary. From the Supreme Court we walked past a small garden of statues, including Nelson Mandela, Abraham Lincoln, and Winston Churchill.

Our next stop was the Churchill War Rooms, which came highly recommended by David Israel; they did not disappoint. The war rooms are an underground museum encompassing the Cabinet War Rooms from World War II and the Churchill Museum. It was really interesting to be able to see the rooms recreated as they were during the war years. The museum was really well set up, and I learned more than I ever wanted to know about the life of Churchill.  It seems that we picked a perfect time to be underground, since the only rain all day was while we were in the museum.

From the museum we took the bus to St. Paul’s Cathedral. On our way, we stopped for a spot of tea at Bea’s and enjoyed delicious high tea and pastries. Jeremy picked a peanut butter and jelly bar and I picked a meringue approximately the size of my head. After our tea we took the elevator up to the top of the shopping center where the bakery was housed, and had the most magnificent view of the cathedral and the whole city. St. Paul’s is an absolutely beautiful cathedral. With very high ceilings, a domed roof, and beautiful stained glass it is definitely one of the most beautiful places of worship in the world. One of the more fascinating parts of the church was that religious imagery was at a minimum. Instead, monuments and sculptures and other pieces of art were in honor of military and political figures from Britain’s past. From the cathedral, we walked down to the Tower of London, which we unfortunately couldn’t visit because it was closed. We spent some time along the bank of the Themes overlooking the Tower Bridge, and then took a bus back toward the center of town to visit the construction site where Leah is currently working. 

From there we found a cute pub to watch the football (read: soccer) game and relax with food and drinks (I had a pear cider, Jeremy had a strawberry-lime cider). The pub even had vegetarian bangers and mash, which made me very happy. (Note: It turns out that “mash” refers to peas.) Jeremy had fish and chips, which made him very happy. Since we had all been up since the wee hours of the morning, we headed back to Leah’s apartment to rest up for our second day of touring.

Pesach Travel Adventures - Day 0

Day 0 – Tuesday, April 3 – Travel to London

(Written by Jeremy)

I ordered a sheirut for 5:00 PM. Of course, it was late. In fact, it never showed. Instead, I had the luck of having another sheirut pull up on Washington Street at 5:30. He had one more person to drop off and then we would be on our way. No problem. 

To say that this driver was a champ is an understatement. To say he is a true Israeli is probably more accurate. At one point, he called his friend and ordered what I could only guess was an elaborate falafel sandwich. At another, he was able to negotiate calls on his two cell phones (one business and one personal), as well as the company radio. Oh, and he was driving too. Yet, with all of the chaos that was going on, especially driving the crazy streets of Jerusalem, he was still able to keep his cool, greeting each caller with a friendly, "Hah-lo." 

He even joked with one of the passengers. She walked on with just a purse. (I'll translate)

"You don't have a suitcase?"

"Nope!"

"Well, you know you have to pay more."

She walks on and sees the sign saying that Sheirut prices have, indeed, gone up. 

"It's 61.90 now?!" She asks. 

"62."

"Then yes, I DO have a suitcase!"

It may have been funnier in the moment. 

It's 6:05 now and we have only picked up half the car's worth. There's no way I'll be at the airport at the time I was hoping. But it's okay. Turns out that there's an air traffic controller's strike in France. Because of that, almost all flights in western Europe are delayed, including the inbound plane for my flight. Right now, I'm expected to be two hours late getting into London. My best educated guess: I'll land at approximately 1:45 AM. 

Miracle of miracles, we are leaving to the airport! Usually a sheirut takes 10 people. We have 6. First time a half-full sheirut has gone to the airport! See, we can still have "firsts" in Israel. 

Once I walked in the door to the ticketing hall of the airport, I was pulled aside for some questioning. I must look funny. This stuff always happens to me. When my bag went through the x-ray for normal passenger screening (still, pre-boarding pass), they said, "so, you're studying to be a Rabbi. Where's your kippah?" I think I might just wear one other every time I fly through Ben Gurion, just so I don't have to deal with this question. 

