Sunday 9/6 It was a great day in Paris! Dan and I fell back to sleep about 5 and slept until 10 - we ate at the apt. - after I went to the corner bakery and bought bread for dinner and croissants for breakfast & to the Proxi for coffee. Then we had a great breakfast: boiled eggs, cheese and bread, croissants, coffee and a nectarine. The others had already left for the Eiffel Tower, etc. so we took the metro there and walked around and then walked from there along the beautiful neighborhoods East of the Tower, crossed the [View Full Entry]

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Monday, 9/7 Got up early to be at Sarah's by 7:45 as the makeup and hair artist was coming at 8 AM. Spent a fun time watching the transformation of Sal from simply lovely to stunningly gorgeous. Bethia also showed up about 8:30 and we had a nice time. Laure is truly a makeup and hair artist! Afterward, everyone went their separate ways: Bethia and Bob to the Louvre, S & J on their own and us too. We spent a wonderful afternoon starting at Notre Dame and wandering through the Marais to the Bastille, then across the bridges to the [View Full Entry]

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Thursday, 9/17 Be'er Sheva Bedouin Market: Naya was in school again today so we were off early to Be'er Sheva, a city in the north Negev. Once a week there is a large market mainly for the local Bedouin people. It is like a giant flea market with the Dollar Tree as part of it. So much junk (in our eyes), also lots of clothes, jeans, traditional pants, robes and dresses as well as modern clothes, jewelry, pots and pans, toys - lots of toy machine guns and handguns, etc. It was fascinating because most of the women were in traditional [View Full Entry]

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Tuesday, 9/15 Today we started a bit late, but set out for Jaffa and Tel Aviv about 10. Jaffa is an ancient port city on the coast on the southern side of Tel Aviv. It's history goes back 4,000 years to the Egyptians. It is beautiful and old and preserved wonderfully. The artistic section is great for shopping and I bought some beautiful earrings handmade by an Israeli artist in the Yemenite style - filigree patterns. We also walked through the older bazaar that's kind of trashy but they have some cool things as well. Had Katy bargain a top for [View Full Entry]

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Monday, 9/14 Today is our first day at the kibbutz. We woke late, 6:45 or so and rushed to get to breakfast before 7:30. Katy joined us and we all had breakfast together. We saw Dori on the way to the dining hall after he had dropped Naya off at school. What a small and intimate community! Breakfast was really really good: hard boiled eggs, cucumbers and tomatoes, sour cream, yogurt, bread and (I had) Nutella on the bread (yum!). There were also cereals, tuna, feta cheese... all very healthy. By mistake I got some turkish coffee but I really like [View Full Entry]

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Sunday, 9/13 Up early to finish packing and clean the apt. Our taxi came at 7:30 and the trip to the airport in a pre-arranged taxi is well worth the 65 euros. Peace of mind and convenience is worth a lot when you need to be somewhere on time and you have a lot of luggage. So here we are at Charles de Gaulle waiting for our flight to Tel Aviv. Sunday mornings are a good time to fly - Paris is very quiet and the airport is not crowded, check in and security are much much easier because you don't [View Full Entry]

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Friday, 9/11 Today is of course, the 8th anniversary of the bombing of the World Trade Centers. I am sure there were lots of ceremonies and service in the US, but in our little Paris bubble, I forgot until now that that's what today was. Slept until 11 and Dan and I had the day to ourselves. After eating French Onion Soup at the Cafe Ste. Germaine (wonderful!), we walked across the Seine to the right bank and walked down Rue de Rivoli to Notre Dame. On the way, we went through an Electric Vehicle show at the Hotel de Ville [View Full Entry]

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Thursday, 9/10 Today is the big day! Katy spent the night with Sarah last night and they called this morning to get Bethia and I out for coffee and pastries. Sarah is very relaxed and happy, which is great, not stressed at all. All the girls met at Sarah's apt at 11 ish with clothes in tow. Dan had to help me carry things over as I had my gown, shoes, etc plus all the food for lunch, food for the photo shoot after the ceremony, champagne, glasses - a lot! Laure arrived to do hair & make up at 11:30 [View Full Entry]

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Wednesday, 9/9 Woke up early and the 3 of us headed out to the cafe to plan the morning as today is rehearsal day. Katy and I bought the rehearsal bouquet for Sal and also planned out the wedding night gift. Got into our fancy duds and we all took cabs to the church about 11. The American Church is absolutely gorgeous - an old Episcopal church built in the 30's in a very traditional style, lots of stained glass and a good size. Met with the pastor, a retired pastor from Montana, very dear person and went through the rehearsal [View Full Entry]

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9/4/09 Well, I must say, Air France is just about the best for us Economy travelers! We boarded our AF flight to Paris at 3:30 San Francisco time and once we were on our way, out came the champagne for the aperitif. (all of this is free) Next came dinner that consisted of shrimp and tabbouleh for an appetizer, beef burgundy, mashed potatoes and vegetables for a main course, fruit, cheese, a brownie, of course the baguette and as much red or white wine as you could want. If perhaps after dinner you'd like coffee, tea or a cordial, that too [View Full Entry]

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