http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Debby/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Debby en-us Tue, 05 Jan 2010 05:12:03 +0000 Tue, 05 Jan 2010 05:12:03 +0000 Well it 's just a couple of weeks until the start of my vacation with my daughter Carrie. Nothing as serious or historical as previous international trips posted on travelblog but hopefully fun and relaxing. We are headed out on NCL's Norwegian Spirit from New Orleans with stops in Mexico Guatemala and Belize. All countries where I would like to spend a full week exploring jungles archaeolo http://www.travelblog.org/Oceans-and-Seas/Caribbean/Gulf-of-Mexico/blog-355804.html Oops Thought this was posted already but so busy when I got home that I didn't have time to check. Sorry about it being a week late....Good morning Well we had another amazing breakfast at the Polonia Palace Hotel then boarded the bus another small van like bus for our second day in Warsaw. Our ldquocity guiderdquo was Yolanta who comes from a town about an hour away but now lives http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Poland/Masovia/Warsaw/blog-313483.html Greetings It's the end of the second day in Prague. Tomorrow Monday we fly off to Budapest. We started out today at 9 am from the hotel walking over the the Jewish quarter. It's just five minutes from the hotel great location President Hotel and great hotel. the first building we entered the walls are all whitewashed inside and then the names of the 80000 Czech Jews who were murd http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Czech-Republic/Usti-nad-Labem-Region/Terezin/blog-307973.html This is a minirabbinic sermon as we near our last days in Europe. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to catch you up on the amazing meeting we had this morning with the woman from the Forum for Dialogue Among the Nations. For now a few thoughtsGood afternoon or good morning Itrsquos Shabbat afternoon and this evening marks the beginning of Tisha BrsquoAv the 9th day of the Hebrew month http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Poland/blog-310154.html Tonight we had the most amazing evening. We arrived in Warsaw and had a quick half hour to get ready to go to Beit Warsaw to services. The congregation is a progressive Reform congregation affiliated with the World Union for Progressive Judaism.And here is what we discovered1 The main rabbi of the congregation Rabbi Burt Schuman was away this week. The second rabbi at the congregation i http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Poland/Masovia/Warsaw/blog-310151.html Friday August 8thSet out from hotel for another very full day. Began at the Kazimierz district. This was the old Jewish district and Janusz gave us a detailed historical talk as we stood in the shade for an hour outside the Old Synagogue. We reviewed how the Jews came to Poland how they were treated in different times and how they came to be in Kazimierz moved there by the king when they wer http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Poland/Lesser-Poland/Krakow/blog-310150.html AUSHWITZBIRKENAUAugust 7 2008Some say it is more difficult to visit Aushwitz Birkenau on a beautiful sunny day. Yes the weather is lovely. Does that make it harder to imagine the atrocities committed against Jews and others in this place of hell In any case it was in the 80rsquos and the sun shone on everything. We met up with our guide a young man who has been doing this full time for http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Poland/Lesser-Poland/Auschwitz/blog-310148.html THROUGH SLOVAKIA TO POLANDOn Wednesday August 6th we left early from Budapest for Poland. We had asked our tour company Ayelet Tours to put on a stop in Slovakia at the Museum in Banska Bystrica instead of driving straight through to Krakow. This museum is dedicated to the Slovakian Uprising against the Nazis an uprising led from this small city near the Tatras Mountains. The small museum http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Slovakia/blog-310147.html Hi This is Marty L Here are some observations of our tour so far.8308 Prague is on the Valtava River from the point of view of the Czech citizenry. Those in the west know of it by its German name the Moldau. The melody of Hatikva is from folk music of this region the melody was also used by Bedric Smetna in his music ldquoThe Modaurdquo and many people think that the Israeli http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/blog-309249.html BUDAPEST DAY TWOWe went down to breakfast at 815 am today and what a meal Letrsquos just say beautiful and classy and delicious. At 9 am we left for our day tour. Headed across one of the bridges and up to the Buda side of the city. We saw the Royal Palace from outside and the Coronation Church which is getting a gorgeous refurbished roof of amazing tiles the Fishermanrsquos