2008-05-23
2008-05-11
Moving Right Along
We've had a great time here in Firenze; it started out kind of rocky, but the city grew on us. One of the highlights of our stay was seeing the original (and both copies) of Michelangelo's "David" -- wow. It's really impressive in person, and well worth the wait and fee. I even managed to snag a (crappy) picture of me with it -- difficult to do with guards screaming at everyone not to take pictures.
Limor's highlight was eating Italian pasta. Actually, it was my highlight too.
We also drove around Toscana (Tuscany) for a while, courtesy of our good friends Amit and Sagiv, who joined up with us for our first two days here. It's always fun seeing people you know in other countries.
So, the internet/computer here isn't the best, and we're running out of time, so we'll try to upload some more pics/audio/blogs in Roma.
For now, ciao bella!
2008-05-07
I'm Into Podcasts Now
Hopefully you don't find these boring, because they're a hell of a lot quicker to make than typing. If you're starved for attention, then great, otherwise when the computers aren't so crowded I'll try to write something. Possibly once we get home, at the rate it is here in this crowded hostel...
I hope this works. Here goes.
Playlist:
02 - our host at Mambo Tango leads us up Montjuic to a picturesque viewpoint
http://drzaus.mylimelight.net/podcasts/02_toti_walks.mp3
03 - Barcelona, Day 1 (May 02)
http://drzaus.mylimelight.net/podcasts/03_BCN1.mp3
04 - Barcelona, Day 2 (May 03)
http://drzaus.mylimelight.net/podcasts/04_BCN2.mp3
05 - Barcelona, Day 3 (May 04) **
http://drzaus.mylimelight.net/podcasts/05_BCN3.mp3
06 - Barcelona, Day 4 (May 05)
http://drzaus.mylimelight.net/podcasts/06_BCN4.mp3
07 - Nice, Day 1 (May 06)
http://drzaus.mylimelight.net/podcasts/07_Nice1.mp3
08 - Nice, Day 2 (May 07)
http://drzaus.mylimelight.net/podcasts/08_Nice2.mp3
** Haven't recorded yet
Fwd: Pictures from Barcelona and Nice
We are now in Nice, France after already spending 4 days in
Barceliona. So far we've been having amazing weather and we've been
walking with short sleeve shirts and yesterday even went to the beach.
Barcelona was amazing and we stayed at a really nice hostel! It was
really great but now we're spoiled and will compare every hostel to
it.
in Nice we're staying at a pretty big hostel. It's pretty nice but
we're sharing a room with some rude people. The beach here makes up
for it so we're realxing and having fun!
Our next stop is Monaco-we're leaving tomorrow.
I added pictures on Facebook. If you'd like to see them go to:
Barcelona #1: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=111565&l=81ade&id=686365157
Barcelona #2: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=112199&l=80b99&id=686365157
Nice: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=112203&l=9fba3&id=686365157
We're going to keep having fun and chill on the beach today....
We miss you all!
All israelis- Happy Yom Ha'atzmaut!!!
--
Limor Bachar-Schwartz
Guest Author
2008-05-02
skipping ahead a bit
We left Israel early early early in the morning (had to get to the airport at 4:30am) on little sleep and flew to BCN. Five or so hours and a train+bus ride later, we were at our hostel Mambo Tango. Really cute place, the proprietor we met at the front desk is from Argentina, and she and a guy from Barcelona converted their home into the hostel a couple months ago. I think it must have been more like an apartment building, or they were minor royalty, because they can sleep 42 people here in comfort. We've signed up for their evening tapas, which we are looking forward to later.
So after we dropped our stuff off, instead of doing the sensible thing and and taking a nap, we went out to see what we could see. We started with La Rambla, a big street cutting through the old city from the port inwards. It boasts that it has the largest number of "human statues" in the world, and we saw quite a few. Basically it's kinda a tourist trap, but all along the street are beautiful historical buildings, and sidestreets that lead to places like Placa Reial (reminded us of what St. Mark's Square looks like -- at least, the Las Vegas version) and La Mercat de la Boqueria, a big street market with lots of fruit and meat stands all jumbled together. We saw whole sheep heads (skinned), Limor was grossed out by huge dangling cow tongues, and I'm pretty sure I took a picture of something's brain in a plastic takeaway box. Then we bought a bunch of bananas.
