French Holidays

I am currently taking advantage of the numerous public holidays in France in the beginning of May and doing some long weekends (faire-ing le pont as the Franglish say). Last wednesday, Anja and I went to Grenoble to visit a friend. The city is amazing, with mountains all around and a really good art museum. We also spent a night in the Alps and did a great hike (through some remaining snow) and a day in Lyon.
After two days of school, Claire and I left again, this time for Brittany. We spent a beautiful sunny day exploring Rennes, went to Mt. Saint Michel today, and tomorrow are heading for Quimper. We'll also hit St. Malo and maybe another town before heading home on Monday. Eating lots of crepes and trying to learn Breton.

Greece, pt 3

Another quick update, since email is expensive (if quick) in this country.
After Rhodes, we spent almost 24 hours on a ferry and then spent two days exploring Santorini (mostly by foot). Then we took another ferry to Crete, where we spent a day in Iraklion, saw Knossos (apparently where the original minataur and labyrinth was), and came to Rethymno, where we are now. Our hostel is super cheap (9 euros a night), so we decided to stay here for three nights, and today we rented a car to explore the island a bit. It was absolutely spectacular.
The day after tomorrow we'll take a night ferry back to Athens and then fly to Italy.

Greece, pt 2

No time for a real update, as I am on a coin-operated internet system, but we are currently in Rhodes City, where we spent one good, but busy and exhausting, day exploring. We were originally going to spend two days on the island (after an overnight ferry from Athens yesterday), but the ferry leaving after tomorrow was canceled so we have to leave tonight (the ferry departs at 3am, but it gets into the port at 11pm so we can get on early and find a place to sleep). Then we will spend two full days in Santorini (we get in tomorrow at 8pm) before going to Crete.

I have been eating so much spanikopita. Mmmm....

Greece!

We made it to Greece safely, and are still awake (at least I am, Diana and Anja might have fallen asleep) after sleeping (barely) in the airport last night before our 4:30am check in.

Despite its reputation (or to spite us) its been rainy and cool all day, which made for the perfect day to go to a private museum and then get soaked wandering around some gardens. We finished the day off with some delicious fried rice and are going to crash out early in order to get up for another museum and then the acropolis tomorrow.

As of now, our plan is to stay in Athens for another day and a half, then take an overnight ferry to Rhodes, where we will spend two full days and then take a 18 hour ferry to Santorini. From there, we will either spend a day before heading to Crete or decide to take more time to explore and then head back to Athens.

Hopefully the weather will get better!

Strasbourg!

Last weekend was a long one, since we had Monday off for Easter (the explanation seems to be that the government does not want to give a religious holiday off, hence working on Good Friday, but they give Monday off so its still a long weekend), and Claire, Claire, and I went to Strasbourg. (Out of the six primary assistants in our department, two are named Claire--one is from Scotland and one from England. Add that to my landlord and the Claire I went to Morocco with, and you can see how it might get a little confusing.)

We were originally meant to take a 5pm train, but ended up catching an earlier one (at slightly more cost--we thought it was going to be cheaper, but as we were in the process of buying the tickets, the prices went up and then it was too late to go back), which got us there at about 8pm. Luckily it had stopped raining by then, so our walk across town to the hotel where we were staying was only cold, not wet. We found our room, which was enormous by my recent standards (two full beds and one twin, and the room was cheaper than it would have been to stay in the hostel), and decided to go to bed early so we could make the most out of the next day.

Of course it was raining again when we woke up, so after grabbing a breakfast from a bakery (I actually had a sandwich, because my dinner the night before had consisted of a pretzel and cookies) we went over to the cathedral, which we quickly admired, and then searched for the Palais Rohan, which houses three museums. As the rain didn't appear to be letting up and it was only one euro more to buy a day pass for all of the cities' museums (only three euros!), we went to the decorative arts museum and then the archeology museum. Both were pretty good and interesting, but nothing too exciting. After the museums we sought out Flam's, a local chain that specializes in tartes flambées, sort of like thin crust pizzas. Mine (onions, potatoes, and cheese) was good, but a little bland (probably the meat version had more kick). At that point it had cleared up a little, so we started exploring the city--La Petite France, the most famous part, Place de la Republique (the German-era bit), and then along the canals. We also stopped for some amazing ice cream (I just go chocolate sorbet, because I wanted a cone, but both Claires got more exciting things). After we figured out where we wanted to go to dinner (a baked potato restaurant), we discovered that nowhere opens for dinner before 7, so we wandered around some more. After dinner, we found a microbrewery and sampled their (all delicious beers).

