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Re: Israel Master Thread: Things To Do, Places To Eat
Great restaurant in Kiryat Ata. Cafe Gregg.rabanut mehadrin Service is phenomenal Food was great minus chips I've had fettuccine/pad thai/different salads Desserts out of this world Cost for 2 mains plus desert around 200ils December 28, 2016, 04:41:27 PM |
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Re: Israel & Bali: around the world in 17 days
The highlight of my morning is reading this TR. Thank you!
July 21, 2017, 02:22:25 AM |
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Re: Israel & Bali: around the world in 17 days
What happened to the final installment? My morning was not the same! 
July 27, 2017, 06:47:23 AM |
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Southwest tour with the....IN LAWS!!!
It all started with a small trip I arranged for my wife and her sisters to Cyprus for 4 days....one of my Brothers-in-law said "hey we should get away too" I could not agree more though was not sure he was the exact person I was looking to get away with....soon enough the trip went from me and him to include my wife's Father-Brother-Sister-Her Husband-Her Uncle and Aunt (No the wife did not come). Given my travels in the past I was voted to be the tour guide and arrange this trip for them. After much deliberation my final trip was going to be as follows for them: 11/5-TLV-CDG-LAX Air France $690 11/6 LAX-SJC Southwest $55 11/7 OAK-PHX Southwest $48 11/15 LAS-LAX Southwest $40 11/15 LAX-FCO-TLV Alitalia (Included in the 690) For my ticket it was more interesting. I had bought a United flight round trip on 12/16 I flew one way and then cancelled the return to earn credit for half the flight as I decided to book LX Business for the return. When I checked my credit to see what I had to go to LAX I found they had credit me the full flight back so right away I booked a round trip non-stop into Newark. After that I booked an economy award (12.5k) into SFO and for the return I booked a flight with Spirit LAS-EWR (paid to upgrade to the Big Seat $70) and then the United flight back. However I decided to spend some time in my old stomping grounds of Jersey and just booked a return with LX again in business back to TLV. Thank God my in-laws managed well into Los Angeles without issues. I had them booked in the Hyatt Regency at the airport for I believe 190 per room. I had told them to rent a car for a couple of hours to check out the city but they decided on crashing in the hotel and walking to Starbucks (or Coffee Bean). The next morning at around 4 they got up to go to the airport for the SouthWest flight into San Jose. I had arrived in San Francisco the night before and stayed at the Courtyard Marriott at the Airport. They were "officially fully booked" for any upgrades. The hotel was very nice and definitely comfortable for a nights sleep. The one thing to note is there is no shuttle late night. In the early morning around 715 I got picked up by Extranomical tours for my tour to Yosemite, we left to San Jose airport to go pick up the In-Laws in our private 15 passenger coach bus. After picking them up we left to Pars Kosher Market to pick up some Bread/Dips/Cold Cuts and the like for Lunch/Breakfast. The trip to Yosemite took around 3.5 hours from the Market in San Jose.  20171106_154250 by ProIsrael Israel, on Flickr 20171106_153816_HDR by ProIsrael Israel, on Flickr 20171106_153748_HDR by ProIsrael Israel, on Flickr 20171106_141303-EFFECTS by ProIsrael Israel, on FlickrBelow you can see the waterfall flowing even though the winter rains have not started yet:  20171106_135828 by ProIsrael Israel, on Flickr 20171106_134622 by ProIsrael Israel, on Flickr 20171106_133609 by ProIsrael Israel, on Flickr 20171106_133229_HDR by ProIsrael Israel, on Flickr 20171106_114732 by ProIsrael Israel, on Flickr 20171106_170257_HDR by ProIsrael Israel, on Flickr 20171106_160440 by ProIsrael Israel, on FlickrThis is a small picture of the comfortable coach bus with excellent drivers!!  20171106_155843 by ProIsrael Israel, on FlickrThere was a little mix up at the end of the trip as we had booked a night at the Crowne Plaza in Concord, however there is no kosher food in that area. Extranomical worked with us and hired an extra driver to drive us back to the hotel after supper at Sabra Grill in Downtown. Drivers can only drive for 10 hours, they have a timer attached to the car and he cannot legally go one minute past that time. Here is a really bad picture of the outside of Sabra  20171106_200942 by ProIsrael Israel, on FlickrSome pics of the Crowne Plaza hotel room:  20171106_220537 by ProIsrael Israel, on Flickr 20171106_220540 by ProIsrael Israel, on FlickrWe had paid USD $2,200 for the tour for 8 people. It also included a guided tour of San Francisco the next day. November 16, 2017, 01:22:17 PM |
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Re: Calling all large families
Any cap to 10k per kid per year? Seems like there is no limit....Pretty sure we can get elected to the BOE pretty quickly there as well. November 24, 2017, 01:24:33 AM |
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Re: Southwest tour with the....IN LAWS!!!