We were desperately hungry, so we basically bought the first thing under 5 euros, which of all things happened to be falafel in pita. It was tasty and filling (and with a name like "Maoz Falafel", probably Israeli) but immediately afterwards we found the same thing for half as much down the street. Oh well. Our impromptu picnic in Placa Reial was still delightful. Especially the sitting down part.
Then we headed toward the harbor area, and along the way saw more statue people (including a really great Alien) and Superman perched atop a building at the end of an alley (ended up being the Wax Museum). We got to the Mirador de Colom, which looked a lot like Trafalgar Square crossed with the statue of Admiral Nelson (from London). We think it was commemorating Columbus finding America, since there was a man atop the pillar pointing presumably towards said continent.
We took a short detour to figure out what these crazy giant hoops were, and continued a ways to see the cable car hub to Montjuic next to the World Trade Center complex, and a really large building which turned out to be the biggest boat I've ever seen.
We went back around to Port Vell and the ultra-modern boardwalk to the mirror-faced Mare Magnum shopping center. We watched people feeding the fish and took a short lie-down to rest our legs (also, because everybody else was doing it too). We wandered around the mall for a couple minutes just to see what Spanish consumerism is like, and continued to amble about the interesting architecture of the Port.
Very tired, we headed back up Para-lel Avenue to the hostel and saw a bunch of interesting graffiti and skateboarders along the way in several of the parks that spring up here and there. At the hostel, we took advantage of the water-conserving (yay) showers (yay too) and I sat down to write this very blog before we forgot what we did.
Side Note: typing this on a spanish keyboard with a missing 'o' key was incredibly difficult. It changed from the 's' key because I switched to Dvorak (as usual), so I think we might try just making a voice recording next time. Oh yeah, and I'll finish Israel later, I guess. I have some notes, now I just need time...
Greetings from Europe
tango, really nice place) and i'm having some difficulties typing
without the "s" key, as it's missing from this keyboard. anyway,
we're off to explore our neighborhood, and then check out the market
on la rambla.
free interwebs, so maybe you'll hear more from us later...
2008-05-01
a whisper of a shout-out
read it at your own peril/enlightenment.
Re: A Pictoral Summary
Israel 08 Part 2
Just like last year, our Passover Seder was a big family event -- just about everyone from Itzik's side came. This year, instead of at Sabba v'Savta's house, it was in Limor's parents. To sum it up -- lot's of food, lots of singing in Spanish/Spaniolete/Ludino, but strangely enough we forgot the songs like "Echad Me Yodeah?" and "Chad Gadya" at the end. Still the same amount of 'arguing' over the correct tune. The gefilte fish was better than last year, I tried to convince everyone that "k'nedelach" should really be pronounced "matzah balls", and I found out why they eat lettuce instead of horseradish (it's weird but Israelis and Americans apparently switched the definitions of maror and chazeret). Oh yeah, and for the Four Sons, I was The One Who Doesn't Know How To Ask (hyuck hyuck). They thought they were playing a joke on me, but instead I tricked them and read it in English FTW.
But they had the last laugh as I ended up doing the dishes.
4/20 Lunch at Sigi & Menachem, Evening at the port with Sagiv & Amit - Speedo Bar
Yes, the subheading does say "Speedo Bar", but it's not what you think. I'll get back to it.
Instead of two days for each holiday like we do in the Colonies, Israelis get one official day. So to make up for this lack (actually I think it's so we finish the leftovers faster) we had Passover Lunch at Sigi and Menachem's (aunt and uncle). The real reason is because Menachem couldn't make it to Limor's parents' the night before, so we brought the Seder to him.
This time, we remembered to do all of the songs -- Ran (the seven-year old cousin) took particular delight in squeaking out all thirteen verses of "Who Knows One?", and we enjoyed the yearly tradition of Saba, Itzik, and Moti belting out "Chad Gadya" in Spaniolete. Also, all of the old Bachar classics can be yours for $49.99, like the timeless Turkish tune "Be'irallah" and the Spanish thing where you tickle the youngest child while telling some nonsense story (in Spanish). I would put the videos up on YouTube, but I can't get it to log in.