The next day, Easter Sunday, it was snowing, though not really sticking. We decided to head for the modern and contemporary art museum, but stopped on the way for a cafe breakfast. The museum was pretty good, with a few really amazing pieces (especially a Kandinsky mural), but we did it in two parts, as we left halfway through to try to see the astronomical clock at the Cathedral (it wasn't running because of it being Easter) and then got lunch (student meal prices are one of the best deals in France). The snow kept up and it stayed cold, but we went back to the ice cream place for a second round anyway (this time I got peach and yogurt... mmm...) and then on to the Musée d'alsace (way too crowded) and the Museum of the History of Strasbourg (it was cool and very interactive, but we only went there because we had gotten another day pass, and only had a short amount of time). We had a late afternoon coffee break, where we sampled the local easter cake (in the shape of a lamb) and then found a winestub (the local traditional restaurant) that had vegetarian food and ate a feast.

Monday we got up early again and discovered that it was actually sunny, so we walked up to the university, which was very pretty, but closed off to visitors because of it being a holiday. On our way back we stopped to buy a kugelhopf (another local specialty) for the train and look at a really pretty high school. Then we checked out, bought some falafel for lunch, and went to the train station. Our train was 30 minutes late (it was waiting for a connecting train) and so we were a little stressed about whether we were going to make our connection in Paris, but it turned out fine and we got to see some pretty, snowy Alsacian villages on our way back.

Life In Blois

I thought maybe I should actually talk about what I'm doing here, since this seems to have turned into just a travel journal.

School is basically the same. I picked up another 1.5 hours of CM2 class at VH, so I have an extra 45 minutes of work now (I dropped the 45 minutes of CM2s I was doing at BA). Its a big class, but they're well-behaved and they've had English all year so we're not struggling the way we would be if we were really starting right at the beginning. They're also really obsessed with getting me to speak French to them. (The teacher they had before, who is pregnant, was a regular French teacher, so she spoke a lot of French in the lessons). Another one of my schools invited me to go on a three-day bike ride with them in May, which would involve seeing some chateaux and spending lots of time with the students (but they're my favorite school), but I have to make sure I can make up the hours I would be missing at my other schools.

I haven't found that many other things to occupy my time, but I'm volunteering at Chato'do whenever I can, and I might take over some volunteer English lessons that another assistant, who is leaving at the beginning of April, is doing. I'm a little worried about how I will pass my time when everyone leaves in April, but one of my best friends here, Claire, has got a bartending job, so she's going to stick around (though whether we'll have any overlapping free time remains to be seen) all summer. Also, the weather is just starting to get nice, and so I have plans to go on random day trips to little towns on the train line, just to check them out, and I'll also start biking more.

Last weekend, Claire, Luisa, and I went to a wine fair (a tasting with people from lots of different wine regions), which was pretty cool. I managed to learn a little bit about wines and what I like, so now I can leave France with some knowledge in that direction. We also got to taste some wines from the Loire Valley, some from right around Blois! Unfortunately, the buses stopped running on the way back, so we had to walk for a while in the wind and rain (and also, we walked 15 minutes in the wrong direction first) through farmland, and by the time we got back we were exhausted.

I also went to the chateau in Blois, finally, last Sunday. It was quite impressive and worth going to (at least once, I'm not sure how many times I'll want to go back), though they were in the middle of filming a movie there, so some of the rooms were not open.

I still haven't heard from the summer camp where I want to work, here in France. My plan remains the same, though (unless, of course, I don't get the job)--work there through August, travel around Europe in September and October (and/ or until my money runs out), and then come back to the states and get a job (though I am going to try to find something before I leave Europe so I have a general idea of where I'm going.)

As for future travels, I'm going to Strasbourg this weekend and then for my next vacation (the 5th through the 20th of April), I'm going to Greece for almost two weeks and then Rome for just a weekend. I've made a list of places in France I want to go to on weekend trips, so (as long as I have money left), I'll be hitting those as much as I can in May and June.

The Netherlands

So I think I've at least alluded to my first three days in the Netherlands, which involved a botanical garden, a canal tour of Amsterdam, and seeing the sights in Haarlem. Moving on to the post-Czech Republic part.

We got back to the Amsterdam airport early in the morning and took the bus to Haarlem, and from there the train to Zaandvort. At that point we were so exhausted that we just decided to go to sleep. Upon waking, we ventured to the supermarket, where fun with bizarre dutch products ensued.