Link for my FIL and Uncle singing through the Gondola: https://youtu.be/jLgK0_2LtWo November 26, 2017, 10:06:59 AM |
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Re: Southwest tour with the....IN LAWS!!!
Day 10: Travel home...They had a afternoon flight with Southwest into Los Angeles to catch Alitalia back to Israel via Rome. My flight was at night with Spirit to Newark. I know...I know Spirit  but I did pay to upgrade to a big seat and took seat 1A It was plenty comfy to sleep most of the trip. Based on my memory this flight should take 5+ hours we ended up doing it in under 4 hours we landed an hour+ early! Usually that would be amazing but my ride was just waking up to get me when we landed so there was a nice wait until they showed up  . Day 11-12-13 Spent shabbos with my family...check out all the new building in crazy Lakewood. For my flight home I booked Swiss Business via Zurich. I thought it would be cool to take an 11 hour layover to see the spots. I landed and davened in the prayer room with a couple other people...in the middle w e started feeling back in Israel as a few cousins came in to pray as well. BH there was a mechitzah . I decided to partner up with someone to check out the city. We left the Airport took the train downtown (12 minute ride) Started to walk to Fein und Shein which was fantastic!! Pricing was surprisingly decent and portions were nice sizes as well. I thoroughly enjoyed both the walk there from the main station (Around 30 minute walk). After that I just took the trams all over the city to take in the sights before heading back to the airport to enjoy the lounge in Terminal E for a couple of hours. My main mistake (and the reason I cut short to go back to the airport) was the COLD, I was coming from the warm southwest and did not bring a coat. I survived with the Scarf-Head Cover you get from the Swiss Amenity kit. I did have one hiccup with Swiss Kosher Meal (besides the taste) As I was eating my greens there was hidden glass in the food and when I crunched on it shattered in my mouth...They did write a report about it but I am still waiting to hear about some kind of compensation from them. Thank you for reading!! Pic of the tunnel between terminals in ZRH  20171120_182117 by ProIsrael Israel, on Flickr 20171120_182114 by ProIsrael Israel, on FlickrYou can make out the Alps in the background here:  20171120_155752 by ProIsrael Israel, on Flickr20171120_155752 by ProIsrael Israel, on Flickr 20171120_155114 by ProIsrael Israel, on Flickr 20171120_155012 by ProIsrael Israel, on Flickr 20171120_154904 by ProIsrael Israel, on Flickr 20171120_143103 by ProIsrael Israel, on FlickrFood from the restaurant  20171120_140341 by ProIsrael Israel, on Flickr 20171120_140331 by ProIsrael Israel, on Flickr 20171120_135858 by ProIsrael Israel, on Flickr 20171120_133410 by ProIsrael Israel, on FlickrSurprisingly we did not get a gate on arrival from Newark and we needed to take the bus transfer to the Terminal:  20171120_055119(1) by ProIsrael Israel, on Flickr 20171120_052915 by ProIsrael Israel, on Flickr 20171119_214123 by ProIsrael Israel, on Flickr 20171119_214122 by ProIsrael Israel, on FlickrDecember 01, 2017, 03:18:57 AM |
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Re: Kosher Meals - Can we do better?
Here you go, someone get Jared Kushner and Ivanka to retweet this https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/kosher-food-airplanes March 06, 2018, 03:49:48 AM |
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Re: Ramada Resort Hadera Israel
Darn on the "499"!! The rate was unbeatable and the breakfast was amazing there. I stayed there Chanuka and we had a sefer torah and a nice size minyan as well. I thought for the price of under USD $100 it was awesome!
