The trip begins

Day 1, April 16, 2013 (well... Really it's day 3, following Days 1 and 2 of the trip at Morris' 90th birthday celebration in Boynton beach, Florida).

So, actually, let's start with that: Florida. Once Paula had the West Palm Beach airport memorized from Friday's pick-ups, we all settled down for a fun dinner at The Station House.  After a long meal of delicious fish, (sorry alex, we know you wanted that 2.5 lb lobster), Azzy frightening the waitress (only sort of; she got it in the end), and Bubi mistaking Valerie for the waitress (no real commentary needed, Bubi just wanted to give Valerie "a Bubi story" of her own), we retired to catch up on much-needed sleep at the Courtyard Marriott.

Saturdary, also known as Paula's generous TLC day, started with a typical 11am wake up and visit to the gym.  Jacob then went for a brother sister lunch at ihop while I caught up with Jamie Brett Friedman and her 1 yr old beautiful daughter and husband. She was my best friend on Birthright a few years ago and it was so great seeing her.  We then all loaded into the minivan to make a trip to Bubi and Morris' new home at VI, an independent living facility in Florida. Their apartment was beautiful with tall ceilings, a sunroom, Etc. They just moved in 10 days ago, but it already seemed like a comfy home. Adorable baby pictures of Jacob were fun. We then went to the big 90th birthday party at an old 50s diner with poodle skirts and juke boxes.  We had the big banquet room with a bar, a lovely electronic keyboard player, and about 12 seated tables.  Delicious hor d'ourves walked around the room (including perogies!). It was great meeting all the cousins who flew in from California.  I was gladly passed the "new to the family" baton. Dinner and cake followed.  The speeches for Morris were touching and it was clear he is very loved and respected within the family. The cousins created a song to "the brandy bunch" theme song.  It was cute and I loved being included.  Morris' speech was mostly about how much he loved Bubi and how lucky he felt to have her.  So sweet.

We left the party, went to Pinky to pick up Jacobs new, sweet (and Men's) backpacking bag from his cousin, Alex, and headed home.  It was time for Paula and Val TLC time while Jacob had a brother sister meeting.  Paula and I went to Marshall's and limed up the cutest baby clothes for friends and family in Israel.  I then dragged her across the street for a frozen yogurt date.  I've decided the best way to bond is over yogurt;) Jacob loved hanging out with his brother and sister. We all gathered in Paul and Azzy's room for relaxed family time and a great conclusion to the day. I got an Adorable Dr. suess book from Dave's family that I can't wait to read!!!!

The next morning we left for NYC- LGA.  We quickly got off the plane, noticed that they had left my luggage behind (again Lga...this is becoming a thing...), then found my lost luggage which they had conveniently forgot to put on the belt, and headed to meet the contracted/builder for Jacob's Queens apartment.  It's so beautiful and Jacob is going to have such an awesome home! Hopefully, the work will be ready when we return.  We then picked up Eric on the way to the airport because he is using Jacobs car while we are away. We boarded the flight to Amsterdam.

Amsterdam day (aka "spend all the money for your trip in one day" day, aka April 17th, or so we're told). After a long and completely-restless-trip-partially-due-to-excitement and partially-due-to-too-much-light-in-the-cabin, and mostly due to watching django unchained, which kept us thinking and awake (and is HIGHLY recommended), we arrived into AMS.  It was only 6am, but we beelined for the train station and hopped on the hi-speed train to Amsterdam Centraal, their version of Union Station.  This took us to the epicenter of 6'5-blondes-in-suits-riding-old-bikes on their way to work. It was very interesting!  How do they make people that big???

 

Anyways we walked a few cobblestone streets away looking for some breakfast and fortuitously we stumbled upon a corner cafe called "Engligh Breakfast." Now, please be aware, we did attempt to go everywhere except the place called "english breakfast," but it was honestly the only place open. and lucky for us! Our waitress turned out to be the best city insider in the city. who needs lonely planet? She started with directing us to the bike rental shop. Game changer- everyone should rent a bike in Amsterdam. We rode around the city about 5 times throughout the day and saw so much more than we would have otherwise. Not to mention, we felt like gorgeous tall blonde Dutch people. We attempted the tandem bike (way harder than you would think) and quickly made a u-turn to pick up 2 individual cruisers. We rode through the canal streets to the Anne Frank house where long "cues" of people awaited entry. Since Jacob's last visit, they had expanded the exhibit to the neighboring row houses and it was amazing how popular this stop was. Actually, Jacob said one of his favorite parts of the day was seeing that when asked what we should do in our One Day in Amsterdam, 2 (seemingly non-Jewish) dutchman responded to go to the Anne Frank house. Very nice.   We saw the Secret Annex and reminded ourselves of this young girls story. she had 3 floors in comparison to Bubi's closet to hide in. Jacob had to keep reminding me that, even though  this was not a competition. after having recently read Bubi's memoir, I couldn't help but compare one to the other. 