The next day we got up at a semi-reasonable hour and took the train to the Haague, where we saw the Escher museum (his early woodcuts I thought were much more interesting than his playing around with perspective) and then took a long walk to the modern art museum, which was pretty amazing. There was a temporary exhibit on Picasso and an artist from De Stijl, as well as a permanent collection and a very technologically based (but all in Dutch) interpretation of their design collections. After that, some more strolling, including a view of the outside of the Peace Palace, and then we met back up with Sahar's mom in Haarlem, where we ate tapas.

Thursday we woke up early and caught the train to Amesfort, in central Holland (which actually involved taking two trains), and then a bus to a town just outside of a National Park. From there, we grabbed some free bikes (that were one-speed and only had foot breaks) and had a nice ride through some fields and trees until we came to the coolest playground ever. There was a ton of different climbing structures, including a treehouse that involved some serious work to get into and a zip line. From the playground, where we ate lunch, it was only a short walk to the Kroller Mutter museum's sculpture garden, which had some nice stuff but unfortunately was very covered up for the winter. Then we went to the museum, which featured a cool, temporary, contemporary exhibit, some classical Dutch art, and a lot of amazing Van Goghs (as well as some other impressionist and post-impressionist paintings). It was great!

After the museum, we made our way out of the park, deciding to wait half an hour for a bus rather than biking all the way back to where we starting. Luckily, some other Dutch visitors to the museum helped us out, because it turned out we had to take another bus after the first one to get to the Appeldorn train station. From there, we took the train to Urtrecht, where we changed for a train to Rotterdam. By then it had started raining, so we decided to take the tram (are you sensing the public transportation theme yet?) to the hostel I had booked. Unfortunately, they didn't have any record of my booking (though they were temporarily convinced I was a Spanish person who had booked for the next week), so after consulting their free internet, we decided it would be cheaper to take the train back to Zaandvort and stay there for the night than get any other hostel. To console ourselves, we decided to stop and getting a nice dinner, so we went to Look, a garlic restaurant. It was delicious (and not even that expensive)! I had garlic soup and agglio olio and Sahar had a tasting menu that involved the same soup, garlic roasted chicken, and chocolate cake with garlic ice cream. Plus, I remembered that going to nice restaurants (at least outside of Prague) means they give you a lot of free things, too, so we got bread with really good aoili, salad, and two kinds of potatoes to dip in more garlic flavored things. Unfortunately, that meant I was too full to get my own dessert. Then we got the train back, which, after much confusion, involved taking the train to Lieden, changing there (but the connection was timed so that we literally walked off of the first train and on to the second), and then changing again in Haarlem.

So, for those of you taking score, the day involved:
7 trains (three separate trips)
3 buses (two trips)
1 bike ride (well, two really, but one we just rode out to the bus stop and then back)
1 tram ride,
or 12 forms of transportation in all, not counting walking. (If you add the plane and boats we took earlier in the trip, we traveled in almost every possible way on our holiday.)

Friday we woke up and got ourselves to Rotterdam again. It was raining on and off, so we decided to take advantage of a temporary stop to do a tour of the architecture. Then we went to Kunstwork, a contemporary art museum, which had a cool building and (unfortunately for us) exhibits only in Dutch. We also ate lunch at their (equally interesting) cafe, before we made our way over (through another sculpture garden) to the Museum Boijmans van Beuningen. By that point we were a little museumed out, so I sped through the classical Dutch and Eurpoean art and most of the 20th century art as well, but I lingered in their temporary exhibitions that featured a wide range of things, and almost fell asleep in these four, themed, exhibits/ rooms that featured benches, beds, couches, technicolor fertilizer crystals, bones hung with watches, and other such amazing things. Then we had another snack and went to check out the Netherlands Architecture Institute, which was unfortunately closing. We decided to go see some of the older architecture on our way back to the train station, but made a stop in H+M so I could buy some kids jeans (because they fit me!), and just saw the town hall. Afterwards, we met Sahar's mom and one of her coworkers in Haarlem, where we ate dinner and went to a few bars, just catching the last train back to Zaandvort.

