This is our third Grandparent - Grandchild trip. A number of years ago, we came up with the idea of travelling with grandchildren when they reach mid teen years ( 15 - 17 years) as a way of bonding with our grandchildren.
Our first trip saw us take two grandchildren from Israel and two from Toronto to Tuscany. It was a great trip. We rented a villa and because there was minimal kosher facilities available, we all joined together to prepare delicious meals from whatever fresh ingredients were available. We toured all over Tuscany, visiting many hilltop walled villages, seeing the leaning tower of Pisa and touring whatever Jewish sites we could find.
Our second trip involved three grandchildren from Toronto and we flew to Panama. We saw the canal, visited a native community, enjoyed some of the finest kosher restaurants around, spent Shabbat in the middle of Panama's amazing Jewish community and then flew to Boquete in the hills where we spent the better part of a week zip lining, white water rafting and hiking through the rainforests and coffee plantations.
This trip sees three cousins, Eden from Israel, Kyra and Emunah from Toronto joining us for two weeks in Switzerland and Austria and rather than revealing our itinerary at this time, will leave it for you to read our blog and join us on our journey.
But as luck would have it, our Air Canada plane had a mechanical problem and we finally pulled back from the gate at 9 PM, 2 and a half hours late. Eden's ElAl flight was on time and so instead of us waiting for her for 20 minutes, she had to wait for our arrival for over two hours.
We went straight up to Europcar and collected our van which would serve as our mode of transportation for the next two weeks.
It is obviously getting a lot easier to plan a rendezvous of this kind than it was the first time we went on a Grandparent trip with grandchildren from both hemispheres. Back then, no one had a device and you had to hope that everyone would find their way to the selected meeting point. But today, with Whatsapp and Messenger, we can pretty much be in contact with each other, as long as there is wifi access in the facility and most major airports provide wifi connectivity.
And so as soon as we saw that we would be late leaving, we began sending messages to Eden coordinating exactly where we would meet when we finally arrived in Zurich. We decided that since we were flying to the same terminal, that we would meet at the exit doors from baggage pickup. As soon as we landed, we got a whatsapp from Eden telling us that she had arrived and that we should just exit the baggage area and she would be waiting for us.
We went straight up to Europcar and collected our van which would serve as our mode of transportation for the next two weeks.
Our initial plan was to drive into Zurich and shop at Koscher City for our kosher supplies. But because of our extended delay, we changed our plans and headed straight from the airport to Davos. Fortunately, we had brought enough frozen cooked vacuum packed meat and chicken with us, and our research had shown that there was an extensive list put out by the Jewish community in Zurich that highlighted the many products available in the supermarket, that were certified kosher even without a recognizable symbol. And because Davos is the home in the summer for many Orthodox tourists, we were told that local supermarkets there carry many kosher products and freshly baked breads for our Shabbat table.
The weather was beautiful and during the two hour drive to Davos we saw glimpses of the beautiful mountains, lakes and green coloured meadows that would be with us for the duration of our trip.
We arrived in Davos which is a resort town deep in a valley surrounded by beautiful mountains. In the brilliant sunshine when we arrived, Davos is breathtaking. During the three week summer period between Tisha B'Av and Rosh Chodesh Elul, hundreds of chassidic families from Israel, Europe and North America come here for the clean air, and beautiful scenery. And as soon as we entered the town, we could see many groups of chassidim walking through town, shopping for Shabbat.
We found the apartment complex where we were staying and were very satisfied with the two storey, three bedroom home that we rented for the weekend. We unpacked, and headed out to the local grocery to stock up on food for Shabbat.
We went to the EuroSpar grocery store that we were told carried the largest variety of Kosher products. We were not disappointed. There was meat, fish, chicken, packages Israeli goods, local cheeses with hashgacha, wine, breads, etc., all is displays labelled "Kosher". There were families shopping for Shabbat and many stopped to point out to us which items in the regular supermarket section were acceptable according to the Swiss Kosher List. As well, we were able to confirm the minyan times in the local Shuls.
We returned to our apartment and our "head chef Eden" with her sous chefs, Kyra and Emunah, along with their consulting chefs Fran and David, swung into action to prepare the delicious meals that we would enjoy over Shabbat. As well, everyone had time to prepare for Shabbat and then when I noticed a number of chassidim walking within our complex, I spoke with them and discovered that there was even a minyan in a garage in the complex, literally 30 metres from our front door. Huge bonus as rain was called for on Friday night and Shabbat morning. The only downside was that there was no women's section and therefore I was the only one going to shul this Shabbat.
Davening was long, with a very, very long communal rendition of a tradition chassidic niggun sung to Lecho Dodi, and a Baal Tefillah who apparently did not realize that we were running on very little sleep. I was the only one there without a shtreimel, the traditional fur hat worn by chassidim. I was also the only one there wearing a watch, as the rest considered wearing a watch as carrying and therefore violating the Sabbath and its restrictions on carrying in a place with no eiruv (halachic boundary). I discovered this as people were coming over periodically to ask me the time, wanting to make sure that their prayers were offered in the appropriate time period as set by Halacha or Jewish law.
When I returned "home", (and it was already raining) we sang Shalom Aleichem, made kiddush and sat down to a meal of delicious home cooked soup, BBQ chicken (which we had brought with us from Sobey's), a variety of salads that we had made, vegetarian schnitzel, and dessert (our daughter Chavi's delicious cookies flown in specially from Israel!:-). We sang zemirot using our Let's Bench sheets made exclusively for this trip and Eden treated us to a dvar Torah.
A great way to begin Shabbat and now tired after long flights and a long day, we all happily accepted Shabbat Menucha or rest that we all so richly deserved.
Shabbat morning, it was overcast and the beautiful mountains that we had seen when we arrived were now no longer visible, completely enveloped in heavy clouds which hovered over the valley.
While everyone was still catching up on their sleep, I left for the very short walk to shul and again the style of morning prayer was very chassidic and somewhat drawn out.
I returned to the apartment and we made kiddush and decided that since it had stopped raining and since it was going to be a very long Shabbat day, that Fran and I would take a walk into the centre of town to explore the area. Along the way, we met various groups of chassidim who were returning from their prayers at a number of the local "three week" temporary synagogues set up in town to accommodate the summer visitors.
There was a large group in the Derby Hotel, a strictly kosher establishment that opens just for this period. And even though shul was over by this time, we walked over to another shul a few streets away, because we were told that when we would return to Davos the next Shabbat, it would be the only operating shul in the area, as with Rosh Chodesh Elul occurring this week, the rest of the entire infrastructure would be disassembled until summer 2018. Very interesting that all of this is set up for such a short operating season.
We had a good one hour walk and tho it was threatening, the rains held off and we returned to a wonderful lunch of gefilte fish, herring that we made on Friday, roast beef, lots of salads, hummus with chick peas, etc. A meal that we all enjoyed and again, lots of zemirot. We ended our early afternoon with a few spirited games of Bananagrams and then the girls went off for a hike into the hills and we retired to bed for a relaxing Shabbat nap.
The rest of the day was filled with reading, Seudah Shlishit (the third Shabbat meal) and then we ended Shabbat with Mincha, Maariv, and Havdalah. It was a very enjoyable beginning to what is hopefully a memorable grandchildren trip.
And before heading off to bed, we packed everything up because on Sunday morning we were planning an early 7 AM start for our 5 hour drive into the Austrian Alps.
More to come.
All the best,
Fran and David
Amazing! Looking forward to experiencing this beautiful country soon, thanks to your expert guidance!
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