Tuesday's Travels

It was an easy day... just helping out the Israeli economy.. we started at Samantha's dorm room and then waited for Andrew to bring us his stuff to go home. We met a few more kids and just went with the flow..... The original plan was to go to MaHal (the mall) and then to Israel Museum (they don't open until 4:00 in the p.m. on Tuesday).

Daniel came over because he had decided to stay in Jerusalem for a few more days. Please note how coordinated he is with his kippot, baseball cap and t-shirt. Ash did you know he was in comedysport? Daniel ended up spending the day with us and I must say that he was a champ! not only did he go shopping but he helped Sam pick out earrings and when she couldn't find the boots she wanted he promised to take her back to find them at another mall. Daniel where would we be without you. And now he knows how to ask for pink bubble bath also.

One thing that was very different was when we had lunch in the mall, when you got to the food court if you went to the left it was meat and the right was dairy. There is even a Kosher Berger King there and in honor of Stacy, Sam ordered frenchfries.

After a day at the mall you need to take a nap and then get ready for dinner so after a great cab ride (as soon as photobucket cooperates you will get to see) Sam and Daniel went back to the dorm for a nap, Bubbie and I went back to the room she napped I blogged and soon we will go to dinner.

Until next time Bokar Tov Y'all

We Have Family

o.k. I know we have a lot of family.... but Bubbie, Sam and I got to meet some new family tonight and it is very exciting..... First I will calm your curiosity and say that they are great very warm and welcoming and excited to find out about the family that went west out of Denora PA.

Just to ease the curiosity is getting to you and because I know you are anxious to see who they might look like, I thought we would try a little doing a little introduction. so here is a picture. So for those of you who like the formal introduction's... Everyone, I would like you to meet Ari and Na'ama Applbaum..... Ari and Na'ama until we can get everyone together you will have to see them through the blog, feel free to go back as far as you would like or as far as I have put information.

It was a wonderful evening, we started at their apartment (condo) where they explained what they were going to do to add a few bedrooms and a small room to rent. And that was when Ari gave us another surprise (no not that) but Na'ama has Glickman in her family on her mothers side. We looked at some of their wedding pictures and we saw Na'ama's mom and she looks like Bubbie Leana and her Grandfather looks a lot like Uncle Aaron. So we are going to have to do a little more family tree hunting.

So after visiting at their house we decided on a dairy dinner at a restaurant called Pe-teh-eem or something close that means seduction..... and ohhhh yes, everything was good but the desserts were the best. So we started with soup... we (Bubbie, Sam, Na'ama and myself) had Jerusalem Artichoke Soup (Morgan put this one on your list) Ari had Sweet Potato Soup it was good but not as good as what we had. Then we had mushroom ravioli and lasagna and these sweet potato chips ohhhh so good. but then we had dessert... first we all had NANA... (Ash I think this is one that you will like) hot water with mint leaves in it and then a tea bag very good and now in descending order:

1. Vanilla Mouse with a mixed berry topping, Now I have to tell you we thought this was great

until they brought out what we picked as our second favorite.

2. Triple Chocolate Mouse, again very very good but how can you go wrong with three

different layers of chocolate.

3. Cream Broulee: ohhhhh we were real happy with just these three and this one was quickly being finished up when they brought out the hands down favorite.

4. Chocolaater soufle..... all I can say is oooohhhhhh and I know what gave them their name "seduction" This was sooooo good it made my toes crl.

I have loaded up a few more pics and I am going to sleep.

These are members of the Glickman Side
of the family.

A day with Andrew

(oh it's great to have the American Internet back)





Monday turned into a beautiful day. We spent the morning and afternoon with Andrew B from back home, and then soon we will be getting ready for dinner with Ari and Na'ama.




We started today with breakfast at Beitz Ein with Andrew B, Bubbie, Sam and me. And the meal was delicious and oh was there a lot of food. We ordered breakfast but along with the eggs or yogurt came salad, cheese's and bread (really good bread). So we had breakfast (and lunch) and then we went shopping....