Saturday, my last full day, I picked Lieden over Delft for spending the day. Mostly we wandered around, exploring the Saturday market. Lieden has a self-guided walking tour, but we kept getting confused and walking in circles, so I don't really know if we saw everything. We did see their old fortress, which gave us nice views of the city. And we ate some delicious falafel (there is apparently no falafel in Blois, so I try to eat it as much as possible when I leave). Then back to Zaanvort, where Sahar's mom fed us, and we went off, back to Haarlem, to see Block Party do a dj set. It took us a while to figure out where it was, and then another while for the show to get good (about midnight) but it was pretty fun and pretty crowded. We had just decided to leave (after a series of bad songs) when they played a series of really great songs, so we didn't end up leaving until about 3am. Then the bus that was supposed to come didn't, so we ended up taking a taxi back (the driver was really nice and had worked in Blois putting up roller coasters, and luckily it wasn't too expensive), so we fell into bed, and I made Sahar promise she would get up early, since I wanted to spend some time in Amsterdam on my last day.

She did get up, as promised, and we made our way into the city, where I dropped my backpack off in the lockers. We starting walking towards Vondelpark (since it was a nice day), but eventually decided we needed to take a tram or else we would just get there and have to turn around. The park wasn't packed, but there were quite a few people out, and it was warm enough that I got some gelato, and we saw some flowers blooming (!) and then took the tram back and Sahar got her train and I got mine, and then ended up in Paris with plenty of time to get my train back to Blois (which was packed with boarding-school kids coming back to school).

Whew. Now that that's done, maybe I'll finish up Morocco.

The rest of the Czech Republic

Okay, I'm back in Blois, and I know I haven't finished telling you about Morocco yet, but I thought I would catch up on my last vacation.

On Sunday, we explored Cesky Krumlov, which I think is mobbed with tourists during the summer, but was pretty empty. We slept late and missed the tour of the local brewery, so instead we got some brunch at a cute cafe and then wandered around the castle grounds (the inside was shut for the season). There were a lot of trompe de l'oeil paintings on the wall and a big tower. There were some gorgeous views from the walkways down to the river and the town. There was even a bear in the castle moat (which would have been more exciting if the bear hadn't seem so depressed)! After that, we walked around the town in its entirety, stopping to drink some tea and watch a cat chase a bird. Finally, when it was a reasonable hour, we went to a vegetarian restaurant, where we ate more delicious food.

Monday we took the bus back to Prague. We had to change buses in a nearby, but larger, city, where the bus station was on top of a large and very modern mall. Since we were carrying all of our stuff, we didn't do much exploring, but we did manage to get a pharmacist to understand that Sahar needed some decongestant. Once back in Prague, we dropped our bags in lockers at the train station and then walked to the Jewish Quarter, where we saw a lot of synagogues and a really old Jewish cemetery. Then we took a coffee break, and then after that went back to the New Town to do some shopping. (We were planning to take the last metro to the airport, so we had a lot of time to kill.) Sahar bought some shoes, and I discovered that H+M children's pants are my size. I ate a fried cheese sandwich from a stand on the street (it was not awful, but also not good, though the server seemed aghast that I wanted it with mustard, rather than mayo) and Sahar got a rolled-dough on a metal stick thing, which I thought was kind of weird. We ended up at a cool English-language bookstore, where I bought some old New Yorkers and we played trivial pursuit while drinking coffee. We caught the last metro and ended up at the airport at about midnight, found some benches and tried to sleep (our flight was at 6am), which was semi-successful for me, and much less so for Sahar.

Then we got our flight back to the Netherlands!

More on the Czech Republic

I have been here five days now. Here are some highlights:

After Diana got into town, we wandered around the new town (new only compared to the old town) and admired all of the art deco architecture and a crazy sculpture of a horse. Then we managed to find an amazing vegetarian restaurant called Clear Head, where we lucked into a private room and ate gourmet dishes (I had a burrito) for less than 10 euros a piece, including drinks and after dinner coffee.

Day two, Tuesday, we got up to go on a free tour of Prague, which was good, except it was cold and our guide's English was not amazing. But we saw a lot of the city, got some more history, etc, etc. After leaving the castle, we stumbled upon a cute coffe shop (Cafe Ebel) that I had seen recommended but didn't realize was also at that location, so I was a little confused. In any case, we got good coffee and apple cake and then went to try to go to a Cubist museum, which failed because it was under construction. Instead we shopped (or rather, looked in stores) and then went back to the hostel to change to go to a concert, as we had heard the opera house was beautiful. After some confusion/ misdirection, mostly due to my mistakes, we ended up in the correct place and managed to see the second half of the show, which was a French opera about Helen of Troy, except they were just singing it, not performing (I actually think I would have gotten bored if we had seen the whole thing). Then dinner, which was nothing too exciting, due to various things not be open to us.

