Topic Wiki

Still in progress... 3.5 weeks done, 2.5 to go!

As per a great suggestion from Joe, here are the links to each city's TR:
Israel: Part 1
Israel: Part 2 (very short)
Israel: Part 3 - Eilat
Israel: Part 4 - Ein Gedi/Dead Sea
Madrid
(Pics from Israel and Madrid)
Barcelona
Seville
Gibraltar
Rome
Florence
Pisa
Venice
Switzerland

Trip planning thread: http://forums.dansdeals.com/index.php?topic=37776.0
There you can find all the info about how I booked what. May take some searching in there.
« Last edited by @Yehuda on October 29, 2015, 05:06:09 PM »

Author Topic: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon Trip Report  (Read 125387 times)

Offline JayR

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon Trip Report
« Reply #220 on: January 16, 2015, 11:42:16 AM »
^ Yeah, that's what I would have guessed. According to your reasoning, JayR, even lighting in your dining room would be an issue if the chandelier is on.
Lighting candles for Shabbos is for illuminating darkness. We light in the dining room to look at the light (maybe to have hano'ah). (The reason of lighting in a miyuchad area is CMIIW to see the light).

The norm in hotels for Yom Tov is to have a communal lighting even though it doesn't satisfy the obligation. The best would be to light in the hotel dining room where you would be eating.

When eating out, there's a question whether to light where you sleep or eat. R Moshe held to light where your eating.

As per @yehuda's case, lighting where you eat wasn't an option, and given that there's no need to be more machmir than the usual way (communal lighting), lighting by the front desk was fine. (As always, ask you LOR for a real Psak).

Regarding lighting in a room, I usually leave them in a sink in the room (if more than one).
« Last Edit: January 16, 2015, 11:50:45 AM by JayR »
You can modify your original post. The modify button is right next to the quote button.

Offline Ergel

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon Trip Report
« Reply #221 on: January 16, 2015, 11:44:11 AM »
i ordered a new laptop from dell and applied a lot of coupons so that i basically got it for about 50 percent off  and got my conf email. when i didnt receive it by the estimated arrival date i called them only to be told that they cancelled my order bec i put on too many coupons . they never emailed me or called me they simply cancelled it w/o warning  is there anyhing i can do to somehow force them to comlete my order? is there anything legally binding them once they send me a confirmation nemail is that somehow similar to the signing of a contract? any info would be of help. (if you need more details about the order id be more than happy to provide them. thanx
Many poskim will to you never to light with a Bracha in a communal area
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Offline moish

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon Trip Report
« Reply #222 on: January 17, 2015, 02:40:09 PM »
And if you're concerned the hotel staff will open your door, put up a "do not disturb" sign. I'm assuming most people do that on shabbos anyway.
doesnt always work

Offline @Yehuda

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon Trip Report
« Reply #223 on: May 02, 2015, 11:27:26 PM »
aaaaaand we're back!

Rome

We drove back from Gibraltar to Seville on Motzai Shabbos and stayed once again at the AC Hotel Sevilla Torneo for 10K Marriott. They charged 7 Euro to park overnight in their indoor parking garage. It's kinda cool - you drive around behind the building and there's an elevator back there that you actually drive into, and it brings you down to the parking lot!

We didn't get much sleep that night as we had driven for a few hours to Seville and had to wake up bright and early to catch our 9:35AM flight to MAD connecting to FCO. We filled up with gas at a station we passed near the airport and then headed for Hertz. Unfortunately, we were turned down for USAA - they had no idea what it was. I know I mentioned this before, so just a recap - we paid the full price and after much haggling on the phone once we were back home, I got Hertz to split the cost of the underage fee with me (about $40). We checked in and were told there was a lounge, but we could not find it. It definitely was not where everyone was pointing us and where the map said, so we sat by the gate and I Davened Shacharis. Felt just as weird as Davening in the MUC lounge and frankly as weird as when I Davened by a gate in MIA once. Whatever, you do what you gotta do. For breakfast we had some rugelach that our Shabbos hosts had given us as food for the road. We got to MAD quickly and caught the noon flight on IB to FCO. IIRC correctly (unfortunately, writing this TR so late has made me forget details) these seats were not the 3 seats with the middle blocked off, but were 2 larger seats that were a step above that intra-Europe J class. We were given PSPs (PlayStation Portables) to watch movies on - kinda cool! For lunch we had the deli that we bought in Gibraltar and had kept in our hosts’ fridge over Shabbos. After collecting our bags in FCO, we started figuring out how to get to the hotel. I knew there was a paid hotel shuttle, but it ran on a schedule that didn’t work with our schedule. We were heading towards the cabs when we got hounded by a bunch of shuttle services that were very Israeli-esque in terms of trying to just get you into their shuttle. Everyone offered the same price of 20 Euro pp, but one guy that convinced us said he would drive us alone and in his Mercedez (or something fancy like that). He was the clear winner.

