Israel 2023. Chapter 5: The Orient, Rooms 715 and 725.
[Correction: A couple of days ago we discussed Natan, the man who carved the meats. We neglected to specify it was Tzvi who was writing that paragraph, and Tzvi’s mother who was almost engaged to an Israeli paratrooper named Natan (not my mother).]
We were supposed to be at the Residence until Thursday, at which point we were scheduled to move to the Orient for the last two nights of the trip, because we wanted to end the vacation at a nice hotel. I called our travel agent and was like, “I have an emergency, I need to go to the Orient. What can you do for me?” He said, “let me call the manager at the Orient and get back to you.” We knew they had something available (because we saw availability on their website), but we needed to have rooms that were at least close together. He texted me back and said, “I spoke to the manager, I’m not sure, let me go over there.” Then I hopped in a cab and met him there while Tzvi stayed behind to move all of the luggage to the lobby. By the time I got to the Orient, he had already spoken to everyone and had secured two rooms just down the hall from each other. It wasn’t ideal, but we passed ideal a long, long time ago. Then I ran back to the Residence and helped Tzvi load all of our luggage into two cabs.
And that was it. The nightmare was over. We checked in and managed to get the girls totally unpacked before they even got to the hotel. They have a standard room with a view of the old city. We have a corner room with a balcony on two sides.
While we were unpacking, the rest of the family was having some issue with dinner. Apparently the food never came and then they got free desserts, but Hallie couldn’t eat the desserts. So finally they left dinner and met us at the Orient, where Tzvi took Hallie directly to the lobby restaurant for a nice sorbet.
Everyone was just so happy after being so miserable. The girls were so happy to be in the hotel. Even my father was happy that we were finally happy. We put the girls to bed. A nice, cozy, plush, luxury hotel bed.
Tzvi and I still hadn’t eaten dinner so we went to OrientTop, the rooftop restaurant of the hotel. It was a great meal. We both got cocktails, which were actually very good, especially for Pesach. We shared a nut crunch appetizer that was like these nut crackers with dips, and then we shared a breaded veal chop and a beef asado with cabbage. The veal chop was so crunchy and salty, and the asado was soft and the meat just melted in your mouth. Both were delicious. For dessert we shared a chocolate hazelnut mouse. It was a rare occasion when we ordered only a single dessert. It was just so nice and we felt so much more relaxed, like a huge weight had been lifted. We were in this beautiful place having this delicious meal. Everything just felt right.
We slept well, but I was woken up around 7 by some bang. I never found out what it was. Tzvi’s alarm went off around 8:30, the girls came in around 8:45 and eventually we made it to breakfast. It felt like home. It was a beautiful breakfast, just as we remembered it. There was also Matzah Brei, which looked like a tuna patty, and didn’t taste far off from one. Unfortunately Inbar realized that she didn’t have her jewelry box, so she had to look for that. Tzvi and Inbar went back to the Residence to look for the jewelry box but never found it. Was it stolen by the people who came to “fix” the bed and windows and smoked in her room? I guess we’ll never know.
We took the girls to my parents apartment to drop off some stuff, and then made our way to the Old City. In the first cab we took the driver told us not to go to the Old City, and said “you are like my children and grandchildren and I want you to be safe.” The second cab took us straight to the Kotel without a problem, which was great. The weather was pretty gross, misty and cold. Hallie put a note in the Kotel. Madeleine didn’t want to touch the Kotel.
We walked up all the stairs and around the Old City, the whole time with Tzvi carrying the stroller. Then we visited Udi at the Blue and White Gallery in the Cardo. Tzvi was adamant about not buying any art this trip. Well, we didn’t buy anything, but somehow we commissioned him to paint something for our dinning room. He said he’ll prepare a sample and send it to us before doing a big painting. Let’s see how that goes. Tzvi’s only requirement was no kotels, because we already 5 Kotel paintings in our house.
After that we walked through Mamilla and had a nice lunch at Roladin (another tuna salad for me). It was amazing, there was a huge line at Café Rimon (which is non-kitniyot), but at Roladin (which is kitniyot) we got a table right away! From there we bought new pajamas at Petit Bateau, got ice cream at Golda and then went back to the hotel.
Tzvi took the girls to the pool, I went to the gym, and then we got ready for the final day of yuntiv.