Day three we did the Castle, which involved more cold and impressive baroque architecture. Also some very awesome stained glass windows. Our favorite part in the old palace was this door handle shapped like a little bird man. After a traditional Czech lunch, we ventured into the Jewish quarter, but ended up just going to the decorative arts museum, which had an interesting exhibit on fashion from the 1970s and some great typography/ graphic design stuff. Then dinner at Country Life, and old-school vegan buffet (all kinds of whole grains and lentils), traditional Czech drinks at a tiny pub, and then checking out a little more of the nightlife.

Day four Diana and Anja got up early to go to the Jewish cemetery, but Sahar and I slept in a little bit, bought a picnic lunch and got caught in the snow, and then we all caught a bus to Kutna Hora, a town about an hour away which has some Italian architecture and another very large cathedral. There is also the Ossuary, an old church with tons of sculpture made out of human bones. There was supposed to be some sort of message, but mostly it was creepy. When we got back to Prague, we decided to find a nice place for Anja and Diana's last dinner, and ended up at another Czech restaurant. My food wasn't too exciting, as we got "beer cheese" as an apetizer, so my main dish involved more vegetables, but everyone elses' was great. Then we went to a good, non-touristy dance club that played some really random music, and stayed out too late.

This morning we slept in a little and then Sahar and I said goodbye, investigated bus options, and went to a contemporary American art exhibit at the concert hall that overall was really good, especially one video that involved a weird dough-making process. We got lunch at a bio-cafe (bio means organic in most of Europe... I really wish the cafe chain existed in France because it was delicious) and then made our way to the bus station, which was way out in the middle of nowhere. After a cold three hour trip, we ended up in Cesky Krumlov, a small town in the south of the country. Its dark now, so we haven't seen a lot, but it seems really beautiful. Our hostel is cheap and cute, but our room barely fits our beds (luckily we are both short). We went out to a midiveal restaurant for dinner, which didn't do stupid stuff with knights and jousting, but instead focused on diet and spices and it was really good. I had a lot of interesting grains and some old time beer.

Tomorrow we will explore the town and then Tuesday morning we go back to the Netherlands.

Hello from the Netherlands!
I arrived safely, though a little later than planned (I missed my train). Yesterday Sahar and I went to the botanical gardens, which she said reminded her a lot of Texas (all of the greenhouses) and then we took the train to her mom's place in Zaandvort aan Zee, which is a touristy seaside town. The apartment looks over the North Sea, which is really cool! Today we are going back into Amsterdam (its only about 30 minutes away) to go on a canal tour and the contemporary art museum.
Tomorrow night we leave for Prague.

Holidays, pt 6

Okay, where was I?
The next morning (after our delicious dinner and then a cold night in a hotel that was very well designed for hot weather and not so much for the cool) we ate a rooftop breakfast of bread, cheese, and jam. Here is the view:

Then we met our taxi driver and drove up above the city, where we got nice views of the valley.

We drove for a while, winding our way north and east, until we got to this very picturesque view of a casbah with palm trees. It was right next to a rug-sellers' shop (they usually play the middle-man between nomads who make rugs and the market shops, but they also had a few for sale), so we stopped and learned about rug making and drank tea (while Sara and Clare bought rugs).


Then, after more driving and winding, we ended up at the Gorges of Todra, a canyon of towering rocks with a little river fed by snowmelt. It was very beautiful and striking, but also odd, after years of national park going, to see it filled with people selling things, dying cloth, and even some graffiti. Unfortunately, we only had half an hour to walk around.




Then more car riding (the taxi was getting more squished, and the landscapes more boring as we approached the desert).

We arrived at the camel outfitters just before sunset. After randomly selecting things to bring (they said we would have blankets and tents, but we didn't really know how warm they would be), we mounted our camels (mine was the friendliest) and set off.


Soon the sun set all the way, and the sky was filled with more stars than I have ever seen (I think more stars than it is possible to see anywhere in the USA, since the Badlands are supposed to have the lowest light pollution anywhere). We were going up and down huge sand dunes, and our guide joked about being lost, but eventually we arrived at a little camp. There was a large communal tent, where we were served even more mint tea, a delicious tajine (sort of like a stew), and some weird cake for desert. We decided plans for the next day (get up around sunrise, take the taxi to the nearest town, then try to catch an early evening bus to Fez) and then found our tent, got bundled up, and went outside to star gaze.
That night there was a small sandstorm (I was on the edge of the tent, so I got the worst of it, but it was fine once I put my head under the blankets), but in the morning when we woke up early, it was nice again.