The Sheraton Roma is about 20 minutes from the airport and another 15-20 minutes from the city, but it was just 7K SPG a night (plus about $8/night city tax), which was super cheap for a 4 night stay - remember we were trying to make our points go far, not fancy. The hotel was nice, but a bit dated, and the front desk clerk gave us passes for free wifi as our honeymoon gift. Sure, we'd have loved a suite, but throughout our trip, we were more than happy to get free wifi as a gift. I thought that we could catch the New Rome Free Walking Tour  which is at 5:30PM daily, but we were tired from the lack of sleep the night before and the 2 flights, that we decided to just stay in. Our room looked out over the pool - which was nice - but there was some party/event going on that night. It was loud throughout the night with tons of people down there. I also thought we would make it to the city for dinner and even found out the time for Mincha/Maariv at the Great Synagogue, but yeah, that didn't happen. Watched some TV and had some more of the deli IIRC and called it a night. We didn't end up getting to do a first evening activity, but that didn't stop us from having a blast over the next 10 days as Italy was our favorite country in Europe!

Monday - Rome, Day 1

IIRC today was the first day that we needed to do laundry in Europe, so after waking up, we packed our laundry into a backpack and then headed out for Shacharis at the Great Synagogue. Taking the metro there was... terrible. The hotel was a 15 minute walk to the nearest metro (most of it walking on roads that didn't have sidewalks), and there was no clerk to help figure out how to buy metro passes/what kind we would need, so we just guessed with the machine. The train was covered in graffitti. Every inch. I never saw a grosser train in my life. I know we were in the suburbs (I guess?) but still, yuck. The ride was something like a 1/2 hour and then we had to walk another 15-20 minutes in Rome to get to the Jewish Ghetto/Shul. It's nuts how few metro stops they have in the city. The Great Synagogue is gorgeous. Man I wish they still built Shuls like this nowadays.


Great Synagogue of Rome, exterior


Great Synagogue of Rome, interior/Aron Kodesh


Great Synagogue of Rome, ceiling

Davening was in Nusach Italki, but easy enough to follow and was a regular speed. After Shul, I believe we took our first trip to the bakery for breakfast - but we did not like what we got. Basically, the Shul is on the outside "wall" of the Ghetto and the restaurants are all in one strip on a nice pedestrian street/square behind the Shul. The bakery is tiny and didn't have a lot of options. Across the street seemed to be another bakery, but it wasn't open the entire time we were there. We'll get to the other places when we get up to them.

Next, we went back to the Shul to meet Sarah from Jewish Roma for our Jewish Ghetto tour! Everyone on DDF talked about it being a highlight of their trip (whether with Jewish Roma or Rome For Jews) and it didn't disappoint. Even though we didn't have the owner, Micaela, we still had a great time. Sarah (who was born in Rome!) was incredibly knowledgeable, spoke English well, and did a great job explaining everything. The reason why people say a tour is awesome here is because this little area of 1-2 streets looks just like any other streets, but when a tour guide explains (with maps and diagrams) how the area used to look and points out how much more enclosed the area was, you get a feel for the Ghetto life that is impossible to get just by walking around on your own. I can't compare JR to RFJ, but this was definitely great. I believe they charge around 90-100 euro pp but - and this is the reason we chose JR over RFJ - they were willing to let us go as students for just 50 euro assuming there were other people interested in a tour that day. There was - a nice group of about 6 other people - so yeah that was awesome for us! The tour lasted around  2-3 hours, included a brief visit to the Shul (something you can't do on your own except during Minyanim) and ended in the Shul's basement which houses a gift shop with some GORGEOUS stuff (that we ended up buying in Venice for much cheaper ;)) and the museum/archive. The 4 euro museum entrance fee was not included in the price of the tour. The museum had an incredibly vast collection of Judaica items from throughout Italy - Parocheses and Torah covers that were intricately designed as well as other classic items like Seforim and Kiddush cups. We definitely went through the museum faster than other groups we saw in there - although we were allowed to stay there after for as long as we wanted. We finished off by entering a second Shul attached to the museum (again in the basement of the Great Synagogue) which was more the size of a Beis Medrash, and I believe she said it's still in use for certain Minyanim. Great, great tour.

