Author Topic: Nescafe Italy/London Honeymoon  (Read 18160 times)

Offline nescafe

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Re: Nescafe Italy/London Honeymoon
« Reply #20 on: September 27, 2016, 06:52:43 PM »
At the rate your going I'm going to miss out!!

I'm leaving 11/15 to London!
PM me if you want any info. I can give you a "crash course" of what we did

Offline davidmal

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Re: Nescafe Italy/London Honeymoon
« Reply #21 on: September 27, 2016, 08:05:23 PM »
PM me if you want any info. I can give you a "crash course" of what we did
Thanks!!
-DMC
"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it ~Ferris Bueller"

Offline nescafe

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Re: Nescafe Italy/London Honeymoon
« Reply #22 on: September 27, 2016, 11:08:55 PM »
Wednesday:

We started the day bright and early as we had to be out of the hotel by 8:00 in order to reach the Colosseum before 8:30 for our Ancient Rome Tour. We booked this tour through Walks of Italy a few weeks earlier. We chose WOI as this worked best with our schedule and we got the best price. After applying a 10% discount code that I found online, the cost was $115 for the two of us (all entrance fee tickets included). During our walk to the Colosseum, we passed by Piazza Venezia and stopped for some pictures. Arriving to the Colosseum, a police officer was kind enough to direct us where to our meeting point.

Throughout the tour we visited the Colosseum, Roman Forum, Arch of Titus, Palatine Hill & Arch of Constantine. (An exact list can be found on WOI website). We were glad that we brought along a big bottle of water since it was very hot and prices for water near the sites were way overpriced. Overall, we were greatly satisfied with our choice to use WOI as we walked away with a clear understanding of Roman History. Our three hour tour ended at about 11:30 in the Roman Forum. At that point, we were given the option to stay but we decided to head to the Ghetto since we had skipped breakfast that morning and were starving.

We reached Yotvata just as they were opening for the day. We ordered Bruschetta with toasted cherry tomatoes, tuna and arugula (€3.50) and Grilled salmon steaks (€20) which was served with 2 slices of fish so it was enough for the two of us. Still feeling the need for some sweets, we stopped for some Gelato. We chose a milchige ice cream since someone we met in Rome informed us that they verified with the Chabad in Rome and that the ice cream was Chalav Yisroel. (**Disclaimer** please verify on your own).

After lunch, we stopped into our hotel for a few minutes to relax before heading out for our half hour walk to the Vatican. We booked a tour with JR the day before as we were very satisfied with their Jewish Ghetto Tour. After confirming our slot in the group, I was sent a link to the Vactican website with instructions to purchase tickets to the museum for that specific time. The price for the tickets was €16/€8 with student ID (ID required) plus an additional €4 online processing fee per ticket. Upon arrival to the designated meeting spot, we were greeted by our guide, Marco, who seamlessly guided us through the millions of people (so it felt) waiting to enter the museum. We were very glad that we chose JR for our Vatican Tour as Marco explained everything with a Jewish perspective. He even tried to get us in to the section where Jewish artifacts are kept, however to our misfortune, that section was closed at the time. Marco led the way for about 2 hours through the many rooms in the museum pointing out many different interesting things along the way.

Before arriving to the Sistine Chapel, we notified Marco that we would not be entering and he showed us how to exit without walking through the Chapel. There was a guard standing at that exit who was not too keen to allow anyone to exit without going through the Sistine Chapel. However, he finally agreed after we explained that we may not enter due to religious reasons. (This worked for others in our group that wanted to exit as well). After our group emerged from the Sistine Chapel, we headed for St. Peter’s Basilica (which we didn’t enter either). Our tour ended at about 5:30 in the courtyard outside the Vatican museums, where we paid our guide for the tour (€50 pp- student rate).


Exhausted, we made our way back to our hotel for some rest prior to Mincha/Maariv at the shul. We then, yet again, made our way to the Ghetto for Mincha/Maariv and dinner at Ba’Ghetto Milky. We ordered a sprite for DW and a Cappuccino (having learned my lesson with Italian coffee) for me. For the main course we ordered Ravioli filled with ricotta cheese and spinach in tomato sauce, basil and parmesan. We also ordered Sea bream (Italian style) with cherry tomatoes and sage. After such delicious food, we couldn’t resist ordering tiramisu again (who knows when we’ll be back in Rome)!! Yet again, we were very pleased with the food in Ba’Ghetto Milky.


Visiting the Trevi Fountain at night is a must! We made our way there after dinner. It was so interesting to see the difference between day and night. There were many people there even at that late hour. I guess everyone felt the need to see the Trevi Fountain all lit up! After taking pictures, we made our way back to our hotel.

Next up….. Day #3 in Rome/Flight to London

Offline nescafe

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Re: Nescafe Italy/London Honeymoon
« Reply #23 on: December 13, 2016, 10:24:11 PM »
Took a while but here I am with the next segment. Hope to finish in the next few days

Offline nescafe

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Re: Nescafe Italy/London Honeymoon
« Reply #24 on: December 13, 2016, 10:30:28 PM »
Thursday:


Being that this was our last day in Rome, we kept our day free to roam (no pun intended) the streets and buy souvenirs and breathe in the Roman atmosphere.  We took our time in the morning packing up our stuff and having a light breakfast. At about 10:30 we checked out of our hotel, leaving our luggage at the concierge.