We also played (or rather, helped Niv to play) "One Against One-Hundred" on the tv. It was pretty fun, even if I couldn't read the questions, and almost half of them had to do with soccer. After a brief food coma, I played with the younger cousins for a couple of hours (thank god 'memory' cards don't have words) until it was time to meet our friends Sagiv and Amit at the Tel Aviv Port.
They picked us up and we drove out to the Port. It used to be the main port for Israel, but it fell into disuse a while back, and has since been completely renovated with bars, clubs, restaurants, and trendy stores along the boardwalk. Very nice place, day or night. It was pretty chilly there in the evening, but I was able to barricade myself from the wind with lounge pillows once we got to the Speedo Bar. We had some drinks/milkshakes, chatted for a while, and called it a night.
Oh yes, the place itself isn't anything special -- no one is actually wearing a speedo, but for some reason everything has the Speedo brand logo on it. Sorry, it's not much of a punchline after all that waiting.
Summarizer 1, Israel
As I previously mentioned, getting to Israel felt like we had just left, kinda like hitting *PAUSE* on a videogame, then making lunch, checking some emails, watching some tv, leaving for six months, and then picking up the controller again. We battled jet lag by taking a nap, so we were fresh for the family reunion in the evening. Everyone from Limor's father's side came over, with the exception of Moti and Ariela who were still in Barcelona. We unloaded our smuggled goods, and they all seemed to like their presents.
4/17 Ceasar Coffee with Tal, Biennale in the evening (nothing there), Dr. Lek
Straight away, the first thing we had to do was see our friend Tal so we could give him his iPhone. He was practically begging us to come sooner so he could play with his new baby. His fortitude was put to the test, however, because he had to wait two additional days before his friend could unlock it. We also saw our first Prius in Israel, and since then we've been counting them (we're up to 28). Like everything else, they cost about 1.5x as much here as they do in the States, so they're not as common as they are in, say, Raleigh, where it's like every sixth car is a light-blue Prius.
In the evening, we went out to find the "Biennale Bat-Yam" celebration, which was supposed to be like a street art festival in line with the mayor's plan to rennovate and beautify the city. There were concerts all week, artists, sculptures, etc scattered around the city, but we misread the brochure and came out before anything started. So there was nothing there. To make up for it, we went out to Jaffa to get some ice cream at Dr. Lek's. And wonder of wonders, they had Itzik's favorite flavor -- malabi! Every time we go, he always tells me how wonderful it is, how it's the best taste in the history of the world, yada yada, but they are always out of it. He even ran into the guy that owns Dr. Lek's one day, who asked him what he thinks of the store. I'm sure the guy was expecting delighted reviews, but the first thing Itzik told him is "I'm very disappointed. You never have malabi." I guess he listened...
4/18 Batyamella at Tobego Beach, Evening at Ido's new apt in TLV, and Mina Tomei with Shultz crew
We "began" our day with a walk on the beach to see some of the festival. Not sure why, but this was called 'Batyamella'. They had some "local" or smaller bands performing (the one we saw had high-school groupies), random jugglers, and face-painting along where we walked. Itzik and I played frisbee while Aviva and Limor sat on the sand. I carry a frisbee with me whenever I travel, just, you know...in case, so I was dying to use it. Frisbee is not really popular here; in its place is 'mahtkoht' -- paddle-ball -- in which Israel is the European champion...yeah...
We probably napped or something when we got back, and in the evening we visited our friend Ido's new apartment in the heart of TLV. He studied in Beersheva "with" Limor, and like pretty much everybody else bolted as soon as he graduated. He's in a convenient location, as he lives a short walk from "Mina Tomei", a good Thai streetfood restaurant. So we went there with him, and our friends Adi and Aviad/Inbar (who introduced us to the restaurant). I ate some crazy appetizers and got a stomach ache (just like last time). Then we called it a day.
Life Imitates
little side project going that I found interesting. After the team
demolished the family's house, he walked around taking extreme closeup
shots of random objects, like broken tiles or exposed wiring. He said
something like you can find beauty in anything if you look close
enough.
So, me being the impressionable youth that I am, I wandered around
Limor's parents' apartment trying my hand at it. Did it work? You be
the judge.
