The Ulpan Journey

Throughout our time here we have been trying to figure out what Ulpan I could attend. We had it narrowed down to four choices: Ulpan L'Inyan where we attended in 2011, Ulpan Sheli, Beit Ha'Am, and Ulpan Morasha. both Beit Ha'Am and Ulpan Morasha are 5 days a week, Sunday through Thursday, and run all morning. Ulpan L'Inyan is three days a week for 1.5 hours each, and Ulpan Sheli is 2 days a week for 1.5 hours each. The cost of Beit Ha'Am and Ulpan Morasha seem less than the costs for the other two, but they end up being about the same. 

Ulpan L'Inyan was the most responsive. They let us know that the current classes were full back in late March and offered us the next session starting at the end of April. 

Beit Ha'Am simply said "call back after Passover" and when we finally connected with them after many fits and starts, they informed us that they are only for olim hadashim, new immigrants. so that one was eliminated. 

Ulpan Sheli still has not gotten back to us with the information about when a class for my level is happening. I've completed a placement test, and we have a person who is supposed to be connecting with us.

Ulpan Morasha: we visited and contacted multiple times and when we went in person, the person there said the teacher would contact me. She did and we found that the best class for me was the beginner class that started in February. I would jump in as they finished learning past tense and started future tense. I went two days so far and it is perfect! I am learning so much. The teachers (there are three amazing women so far that are sharing the teaching of the class) are highly engaging and interactive and the level is a little challenging but not so much that I feel lost all the time. Plus they use English to support the teaching of the Hebrew. Anyway, just a bit of bad news. The class has less than 20 people in it and they are thinking of cancelling it. I tried to pay for it to keep it going, but the wouldn't let me because they cannot give refunds. So I've had four free classes so far and I have the rest of this week to enjoy and learn before they might end the class. I really hope that the students keep coming (and come back) so that our class can continue. As of today, it looks like maybe the class will continue.

Passover Musings

Pesach (Passover) in Israel is a very special time. Many restaurants in Jerusalem become Kosher for Passover, and even some bakeries! We could not believe the delectable foods that we were able to eat during the holiday while still keeping kosher l'pesach. 

Right before the holiday started, we had a delightful lunch with Sandy and Dawn Margolin at Caffit which had already kashered for Passover. That meant that the bread roll was made with potato flour instead of wheat flour, and they had a special menu. We tried to go to Cafe Ben Ami but they were only serving desserts and drinks as they were in the preparation mode for Passover. We got to eat at Cafe Ben Ami during Passover and we had a similar potato flour bread roll. Mark got pizza, and I got shakshuka. It was great and didn't feel "pesadik" even though it completely was.

As we were walking to and from the shuk Machane Yehuda before Passover, we would pass a man at a table with big pots of boiling water. These were for people to bring their kitchenware for kashering for Pesach. Mark took a picture and wrote about it on his blog. 

When we were here 12 years ago, we saw big vats of bread being burned. It is a ritual to search for crumbs and burn them the day before the holiday starts. We didn't see any of these vats this time, but we did smell it once when we were out and about.

We were honored to be invited to the family seder of the Swidler family. David and Naomi have six children. We met them through Shabbat.com 12 years ago during our sabbatical and became friends. We spend time with them whenever we are in Israel and they visited family California and spent time with us there. The night before Passover, we took all 8 of them to Pizza Hut for some yummy chametz. That was a lot of fun and Mark put that picture on his blog too.

The seder was phenomenal. It was so interesting and questions were encouraged. Anyone who asked a thoughtful question got a chocolate chip tossed to them. The seder was very long, the dinner was very tasty, and the singing was fantastic. The whole family is very musical. We didn't get home until 2:30 am. It was very tiring for me. We even skipped services the next morning because we were too exhausted.

Keeping kosher l'pesach here was a lot easier than at home. We purchased one double box of matzah and had leftovers. We enjoyed many meals out and many baked goods from kosher l'pesach certified bakeries. It was amazing!