After the tour, it was time for our first experience at BA"Ghetto Milky. Eating outside in the street/square was awesome and the food was delectable. We both agreed very quickly that they made the best pasta we ever tasted in our lives. My wife got the pecorino cheese and black pepper pasta dish and was blown away by it. I think she still has daydreams about it. I can’t remember the dish I had, hehe, but believe me it was great! The food was reasonably priced (this meal cost $52) and well worth the money! If you’ve seen me in the Rome thread, you’ll know I speak very highly of the food here.
(We avoided the meat places due to the Kashrus concern of Italians not eating Glatt meat - although some restaurants do offer Glatt as an option, but that sounded a bit sketchy. Additionally, our Rabbi said we could rely on Rabbi Eidlitz from Kosher Quest who gave me the number for a Rabbi in Milan who told me IIRC to stick with the dairy places in Rome. Anyway, the dairy places were great, so we didn't regret missing out on the meat at all.)

After lunch, we walked to the Colosseum (probably like a 20-25 minute walk) for our Colosseum/Roman Forum tour with City Wonders. We booked the tour on Musement ahead of time for $50/person. We were a bit late but we found the group and were the last 2 to arrive, but hey no one said anything to us, hehe. The tour was very professional, with headsets to hear the guide since there were 20-30 people in the group, BUT the tour wasn't great. The guide had a pretty strong accent and wasn't particularly interesting. We got to skip the line, although I didn't notice there to be too much of a line anyway. The Colosseum was much bigger than I anticipated - I mean it really is the size of a large arena.


Colosseum, interior


Colosseum, interior

The outside of the Colosseum was covered in scaffolding, unfortunately, and it looked like we hadn’t left NYC. :) I managed to get one shot without scaffolding. I was surprised to see all the holes and found out that’s because they used to be filled with iron clamps that have since been removed. At the bottom of the pic, you can see people dressed up as gladiators - they're all over the place and will take a picture with you for a nice tip. They may or may not be as creepy as the knock-off Disney characters in Times Square.


Colossem, exterior

We didn't really love the tour - we didn't think she added much more than we had already known from Gladiator lol. Doing it again, and I would opt for the free Rick Steve’s audio tour. Once you exit, you walk about 5 minutes to the entrance to the Roman Forum, which is basically an outdoor section/park that has been left untouched since the days of yore - meaning that it's basically a park of ruins. She pointed out different structures/ruins and explained what the buildings once were, but we were outside in the sun and found this part to be extremely boring. We didn't hit up every spot in this park, but finally we made it towards the "goal" - the Arch of Titus.

At this point, the guide announced that we would be hiking up a mountain to see a final few ruins and we quietly told her we were going to finish up on
our own. Not sure really what the deal is with tipping tour guides, but we didn't... gulp!

We stayed by the Arch for a while, contemplating what it represented. Here we were, standing in a city that has so much proof of the greatness it once held. How many other cities have SO many ruins of such large structures!? Look at the arch that was built by a man to showcase his triumphant victory over Israel! Look at how he even carved the Menorah that he proudly carried away onto his arch – to forever show how great he was! And then take a second look. All around you. Everything is… ruins. Nothing is left. No one today claims to be from the Ancient Romans. Yet, those people… those people who were beat down – US – we’re still here today. Smiling under your arch.
I know I wasn’t the first to share such feelings, but boy was it powerful standing there.


Arch of Titus


Menora on Arch of Titus

After a short while, we headed for the exit (which was extremely hard to find for some reason) and made our way back to the Ghetto for dinner.


