Conference taveng::bagels

    Malcom,
    
    My wife and I spent a week in Gibraltar after we got married (more
    years ago than a care to remember).
    
    Its a very restful place, in as much as there isn't too much to do on
    the island. I don't know what it is like now, but when we were there,
    there was no access to Spain from there. One day we took a day trip to
    Tangiers which was very interesting.
    
    There is quite an active Jewish community, with a few shuls, a
    community center and kosher food shops.
    
    What it lacks in "action" it makes up in tranquility. To give you an
    idea of the size of Gibraltar, I hired a car for one day ... it took 
    15 minutes to drive round the island.
    
    Double Mazal Tov ... on your forthcoming marriage and the birth of your
    niece.
    
    Regards,
    								.... Monty

    	Well, I think Venice is highly overrated. I found it dirty, damp
    and completely overwhelmed with tourists and tourist traps - I mean
    overwhelmed! Not worth more than a daytrip, in my opinion. Florence
    is nice, but just isn't all that special, except for Ufizzi.
    	We are going on our belated honeymoon just about the same time,
    and we decided to split the time between Rome and Paris. I think Rome
    and its museums, streets, antiques and surrounding countryside are
    the best I've seen in Italy. My wife thinks just as highly of Paris.
    One note of caution: Paris is likely to be much colder than Rome...
    
    DG

    To quote a friend of mine, "Taste is all a matter of taste."

    I disagree with .2 on Venice, which I think is a beautiful, restful city.
    However, you won't find kosher food easily -- there's a nursing home
    there that serves lunch to the public, and that's about it.  If you do
    go during the tourist season, be sure to check out Gianni Toso's
    glass shop in the Old Ghetto.  Gianni is a native Venetian glass artist
    who's a baal tshuva via Lubovitch.  He's got a "Chabad House" sign
    in his shop window.  He and his wife Karen (an American) are very
    warm people.  They only live in Venice during the summer, spending
    the rest of the year in New Jersey.  BTW, the synagogue tour in Venice
    is fascinating.

    We found Florence much too hectic, with narrow streets full of maniacal
    drivers.  Of course, this was after spending over a week in Venice,
    where the "streets" are full of boats.  There's a restaurant connected
    to the synagogue, but I'm not sure how good the hashgacha is.  The
    synagogue is a very interesting building.

    Rome is not really my cup of tea, but if you go, you must see the museum
    attached to the main synagogue.  The security measures they've had to
    take are sobering.  This was the synagogue that was attacked by
    terrorists several years ago.  The Arch of Titus is worth a look,
    particularly where "Am Yisrael Chai" is scratched below the scene
    of the spoils of Judaea.  When we were in Rome two years ago,
    there was a kosher fast food place around the corner from the synagogue.

    If you want to check the current status of kashrut in Italy, ask
    Rabbi Garelick in Milan.  He's the one whose hashgacha is on all
    the Italian kosher wines.

    Paris is nice, except there are too many Parisians.  Kosher food
    is widely available.  There's a lot of anti-semitism, with neo-Nazis
    walking around.

    I may be wrong, but isn't kosher food available in Majorca?

RE: 0
 
>>                             I am also interested in being close to a shul
>>     and kosher shops/restaurents. 

Does that mean that you don't want to tour about too much ?? More or less
stay in one or two places ???

    I want to tour around the city but would prefer to be within 
    walking distance of a shul for shabbath and chug. I did think that
    most cities were not so big that staying in one place would be
    restrictive on what could be done by way of touring.
    
    I was thinking of staying in one or two cities so had thought of
    Florence and Venice or Paris and perhaps Lyon (but what's worth seeing in 
    Lyon?).
    
    I know that Paris has a Jewish region so that was one point in it's 
    favour. The idea of rampant anti-semitism is not too appealing
    at all. 
    
    I hope this answers your question. 
    
    Another idea about touring, I would like to go and see the local 
    countryside. 

       I'll disagree, in part, with the comments on Parisian
       anti-semitism expressed in .3.  Anti-semitism is alive and well in
       France (as most everywhere else) and you'll find as many skinheads
       in Paris as in many other European (and American) cities, but I'd
       find it hard to substantiate a suggestion that Paris welcomes
       anti-semitism any more than other cities in the world.  Le Pen,
       the French politician-bigot who wants to send N Africans back and
       who said that the holocaust was a "minor detail" of WWII, gets
       almost all of his (relatively meager) support from the south
       of France, not from Paris.
       
       In support of Paris as a destination, there are a wealth of Kosher
       restaurants in the Rue Rosier neighborhhood (though the most
       famous Jewish restaurant in the neighborhood, Jo Goldenberg's, is
       not Kosher), and accommodations in that section of the city
       will be less expensive than in some of the more touristy areas.
       
       You might want to consider spending some time in Antwerp. There is
       an enormous Jewish population there, with lots and lots of kosher
       restaurants.  You can also make easy day trips (by rail or auto)
       from Antwerp to Brussels, Amsterdam, or Bruges.
       
       --Mr Topaz