For the end of the holiday (the last day here is the 7th day and it is also a chag), we took the bus to Beit Shemesh and stayed with Brenda and Steve Ganot. they are dear friends who Mark has known since high school frm BBYO leadership. They are Orthodox so we observed fully in their home. They made us snacks often, a wonderful evening meal for the holiday, and lots of wonderful leftovers for the ending meal. We did go to their synagogue for the morning services, then we had lunch at the home of friends of theirs where we enjoyed another delicious meal and interesting conversation. After that meal, we napped, ate the ending meal, and had a short havdalah with just the blessing over the wine. Brenda drove us to the bus stop, and we took the bus back to Jerusalem. 

Now, this was our first bus trip like this and we had difficulty paying. Brenda had told us about the app we needed called Moovit but it was very confusing. And there was no way to purchase tickets at the station unless you already have a RavKav card which we don't. Anyway, we got there and missed our stop so Brenda had to drive a few extra minutes to pick us up. There was a makolet there though so we picked up two yahrtzeit candles that we forgot to bring.

On the bus ride home we had a very "rak b'yisrael" experience. Mark wrote about it in his blog: 

A Very Israeli Bus Ride. On our way back from Beit Shemesh right when Passover ended, the bus became overcrowded, and, at a certain point, the driver was not allowed to pick up any more passengers. At one stop, two people attempted to force their way onto the bus, but there was only room for one person by law. They argued with each other, and neither would get off. The bus driver came out and nearly got into a fight with the man. The woman was giving a sob story about how she had to get to the hospital (though she seemed physically fine, plus a bus would arrive 30 minutes later, 5 by the time it was resolved). Every passenger was yelling something, most of which I couldn't understand, and each person thinking they could resolve the situation. Eventually, the police had to come, and the male was the one who was forced to leave the bus. You kind of had to be there, but it was another of those rak b'Yisrael, only in Israel moments. 

We were lucky to have a young Israeli next to us who translated some of the conversations for us. There was no chametz (of course) to break the chag at Brenda's house, but when we arrived in the bus station in Jerusalem, there were all kinds of chametz to enjoy! We went to a delicious bakery and got some rugelach and a very cheesy bread thing. It was delicious! And we have a few sheets of matzah to use up which I will enjoy over the next few days as a cracker with avocado or other toppings. :-)

Early April in Israel

 I wanted to update you on some things that we are enjoying so far in Israel.

1. Mark found the Charoset flavored Ben and Jerry's ice cream. It was a little disappointing and too much vanilla ice cream base for him. I'm enjoying the Dulce de Leche flavor.

2. We couldn't find certain Jewish items in this apartment so we purchased a set that included tealight candle holders (we found the tealights!) and a kiddush cup. We also purchased a hand washing cup, and a challah cover.

3. When Mark last attended a rabbi's conference, he bought me a tallit from the artisans of Yad LaKashish which is a community organization offering artistic work opportunities to low income elderly in Israel. I love this new tallit (left) and get many compliments on it. We decided to visit the Yad LaKashish gift shop here. That's where we purchased the challah cover. I also got some cute jewelry (matching necklace and bracelet set, below) and a beautiful maroon heavy lace tallit (below) which I wore to services last Saturday at the Conservative Yeshivah's congregation, Moreshet Avraham. I don't always get to wear my tallit. It would be inappropriate in an Orthodox shul.