March 27, 2018, 05:01:38 AM |
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Pro-Israel Vienna-Prague TR
Decided on a last minute trip to central Europe. The basic plan was to land in Budapest Sunday Afternoon get some food and head off to Vienna by train(little under 3 hours) stay in Vienna until Monday late afternoon and take a train to Prague until Wednesday afternoon where I would go back to Budapest for the flight home. Found myself some relatively cheap tickets with Wizz Air got permission from DW and asked a cousin of mine if he would like to go away for a few days. Flight was into and out of Budapest for around 130$ I paid for priority and an extra hand bag (Tallis Tiffilin take up too much room). Left by train to the Airport for my morning flight. Arrived no problem bus to terminal 1 and through security pretty quick. No check in luggage so smooth sailing. After landing in Budapest we got introduced to the horrible security situation in Europe. We waited over 90 minutes to clear passport control. The place was a zoo. People had waited for 90 minutes and the decided to change the lane to EU passports and they forced everyone to the back of the lanes. Due to this delay we decided to go straight to the train station as there was no time for food. Budapest has 2 main stations Keleti and Nyugati. Trains to Vienna leave from Keleti. It is a huge old station with a ton of unsavory people and unsanitary bathrooms but it has such a unique feeling to it that it's a must see.  20180506_153214 by ProIsrael Israel, on Flickr 20180506_153218 by ProIsrael Israel, on Flickr 20180506_153348 by ProIsrael Israel, on FlickrAfter getting on the train we settled in economy for the 3 hour journey to Vienna. Seats were really not so comfortable and I swore the next trains were all going to be first class. This picture is one good reason to go First:  20180506_164539 by ProIsrael Israel, on FlickrGetting into Vienna we walked from the station to Aleph Aleph for some food. Now I do not know if it was because I was so hungry but I thought the food was absolutely amazing. We started with the hummos mushroom and falafal plate and then we each had the veal cutlet which I highly recommend!!!! Being in Vienna we had to taste the Strudel which my cousin thought was good but i am not a fan of them in general so no opinion from me. (4/5)  20180506_200032 by ProIsrael Israel, on Flickr 20180506_203300 by ProIsrael Israel, on Flickr 20180506_210948 by ProIsrael Israel, on FlickrAfter Dinner we went to get our AirBnB for the night. We paid 65$ and got a one bedroom 2 bed apartment. It was very clean and worked amazing for us as it was a quick 3-4 minute walk to the main Shul there and Aleph Aleph.  20180507_070021 by ProIsrael Israel, on FlickrIn the morning we went to daven at the Stadttempl which is officially the oldest continuous shul, in operation, in Europe. It was a little interesting going through security to daven with 3 soldiers posted outside and security inside. They daven shachris in the small room not the main Shul. After davening we asked if we can get a little private tour along with a few other guests and they gave us no problem. The Shul was absolutely amazing! It is Grand and beautiful and takes your breath away. Outside the main entrance they have the names of all the Jews who dies in the Holocaust engraved on tablets. It is very moving and helps put things in perspective.  20180507_080415 by ProIsrael Israel, on Flickr 20180507_080430 by ProIsrael Israel, on FlickrVery odd yet beautiful skylight  20180507_080439 by ProIsrael Israel, on FlickrEach of these lines have hundreds of names on them.  20180507_080705 by ProIsrael Israel, on Flickr 20180507_080712 by ProIsrael Israel, on FlickrAfter davening we walked about 20 minutes to the other Jewish area for breakfast at the kosher bakery. We both got coffee and an egg sandwich plus some pastries for the day.(3/5)  20180507_082904 by ProIsrael Israel, on Flickr 20180507_082915 by ProIsrael Israel, on FlickrAs a side note I was always terrified to go to Europe after hearing all the stories. But walking through Vienna and seeing the Chasidim and more Dati people all walking with hats or kippa seruga I definitely felt more comfortable. I wore a cap all the time but my cousin walked with his kippa most of the time. We then walked back to our apartment, walking along the waterfront which is very nice, to go check out of the AirBnB. After getting our stuff we took an Uber to the Schonbron Palace. When we got to the desk they only had openings for the tour in an hour's time so we explored the grounds. It was mind blowing. We walked the gardens and the fields with statues everywhere.  20180507_085819 by ProIsrael Israel, on Flickr 20180507_091957-EFFECTS by ProIsrael Israel, on FlickrWe paid for the 44 room tour of the palace. I guess the best way to say it, is it's a must do but never something I would pay to see again. Half the rooms see like duplicates (how many bedrooms and tearooms can someone have??). They are extremely strict about no pictures so sadly all I have is a small video with my phone in my pocket which came out as bad as it sounds.  