I had a mission, I wanted to buy some fabric while I was in Israel. Easier said than done, people don't craft like they do in the U.S. so we had to look hard but we did finally find a fabric shop and they were all on the end of King George. And someone had told us about this (I don't remember who) but if someone opens a business and is successful then someone will come in right next door and put the same business. So there are fabric shops at 11,8, 6 and 4 King George. Most of the fabric seemed to be for curtains or upholstery but there was a little bit of plain cotton print. So we bought a little fabric and then moved on to sukkah decorations. I am hoping the shop keepers are accustom to Crazy Americans... but when you find something that you can't get in the states and it is only 3 shekels (75 cents) you buy one of everything. and we did. Thank you Andrew for being able to reach them for us. Sam's mission that day was a pair of boots. To the best of my knowledge she still had not gotten any by the time we left but that is for another entry. We also found a great candy shop and other miscellaneous chach-kiy shops. We ended up on Ben Yehuda and the boys met us for lunch at Moshiko and then more shopping. After lunch we went shopping for gifts for the guys....We went to two different Military supply store were Andrew

helped us pick out a backpack for Daniel and then some stuff for the boys back home. Andrew you were a big help thank you.

Bubbie and her Boys

Bubbie and her boys

Yoni, Daniel, Bubbie, Josh & Andrew

o.k. so I am working in a slightly disjointed order but it has to do with getting pictures from the computer onto the net.

So these are some of the boys who were waiting for Bubbie to get here, they had such great plans however non of them looked at the calendar to see that we arrived the day before they were all leaving for break.

So the best laid plans of college kids ..... we had dinner on Thursday night which was wonderful
and some of the boys were with able to be with Bubbie.

Bubbie, Fox, Daniel, Daniel

Then we had Friday where we watched them play a little football and then went to the shook (and I will work on getting those pictures up soon)

Bubbie and Fox

The end result Bubbie had Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner with her boys... diffrent boys and diffrent meals... but we never did make it to a bar (and that is o.k. with Bubbie)

Sunday's Adventure

I know I have not posted Shabbos in Israel yet..... but I am having picture issues.. so we will move on to Sunday. It was a great day!!!!

The First great was for Sam she called us to wake us up.. that is a whole other story. But we were called a 6:08 am and we were at the train station by 6:52 a.m. and from there our adventure really begins. We took the Israel Rail to meet Yorum and David Shein in Binyamina and it was so worth the 2 1/2 hour 2 transfer train ride. Now I have to apologize because Sam would not let me take pictures and Bubbie and I had already decided it would probably not be a good idea but I bet they would have let me.

Our first change was in Beit Shemesh and there was standing room only so we stood and sometimes sat in the entry area of the train with about 15 young soldiers male and female some with their guns others with just a back pack and some with both. We had mostly Army but some Air Force. Most of the kids were talking among themselves but it was just a very grabbing to see these kids (they are the same age as Celia, Nathan and Sam) accepting this responsibility and realities of their life and love of country. They were all very proud of what they were doing.

I was talking with one girl Ayala (spelling does not count) who is stationed in Ashkelon (yes that is where Sam wanted to go) she is part of a surveillance unit. She also helped me figure out how to read the train schedule. We parted company with her in Lod. But with her instruction we stayed on the train until Tel Aviv Mercaz where we met Ayir who was also going to Benyamina to his military base. He is 21 years old and a foot soldier (he broke his leg trying out for paratroopers) he was very sweet and sat with us all the way to Benyamina. He has one more year on his tour of duty but he is not sure what he is going to do when he gets out. Bubbie and I had a wonderful time talking with him but Sam told us it was time to stop making friends.

So we got off the train in Binyamina and were met by David and Yorum. Our first stop the house the Yorum was born in. I knew Yorum was educated in agriculture however I didn't know that

he had a family farm. We paid a call to Netty a neighbor that had lived in the area longer than Yorum, and then we were off on our adventure. The first stop was Binyamina Winery, origionally a perfume factory started by Baron de Rothschild in the 1920's and later closed until 1990 when it came back as a winery. It was a great tour and actually my favorite stop of the day. This winery does make only kosher wines so while we were in the actual winery we had a mishkea along with us to make sure that we did not touch anything that would make it no longer kosher.

After the tour we started to taste. First we had a sweet partly dry Muscato which Sam and David like a lot. We had two reds which were good and then a dessert Cassis, they also make an Amaretto.

We had a great time and this was my favorite of all the wineries we went to today.

Next it was lunch time and as for as Yorum we should have been playing "memories" when he took us to a place of his youth... I can't pronounce the name of the place but it was good ... so good that David had two and showed us the finer art of two fisted falafel eating.

After lunch we went to Tishbi Winery which I also enjoyed. It was a nice little winery and we were able to find the Israeli version of Two Buck Chuck. 19nis ( at 4.2 nis per dollar it is about $4 per liter) pour your own bring your own bottle and cork your own. It is a wonderful small family run winery and we really did enjoy our visit. We just wish the English speaking tour guide would have been there. But Yorum was and he did such a good job.