Nice view while walking back to the Ghetto

When we got back to the Ghetto, we were hot and it wasn’t exactly dinner time, so we decided to get some Gelato (7 euro for the 2 of us), which was great and refreshing, but I didn't think it was any better than real ice cream back home. We then went to the Kosher Delight grocery store to see what they had. It’s very small, they had some packaged meat (not Glatt), deli, random Israeli snacks/crackers as well as some fancy cheeses (that I know Yehoshua stocked up on). We picked up some items that we could turn into dinner at the hotel (hey, save some money) and use for meals on the road. We then found a laundromat a few minutes from the Ghetto and put in our laundry. We played on my phone and checked out some street vendors while waiting. When laundry was done, there was still a bit of time till Mincha/Maariv and we were exhausted from our first day, so we decided to just head back to the hotel (an unfortunate decision we came across several times in Rome due to our hotel being so far from “town” and Shkia being so late - close to 8:30). We never ended up taking the hotel’s shuttle from town back to the hotel at night as the timing just never worked out well.

Tuesday - Rome, Day 2

Day 2 was a late wakeup day. After Davening in the hotel, we began our “journey” back to town. We got there shortly before lunchtime and decided it was time to try out Yotvata. While all the Kosher restaurants we saw were in the 1-2 streets of the Ghetto, Yotvata is about 2 blocks away from the Ghetto, also on a small quiet street. We got there before they were officially open, but they let us in and we got to sit outside in the beautiful weather. My wife decided to get a dish similar to her pecorino cheese/black pepper pasta from BA”Ghetto, and she liked the one at BA”Ghetto better, although this one was definitely good, too. I opted for a pizza, and it was delish! Lunch cost $33 – nicely priced.


Pizza and pasta at Yotvata

After lunch, it was time for the Vatican. The Ghetto is kind of centrally located between Old Rome (Colosseum) and the Vatican, with about a 20-25 minute walk to either of the 2, so we walked to the Vatican. After much back-and-forth on the forums, we decided to save some money and not to go with a tour. And, as anyone who read the Rome thread knows, we didn’t like it. I should point out that I didn’t notice any lines to get in. Most people say the lines here are crazy, but just like by the Colosseum, I didn’t find that to be the case. We just walked in, found the booth to buy tickets (~$7 a person and we passed on the audio guides) and then were in. Was surprising and nice. The Vatican Museums (the stuff people visit) is made up of many sections/rooms, with each one being its own “museum” focusing on a different era/location. One issue we had is that without a guide, we didn’t really feel like there was much of an order to go from one section to the next. So, that made it a little difficult to navigate and is the reason why we never even found the Sistine Chapel, let alone deal with exiting the Vatican via the emergency exit to avoid the chapel as others have written about. Some rooms were great. We enjoyed the Egyptian museum with its great artifacts. However, we found a lot of the rooms boring. Paintings didn’t interest us, especially the super religious ones, and some rooms were just full of so many busts of people we never heard of, that we were like, “okay…” Seeing some famous people was cool, I’ll admit, but overall, we weren’t too impressed. It’s definitely possible that the audio guide or a real guide would have drastically changed our experience. For some reason, I didn’t think about Rick Steve’s (I only planned to use it on our trip when we got to the Louvre because I heard that it was great specifically there), but if I did it again, that’s probably how I would go. At one point, you can head out to the courtyard in the middle of the museums, and in the heat of the day and with being tired from all the walking, I… umm… fell asleep at the Vatican.


Sleeping at Vatican

We continued walking around the museums and then thought we had seen everything and were getting close to the chapel – maybe we would peek in? – but then we turned around and saw that we were right back where we started, just a few steps from the entrance. Clearly, we didn’t follow the order well (so adventurous!) and didn’t have to deal with walking “all the way back through” the museums to get out as others warned would happen if you couldn’t get the guard to let you out the emergency exit near the chapel.

After the Vatican, we used Google Maps to find a bus to the Trevi Fountain (which was unfortunately turned off and covered with scaffolding) and then walked about 10 minutes to the Pantheon (only peeked in due to it still being a functioning church) and then walked about another 10 minutes to the Ghetto.


Pantheon

Right outside the Pantheon was a little kiosk with an Israel flag next to it! But the kiosk was covered and had a little sign on it.


Closed kiosk

That sign was to be found outside all the Kosher/Jewish establishments that day, and it announced that due to the kidnapping of the 3 boys in Israel, all stores would be closed for a few hours as a “moment of silence” and that there would be a community-wide Tefilla gathering at the Great Synagogue that evening.