20180507_112028 by ProIsrael Israel, on FlickrThe grounds of the palace:  20180507_114105 by ProIsrael Israel, on Flickr 20180507_120312 by ProIsrael Israel, on Flickr 20180507_121056 by ProIsrael Israel, on Flickr 20180507_121104 by ProIsrael Israel, on FlickrAfter the Palace we went back to Vienna to check out the Jewish museum which turned out to be all about the Jews and communism (not much to be proud of) but they did have an amazing artifact collection on the 4th floor. Canes they gave the Jews to use in Nazi Germany:  20180507_142508 by ProIsrael Israel, on FlickrAfter the tour we went to eat at Novellino but they were closing and shut the kitchen already. They mentioned to us there is another place called Mean Shearim that opened around 6 months ago. After going inside they told us that they did not have all options available that day but they had sushi available if we wanted. Boy what an amazing place!!!! The Sushi was absolutely the best and freshest sushi I ever ate. We got the combination platter and each and every type was delicious! We were going to order pizza at the pizza store for supper in Prague but they told us they could make schnitzel if we wanted. We decided on the schnitzel instead of running to the pizza store. (Rating 5/5)  20180507_152306 by ProIsrael Israel, on Flickr 20180507_152310 by ProIsrael Israel, on Flickr 20180507_152323 by ProIsrael Israel, on FlickrSmall portion of the big menu  20180507_153357 by ProIsrael Israel, on Flickr 20180507_154854 by ProIsrael Israel, on Flickr 20180507_154902 by ProIsrael Israel, on Flickr 20180507_154918 by ProIsrael Israel, on FlickrWe took another Uber to the train station and got on the 4 hour train to Prague.  20180507_164110 by ProIsrael Israel, on FlickrFirst class is an absolute must when traveling! Seats are spacious they move back usually empty and you get free water  . The ride passed really quick BH, with only some slight issues with a mentally disturbed individual taking drugs in the bathroom....hey it's Europe.  20180507_171013 by ProIsrael Israel, on FlickrArriving in Prague we walked again to the apartment we rented with AirBnB. This time it was a disaster. We had messaged the host the day before what time we would be there and she told us to give her a 10 minute warning. We gave her a 30 minute warning a 20 minute warning and 10 minute warning. Of course they showed up 30 minutes late. The apartment was a disaster. Garbage left on the floor toilet seat broken floor caving in....it was too late to change and because it was Europe day everything was very expensive. ( I have since received a 50% refund) Prague Train station  20180507_211351 by ProIsrael Israel, on FlickrIn the morning I walked over to a shul a saw on Go Daven but apparently they closed years ago...I walked past the Spanish Synagogue  20180508_073702-EFFECTS by ProIsrael Israel, on Flickrand the Old-New Shul  20180508_074404 by ProIsrael Israel, on FlickrJewish City Hall  20180508_074410 by ProIsrael Israel, on Flickrbefore finally heading to chabad for shachris. After davening I went back to the apartment to put the tefillin back and then went to eat breakfast at the chabad milchig restaurant. Food was ok, we had the omelette and Coffee and split a tuna melt. (Rated 2.75/5) We had decided to take a river tour or rent a boat. As we were walking along the waterfront we passed this sign about walking on water. After checking it out I decided my cousin was going to be the guinea pig to check it out. The idea is you go into this massive balloon that they blew up with Air. After it's full (you are already inside) they seal it up completely. The only air you have is in the balloon. Then they push you into the water and you need to try to walk on the water. They set a timer for 10 minutes before they pull you back in. My cousin loved it. I was too chicken to try. Charles Bridge:  20180508_111700 by ProIsrael Israel, on Flickr 20180508_112319 by ProIsrael Israel, on FlickrTorture museum (I feel most are torture) 20180508_111700 by ProIsrael Israel, on FlickrWalking on water:  20180508_115218 by ProIsrael Israel, on Flickr 20180508_120257 by ProIsrael Israel, on Flickr 20180508_120309 by ProIsrael Israel, on FlickrSo we left and took an Uber to the Kings Palace known as Prague Palace. The Uber drops you off at the bottom and you need to walk, what looks like a million steps, up the mountain to the castle. View from the top of the steps:  20180508_123416 by ProIsrael Israel, on FlickrEntrance to the Castle. If someone can explain the statue...  20180508_123650 by ProIsrael Israel, on Flickr 20180508_123701 by ProIsrael Israel, on FlickrAfter getting to the top we entered but decided against paying for anything as most of what there is to do is churches and cathedrals. As we were walking through the grounds we passed a sign for a matenee for some classical music. Being in Prague we had to do this. The musical took place in the palace which was really cool. The musical was absolutely amazing. They had someone playing the Piano,flute and violin. It was for one hour and it was amazing. They played from some of the most famous pieces of Mozart and Beethoven who may have played in the same room hundreds of years before for the king and palace.  20180508_130117 by ProIsrael Israel, on Flickr 20180508_130736 by ProIsrael Israel, on FlickrMore views:  20180508_140338 by ProIsrael Israel, on FlickrNot sure why there was smoke...tried to google it but google failed me ;(  20180508_140343 by ProIsrael Israel, on FlickrAfter the Palace we headed over to the Tv Tower 2 which is where the Noda Beyehuda is buried. We decided to go up the observation tower before heading to the Kever. The views are amazing from up there and it cost about $10 so if you like views it is worth it otherwise skip. Alien like tower:  20180508_143125 by ProIsrael Israel, on Flickr 20180508_143602 by ProIsrael Israel, on Flickr 20180508_143643 by ProIsrael Israel, on FlickrCemetery of the Noda Beyhuda below:  20180508_143928 by ProIsrael Israel, on FlickrGoing into the cemetery was an amazing experience, now living in Israel and having har hazeisim and all the other cemeteries you would think its no big deal but these cemeteries just have such an old look to it and the history is just felt so much more here then in Israel.  20180508_145123 by ProIsrael Israel, on FlickrMay 13, 2018, 03:21:11 AM |
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