New tallit

4. We have attended Yakar for Kabbalat Shabbat (upstairs), Ma'ayanot for our first Saturday, Yedidya for our second Kabbalat Shabbat, and Moreshet Avraham for our second Saturday. At Yakar there was a lot of ruach (spirit) and the men danced but the women didn't even though the service leader suggested that we should by suggesting it loudly over the curtain in Hebrew. At least that's what I assume he was suggesting. But maybe no one danced because no one else understood the Hebrew either? We felt very welcomed at both Yedidya and Ma'ayanot. I was even offered an aliyah at Ma'ayanot. After services at Ma'ayanot we were even hosted for a shabbat lunch by Arieh and Nava along with 4 other visitors. It was lovely and delicious. They also had three guests of their own so it was not a small group. The highlight for me was the homemade whole wheat challah. It was so moist and delicious! At Moreshet Avraham, the rabbi was on vacation (Pesach) so we had some students leading and supporting each other. It was fine but Mark didn't like the pace of the davening. We were honored with the third aliyah, but it was one of those "everyone gets an honor" days because of the light turnout.

Bracelet and Necklace

5. Mask wearing is very rare here as we were warned. I have stopped wearing my mask as well. I kept it up through the end of the cruise but once we got to Israel, I decided to stop. Not because there is no Covid in Israel, but because I am ready after the three years of pandemic time passing to accept once again the risk of getting sick. I am confident that if I do get it, I will have a very mild case. I will keep you all posted of course! It doesn't feel good, however, when we are in synagogue, to hear so much coughing and sneezing going on.

6. We live one block from the apartment where the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, is living. He is not living at the official residence because it is being renovated. This means that there is a guard and barricades in front of his building that we have to pass through almost every time we leave home. Luckily, the guards examine us but don't really engage with us. The first time, they just asked where we were going and we told them.

7. On our first week here, we attended the Saturday night Rally for Democracy which happened 3 blocks from our house in front of the President's, Isaac Herzog's house. It included a lot of drumming, chanting, and a bunch of speeches that we didn't understand because they were in Hebrew. There were also many flags and signs, plus some new posters that Mark featured on his blog. It was not scary and we left before it ended. We found out later that a group of anti-occupation protestors took over the protest before it ended. Everything was peaceful though. There is an ice cream shop right there, so we got our glida. It was delicious! Especially my chai masala flavor!

8. I plan to attend ulpan (Hebrew language classes) during our time here. We have it narrowed down to 4 choices, two of which we have to wait until after all of Passover ends in order to find out more information. We know the situation about Ulpan L'Inyan and Ulpan Sheli and they both would work, each having different issues with timing for me. The other two are Beit Ha'Am and Ulpan Morasha. We have to contact them on Thursday since the chag ends Wednesday night. We are not sure when their sessions start and how long they last. We do know that they both teach 5 days a week for the entire morning while the others are 3 times a week and 2 times a week respectively. Each has advantages and disadvantages. I'll keep you posted once the decision is made. Update: I have attended two days of Ulpan Morasha so far. I love it! There's a lot more to the story that I will feature in a separate post.

9. Mark is very proud of learning how to make the French press coffee successfully. He had to purchase the French press, buy the coffee beans and have them ground to the right consistency, and followed the directions from the internet to make it turn out right. He also purchased a guitar (a not very expensive one) so that he doesn't lose his calluses again like he did in 2011 over that sabbatical. At the end of our four months, we will leave this guitar with the Swidlers as a gift. Yoni has claimed it but Rafi and Eli (aka George) also would like to have it.

10. I'm staying loosely connected with Piedmont Middle School by staying up to date on my emails, Friday bulletins, Front Page Broadcasts (morning announcements once or twice a week), etc. I am also working on my National Board Teacher Certification components (2 and 3) that are due the second week of May. I did not think about them at all while we were traveling in Europe and on the cruise, but now I am ready to get going. I look forward to being able to tell you that I am finished in a few weeks. It's going to be a frustrating project with a lot of hours of effort but I am committed to seeing it through. Update: I finished Component 2 and am working on Component 3.

11. Some parts of the Passover seder that we may bring home: (a) the person asking the four questions stands on their chair to do so and (b) no one pours their own wine or juice because we are royalty on this night. The other Swidler tradition that was fun was that anyone who asked a question (at their level, genuine and not silly) got rewarded with a chocolate chip (thrown at them). It made for a lot of questions, lots of good learning, and a very long seder. Update: We visiting our good friends Brenda and Steve Ganot in Beit Shemesh for the 7th day of Passover and they told us that they also do the chocolate chip throwing at their seder! More on that trip in another blog post.