Sign, up close

We continued on till we got back to the Ghetto and were hoping to get an early dinner at BA”Ghetto, but it was closed still (well past the time listed on the sign), so we opted for some more Gelato while waiting (only 4 euro this time). Eventually, they opened back up and we had yet another scrumptious dinner with the best pasta we’ve ever tasted. :) My wife went for the pecorino cheese again (can’t blame her!) while I asked if they could make a custom order of spicy marinara and penne pasta – to which they gladly obliged! This meal came out to $40.

After dinner, we went to the Great Synagogue for Mincha/Maariv (they make you check your cellphone before you enter – remember, no pictures!) and when we came out, there were hordes of people going in. Someone explained to us that there was a Tefilla ceremony for the 3 boys and now the signs (which we didn’t understand before) made sense. We made the trek back to the subway, and finally made it back to the hotel for the night.

Wednesday - Rome, Day 3

Day 3 was, unfortunately, another late wake up. I kinda knew that would happen as we were scheduled to pack out of the hotel and pick up our car rental in the morning, but what can ya do. Because we were taking our bags (remember just 2 carryons and 2 backpacks) with us, we decided to take a taxi to the Hertz in town. Something seems off about this number, but my notes say the cab only cost 13 euro. Not sure why we didn’t take it more often if that was the case, but nu nu. It took a little bit of time for them to put the paperwork together and this was when they informed me that just like in Spain, they never heard of USAA before. Gulp. As with Spain, we dealt with it and eventually (read: months later) got $40 back from Hertz. Our little automatic/manual Fiat pulled up and the driver was surprised and impressed how we pulled off ordering an automatic. Thank you helpful DDFcars .com guys. :) We packed up our stuff and began what was a scary trip out of Rome. I’m completely fine driving in NYC. I live there, I parallel park all the time, I deal with the double parked cars and the one way streets. But something about the streets of Rome, the non-English signs, the drivers, got to me and it was a frustrating trip till we got to the highway. The highway was a regular highway, but it still wasn’t a super pleasant experience. We opted for a rental car because we wanted to hit up our last “Rome” activity, an hour outside of Rome, and visit Florence and Pisa on the way to Venice, which just kinda gets tough to do with trains. The 3-day car rental came out to around $375 including gas. Not too cheap, but it was an automatic which is expensive in Europe.

After about an hour’s drive (passing a 2 euro toll), we arrived in the city of Tivoli to visit Villa d’Este fountain gardens, which was suggested by Ergel. If I thought driving in Rome was tough, man these tiny, tiny, TINY streets were incredibly hard to navigate. The roads were so narrow at points, that I literally thought I was driving on “roads” that only people were supposed to walk on. But then, I would go a little further and the road would widen out again and I saw cars. It was weird and stressful. The GPS also did not do a great job of finding Ville d’Este, so we ended up driving past it and parked the car literally on the side of the road where we saw a makeshift parking lot (just cars parked near each other) and prayed that the car would still be there when we got back. We walked a couple of minutes around the town and asked our way till we found the entrance.

When you first enter Villa d’Este (11 euro pp), you are inside an old house/mansion. Although we love those kind of places, we were here for the gardens, so we walked through pretty quickly. When you get to the “backyard” you’re blown away by how large the gardens are – several stories high! As you walk around and down, you pass by lots of interesting fountains and some great views. I’ll let all the pictures do the talking.


For your own safety


Kinda weak fountain with a gorgeous view behind it


Some fountains were funny


So my wife took them and made an artistic photo


The sun doing some funky things and the “house” that you pass through to enter the gardens


My brute strength holding down the water

   
View from the edge of the gardens

Finally, the center of the gardens houses the main attraction and, for it alone, a trip to Tivoli is made worthwhile.


Main fountains


Close up of the main fountains


Behind the main fountains, with a nice rainbow

Absolutely gorgeous!!!! Thanks for the suggestion Ergel! We had a blast here and took our time, including eating some lunch that we brought from Rome. We walked back to the car and drove another 2 hours or so (passing a 14 euro toll – and you thought the GWB was expensive!) till we got to our hotel for the night in Arezzo, the AC Hotel Arezzo. We didn’t have any plans to hang out in Arezzo, but I saw that it was on the way to Florence, which didn’t have any cheap points hotels, so I figured a pit stop for the night wouldn’t be a big deal – and it wasn’t. The hotel was like all the other AC’s we stayed in – sleek, modern, and just a generally nice hotel, and we paid with a Marriott free cat. 1-5 certificate for the night.