Basti http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Hungary/Central-Hungary/Budapest/blog-308847.html Good morning afternoon or evening depending on who is reading thishellipGetting caught up today Tuesday August 5th during a nice afternoon break here in Budapest. We arrived on Monday in the afternoon. The flight was an hour late because of rain and such but all went well and it was hot no rain when we arrived in Budapest around 130 pm. We met Aggie our Budapest city guide at the a http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Hungary/Central-Hungary/Budapest/Pest/blog-308846.html Well it's 1130 pm on Saturday and we are toured fed and I'm guessing all asleep except me The flight from Atlanta to Prague was uneventful. Hurray We arrived only a 12 hour late though got off the ground an hour and a half late because plane arrived late to Atlanta. Met our guide Janusz as we came out from baggagecustoms. Wow was Czech passport control nice quick and easy.. Got ri http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Czech-Republic/Prague/blog-307617.html August 1 emailed on August 2Dear ReadersWe arrived Itrsquos Friday the day we were scheduled to be in Prague. Instead we are sitting in the Atlanta airport. Our flight took off from JFK around 430 pm on Thursday for the nonstop overseas flight and it was true. We had only one stop. Back on the ground at JFK an hour later. On takeoff the plane lost an engine not as bad as it sounds http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/Czech-Republic/blog-307539.html In a little over a week 10 of us from Temple Beth El will be heading over to Europe for an encounter with Jewish history in its glory and its tragedy. We will be visiting the Czech Republic Hungary and Poland with a short stop in Slovakia. We will see old cemeteries landmark synagogues and Holocaust sites. We will have two Shabbat evenings with the revitalized progressive Jewish congrega http://www.travelblog.org/Europe/blog-302514.html Welcome to the next phase of this blog. You guessed it another fantastic group from Temple Beth El of Northern Valley Closter New Jersey is about to take off for Israel. This time we are a total of 18 that stands for Chai life. Well it will be a lively group. Three empty nester couples and three families. With children ages 6 8 13 13 13 and 17. Pretty cool.... The first hal http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Israel/blog-171919.html David here. Rabbi Hachen does not know that I am doing this but I ended up with such great pictures I had to post them. Our last day had some of the worst rain of the week. Fortunately our stops were inside. Our first stop was our Tzedakah project. It was at a Jaffa Institute food warehouse in Tel Aviv where we packed packages for distribution. We did it with Harvard Princeton and Yale kids http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Israel/Center-District/Rehovot/blog-115600.html Shabbat as it should be a day of rest All of us still at the hotel happened to meet up at breakfast around 830900 am. Great buffet breakfast just wished I wasn't still stuffed from pasta at Steve's apartment last night.After breakfast met up with Tami's brother who lives near Ashdod. He drove into Tel Aviv with his wife and little boy who is just over a year old. So cute We met in my http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Israel/Tel-Aviv-District/Tel-Aviv/blog-114724.html Shalom again This is Debby today. I'm writing this a bit later but covering all the happenings on Friday. We started with breakfast of course but today I skipped it. How much can one eat A lot..... Then onto the bus at 830 yes finally a day to get a bit more sleep... We headed off first to see where Prime Minister Rabin was assassinated. For Americans reading this it is an even m http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Israel/Tel-Aviv-District/Tel-Aviv/blog-114716.html David again. We left the Kibbutz at Kfar Blum this morning and as we looked up into the mountains of the Golan we saw all the snow from after we came down yesterday. Rabbi Hachen actually heard that other groups that went up today got stuck in the snow. Except for a couple of days of rain we have had some decent weather this trip but it has been chilly. Luckily we packed correctly.Our firs http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Israel/Tel-Aviv-District/Tel-Aviv/blog-114297.html HiIt's Sarah Paster. Today was so much fun We woke up a lot later which was nice and then we went on this awesome Jeep tour of the Golan hights. It was a bit cold outside but since my Jeep my family and Stamberg family brought 3 blankets and 1 comforter we were good. We drove through a Kibbutz and then followed the path of the IDF during the 6day war. Cool things we saw were a hotspring http://www.travelblog.org/Middle-East/Israel/North-District/Golan/blog-114066.html