And last but not least was the town of Zichron Ya'acov which has been producing wine for the last 119 years... yes it has been around longer than Israel has. We went to the Carmel Wineries of Zichron Ya'acov. Now I will tell you that the wines were nice and the knowledge of the person running the testing was very good. But there was just something about this place that I didn't feel to welcome. Now it could have been timing but it could also be the fact that they are the oldest and largest wineries in Israel. But I will tell you that it was worth it all for the look on Sam's face as we tasted a very very dry Merlot Cab blend.

Well that was it for our wine tasting... but the day was not over. Yorum took us up the coast to Ein Hod a wonderful little artist village that is overlooking the mediterainian. From there we did a little driving around and got to see the Yeshiva that Yorum went to as a teenager... we also go to hear all kinds of stories from his youth. From there we drove to Haifa and we were able to take a quick drive around before we had to catch the train in Lev Hamifratz.

It was a wonderful day we were able to see so much of Israel, Sam will be able to take the trains all over Israel and Yorum has not lost his touch when it comes to driving like an Israeli. A Great Big Thank You to Yorum and David for a wonderful day that will not be forgotten.

There are a few more pictures that just don't want to load at this time so.... check back soon to see some more of our adventures in Israel.

shabbos in Israel

Shabbos in Jerusalem... WOW! within 10 minutes of the shabbos bell ringing the whole city stops and the worst part was I couldn't take to many pictures. But streets (King George) that have been full of cars and people are are empty in minuets I have no idea where all these cars went so fast.

Friday night we had a slumber party, so Sam went back to her room and got some cloths and then she had a shabbos treat and took a bath in our tub. It rained and hailed on Friday so our original plans to go to a shul that Sam really likes Shira Hadasha were kaboshed it was about a 20 minuet walk from base and we were not going to do that to Bubbie in the rain. So we had shabbos dinner (ordered and paid for in advance) in the hotel great for people watching ... the food was nothing to write home about so I won't.

Saturday was truly our day of rest. We did not wake up until 12:30 in the afternoon and then we stayed in bed and watched Gray's Anatomy (Morgan I'll get you for that) until sunset.

Then we took showers, got dressed and went out, and just as quickly as Jerusalem closed down it opened up again. We had dinner at Macaroni a great little pasta place (dairy) on King George Street and then we went to Ben Yehuda. Now we were on Ben Yehuda when the shabbos bell rang and in minuets everything was closed, it was raining and we couldn't even get a taxi to take us to the hotel so we walked, yeah I know no other choice. But just as fast as they closed down the whole street came back to life as soon as havdallah was done and then it is a party. There are groups singing in the street and people are walking around and shopping and when you look a the signs on the shops you see that on Saturday they are open from 1 hour after sundown to 11:00 at night.

and we had a such a great time.... Sam was haggling with a street vendor for some scarfs and she worked her price down from 125 nis a scarf to 3 for 250 nis we are so proud of her. Then we found a gallery that had some pieces from Frank Meisler. Now for those of you that can't put the name with the art he is the artist that made the large Silver and Gold Camel piece on the speaker in front of the french doors in the living room. Anyway we have been seeing a lot of Meisler look alike work but not his real stuff so it was very nice to see that he was still working. While we were in the gallery I found another artist Mary Goldmintz she makes these beautiful cut metal wall pieces. The one that I really fell in love with is called The Sea Dance it is really nice to watch. But it is also out of my price range.

Some of these pictures just don't want to load at this time.... so we will have to wait until I can put them up.

such a dilema

Now this entry is out of order but I just wanted to be able to type about this while I could still taste dinner.


what do you do when there are three sets of parents in town and only one night to go out to dinner before half of your friends leave for winter break? And everyone is asking the same people to dinner? Why you combine the whole group (26 people) and you go to Joy.





So here is what happens when you have family in town... you pick your friends that you want your parents to meet along with one or two who need to be part of what is going on and you let your parents take them to dinner.


Normally this is not an issue and as soon as the next set of parents comes in it starts all over again... different kid, different parents and different ... but from what I understand the restaurant of choice us JOY, and I understand why.




Dinner was unbelievably delicious. and I had the best parev ice cream that I have ever have ever had. I
don't remember what I had but




Bubbie and I split it and it was so good. Just picture this 26 people walking down this little piece of sidewalk and trying not to get hurt and then all of us standing outside this wonderful little restaurant waiting one by one to be checked by the guard and then 15 minutes latter we were all seated at 2 tables (we were to large of a group for their privet room).

Like I said dinner was wonderful and dessert was even better and it was all kosher.

However we did a lot of walking today and tomorrow is shabbos... and I am starting to fall asleep as I type this... so enjoy what you see and I am going to bed.