That’s all for Rome! May the next installment come out sooner than this one did! :)

Offline Yehoshua

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon Trip Report
« Reply #224 on: May 03, 2015, 12:46:41 AM »
Wow, great installment @Yehuda! Thanks for the shout out.  You're right, I did stock up, but my stock piles are dry now. I have to wait another 8 weeks until I can stock up again  :).

Offline SOS

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon Trip Report
« Reply #225 on: May 03, 2015, 01:32:07 AM »
Wow I didn't think we would ever see the next installment

Offline Yehoshua

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon Trip Report
« Reply #226 on: May 03, 2015, 01:52:15 AM »
Wow I didn't think we would ever see the next installment
The next one is the one I want to see the most (in terms of what's included ;)), although at this point in time the Paris one would be a lot more practical.

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon Trip Report
« Reply #227 on: May 03, 2015, 02:05:48 AM »
Wow really nice!

Offline @Yehuda

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon Trip Report
« Reply #228 on: May 03, 2015, 07:07:37 AM »
Wow, great installment @Yehuda! Thanks for the shout out.  You're right, I did stock up, but my stock piles are dry now. I have to wait another 8 weeks until I can stock up again  :).
Wow I didn't think we would ever see the next installment
Wow really nice!
Thanks guys! Glad you enjoyed.

The next one is the one I want to see the most (in terms of what's included ;)), although at this point in time the Paris one would be a lot more practical.
I think you're forgetting I went to Florence and Pisa before Venice ;)

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon Trip Report
« Reply #229 on: May 03, 2015, 09:59:22 AM »


I think you're forgetting I went to Florence and Pisa before Venice ;)
Valid point. Ok, so I'm waiting for Venice.

Offline @Yehuda

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon Trip Report
« Reply #230 on: May 04, 2015, 03:50:55 PM »
Florence

As previously written, we rented a car in Rome and drove up Italy, stopping in Tivoli, Florence and Pisa on the way. If you were to drive straight from Rome to Florence, you can do it in under 3 hours. Because there weren't any hotels in Florence that had cheap points options for the points we had, we stayed the night in the city of Arezzo at the AC Hotel Arezzo. Arezzo is basically on the way from Tivoli to Florence, so we figured it would be a good place to spend the night, and it was. The hotel was like all the other AC’s we stayed in – sleek, modern, and just a generally nice hotel, and we paid with a Marriott free cat. 1-5 certificate for the night.

In the morning, we set out for Florence, about an hour's drive, making our total time on the road from Rome to Florence about 4 hours - so, as you can see, our stops really weren't too far out of the way. We passed by another toll (4 euro), so in total, we paid about 21 euro in tolls going from Rome-Florence. Not sure how much it would be if you drive straight.

Our first stop was the Great Synagogue of Florence, which has short tours every 1/2 hour alternating between English and Italian. I believe the Shul's website is where I found out about a nearby parking lot and paid 21 euro for the day. The Great Synagogue doesn't allow pictures inside, unfortunately, so we had to check our phones, etc. by security. The entrance ticket cost about $7 a person (tour or no tour), and it's valid for a few other Synagogues in Italy, including Venice (although we didn't end up taking a tour there). Just like in Rome, the Shul is enormous and gorgeous. The interior is much less colorful than Rome's, but it's almost entirely designed out of wood and is beautiful in its own right. We happened to get there just in time for an English tour, so that was great, but the tour wasn't incredibly spectacular - just a local talking briefly about the history of the Shul. I believe she mentioned that during WWII, the Shul was captured by the Nazis and used as a storage place for motorcycles and other war materials and, for some wonderful reason, was never destroyed. Again, IIRC, a fire took down some of the building at one point, but the community raised the funds necessary for the repairs. After the tour, you can go upstairs to see the "museum", which is really just a small room with some Jewish/Shul-related artifacts (with English captions/explanations). The museum is not "must-see". Next to the Shul is Ruth's Restaurant, which has had (see the Florence thread) controversy over its Kashrus, so we just avoided it. There is a Chabad house just down the block as well, but it was closed when we were there (not that they would have had food anyway).