That is all the pictures I have for now, but I will try to finish the last three days before I leave for my next vacation. (Tomorrow!)

Pictures from Morocco

Okay, I think I managed to figure out how to get some photos up, so courtesy of Brook and Chiarina, I have some more pictures from our first few days from Morocco, to tide you over until I can continue with the next part of our travels.

Marrakesh by day ( in the souks):


In the museum of Marrakesh:


The Saadian Tombs:

Marrakesh by night (Djemaa el-Fna):


Essaouira:

I would be telling you about the rest of my time in Morocco, but it seems a shame to do it without pictures, and blogger doesn't seem to want to upload mine. So, in lieu of that, a preview of my upcoming travels:

January 31st-February 4th: Koeln for Carnival
February 9th-February 11th: Amsterdam
February 12th-February 18th: Prague
February 19th-February 24th: The Netherlands (definitely Haarlem, the Hague, and Rotterdam, but I'm not sure what else)

Holidays, pt 5

The next morning we woke up and, after breakfast, tried to find a rental car so that we could spend the next few days seeing the area and making our way to Fez. Unfortunately, we quickly discovered that all of the national rental places were out of cars and all of the small ones would cost a lot, as we would have to pay for a driver to pick up the car wherever we left it. So we decided, after some discussion, to take our hotel-owner up on his offer to arrange a "tour" for us. Basically, he told us that for 700dh each, we could get a driver to drive us that afternoon and the next day, then a camel ride and a night in the desert, and then a drive to the bus station on the third day. It was more money than I was hoping to spend, but overall it seemed like it would be a lot simpler than trying to do the same thing ourselves (I remained a little dubious about it).

While we were waiting for our driver to show up, we saw what there was to see of Ouarzazate, namely this casbah (with a very large stork nest). Then we stocked up for supplies for the journey, buying lots of prepackaged cheese, some bread, and delicious fruit-yogurt drink.


It turned out that our car for the trip was just a grand taxi, the old mercedes that make up the one of the primary transportation networks for many Moroccans (we saw lots of people in small towns waiting for a taxi with an empty seat to pass by and take them to the next town). Here it is:
Legally I think you can fit six passengers and a driver in the taxi (four in the back and three in the front) but we were squished enough with five:
Our driver was a very nice older man who spoke next to no English and only a little bit more French.

We originally wanted to go to Aït Benhaddou, featured in the movies Lawrence of Arabia and Gladiator, but the road there was closed due to the kings visit. So our first stop on the road ended up being this casbah, featured on the 50dh bill (due to a misunderstanding, we didn't actually go into it).

Then we saw a herd of wild camels on the side of the road, which was pretty cool:

And, just as the squishyness in the car was getting unbearable, we stopped at this large rock formation just outside of the Valley of the Roses for exploration and mint tea.

After we found our hotel in Boumalne-du-Dades, we got back into the taxi and drove up into the Dades Gorge, which had some pretty amazing views.

These rock formations are called Monkey's Paws.



When we got back to the town, we left our driver (with an agreed upon time for leaving the next morning) and set out to find a place to eat. In the process of looking, we bumped into two very friendly young guys, who were very interested in talking and telling us lots about life in the Dades Valley. They didn't speak very much English, so I got good practice with my French. They were both Berber, the people who lived in Morocco before the Arabs settled, and so we had some very interesting discussions about Berber life and their relationship to the Arabic state in Morocco. One of their grandfathers was a Berber anarchist and atheist who fought against the Arab settlers. It was a great meal, too!

Holidays, pt 4

So I'm up to day four of my Moroccan adventure.

We woke up very early and caught the bus to Essaouira, about three hours west of Marrakesh, on the coast. Sara, who left us that morning to go to a Moroccan wedding, had been there a few days before and really liked. On the bus, we saw goats climbing into argan trees (a few were actually totally up in the trees); argan is processed in Essaouira and made into eating- and rubbing-oil. We started our day with some shopping, and then found a really tiny Italian restaurant recommended by my guidebook. Chiarina, who is half Italian, was really happy being able to speak Italian with someone, and we were all really happy with the delicious (and still cheap!) food. Here we are in the restaurant, from right to left, Clare, Brook, and Chiarina, drinking some mint tea.


