Part 4: The Waldorf-Astoria Jerusalem.
We arrived into TLV on a Thursday around noon. Spent some time in the baggage claim area trying to find someone who could help me to track down my checked luggage, which had been MIA since I checked it with Aer Lingus in Boston. Of course there is no Aer Lingus office or staff in Ben-Gurion, but they have a partnership with KLM. Long and short of it, couldn’t get anyone to provide any substantive help in person, but eventually the bag showed up erev Shabbat, delivered to the WA.
In any case, we rented a car at TLV, drove to the Waldorf, where at the time parking was free. We used a Be My Guest Certificate for a free night. We were booked into what must have been slightly above a standard room, as we had a nice mirpeset with a view overlooking Mamilla Cemetery and Independence Park. The room was beautiful, a nice balance of modern with classic. IIRC, they had iPads through which you could read the news or even notify the front desk of any concerns or requests. I recall that the toilet would run on, so I tried to contact the staff through their internal app, but it didn’t work. Not a big deal.
View from our mirpeset, Nespresso from the room and pastries from the Shuk.
Morning view from our mirpeset
The fitness center at the Waldorf was sufficient but nothing spectacular. The pool was especially refreshing.
The highlight of the Waldorf was the breakfast/brunch, which was included for my wife and me, and on check-in, we were told that we would need to pay for our son. But as it turned out, they didn’t charge us for him. Dan and others have described and photographed the brunch spread, so I won’t go into any detail. I’ll just say that “brunch at the Waldorf Jerusalem” has entered our vocabulary as the standard by which all brunches, and maybe all meals, are compared.
We only had one night at the WA. We had dinner out at Gabriel, which we enjoyed immensely. It was a little pricey, but really interesting and great tasting food. See photos.
We spent Shabbat with our friends in Rehovot. Really wonderful friends who are almost like mishpacha. They have a way of making us feel totally comfortable and “at home”, but also like honored guests. They’re a little older than we are – in their late 60s – but they have no shortage of energy. For example, motsei Shabbat they planned an outing to Jerusalem. This was Shabbat Nachamu, the first week of August, so Shabbat didn’t end until around 9PM. That didn’t stop them. We made Havdalah, jumped in the car, and got to Jerusalem for a 10PM concert. I hope we have their energy when we’re their age!
The next morning, we were headed for the final “chunk” of our vacation, TLV-LHR.
