Author Topic: Mr. And Mrs. Stbaum's Europe Trip 2016  (Read 19433 times)

Offline stbaum

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Re: Mr. And Mrs. Stbaum's Europe Trip 2016
« Reply #40 on: July 19, 2016, 03:13:17 PM »
Austria Day 3; part 1 and 2

Part 1- Sigmund - Thun - Klamm

STK is a hike that can be as long as you want. it's literally a 5 minute walk from the hotel so no need for a car, although they have plenty parking if you're coming from elsewhere. entrance fee is 'shput bilig' at €5,50 each. since we were were staying nearby, we used our hotel card (ask the front desk) for a discount and paid €4,80 each. i don't know why it's so cheap, they could easily ask for €10 and it would still be a metziya. (side note- they only accept cash)




the beginning starts with people walking single file through 2 mountains. words absolutely can not describe the beauty and wonder of the place so i'll have to try to communicate with images:



















this is the end of the short hike. you can leave from here or continue on the left side or the right. we went right


the lake where it all starts. yes. the water is exactly this color. if anyone knows why, please clue me in




from here you can go on to a wider, paved, lower path or a between-the-trees kind of path that looks more adventurous. i took the more difficult path and dh followed begrudgingly  ;D hey, with no gym for over a week you gotta work off all those calories somehow, right?




Austrian flags are everywhere









at the top you need to turn back around and go back the way you came. i wanted to continue on the easy path but dh had had enough. we went back the way we came to the massive waterfall. i ran up to the left side to see if there was anything interesting there that i might have missed.




on the way back down

we didn't see any souvenir shops which was a bit disappointing. i did pick up a pretty rock and decided to start a collection of small rocks from wherever i go.


Day 3 part 2

we finished our hike around 3 so it was still really early. my husband was done with walking for the day so we asked the front desk what else there is to do and she sent us to Großglockner-Hochalpenstraße. it's basically a mountain with a round winding all the way up. it has little spots along the way to park the car to take pics or have a picnic. cost: €35 per car.


entrance




i don't even remember if this is our car or not. still a cool shot




at 2439 meters (8,000 feet) we thought we were at the top, turns out you can go still higher than that



we got out of the car and went upstairs to a little souvenier shop. they have a bit further up you can go by foot to another platform. there is also a hill you can physically climb up that i went up 4 steps and almost cried because i tried getting down and couldn't find where to put my feet. there aren't any gates or guardrails there so if you fall......


my husband went though!


at the very highest point you can drive

And that's a wrap for Austria!
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Offline Luvtotravel

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Re: Mr. And Mrs. Stbaum's Europe Trip 2016
« Reply #41 on: July 19, 2016, 03:51:43 PM »
really beautiful pics
Don't wait for the perfect moment; take the moment and make it perfect.

Offline stbaum

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Re: Mr. And Mrs. Stbaum's Europe Trip 2016
« Reply #42 on: July 19, 2016, 05:03:38 PM »
The final part; parte terza

Venice day 1

we woke up at 5:30 am in order to catch a 10:30 flight out of MUC.


worth the repost because... hello...?! i'm in love with this pic

i had arranged a night before to have breakfast waiting for us since they only start serving at 7am.


terrible pic but we were in a hurry

ride and car rental return was uneventful. we waited at the gate for about 1/2 hour. the flight from MUC > VCE was less pleasant than CDG > MUC due to a packed plane plus about 10 babies. no matter. it took all of one hour to reach Venice


first glimpse

I had prepaid for the Alilaguna boat bus and saved about 4 euros. i got a roundtrip for €25 each. i simply had to show my printout to the ticket counter and they issued the passes right away.
we took the blue line to San Marco. it was supposed to leave at 12:30 but left closer to 1300 (1pm). when we got on, the guy punching the tickets asked us for our stop. i guess he wrote them down or something because it didn't stop at all the stations it was supposed to and we made it to our stop on schedule at 1400 (2pm).


before i continue i just want to make a PSA: Venice is HIGHLY overrated. most romantic city, my foot. maybe it was because we were tired of our vacation by now. or because the heat was finally getting to us, or maybe it was because we came from perfect Austria. maybe it was homesickness or because i was missing my 4 year old daughter terribly. i don't know what the reason was, but we did not enjoy Venice. the whole city stinks. it's as if they litter the streets with dead fish. there are sooooo many people that the streets are incredibly crowded. at night it's a ghost town here. its as if the whole city is one big dark alley.

onto our fancy hotel:

we weren't able to get our room yet at the Westin because at 1400 it was still too early. we checked our bags with the concierge and ran to Gam Gam Goodies. the site and facebook says they close fridays at 1500. we got there with our neshoma in hand only to find out they close at 1830. great. we got some stuff for lunch and made our way back to the Westin. we got Frulala on the way back and it lived up to the high standards i was expecting. GGG OTH did not.

like the HR, i had emailed the GM in advance and told them it's our anniversary, hoping for an upgrade. we were able to get one and had a canal-side view room. we also got (non kosher) wine and fruit- see below




i have no idea who the Akselrod couple is, but the note inside said congrats on your 8 year anniversary...


one phone call to the front desk and we got them to unlock the window in order to open it all the way






what's up with the half shower door??!?!