12. On Sunday, my New Jersey and New York family got together for a seder. I was overjoyed to be able to WhatsApp video call with them all! It was so good to see their faces and hear their voices after so many weeks away. I look forward to doing that more now that we are here and not traveling as much.

Leaving the Cruise and Traveling to Israel

 We left the cruise ship in Barcelona, took an Uber/Bolt to the airport (I practiced my Spanish one last time with the driver), and flew on Bluebird Airlines to Israel. We were very early for our flight so there was a lot of waiting around. We heard loads of Hebrew on our flight and those Israelis did not stay in their seats. We were able to take the train from the airport to Jaffa Street in Jerusalem. We then took a Gett (Israeli version of Uber) to our new home on HaRav Haim Berlin Street in a part of Jerusalem officially called Kiryat Shmuel but widely known as either Rechavia or Katamon. 

When we arrived, the father of the woman we are renting from was here to welcome us. He showed us around and gave us the keys, and we were finally home. We stayed up late unpacking, making the bed, making a list of all the things we want to purchase to make the apartment feel more like ours, and we went to the local makolets, small grocery stores, for some food and supplies. It was very tiring and we stayed up very late.

On our first day in Jerusalem, we walked to Machane Yehuda, Ben Yehuda Street, and searched for and found an Ulpan on Bezalel Street called Beit Ha'am. We rested, I called my mom, I met with Gail Hammerman, my co-chair for the National Hadassah Educators Council. We had a delicious dinner at Pizza Flora including some fresh burrata for me. Yum! We are still searching for salad dressing for Mark, and we have enjoyed watching some Giants baseball. When it's an East Coast day game, we can watch. 

This first week and a half here has been full of two Shabbats, one chag, and seeing visitors. Sandy and Dawn Margolin were here visiting their grandchildren (and their son and daughter-in-law of course), and we joined them for a lunch at Caffit on Emek Refaim. Yesterday we saw Amy Wittenberg and Talya Bornstein and Ari Bornstein for a burger near Machane Yehuda. We have eaten some wonderful food out, and I've also prepared chicken soup, matzah balls, charoset, and matzah brie here in the apartment. We enjoyed a long and very educational and musical seder at the Swidlers, and the night before Pesach we took all 8 of them out to dinner at Pizza Hut which was super fun and a little yummy. For the end of the chag, we are traveling to visit Brenda and Steve Ganot in Bet Shemesh. Blog post to come!

Fifth and Sixth Day of the Cruise: Gibraltar and our second sea day

 

On our Gibraltar day, I started out with another round of Speedy Sudoku with three other players. I finished first, so I won. :-)

In Gibraltar, we discovered how it feels like England even though it is in Spain. We first spent our time seeking out the kosher bakery where I got to practice my Spanish again. I had heard there are special pastries with cream in Gibraltar so that's what I got. It was pretty good, like a donut filled with a yellow cream with a jelly texture, but I think I would have enjoyed something else more. There seemed to be other options with white cream or meringue that I would have liked even better! We walked to both of the synagogues and Mark chatted real estate with someone who used to live there. Mark did a longer walk up a big hill toward a nature reserve where he saw some of the famous Gibraltar monkeys. 

We found an amazing bakery with WiFi called A Piece of Cake. The cupcakes all looked amazing and it was really hard to decide what to have. Mark chose Aeromint, and I chose Caramel Chunk. Mark had a cappuccino and I got a so-so chai. But most importantly, we loved having the fast WiFi so we stayed there a while. 

