Hotel David- our hotel in FlorenceAs the #1 hotel in Florence on TA, I decided to book this hotel for the night. The main perk for me though was the free parking. We couldn't return the car early (it would have cost a lot more), so that alone saved us ~$50/day in parking fees. The hotel is located just on the other side of the Arno river from the city which was very nice. The hotel also had free breakfast, happy hour, and 10 minutes of free international calling per day! I'd describe it as a boutique hotel that was modern at the same time. Although none of the food was kosher, it was an excellent place to stay. While the hotel was €170/night, it was better than spending 25,000/night at the Westin + €30/night for parking.
Hotel David
The bedroom was quite spacious
The shower was so big it had one shower head at each endFlorence for the non-art lover- Thursday, July 10, 2014As I've mentioned before, neither my wife nor I are art lovers or even likers, yet we still had a wonderful time in Florence. We started the day going on the synagogue tour. This synagogue is absolutely stunning. They have a small museum which we visited as well. Since the synagogues in Siena and Venice are connected to the one in Florence you can get a combo ticket to you visit all three or a discount if you bring your ticket from one to another one.
Shul in Florence. I'd have loved to get pictures of the inside but they make you leave all electronics in lockers before going through the x-ray/metal detectorsWe'd heard that Ruth's Vegetarian was not reliable, so we brought food from home with us. Since we knew we’d be without restaurants from Tuesday night through Friday morning, we brought hot cereal packets, tortillas, tuna packets, and instant soups from home to eat while in Tuscany. It was easier than trying to buy food in Rome or Venice and a lot cheaper.
After the shul tour we walked to the famous leather market. We passed by the Academia Gallery, but didn't go in. The leather market was okay, but I didn't find it too special. I guess if you needed a belt it might be good, but we didn't see anything worth buying.
After a quick lunch we headed to Piazza della Signora to see the old Medici Palace next to the Uffizi Gallery. The palace was closed, but we were able to walk through the courtyard and see the outside. We skipped the Uffizi and crossed the Ponte Vecchio on our way to Piazzale Michelangiolo. It might have been a steep climb and a few flights of stairs, but the view from the top was well worth it. We spent a few minutes up there chatting with this friendly Brazilian tourist who had walked up the stairs with us. Finally we headed back to our hotel for an early night ahead of our early flight to Zurich the next morning.
Fake "David" near the Uffizi
Views from Piazza Michelangiolo. The shul has the green roof on the right (bottom) Flight to Zurich- Friday, July 11, 2014We flew from FLR to ZRH in X on Swiss. Zurich was our free stop so we stayed for the weekend. We didn't fly J as it wasn't available and there's not much of a difference anyway for the 1-hour flight. We drove to the airport and returned the car. They have pretty clear signs from the airport directing you to rental car return and a shuttle that runs every few minutes between the return location and the terminal. The airport is tiny, so there's no need to arrive more than 1 hour before the flight. We got there 2 hours before and ended up just sitting around for an hour by the gate (there are no lounges in FLR).
Friday and Shabbos in Zurich- July 12, 2014While we might have left Italy in the heat of summer, we arrived into a dreary, rainy, and chilly winter in Zurich. We were staying with some friends of my brother-in-law in the Enge neighborhood, so we just took the train straight from the airport to Bahnhof Enge for CHF 6.60. It turned out that they lived a 1 minute walk from the station, so that was also very convenient.
Zurich HB (main train station)After we had lunch at our host’s house we braved the rain and went walking near the lake and around the old town of Zurich. It stopped raining at one point, but we didn't take a boat ride on the lake as it looked kind of choppy.
Shabbos itself was rainy off and on with rain coming mainly when we were inside anyway. We ate dinner with our hosts and lunch and shalosh seudos with two different families in community. It was a nice Shabbos despite the weather. The community seemed very friendly, and most people spoke English.
Lucerne and Mt. Pilatus, Sunday, July 13, 2014On Sunday we took a 9.5 hour tour to Lucerne and Mt. Pilatus with Best of Switzerland tours. While many people on DDF are anti-tours, I found this tour to be really great and not schleppy. We took a bus from across the street from the main train station in Zurich to Lucerne. On the way to Lucerne we took the scenic route, passing through many small towns in 7 different cantons. It was really cool to see sites that you can't see from the highway or the train and have a running commentary the whole way.
We spent 1 hour in Lucerne walking around the town which was just enough time. We didn't feel rushed or like we had too much time. We were then driven to the cable cars in Kriens to ascend Mt. Pilatus. While it was cloudy in Lucerne, the weather at the top of Mt. Pilatus was a mix of super dense clouds and clear with sunshine. Every few minutes the clouds would shift and we'd get a clear view of the city and Lake below.
Famous bridge in Lucerne
Lucerne from the top of Mt. Pilatus. Now that's one house that's hard to get to!
View from top of Mt. PilatusWe spent 2.5 hours on the top hiking on the different paths up the different peaks and just taking in the breathtaking scenery. We took the cog wheel train down to Alpnachstad and a boat back to Lucerne before boarding our bus back to Zurich via highway. The boat ride once again provided amazing views of the mountains around the lake and the small villages all around. Despite the forecast, it didn't rain even once on the trip.
Cog wheel train down
View from boat back to LucerneWe got back to Zurich and had dinner with our hosts before getting packed up for the return flights the next morning.
Flying home- Monday, July 14, 2014For the flight home we were in economy. I know, it would have been better to be in J, but there was nothing available. Our routing was as follows:
ZRH-FRA on LH
FRA-YYC on AC
YYC-LAX on AC Rouge
While two stops are not ideal, especially with only 60 minutes to traverse FRA, it worked out in the end. When we landed in FRA they parked the plane a good 10 minute drive from the terminal, and we thought we'd for sure miss our flight. Lucky for us the Germans are very efficient. As we walked down the stairs to the tarmac there was a guy with a sign for our flight and a flight to Newark that were leaving soon. They drove all of us in a special bus right to our respective gates getting us there with plenty of time. It also helped that we only had carry on so we didn't have to worry about bags not making the connection.
The flight to Calgary was comfortable enough, but the food was practically unedible. Despite leaving an hour late due to “a passenger deciding not to fly with them at the last minute” we arrived 20 minutes early, impressive for an east to west flight.
We had four hours in Calgary which was a bit long especially since we didn’t need to wait for US customs because of Global Entry. Our flight to LA was delayed for about an hour because of a late incoming aircraft, yet we still arrived only 25 minutes late. I should also mention that this was the first time I’d ever flown Air Canada Rouge, the Spirit of Canada in my opinion (as far as the hard product is concerned). The seats are so close together that it made it nearly impossible to sit down comfortably (and I’m an average 5’ 11”!). To their benefit, their flight attendants were very friendly and more than willing to let people stand around in the back despite them needing to work there.
After three legs, 23 hours of travel, and 27 hours of no sleep we finally arrived home in one piece.
The trip flew by way too quickly, but we enjoyed every minute of it.