As mentioned earlier in the TR, I had promised DW that we would be back to the Fiumi Fountain/Piazza Navona for pictures, hence the reason that we headed there first! We sat around watching the bustle of tourists passing through the square. We then walked around through the narrow streets shopping for souvenirs and just enjoying the sights.

At about 12:00 our stomachs started signaling that it is time for our last meal in Rome for this trip. We made our way to Ba’Ghetto Milky where DW got a sprite and I got a cappuccino (not messing up the coffee this time!) We then ordered Fettuccine ai 4 formaggi alla crème di tartufo which was sort of like fettuccini Alfredo (€14) and Salmon with citrus cream and pink pepper (€18). Yet again, our dishes were delicious!

By the time we finished eating, it was closer to 2PM, so we started heading in the general direction of our hotel to fetch our luggage. On the way, we stopped into the kosher grocery to buy a few bottles of Italian wine (PS. They are very good dry wines- and not expensive).

We had the hotel order a taxi for us for 2:30 to Ciampino Airport (flat rate of €30).  The ride took us about 25 minutes, which was shorter than the 45 minutes we were told the trip should take. This made us arrive at the airport with ample time to waste until our flight.

Passing through security, an officer stopped me and asked me to remove my yarmulke. After trying to explain that I cannot walk through security without any head covering, they took me into a room where they asked if I can show them my yarmulke, which I readily obliged. After checking it inside and out, he handed it back to me and let me continue on my way.

We hung around for some more time until it was time to board our flight. Since we were flying business plus, we had reserve seats (unlike all other passengers) and priority boarding. We sat in seats 1A and 1B.  The flight was short and pleasant but right before landing, the pilot announced that we will be circling in the air for about 30 minutes due to air traffic.

Upon landing, there was a very long line to pass through passport control. It took us almost an hour until we were able to fetch our luggage. Luggage in hand, we headed down to the Stansted Express, which we had reserved in advance (for £18.98) to take us to the Tottenham Hale station. From there, we took an Uber to Stamford Hill, where we stayed with family for the duration of our trip.  By the time we reached our destination, it was almost 10:00PM. After being served a delicious homemade supper, we crashed for the night.

Offline nescafe

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Re: Nescafe Italy/London Honeymoon
« Reply #25 on: January 03, 2017, 08:42:48 PM »
Friday:

Being that we had a pretty late night, I let DW sleep a bit late before waking her up to a lavish breakfast prepared by our dear family members that hosted us.  At about 11:00AM we headed to Clapton Common Road to catch a bus to the underground station. For the duration of our stay in London, we got around using public transportation. Instead of buying an oyster card (which is the pass to get on all busses/trains), one of our family members gave us a credit card to use which was registered to pay the special fares as when using an oyster card.

We took the underground (not sure which line) to the Tower of London. Tickets in hand, we went into the shop to get audio guides, which was well worth the money. We spent about 2 hours admiring the crown jewels and exploring the various towers and exhibitions. We then headed out to get some nice pictures at the Tower Bridge. From there, we made our way to the Horse Guards (which we had just missed), passed by Downing Street and arrived to the Big Ben. Many photo’s later, we realized it was late so we started our trek back to Stamford Hill to get ready for Shabbos.


Shabbos:

Shabbos was very beautiful! Was nice to spend time with family! Highly recommended  ;)


Sunday:

Sunday morning we made an early start and yet again with the help of public transportation made our way to Vauxhall Station for the train to Windsor. For the train to Windsor, a special ticket was needed (cannot use oyster card). These tickets can be purchased at the station. We bought round trip tickets and hopped onto the next train. The whole travel time was approximately 2 hours (including transfers and waiting time). Arriving to Windsor, we followed the signs to the Castle. Arriving there, we realized that it would have been smarter to buy tickets in advance as the queue for tickets was very very long.  Due to the long line, many people (including us) tried buying tickets on the spot, which caused their site to crash. The wait was close to an hour! Finally, we got our tickets (audio guide was provided free of charge) and made our way to the castle. We spent a few hours going through the many rooms in the castle which were all magnificent!

After leaving the castle, we spent some time window shopping and purchasing some souvenirs. After that, we headed back to the train station for the long trip home.

Arriving back in Stamford hill, we did some shopping (can’t come back from London without Thomy mayonnaise, Colemans mustard and some Kosher eggnog). Bags in hand, we made our way back to our hosts who prepared a lavish dinner/BBQ which was delectable!!! As coincidence would have it, a friend of mine got engaged to a British girl and his vort happened to have been that very Sunday that we were in London so I surprised him by attending!! For the remainder of the night we spent quality family time with our hosts.