After lunch, we wandered down to the coast, and walked up to the old ramparts.


The canons (we're leaning on one) were from Barcelona.


The ocean was quite spectacular.
Now I've seen the Atlantic ocean from three of the five continents it is bordered by.

We continued walking down the walls and got some beautiful views of the city.


Then we walked down past the docks, with lots of blue fishing boats, to a beach.
We all (except for Clare) put our feet in, but got driven away when the incoming tide started threatening our stuff.

We got stuck in uncomfortable seats on the bus ride back, but when I looked out of the window I could see a ton of stars. When we got back to Marrakesh, we decided to celebrate New Years Eve by drinking some spiced tea in the central square. Then we went up to our terrace, where we could see fireworks from the ville nouvelle (which was developed by the French and where a lot of ex-pats and tourists stay).

The next day was a little up in the air. We were supposed to leave for Ouarzazate, a city south and across the High Atlas range, in the morning, but Sara was unable to get a bus back from her wedding, so I walked down to the old Jewish cemetery, which was massive and just had rows and rows of white stone, we spent a long time sitting on the terrace in the sun, and then walked around the souks one last time. We caught a bus at 3:45, but there were some troubles with the engine, so we didn't actually end up leaving until 4:30. Luckily, we got some gorgeous views of the mountains and the valley in the sunset, but we didn't get to see any of the most spectacular sights, because it was already dark (though I am not sure I would have wanted to see the bus navigating around some of the hairpin turns). We got to see even more stars, though, and the seats were really comfortable so it worked out.

When we got to Ourzazate, we were greeted by the gendarmerie and lots of pictures of the king, which was a little weird. (We found out later that he was visiting the city.) After we found a hotel--our most expensive night (at a whopping 86 dh), because the hotel we made reservations ate gave them away because we were an hour late, but we got hot showers and free breakfast--we ventured out for a late dinner. The only place that seemed to be serving inexpensive hot food was a little street stand of vegetable soup, so we each got a bowl. It was delicious, and the women serving it seemed very pleased by how much we liked it.

After that we settled into bed to wait for Sara to get in so we could plan our next few days.

Holidays, pt 3

Okay, here goes (from where I left off, below). Thanks to Clare's digital camera, I also have a few pictures to illustrate:

Our first night in Marrakesh, we wandered around the medina (walled city). Our hostel was pretty much right in the center of the action, with a terrace overlooking the central square, Djemmaa el Fna, which featured snake charmers, henna drawers, and fruit juice stands during the day, and spiced tea, food stalls, and gatherings of people singing and playing music at night. This is the food-stand area.


Just past that, we entered the souks, which are tiny alleyways/ tunnels/ labyrinths, where during the day you can shop for things but at night feel sort of like you are wandering around in someone's basement. So we wandered for a while, got harassed by vendors who wanted us to buy things, and then went to bed.

The next day we met up with Clare, Sara's friend from Leeds, and decided to go to the Ben Yousef Medersa, which is a religious school. It took us a while to get there, since we didn't exactly have an accurate map, and anyway we spent lots of time stopping and looking at things for sale. (There was a lot of fabric and leather. It was also pretty impossible to figure out which place to go to buy things, as they all looked pretty much identical. Some stands, like the ones selling dried fruits, even had the various goods laid out in the same order.) We got there eventually, and it was pretty amazing. It was interesting contrasting it with the Alhambra, in Spain, which is pretty similar architecturally; the main difference was that at the medersa the public spaces were really intricate, but the student's chambers were totally barren and tiny.

We bought a combined admission, so after the medersa (and a pause for mint tea, which was quite refreshing, as it was getting kind of hot) we went to a museum, which was in a restored riad and featured contemporary photography exhibits (quite a contrast), and then an old aquifer. I could imagine how nice it would be to go down there in the middle of the summer heat. On the way back to the hostel, we stopped and grabbed lunch from a streetside stand:
It was offering fish sandwiches, which Clare and Sara tried, but the rest of us, being vegetarian, got eggplant, peppers, and french fries with tomato sauce. These stands were one of the few places that women worked in the medina, though there were often men (presumably their husbands) working with them as well.