I should have listened to Emkay. yes the Westin has a marble lobby. whoop-di-doo-dah.

walking to Chabad on shabbos was the absolute worst. it took way more than 1/2 hour each way. everyone will give you different directions, maps are useless too.
i had miscalculated and when the paper showed that the evening meal will be at 2040 i understood it to be 10:40. halfway there i was thinking how bizarre it was when i realized they meant 8:40. i had no idea what time it was but it was dark already. i don't know when we left either because for some odd reason, the Westin doesn't provide clocks at all in the room. so there i was, panicking that we'll show up to a dark and empty Gam Gam, hungry, tired, and HOT.
BH there were still people there and even though they were up to the meat/dessert, the Rabbi was totally fine with us showing up so late and we were seated right away. service was fast and efficient and before we knew it, we were walking back. this time it was less fun than the walk to the ghetto. the streets were mamish deserted. we were also a bit scared because after 5 people attempted to sell us roses, we saw the 6th guy headed our way and before he could try, my husband told him we're not interested. his response: i wouldn't sell to you anyway. i hate Israel and all Israelis. oh boy...

Day 2 and 3 coming soon
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Offline efflpetzel

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Re: Mr. And Mrs. Stbaum's Europe Trip 2016
« Reply #43 on: July 19, 2016, 06:51:14 PM »
Love this tr!

Offline Live N Learn

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Re: Mr. And Mrs. Stbaum's Europe Trip 2016
« Reply #44 on: July 19, 2016, 08:42:34 PM »
Love this tr!

+1 Detailed and to the point.
".איזהו חכם, הלומד מכל אדם"

Offline Luvtotravel

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Re: Mr. And Mrs. Stbaum's Europe Trip 2016
« Reply #45 on: July 19, 2016, 09:35:19 PM »
Don't wait for the perfect moment; take the moment and make it perfect.

Online Dawie

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Re: Mr. And Mrs. Stbaum's Europe Trip 2016
« Reply #46 on: July 19, 2016, 10:17:06 PM »
+1 Detailed and to the point.
incredible !!! thanx for all the detail!

Offline Denverite

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Re: Mr. And Mrs. Stbaum's Europe Trip 2016
« Reply #47 on: July 19, 2016, 10:22:07 PM »
and realistic!!

I know others do love it but I also literally could not get over the smell and that's the first thing I always tell people when they ask about the city. Maybe others don't notice or care or they went in the winter when the city doesn't stink so badly (again literally, not figuratively)! 😝

Offline yakrot

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Re: Mr. And Mrs. Stbaum's Europe Trip 2016
« Reply #48 on: July 20, 2016, 03:29:34 AM »
I know others do love it but I also literally could not get over the smell and that's the first thing I always tell people when they ask about the city. Maybe others don't notice or care or they went in the winter when the city doesn't stink so badly (again literally, not figuratively)!
I was there at the end of July a couple of years ago...I don't remember the smell at all so I can't swear that it didn't "stink" but I would think I would notice something like that...

Offline Zevi16

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Re: Mr. And Mrs. Stbaum's Europe Trip 2016
« Reply #49 on: July 20, 2016, 05:06:07 AM »
I was told summer in Venice smells due to the heat.

Offline stbaum

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Re: Mr. And Mrs. Stbaum's Europe Trip 2016
« Reply #50 on: July 20, 2016, 10:55:53 AM »
really beautiful pics
thank you

Love this tr!
Thx!

+1 Detailed and to the point.
i try :) thanks!

and realistic!!
i know, right? traveling is always fun but you can't expect it to be absolutely fabulous all the time... you just gotta take the good with the bad

I know others do love it but I also literally could not get over the smell and that's the first thing I always tell people when they ask about the city. Maybe others don't notice or care or they went in the winter when the city doesn't stink so badly (again literally, not figuratively)! 😝
yup! it really hits you when you step out onto the street

I was told summer in Venice smells due to the heat.
makes sense. the sun is attracted to water so the heat is even stronger there
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Offline Denverite

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Re: Mr. And Mrs. Stbaum's Europe Trip 2016
« Reply #51 on: July 20, 2016, 12:06:52 PM »
I was there at the end of July a couple of years ago...I don't remember the smell at all so I can't swear that it didn't "stink" but I would think I would notice something like that...