When we got back to the ship, I played "word tennis" with a few other passengers at the event called "Word Games." It was fun and a bit harder than I thought it would be. Together we did trivia again, Mark went to the sail away party, we dined together for dinner, then we got to see MOBO again for the show, watch the Marriage Match Game (like the newlywed game but for couples who have been married different amounts of time), and played the 80s trivia. I was annoyed that it was too hard and that I didn't know everything. Oh, well.

For our second sea day, I started again with the Speedy Sudoku. I kept making mistakes and had to try three times! But I finally got it. I was persistent and did not give up, but clearly I did not win!

Probably I should have stayed at the line dancing class which happened before and during the Speedy Sudoku. It was really fun; I was enjoying myself a lot, and it would have been a lot less stressful than needing 3 tries to figure out the sudoku!

I also went to they gym, rode a stationary bike for 10 minutes, and did my usual exercises and some additional stretches on a mat that one of the attendants found for me and wiped down for me.

Then came a huge highlight: two and a half hours of Mah Jongg. I brought my card of course! This was a dining room that was not being used for lunch that was set aside for games. There were three players at the Mah Jongg table all ready to go so I made the fourth! Perfect! I won a bunch of hands and all four of us had at least one Mah Jongg. I even won a singles and pairs hand and a quints hand. Super fun. They were very nice ladies, and we enjoyed chatting about our lives and how much we all love Mah Jongg.

We again enjoyed the buffet lunch, afternoon trivia, dinner in the dining room, two different trivias after dinner (Michael Jackson and Hollywood), and the final show which was called Rock Opera. It was also fantastic. Those singers can really sing! And the production values were very high once again.

It was sad to come to the end of the cruise. We had to pack to get prepared for our next journey. But we will cruise again because it was so much fun!

Third and Fourth Day of Cruise: Ajaccio, Corsica and our first sea day

On the morning of the third day, I was the only participant in the "Speedy Sudoku." As the cruise progressed, the number of participants kept growing. I did get to win the "life-changing prize" of a Princess Cruises coaster. Over the course of the cruise, Mark and I won many coasters, a notebook, and a drawstring "Gucci/Prada" bag. It was fun but the only thing we kept was the drawstring bag for Mark to use around Jerusalem.

On the island of Corsica, we enjoyed a visit to the city of Ajaccio. I did some short meditation sitting on a ledge above a little beach, and we visited the Museum of Napoleon which is located in the house in which he was born. They have a new outdoor market there and I tried a chai tea from the coffee stand but it was mostly milk. (Scroll down past the pictures of Corsica for more words from me.)

 

We had lunch on back on the ship and watched Everything Everywhere All At Once which Mark was very surprised to see available on our stateroom TV. We participated in two trivias and a game show, then saw an amazing group called MOBO on the main stage. MOBO = Music Of Black Origin and the performers were incredible. The three men were from Great Britain and one of them was named Hayden. Mark interacted with Hayden a lot as they were working out together in the weight room and running around the outdoor track. All of the performers on the ship were very talented, and we especially enjoyed this group.

On our full sea day, I participated in the Texas Hold 'Em poker tournament. It was on an electronic table which I did not enjoy. The other players were quite friendly though, so I had a good time anyway. Sadly, I came in 4th (bubble) but I had fun, took an early lead, won a lot of hands, even some big ones, and did not regret spending $60 for a whole morning's worth of playing "cards"! We tried out lunch in the dining room instead of the buffet and really enjoyed the humor of our waiter, Miguel.  We even tried to request him for dinner but his only availability was too late in the evening for us. I learned the merengue with a partner named Janelle. She was great! Later we had the champagne I won with Hazel and Dany who told us about their lives, and we got to talk a little Israeli politics with them too. We played the 70s Music trivia but Mark was unhappy because it was ALL disco and no rock. We did well and had fun, but it would have been better with a wider variety of styles. I stayed again for the game show which was called Liars Club and featured three of the cruise staff, the cruise director and two of the 6 assistant directors. It was really funny, but somewhat goofy. For the entertainment, we saw a show called Spotlight Bar, and I absolutely loved it. So much good music and dancing and singing. I even cried during the modern piece to 7 Years Old. I was very impressed with how professional all of the shows were.