Monday:

Since we were scheduled to fly home that day, we started the day early with packing our suitcases and a quick yet extravagant breakfast. (Thank you Dear Hostess). Due to everyone ranting and raving about the Fun London Tour, we booked for the Monday morning Changing of the Guard tour. Although this has been mentioned many times, I will yet again emphasize how amazing this tour was!!! I had been to the Changing of the Guards in the past but seeing it while being squashed at the gate is incomparable to the experience of the tour! Highly Recommended to all people of all ages! Upon the completion of the tour, we decided to pass by Big Ben yet again as there was a beautiful sky out and we wanted some better pictures. We then headed back to Stamford Hill where our hostess prepared a beautiful and elaborate lunch in celebration of our engagement anniversary which was that day!

Being that our flight was running on time and scheduled for 6:10PM, we ordered a cab for 2:30 to pick us up which would give us plenty of time to arrive at the airport on time.


Next up……. Our flight home……....or not!!!   

Offline nescafe

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Re: Nescafe Italy/London Honeymoon
« Reply #26 on: January 23, 2017, 10:47:21 PM »
Our Flight Home:

Turns out the traveling from Stamford Hill to LHR during the day takes much longer than we expected. After a 2 hour ride, we finally arrived to the airport with barely an hour and a half to spare until our flight. We ran to check-in our luggage as we didn’t want to miss our flight. Seeing that the lines were very long, I approached an agent and asked if we would be ok waiting on line and not miss our flight. The agent told us to wait while checking that our flight would be departing on time and told us that if by 5:00 we were still on line (which was about 15 minutes to go), she would push us to the front of the line (the line was for all departing BA flights).

Minute after minute passed when suddenly, at about 4:55PM, I feel my phone vibrate in my pocket. Upon retrieval, I was shocked to see that I had received a text message from BA notifying me (and everyone else) that our flight has been CANCELLED!!!!!!

Grabbing our luggage, with DW panicking by my side, I ran back to the agent to inquire about the cancellation. We were told that the plane “called in sick” so they will have to rebook all passengers. Being that we arrived late, and still hadn’t checked in our luggage, we were first in line to be rebooked. After a few minute wait on the line, we were ushered onto another line which was designated to rebook all passengers from our flight. I checked online and saw availability on different flights to NYC for that evening, but after a long argument with the agent, I was informed that no one will be rebooked on any of those flights since the prices were too high!! With so many frantic passengers (including DW), they called in the BA supervisor of LHR to help get the situation under control. Finally, the agent told us that our best option would be to take a 8:00AM flight to MAN with a connecting flight to NYC. They offered to put us up in a hotel for the evening but couldn’t promise that we would get kosher food delivered to the hotel. At this point, I contacted @ChAiM’l and asked him for his help! He gladly called BA and after almost a half hour on the phone, he got them to rebook us for a direct flight the next afternoon. THANKS ChAiM’l!!! 

I then contacted the family members that we stayed by to check if it would be ok if we crashed for the night, as we were given the option to either take a hotel room or paid round trip car services to our place of choice. After confirming that it was ok, I ordered an uber and was more than glad to get back to Stamford Hill and have a warm supper.

Thankfully, there was no traffic on the way back and we were able to get back at a decent time and plan our additional unplanned day of vacation.

The next morning, we went out to the local bakery to purchase food for the flight as we were informed that we would not have KSML on board (due to last minute rebooking) Arriving back, our host surprised us with a fancy brunch before heading out to the airport.

We said our goodbyes, yet again and uber’d to the airport actually looking forward to just getting home!

Upon checking in, we received vouchers to buy food for our flight since they didn’t have kosher meals for us. Being that the only product we knew would be kosher was potato chips, we walked onto the plane with 8 big bags of potato chips!!!!!! These bags didn’t fit into our hand luggage so we walked onto the plane with a few shopping bags full of chips! Our fellow passengers weren’t sure what to make of us, but hey! The chips were delicious !!!!!

Upon arrival to JFK, we ordered a car service to takes us back home! 


THE END!!

Offline davidmal

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Re: Nescafe Italy/London Honeymoon
« Reply #27 on: January 24, 2017, 12:51:17 PM »
GREAT JOB!!!

WELL DONE!!
-DMC
"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it ~Ferris Bueller"

Offline nescafe

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Re: Nescafe Italy/London Honeymoon
« Reply #28 on: January 25, 2017, 09:44:55 PM »
GREAT JOB!!!

WELL DONE!!

Thanks!! Glad you made it till the end!!

Offline sruliL

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Re: Nescafe Italy/London Honeymoon
« Reply #29 on: January 25, 2017, 11:20:00 PM »
Great job! Love all the details.
Life's not about doing things good, its about doing good things.

Offline nescafe

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Re: Nescafe Italy/London Honeymoon
« Reply #30 on: January 26, 2017, 09:15:06 AM »
Great job! Love all the details.

Glad you enjoyed! I tried adding all the details that were important to me, which some of them I couldnt find on DDF before my trip!   :) :)

Offline shulem92

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Re: Nescafe Italy/London Honeymoon
« Reply #31 on: January 26, 2017, 10:47:31 AM »
Glad you enjoyed! I tried adding all the details that were important to me, which some of them I couldnt find on DDF before my trip!   :) :)
Thanx. That's the point of TR's. Great read!