After a quick jaunt through check-in, we were whisked away on busses to Terminal 3 (easyJet check in Terminal 1, but I guess they fly out of 3). This was my favorite part. Not just because we drove on the tarmac, which meant awesome plane spotting (the closest thing I get to playing real sports), but because there were a bunch of kids on the bus. There were British kids and there were Haredi kids. But they had this in common: they were all stoked to see planes this close. When people ask me why I love planes, it's because I never grew out of that phase. They're big, they somehow take you where you want to go in relative comfort, and they're just awesome. Seeing the expressions of joy and amazement really put a smile on my face. 

After a quick bite at the new Aroma (closest Israeli equivalent to Starbucks), I settled in on the floor near a power outlet. 2 hours before the inbound plane even lands. 

easyJet #200. You don't have to be a plane nerd to think
that's cool...right?!

Flight #1

easyJet #2086, Tel Aviv (Tues. Apr. 3, 8:20 PM) - London-Luton (11:45 PM)

G-EZUI, Airbus 320, Special all orange plane

Seat: Window

TLV: Depart 2:59 late at 11:19 PM

LTN: Arrive 2:44 late at 2:29 AM

Duration: 5:10

Despite the delay, I was really pleasantly surprised to find easyJet #200 as our plane for this journey. This was my first time flying easyJet, so I was really excited to give the airline a try. The way easyJet boarding works is this: EasyJet has open seating, like Southwest, but unlike Southwest, there is no order, other than those that spring for the $29 "speedy boarding" pass. The nice thing is that they next let families with children under 5 board. That's a nice touch, and especially because coming from Israel, there were a LOT of families with small children.

Side note: When a British coupled behind me in line referred to the "queue," I knew I was not going to be in Kansas anymore.

When we boarded, the captain came on, apologized for the delay, blamed it on the French (while it was the French air traffic controller's fault, I just found it amusing that the Brit blamed the French for something), and then told us that our crew would be working overtime in order to make this flight happen. One of the ways that easyJet saves its customers money is that a flight crew will often fly to the destination and then immediately return, thus saving the money of putting the crew up in a hotel, etc. However, because of the delay, the crew should have technically been given rest time. Instead of making us wait until the next day, the crew called into easyJet headquarters and received permission to break the rules and fly us to London that evening. We gave them a round of applause. It was very nice of them, but you could also sense that the flight attendants were extremely exhausted from their long day.

The flight itself was fine, and in true easyJet style (or so I'm told), nothing except the lavatories were free. Want some water? 2€. Want some food? Costs you money. Everything cost something. The one amusing part of this flight was that because it was a flight to Israel, they only had Kosher hot meal options for purchase. What was the stereotypical meal? A bagel with cream cheese, smoked salmon, and cucumbers. Yup.

I tried to get some sleep on the plane, since we took off at 11:19 at night, and I knew that I had a fairly long journey ahead of myself once we landed at Luton. Sure enough, a long journey is exactly what I had. Oh, and did I mention that on easyJet, the seats don’t recline? At all? Great for getting some sleep.

When we landed in Luton at 2:29 AM, we deplaned right onto the tarmac. I turned to my seatmate and said, "Oh, we're right on the tarmac." To which he replied, "Yeah…it's easyJet." I guess I should have known!

After a quick and easy pass through customs and baggage claim, I bought tickets for my connecting train and I went out to the curb where a shuttle would take me from the airport to the train station, where I was hoping to catch the 3:30 AM train. Unfortunately, the shuttle was running very infrequently, and it did not even leave the airport until 3:25, meaning I missed the 3:30 train. The next one? 4:09. Giddyup. Once I was finally on the train, a very nice local (who also happened to be on my flight from Tel Aviv) helped me figure out that I was going 6 stops.

When I finally arrived at the platform at Hendon station, Leah, our friend with whom we were staying and was also picking me up, and I shared a huge sigh of relief. The saga was over. By the time I got in bed, it was 5 AM. Just enough time to get 2.5 hours of sleep before we would get up to pick up Sarah from Heathrow.