I wonder if it compounds and gets progressively worse throughout the summer, kind of like the trashcans in my garage...lol...a couple hot days early summer probably won't do it but even if you went on a cool day later in the summer it could still be horrendous from the build-up of the previous days!!

Offline yakrot

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Re: Mr. And Mrs. Stbaum's Europe Trip 2016
« Reply #52 on: July 20, 2016, 12:07:44 PM »
I wonder if it compounds and gets progressively worse throughout the summer, kind of like the trashcans in my garage...lol...a couple hot days early summer probably won't do it but even if you went on a cool day later in the summer it could still be horrendous from the build-up of the previous days!!
Could be. Definitely was very hot when I was there

Offline stbaum

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Re: Mr. And Mrs. Stbaum's Europe Trip 2016
« Reply #53 on: July 20, 2016, 12:11:50 PM »
Venice day 2 & 3

I honestly don't know when we woke up shabbos. could have been 7am, could have been 1630. how can a beautiful (albeit so incredibly old) hotel like the Westin not have clocks in the room? even the phone doesn't have a screen so you can't check the time there.

because of the time snafu of Friday night, the Rabbi wouldn't tell me when to be there in the morning. he said no matter what time i show up i'll be fine. i asked twice and he said not to worry about it.

we woke up, dressed and walked nice and slow, determined not to let the weather or the long way to Chabad, get to us. it's Shabbos in Venice for crying out loud! we're feeling blessed to be experiencing the world and getting to travel. ye, that feeling left us after walking for for sure over an hour and asking for directions. the guy made that face you make when you have bad news but don't mind giving it... he's like you need to walk to the other end of the city. go that way for about 30 minutes.

to beat the heat we kept going in to little shops that had the door open and pretended to look around just to enjoy the AC.

we finally got to Gam Gam and the place was empty. no worries, the Rabbi had assured us. we sit down and ask the waitress for ice and water. she says no problem but she can't serve us lunch. the kitchen is closed. apparently 'come any time' means up till 1300. now it was 1430. The waitress was a different one from the night before and she gave us some attitude. like she's been working here for a year and never heard of such a thing. she can pack us up some food to go if we want. yahoo. (that bad attitude continued on to Sunday evening so  we cancelled our dinner rezzi and went instead to Ghimmel Garden)

I don't know who the guy was that walked in but he looked like a local. I got the impression that he was the Rabbi's son or maybe son in law. anyway he just walks in and goes straight to the kitchen and starts packing up some stuff (not for us, the waitress was doing that). he sees us standing around and asked what's going on so we explained. he says we should take our food to the Yeshiva and there are people there with AC and tables... we're more than welcome to join.


Shul on Sunday. on Shabbos there were 3 long tables with benches and chairs


it was the best Shabbos afternoon ever. we felt so welcome at Chabad and comfy in the cool shul that we decided since it's so late already, we'll just stay the afternoon and then go back to Gam Gam for our third meal.

That Shabbos was Gimmel Tamuz so there were quite a few people in shul the whole afternoon. soon my husband made friends with a few yeshiva bochrim and i had a couple women there too. we shmuzed the afternoon away and before we knew it, it was time to make our way back down the street for dinner.

after the meal we went back to the square and there were tons of people there. it was so amazing to see girls and couples from everywhere and just randomly making conversation with other jews. the men tried to squeeze in to the shul but ended up spilling into the ghetto and there was another minyan that formed right there in the street.

after maariv everyone was outside and the Rabbi started a circle and all the men were singing and dancing and all i could think about is that i wished i had my phone to take some pics/video. my husband having made a few friends had a blast. a few people walking by took some pictures and it looked so beautiful looking in from the outside. here you have a whole bunch of yidden singing and dancing merrily like it's a holiday.

after Havdala (also made on the street) we got very clear directions from the Rabbi and made it back to the hotel in record time. we did stop to watch a cool street performer.


Sunday:

We checked our bags with the concierge and requested the free taxi to see Murano.