Cruise! First and Second Day: a stop in Marseille and Kabbalat Shabbat

Going on a cruise sounded to me like a recipe for a Covid disaster. But it's been 3 years and therefore it is time for me to accept the pandemic is now endemic. I did keep my mask handy and used it indoors whenever I wasn't eating. I appreciated the many hand washing stations outside of dining rooms and restaurants on board as well as the hand sanitizer dispensers throughout the ship. I stayed healthy; that's the bottom line. The best itinerary at the time we wanted to travel was on a Princess Cruise.

The embarkation phase of the cruise was the smoothest and quickest we have ever seen. No lines, short wait, easy-peasy. They medallion system on a lanyard around our necks worked relatively well. Mine didn't always register right away when I was trying to use it so I had to wiggle it around the sensor a bit more than Mark did. But it was convenient to have it as our ID as well as our payment method. Of course, there was an opportunity to purchase a necklace, bracelet, watch band for it to make it more elegant. We chose not to do so! :-)

   

The Enchanted Princess is a beautiful ship and we really enjoyed our time on board playing trivia as often as possible, continually meeting new people as our partners and often getting close but never actually winning. The Piazza (left) was at the center of the ship and was where we waited for our room to be ready, where I learned some Merengue and line dances, and where we walked through on three different floors whenever we were going from one end of the ship to the other.

On the first day we enjoyed the sail away party, dinner in our dining room (Almalfi), an opening show of comedian John Evans, and a game of Yes or No which I participated in and made the whole 3 minutes without saying Yes or No so we won a bottle of champagne! :-)

Inside of the sanctuary

The second day of the cruise featured a stop in Marseille, France where there were transportation strikes happening. This resulted in us walking many miles from the ship to the city and taking a Uber or Bolt back to kinda sorta near the ship, but needing to walk a long way from where we were dropped off. For me, this detracted quite a bit from my enjoyment of this port. We did of course see the synagogue; a worker there let us in, and we got to see the sanctuary which was beautiful. We also passed the Cathedral of the Major which was very impressive looking.

Cathedral of the Major

Back on the ship, we played music trivia with Glen and Michelle from Sheffield. I stayed for the game show Majority Rules which Mark insists is actually Plurality Rules. He joined me halfway through and helped me do better than I would have! It was fun. The musical show was called 5 Skies and was really creative and well done. We loved the effects and costumes and the actors, dancers, and especially the singers were phenomenal. Mark also enjoyed the cute baby sitting in front of us who kept looking at Mark and pointing to the stage.

For Shabbat, Mark led the service which took place in the wedding chapel. There were about 25-30 people there, mostly Israelis. We became friendly with Hazel and Dany Perez and spent time with them later in the cruise. There was also a person there with a Bay Area connection but Mark did most of the chatting with her so I don't remember any more. The Enchanted Princess crew provided kippot, prayerbooks, challah, and wine for Kiddush. Mark adapted the given prayerbook service to make it shorter and more enjoyable for people, incorporating both Hebrew and English elements. It was lovely.

Barcelona

We were lucky to spend two days in Barcelona before our cruise. What a city! It was fun to try to use my Spanish but also very frustrating because Spanish in Spain is very different than Latin American Spanish/Mexican Spanish that I am learning with my teacher, Pablo. Things we enjoyed: walkability, culture, food, hotel, the Picasso museum. Things we did not enjoy: power outage at the hotel, graffiti everywhere.

We had some travel issues and mistakes leaving the airport but nothing too terrible, and it all worked out in the end. Instead of traveling from Bordeaux directly to Barcelona, we took a train back to Paris and then flew to Barcelona. At least I enjoyed some delicious chai teas during a variety of the travel days! When we got to the hotel in Barcelona, I stayed in and Mark went exploring and got some pizza. 