 

We then went to a recommended coffee shop, Dampkring for awhile. We biked around the city and saw the Grand Palace then parked and went for an unforgettable stroll through the red light district. Windows of women eating their lunch, putting on makeup, and stretching their legs for the night shift made for quite the show. Signs of live porno shows and underage teens lined the streets. It was interesting, but within about 10 minutes we were ready to leave the red light district.  We made ourselves comfortable and passed out for a few minutes on the couches of the beautiful Krasnapolsky hotel. We saw the most spectacular garden room. Then, on our 3rd attempt of the day (it was closed the first two times), we walked down the side alley of the hotel and found the highly recommended Wynand Vockink bar and distillery.  A very old world bar with standing room only. We partook in a short juniver gin tasting which was very sweet and syrupy but interesting (Thanks, Prof David). We concluded our great day lounging, shmoozing with locals, and eating on the outside patio beds of a cute cafe.

The next stop was Israel.  We took a short 4-hour flight and landed in Tel Aviv.  Greeted at the baggage claim with "Yom Hatzma-ut" or happy holiday because of Israeli Independence Day.  Typically the day is full of beachside barbecues and parties and no one works. It was the perfect day for us to be in Israel, especially because the day before was a day of remembrance and mourning.  Anyways, since we arrivedat 2:30 am we decided to take a taxi for Jacobs' parent's apartment in tel aviv called Kfar Maccabiah, the hotel of the Maccabiah games with incredible athletic facilities, etc. When they aren't using their apartment, the hotel rents out their rooms.  It's gorgeous and exactly what we needed after so much traveling. We woke up 6 hours later and ran down to an enormous Israeli breakfast buffet.   lots of Israeli salads and cheese.  salad for breakfast!

We then took showers and packed up for our day trip to the South.  At precisely 11 am, The infamous Avinoam, Jacob's second cousin,  knocked on our door.  Dressed in high fashion, with a British accent, and a knapsack across his body, he greeted us with many compliments and smiles.  He has traveled to Thailand many times and was very excited for our upcoming trip.  He drove us down to Jacobs' family's Kibbutz Dvir about 45 min south of Tel Aviv.  When we arrived at the Kibbutz we were greeted with a huge Kosher barbecue with lots of Jacob's cousins.  Brit, who helped us arrange the flights from Israel to Thailand , was so great and her 10-month old baby, Haleli, was adorable.  We brought lots of cute clothes for her.  Brits sister, Eden, drove in from Jerusalem that day with her husband and they were very cool.  Their other younger sister, Tahal, and brother, Ufaz, were practicing their English for their upcoming trip to NY in August.  A very warm family, gathered around great food on the patio created a great day for us.  They gave us a tour around the kibbutz including the factory where they manufacture plastic shipping crates, chicken farm, dairy farm, grounds where the music and festival were going to take place later in the day, and Brit and her husband's new home.  We concluded with a few minutes of relaxing in Brit's parents house, Yossi and Dalia, the daughter of Azzy's older brother. They had a beautiful home and Yossi made homemade cake and the most delicious espresso.   They also had incredible homemade olive bread. We all gathered around the table and shared stories and laughed as Baby Haleli danced herself silly. I felt really comfortable here.

We left and went to a smaller city on the way to the airport where Jacob's uncle Moshe lives. Moshe is the most adorable, sweet, kind man and kept saying this was the best part of his holiday- seeing us.  We chatted over coffee and biscuits and he showed us the many pictures all over his walls of Jacob and his siblings growing up.  We had to leave to make our flight to Bangkok, but it was not without dancing to Avinoam's lovely collection of electronic music. When we got to the airport, there was an incredibly long line for check-in but luckily Avinoam walked us through the empty Israeli line.   We were questioned on things like "how long have you been together? Why don't you live with each other? Where did you go to Hebrew school? When do you attend synagogue? What is your rabbis name?" Thank goodness we both passed! Then we said bye to our wonderful tour guide, Avinoam,, and went into the terminal in search of Jacob's favorite- pargiot (baby chicken) in a pita.  Also, Avi connected us with his friend that lives on Kho Pa Ngan, an island in Thailand we are visiting soon. So great to have someone local to point us in the right direction.

Now we are on the flight to Bangkok and will check back soon! I think ive had 20 meals in the last 3 days because of all the flights and time changes, but Im ok with that.  We love and miss you and our thoughts and prayers are with those in Boston.