The factory that the free taxi takes you to


Some pictures i took sneakily










$50k and it's yours (although he took it down to 35k in the blink of an eye) including shipping to NY

On the Venice thread other members discuss the hard sell. we had no such thing. we watched the guy make a horse and the guide/owner showed us around upstairs then showed us to the gift shop downstairs. then when we were ready to leave he called the taxi to take us back to the Westin. easy peasy.

it was a nice little trip and it was free so why not. i didn't know the way back is free too so that was a pleasant surprise. we were going to take the bus back to the Ghetto, spend the rest of the day there, then walk back to San Marco, get our bags and take the airport bus from there. instead, we went back to the hotel, took our stuff and got the bus (€7 each) to take us within 5 minutes of the ghetto.

we dropped off our stuff in the shul (on our achreyis) and checked out Ghimmel Garden. it's a really pretty outdoor restaurant. we wanted a late lunch but they weren't serving anything yet. only drinks and stuff. so we got some strawberry 'ice cream'. not really ice cream. was more like super sweet sorbet


hub loved it. me not so much

We really wanted to try their food so we decided to make an 1800 reservation there instead of keeping our 1830 at GG. after walking around in (on?) Strada Nuova we went back to Ghimmel for our early dinner


we got Frulala on Strada Nuova. Delish!! a must try (€6 cash only)

Dinner at Ghimmel Garden was so good. we both love pasta and had yet to try real Italian pasta. this was our chance and i only regret not getting the risotto to go because i've never had dairy risotto (Nobo's is meh).


tagliatelle ai quattro formaggi- 4 cheese pasta. i added mushrooms. HEAVEN!!!


Italian Spaghetti (we later asked for Mozzarella to add to this). was good


Eggplant Parmigiana . very good!

after dinner we went to Gam Gam to get take-out for the flight/layover. they were out of everything beef so we got shnitzel. was nothing special but then again it's just shnitel.

the station to take the bus back to the airport doesn't have a ticket counter so if you don't have tickets make sure to get some before heading there.


addio , Venezia


some final thoughts:
  • America can learn from Europe in regards to the whole roundabout thing. it literally makes traveling so much easier.
  • I didn't experience the metro outside of Paris but it was only OK. the whole underground smells of piss.
  • The masks that are everywhere in Venice have a very long history that goes way back. I did learn that part of that history is that people would wear them and beat Jews outside of the ghetto during the war
  • if not for DDF (Dans Deals Family) i would never have traveled. i would not have known where to go or what to look out for, where to eat/daven, whats a must see and what to skip
  • again thanks to @vacationlover, @lubaby @emkay @yehoshua, and so many others that chimed in when i asked for help. thanks for the replies, the PMs, the suggestions and ideas
  • planning a trip takes a lot of work and has many details. take the time to plan and read up on where you want to go. make a basic outline and print all your itineraries!


Thanks for all the love, guys! this is my first TR and even though it's not upbeat 100% of the time i see it's appreciated. I did have a great time and it was really good to get away from life if only for a bit. plus i got to see so much in 10 days! i'm already excited for my next trip. i'm thinking China??
« Last Edit: July 20, 2016, 12:42:42 PM by stbaum »
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Offline Yehuda57

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Re: Mr. And Mrs. Stbaum's Europe Trip 2016
« Reply #54 on: July 20, 2016, 12:40:26 PM »
again thanks to @yehuda57

Great TR!

Thanks for the shout out, but you probably meant someone else. I didn't help with this trip - I don't know Europe. Plan a trip to South Africa, and I can help a little ;-)

Offline stbaum

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Re: Mr. And Mrs. Stbaum's Europe Trip 2016
« Reply #55 on: July 20, 2016, 12:43:24 PM »
Great TR!

Thanks for the shout out, but you probably meant someone else. I didn't help with this trip - I don't know Europe. Plan a trip to South Africa, and I can help a little ;-)

lol fixed. dunno who i meant then... oh well.
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Offline Moshe123

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Re: Mr. And Mrs. Stbaum's Europe Trip 2016
« Reply #56 on: July 20, 2016, 12:51:59 PM »
Great stuff! Thanks!

Offline Myccrabbi

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Re: Mr. And Mrs. Stbaum's Europe Trip 2016
« Reply #57 on: July 20, 2016, 03:59:46 PM »
Great stuff! Thanks!
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Offline username

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Re: Mr. And Mrs. Stbaum's Europe Trip 2016
« Reply #58 on: July 20, 2016, 04:39:27 PM »
Thanks for taking the time to write all this.
^^^

Offline Live N Learn

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Re: Mr. And Mrs. Stbaum's Europe Trip 2016
« Reply #59 on: July 21, 2016, 12:10:56 AM »
Wiki updated. I think it's much easier to read when it's all together. Hope it's okay. :-[
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