Efkhariso!

We landed in Athens on late Sunday afternoon, with just enough time to check into our Australian hostel and make it to the Acropolis. While looking at some piles of stones from 2 B.C. (whaaat?), we realized that we really should have titled this blog "Looking at Really Old Stuff." Anyway, the view of Athens from the Acropolis is fantastic, and it is unbelievable how far the tiny white buildings stretch as far as the eye can see...

We left for an early morning ferry ride to Paros, the closest Greek island that we could feasibly reach on our short trip to Greece. Four hours and a short bus trip later, we arrived at the Surfing Beach Village and got the keys to our beach hut (6 euros a night, people!). We spent some time laying on the beach and swimming in the insanely clear water, and took a night trip to the harbor town of Naoussa.

The next day, we rented an ATV (cooooool, especially for us) and drove around the small (paved) roads of the island. We even made it to the supermarket where they carried some kosher cheese (yes) and lots of vegetables. Gorgeous views, gorgeous landscape, gorgeous overall.

Back to Athens the following day, on another, though bumpier, ferry ride. We returned to Athens in time to walk around Plaka a bit more, view some graffiti, and make our 2:15 AM flight to Israel!

You'll hear from us when we're not eating our faces off,

Lili.

Florentine New Year

We just left our week in Florence. It was a strange mix of Rosh Hashana stress, beautiful streets and 3 long days of window shopping. We saw David, and we saw Venus and we saw the entire city of Florence from atop the very intricate Duomo. All of which were amazing and shocking and, with the help of Rick Steves, very informative.

Many told us about the Synagogue in Florence, and it is, the most beautiful shul either of us have ever set foot in. It's also clear that the community spends more than a fortune to regularly keep it pristine clean for its visitors. We had many delicious and very international meals at Ruth's Restaurant, where we met: Brazilian Jews from New York who live in Milan, an older couple who live in Vienna and Israel, and a restaurant owner who is really a puppeteer from the Czech Republic. This man, Simcha, is really exceptional, and if you happen to be in the region, please visit, eat some and chat to this guy. Many stories, many languages and lots of smack about the community. The Jewish community in Florence seems like it's on its way out, with barely enough people to make a minyan. Not to mention that Rosh Hashana services take FOREVER when you're you're in a sefardic shul that not only reads every word aloud, but also sings a special Florentine nusach that is very long-winded.

Our stay in Florence ended in time to commemorate September 11th, Lili's birthday. Since it was Shabbat, we felt a little restricted by where we could go and what we could eat, to celebrate. But a huge KOSHER meal has our name written all over it when we arrive in ISRAEL on Thursday morning at 4am. We've penciled in a rain check.

Before then, Athens and Paros.

Natan.

Ah, Venezia. City of lights, canals, and expensive straw hats

We arrived to Venezia in the middle of the afternoon after another series of trains from La Spezia. We took our first vaporetto (water bus) down the Grand Canal to our hotel. No cars, only boats. First stop: Jewish museum tour and kosher food in the Jewish Ghetto. Made our first tourist purchase - a Murano glass mezuzah for only 8 euro, thankyouverymuch.

The next day, we started in San Marco piazza. After visiting Doge's Palace, San Marco's Basicilia, and completing a very information Rick Steve's podcast (free), we sat down to eat our tomato foccacia while surrounded by pigeons (Lili's worst nightmare). A few vaporetto rides later, we arrived at the Peggy Guggenheim museum, which is actually her personal collection shown in the home she owned in Venice. Cool.

We started the day at Murano, the island where Venetian glass is made. Natan ate his heart out at Venini, the (apparently) famous and designer Italian glass maker. We also saw some incredibly small glass bottles for 3 euro each (that Natan would like me to mention because he didn't purchase them and now regrets it every time he walks past a glass store in Venice). Pizza! for lunch in the Jewish Ghetto.

We went to shul at the synagogue in the Ghetto - lots of black iron chandeliers, really tall candles, and beautiful but very uncomfortable wooden benches. We had the nicest Chabad dinner (and lunch) at the Gam-Gam restaurant, with some really nice people. We also met a couple from Monsey who were cousins of Yael Berkowitz and had just come from her wedding in Israel.

On Saturday night, we were just walking around, eating gelato.......and bumped into our NEIGHBORS, Annu and Preeti, from our apartment in Berkeley. Whaaaaaaat?! Literally, our NEXT DOOR neighbors.

Venice, overall, is beautiful. We walked and walked without getting tired of seeing gondolas, laundry hung over canals and alleys, and the colorful, crumbling buildings.

This morning, we visited a few palaces -- housing key works from past Biennales, a prince's ridiculously huge collection of samurai swords and Japanese artifacts, and 16th century costumes.

We leave today for our final stop in Italy -- Florence.

Lili.

P.S. Natan is very upset he has not seen any venetian blinds the whole trip.

The five towns that aren't in Long Island

We arrived in Riomaggiore, which is the first of the Cinque Terre (5 towns) on the northwestern coast of Italy. The train station at Riomaggiore is ridiculous. One side is the vast and VERY blue ocean, and the other is a scattering of colourful houses lodged into the valley of a huge green mountain covered with fields of grape vines. It was really beautiful and quite shocking at the same time.

There are a couple of cafes, some fruit stands a couple delis and a bunch of focaccia stores (the specialty of the region) and beautiful views of the water. That's pretty much it.

First night we got there, we were exhausted from a day of riding the train (which is when we saw amazing melon fields and acres of dead sunflowers still standing up). Our apartment had a nice little balcony that looked out onto the town's main square. As our eyes were shutting at 10 pm (lame, we know), a hilariously terrible Italian cover band started booming a two-hour set of American favourites to a remarkably large audience right outside our window. After a short period of our windows banging together from the bass, we finally gave in, went downstairs and watched young and old Italian groupies dancing, and clapping ... to quality American hits like "The Final Countdown," "Conga Beat," and others. By the way... many silly bands were present.

Next day, we hiked a trail through all five towns which took pretty much the whole day. Lili drank espresso (still no soy), Natan drank cappucino, and we ate tomatos, gelato and tofurky jerky. This walk was incredibly hard, and incredibly beautiful. Lots of steps, lots of Australians, lots of tiny narrow paths sandwiched between olive trees and grape vines.

We also took a day in Pisa. There we took the typical photos of the leaning tower, and got Natan a much needed haircut.

The end. On to Venice! Stay tuned!