Great Synagogue of Florence, exterior

From the Great Synagogue, Google Maps helped us make our towards Ponte Vecchio. We passed by a small convenience store that had the cheapest water and soda we found on our entire trip. We stopped at some shops selling clothes outside and just wandered the streets until we made our way to the bridge. The streets of Florence have that wonderful charm of European cities. We passed by some of the famous Florence museums, but we decided to pass on them. We saw the fake David statue as well as a few others just chilling in the square. As you get closer to the bridge, you notice that you're basically walking into a busy market. Stores and salesmen are selling all sorts of items from clothes to jewelry to food, and it's fun to walk through. We weren't looking for anything in particular, and we didn't end up buying anything. The bridge is cool in that it's a pedestrian bridge that has built-up storefronts on both sides that kind of enclose you in this bridge-market. Unfortunately, I didn't get a good picture of the bridge. However, I did get a nice shot from the bridge looking out (to a different bridge in the distance). Pretty sweet timing that the kayaker was just passing by.


View from Ponte Vecchio

We continued to walk around Florence as we headed back to our car. I believe we ate lunch back in the car from stuff we picked up at the grocery in Rome. Half a day in Florence was great. If you're into art, the museums here could help you fill a full day and even make staying the night worthwhile, but we weren't so interested and just enjoyed our morning. Off to Pisa!

Offline morgs

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon Trip Report
« Reply #231 on: May 04, 2015, 04:04:24 PM »
Wow the installments are coming to quick for me to keep up with ;D. Thanks so much for still putting the effort in to finish this up-really enjoyable read!!

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon Trip Report
« Reply #232 on: May 04, 2015, 04:13:00 PM »
Wow the installments are coming to quick for me to keep up with ;D. Thanks so much for still putting the effort in to finish this up-really enjoyable read!!
Hehehe :)
My pleasure. I hope to keep moving forward now that busy season is over. It will probably still take a long time, though. We're 3.5 weeks into the trip. 3 more to go! lol

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon Trip Report
« Reply #233 on: May 04, 2015, 04:19:41 PM »

It will probably still take a long time, though. We're 3.5 weeks into the trip. 3 more to go! lol
according to my calculations about another 10 months (assuming there are no extra interruptions of course) ;D ;D ;D

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon Trip Report
« Reply #234 on: May 04, 2015, 04:22:33 PM »
according to my calculations about another 10 months (assuming there are no extra interruptions of course) ;D ;D ;D
Well I have 5 weeks if I want to finish it before the 1 year anniversary of the beginning of the journey.

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon Trip Report
« Reply #235 on: May 04, 2015, 04:25:20 PM »
Well I have 5 weeks if I want to finish it before the 1 year anniversary of the beginning of the journey.
then y'all better get workin'!!!

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon Trip Report
« Reply #236 on: May 04, 2015, 04:46:27 PM »
A shame you didn't go see the David. It's really a site to behold, even if you don't like art
Life isn't about checking the boxes. Nobody cares.

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon Trip Report
« Reply #237 on: May 04, 2015, 04:53:50 PM »
A shame you didn't go see the David. It's really a site to behold, even if you don't like art
I thought about it, and I think I found entrance tickets for something like $15-18 a person, but just couldn't justify it. I'm not sure that we really would have been wowed. We saw famous sculptures in the Louvre and only because my wife studied them in Art History did we feel a need to stand there for more than a minute. So I imagine - and yes, I know I didn't go - that seeing the David would have been similar, except very pricey.

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon Trip Report
« Reply #238 on: May 04, 2015, 04:57:42 PM »
I thought about it, and I think I found entrance tickets for something like $15-18 a person, but just couldn't justify it. I'm not sure that we really would have been wowed. We saw famous sculptures in the Louvre and only because my wife studied them in Art History did we feel a need to stand there for more than a minute. So I imagine - and yes, I know I didn't go - that seeing the David would have been similar, except very pricey.
It's hard to explain if you haven't seen it. But it's like no other piece of art that I've seen
Life isn't about checking the boxes. Nobody cares.

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Re: @Yehuda's Israel/Eurotrip Honeymoon Trip Report
« Reply #239 on: May 04, 2015, 04:59:15 PM »
It's hard to explain if you haven't seen it. But it's like no other piece of art that I've seen
I hear ya.