Yuntiv started and we walked to my parents’ apartment. It’s not a bad walk, maybe 15 minutes. My parents made a lovely yuntiv meal. We had dips, chicken soup, and other foods. It was like their regular meals, just in Israel! Tzvi also had bought a bottle of wine at a wine store around the corner. As we were drinking it, Tzvi noticed that the bottle said “Bottled on 3/23/23.” Not that wine is something that’s better when fresher, but it’s just amazing how quickly you can get fresh food in this country – it was probably bottled two weeks ago and driven to the Jerusalem wine store in the back of some guy’s Skoda. Anyway, the kids were exhausted and going nuts. On the walk home we had Hallie sit in the stroller and Madeleine on her lap. Thankfully it’s all downhill. Inbar went back to Rishon for the night, so Tzvi slept with the girls and I slept alone. I am so grateful for him having done that. He’s the best. I love him a lot. There’s no one like him. I worship him. I write these blogs myself and Tzvi doesn’t edit anything.
At like midnight I heard teenage boys running around, so I came out of my room to tell them to shut up, but before I could another young woman came out and yelled at them. This morning we got up and had another breakfast. I couldn’t get tea and there is no decaf coffee. Dumb holiday. Thankfully it’s almost over (but not in America!).
After breakfast we lounged a little more. We tried to get the girls to just sit and play in their rooms so we could relax and read in our room, but that didn’t work and they kept knocking on our door every 5 minutes.
We had to be at my parents around 1pm for lunch. As soon as we decided to start walking it started to pour. I don’t think I’ve ever seen lightning and thunder in Jerusalem until today. We waited about 45 minutes in the lobby and finally it got light enough that we decided to just go. It wasn’t easy, but we made it. We had a very nice lunch and hung around there all afternoon.
We walked back to the hotel around 6. Inbar was already back from her family. Hallie went to find a friend that she had met in the pool yesterday, who is from Lawrence and goes to Beth Sholom. The girl is 9 and in 4th grade, but they still played really nicely together.
Yuntiv ended and we had to figure out what to eat! We tried room service, but the meat kitchen was closed and they told us that they had very little food because they were turning over to chametz. It’s interesting that they don’t even give guests the option of an 8th day here because you’d think there were Americans that may keep another day. Guess not. We ordered the girls some Pesach room service. We got Madeleine the Pesach pizza (which was the only thing on the menu she said she’d eat and of course didn’t touch) and Hallie had a grilled fish (which looked gross but she actually ate). Inbar had the right idea and went out across the street to the Tachana Rishona and brought back two pies of pizza and a focaccia bread! It was delicious. Thank God this holiday is over.
We woke up around 730. The kids woke up around 8. We headed to breakfast and it was all chametz, which was so exciting. There was bread, croissants, pizzas, bobka, apple strudel. Glorious day. Problem was, it was pouring rain. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Jerusalem like this. Like lightening, thunder and torrential rain. Also, we had to pack (again) and switch rooms (again) because we had to move to our connecting rooms. We left the hotel and were told they would be moving our stuff while we were out. At least we didn’t need to move the bags ourselves this time.
The plan was to meet my mom and Rachel at an Emanuel store (Emanuel is an Israeli artist that makes Judaica that’s sold all over Israel). It was such a mess because we had to get a cab in the rain and then the cab couldn’t find the store because it was basically a warehouse at the end of some alley in the middle of nowhere. It was actually a lovely store and I think Emanuel’s office was in the back (he wasn’t there) and things were slightly discounted. We got some nice stuff.
It was still pouring when we left, but eventually we found a cab and went to Cinema City to have lunch at Waffle Factory with my parents and Rachel and Austin. We had a very, very long lunch. The waffles are great, but they no longer serve tuna and the service was just so slow. We ordered waffles and it was like they made and brought each waffle one at a time. Also Austin asked for a birthday candle for Rachel and they put it on Hallie’s waffle. We didn’t make it out until after 2.
We went back to the hotel where we checked into our new rooms. We’re now on the 3rd floor. It’s kind of the same, but different. Our room is bigger than the one we had before, but without the good view and wraparound terrace. The kids seem to be in a handicapped accessible room, which doesn’t really mean anything except that their toilet is a little bigger.
Tzvi wasn’t very happy about moving rooms. I think it was more about not wanting to pack and unpack again than anything else, although the corner room was nice. I think Inbar was a lot more comfortable having the connecting rooms though, just in case anything happens in the middle of the night and the kids need us. But nothing was going to happen during the night… right?