Our main day in Barcelona was filled with visiting the old Jewish sites including a synagogue. We enjoyed lunch, snacks, and juices from the amazing outdoor market, Mercado de la Boqueria; it reminded me of the one in Philadelphia (Reading Terminal). Of course we saw La Sagrada Familia which was definitely interesting. But the highlight of the day was dinner/drinks/dessert with Sam Simon. It was wonderful to reconnect and hear about his life in Barcelona.

Paris with Micah and Jonah

From London, we took a train to Paris. There was some stress around the strikes and which trains were cancelled on which days. This took up a lot of our brain power leading up to the travel. Luckily, our train was not cancelled and we got to Paris as expected. I even had some tomato soup for lunch on the train. 

When we got to the Paris Metro, we had the same problem with the suitcases and the stairs. Micah was amazing and carried his AND mine up and down all of those stairs!

We were lucky not to be affected by the strikes in Paris. Yes, some neighborhoods had piles of trash that had not been collected, but everything else seemed to run smoothly.

We stayed at a huge Air BNB in the Marais. We were lucky to be the very first guests at that apartment. They even had to hang some curtains after we arrived! There was a master bedroom for Mark and me that included the shower and sink part of the bathroom. There was a separate toilet room at the front of the apartment. Micah got the room that used to be a closet; all that fit in that room near the front door was the bed, diagonally. Jonah got the sofa bed which was in the large living room/dining room area. The kitchen was also nice and well stocked with supplies but the only thing we used was the coffee maker with pods. And I guess the refrigerator a little bit.

There were so many wonderful things to eat and see in Paris. Mark especially loved getting a coffee eclair at every shop we passed. But his favorite were the coffee merveilleux which had meringue and cream and flakes of chocolate drizzled on top. I tried a variety of different things in the pastry shops. Macarons still come out on top for me but I didn't have anything that I didn't like!

On the first day we visited MAHJ - the Jewish Museum, followed by pastries and chocolates. the Arc de Triomphe, and the Eiffel Tower. We ended with the supposed best falafel and shwarma in the world at L'As du Fallafel. It was really good and really crowded and we went back a second time. But it's not better than what we can get in Israel every corner in Israel, IMHO.

On Thursday the 16th, we were excited to see some of the trash collected. But were warned that this did not mean the strike was over! We spent time with Eliza Kaufman today which was wonderful. We got pastries and walked to a park. She then joined us again Saturday morning for services. This was also our Louvre day. I could not get over how huge and overwhelming it was. SHE (the Mona Lisa of course) was beautiful and smiled at me as I walked away. We had some amazing kosher meat sandwiches at Alfi for dinner.

We had a big Disneyland Paris day in honor of Jonah. It was easy to take the train there and back. We enjoyed the Lion King show. Jonah stayed later than the rest of us so he could go to the other park. Back in Paris proper we had our second visit to La Glacerie where we enjoyed the most delicious hot butterscotch/caramel drink. The coffee and hot chocolate were good too. We also enjoyed an amazing Crepe dinner at Breizh Cafe as recommended by our friend Elizabeth Simms.

Cute crepe takeaway box!

On Shabbat, we attended a Bat Mitzvah at the Liberal Values Congregation. We ended up leaving early so we didn't get to connect with anyone. We enjoyed the Monet museum which was fabulous and much more manageable than the Louvre. this was also our fancy dinner day at a place called Bourguignon. Later, after dinner, Jonah met his friends from Piedmont, Seb and Claire. Sebastian lives in France and Claire was visiting from her studies in Scotland. They came to our Air BnB, and I was so excited that I called Gina McKuen to say hello to all of them. It was amazing.

We only scratched the surface of Paris. There were so many more things we wanted to see, places we wanted to eat, and pastries we wanted to try. Perhaps someday we will return.

Pride on the crosswalk

Me at the Arc

Base of the Tower

The boys plotting something

The Tower at night

My three men

Random horseback patrol