After lunch we decided to go to a hammam, a traditional bathhouse. There are some very touristy ones, sort of like spas, but we went to one recommended by the lonely planet for being traditional. We decided to all splurge for the massage option, and it was lucky we did because it meant we got someone to show us how things worked--otherwise we would have been totally lost. Hammams are sort of like large wet saunas/ group showers (like at a gym). You get big buckets that you can fill with water from hot and cold taps, and then you go claim a little area and wash yourself. Often women go with someone else (a sibling or parent) and scrub each other's back and wash each other's hair. Hammams are often used by both sexes, but there are certain times for each (though we did see a few young boys), and as my guidebook said, while there is much modesty between the sexes, there is not much within--everyone in the hammam was down to their underwear or less, and not only did we get a massage, but we also got scrubbed, with traditional black soap and a scrubber that looked sort of like those pocket washcloths but felt like sandpaper. It was very much like being a little kid given a bath, and ended with a bucket of cool water being dumped over my head.

After the hammam I was a little woosy from all of the heat, but we decided to take advantage of the last few hours of daylight to go to the southern part of the medina, which was the old royal area and the Jewish quarter. On our way, we stopped and walked through the gardens of the Koutoubia mosque, which was right in the center of town and a model of mosque architecture.




Brook picked an orange from one of the trees in the garden and it was totally bitter. I guess to dissuade people from picking them (or just because they hadn't been bred for eating). We happened on the Saadien Tombs, which were the burial grounds for the Saadian dynasty which ruled Morocco between 1554 and 1669. The biggest mausoleum, which was reserved for the kings, was pretty impressive:

The area was also inhabited by many, many storks.

Our sense of direction and energy waned after that, so we went back to the hotel, where we helped ourselves to a delicious buffet (I was actually feeling kind of sick after the hammam, so I tried to force myself to eat, to no avail). Then we found an internet cafe (I think it was 5dh, or 50 cents, for half an hour), and ate some gelato (I recovered quickly), and went to bed early so that we could get up early the next day to catch a bus to the coast.

And that is all for now.

In lieu of completing my Morocco tales, I give you this "Morocco by the Numbers," which I wrote up elsewhere.

Number of...

(The place)
-Cities I visited: 7 (Casablanca, Marrakesh, Essaouira, Ouzzarzate, Boulmane-du-Dades, Er Rachidia, Fes)
-Hotel/ hostel rooms that cost less that 9 euros a night: 3 (the one in Marrakesh was 10, but included breakfast and dinner)
-Nights spent in unconventional places: 2 (in a tent in the dessert and in a car/a road hut)
-Times I went to the ocean: 2 (one I just looked at it from a distance)
-Times I put on sunscreen: 2 (but maybe it should have been more)
-Times I accidentally fell in the snow: 1
-Rolls of film I shot: 6.5

(The people)
-Times I bargained successfully: 4 (taxi fare, scarf, and some jewelry)
-Times I bargained unsuccesfully: Every taxi fare in Marrakesh (and our Southern adventure)
-Times we got called the Spice Girls: at least 7, probably more
-Times we got referred to by "Jubbly lovely": 5-ish (what does that even mean?!?)
-Massages I got: 1 (at a hammam)
-Languages spoken by the average person we talked to: at least 4 (almost everyone spoke some Arabic, French, and English, and usually one other)
-People who didn't have a language in common with us: Most of the older women

(The transportation)
-Hours spent standing in train cars: 4
-Hours spent sitting in train cars: .5 (and it was on my backpack)
-Hours spent on buses: 10
-Hours spent in taxis: Too many (two half days, one full day, and one entire night)
-Seats in the average grand taxi: 5
-People in the average grand taxi: 6
-Hours spent on camels: 2.5

(The food)
-Servings of mint tea: 9 (mmm...)
-Bowls of soup: 6 (I think)
-Types of bread I tried: 6 (my favorite was the ethiopian style)
-Types of fruit yogurt drinks I tried: 3
-Alcoholic drinks: 2 (both on my flight back home, because somehow I ended up in first class)
-Dirhams spent on my cheapest meal: 4.6 (equivalent to 46 eurocents, for an egg and cheese sandwhich)
-Dirhams spent on my most expensive meal: 50 (equivalent to 5 euros, for tea, some omlette, and a veggie tajine; though my night in the desert might have actually been more)

Pictures!

I am back in Blois now, and have much more to add to my Morocco tales, but I don't have time right now, so here are some pictures from Paris, courtesy of Brook.

The Eiffel Tower on our first night

The Arc de Triomphe


A wall with "I love you" in many languages in Montmartre


Looking up at the Sacre Coeur


By Les Halles

There are a few more, but the internet isn't working so well, so I guess that's it for now.