Morocco!

Anna came to visit the other week! She spent the weekend in Paris, and then we went to Morocco for 6 days.  It was so cold in Paris while she was here – I had to lend her my puffy coat! We still walked around and did touristy things and took lots of pictures though. We also had lunch with her family friend and met up with Camille a couple of times.  She was a huge fan of my cheese shop, so we ate lots of bread and cheese too.

In Morocco, we went to Marrakech and Rabat. Our flight was delayed from Paris, but eventually we got to Rabat and made it to the train station to buy tickets to Marrakech.  First class was sold out (the price difference is only a few dollars), so we said we’d take second class in order to get the next train out. Then we sat at a cafe and ordered some ice cream while we waited for the train (I got a sundae! The scoops were so much bigger than in Paris!). 

We went down to the platform and were quite nervous because our train wasn’t listed, but that’s because it was a half hour late, so they were listing the previous trains that were late.  An hour later, our train arrived, and it was packed. We climbed on, and there were no seats, but two people got up and gave us their seats, which was really nice. We were not excited about the idea of standing for four hours.  Anyway, the train was pretty gross…it was sweaty and hot, lots of weird smells from the tanneries, and no announcements of the stops, so we almost got off at a pretty deserted one. (Okay, this post will take forever if I keep describing things in so much detail.)

Eventually we made it, and we stayed in a really nice riad. A riad is basiacally a house where a rich person used to live that is converted into a small hotel.  It was very cute, and the people who worked there were so helpful!

In Marrakech, we visited the Jardin Majorelle, which was owned by Yves Saint-Laurent, the Ben Youssef Medersa Koran school, the souks (shopping!), went to a hammam and took a Moroccan cooking class.  It was very rainy, so it wasn’t ideal for all the outdoor activities, but we managed okay.

Shopping in the souks was fun but a bit stressful. When we went shopping in Rabat a few days later, we realized we were really ripped off in Marrakech. Oh well…we knew it would happen. The person working at the riad told us that we should ask for 1/5 of the price that the shopkeeper asks for! Sometimes we did (and we were told to go away because we couldn’t be serious), and sometimes we just aimed for half.  The important thing is that we’re happy with our purchases.  : )

The cooking class was also lots of fun! We made a fish tajine (aren’t you all so proud I eat fish now?).  It didn’t taste much like fish because there were so many spices and tasty vegetables in it.  We also did a spice test where we put on blindfolds (or fake ray bans painted with black paint) and guessed what the spice was by smelling it.  I wasn’t very good at it.

After several days in Marrakech, we took the train back to Rabat.  We had one day there, and we were planning to go swimming at the beach, but it was overcast and rainy. We walked around the city, bought some more things, and walked to the beach to people watch for a while. We had room service one night (so nice to eat in bed) and went out the other night. People eat so late! We tried to get dinner at 6:30, but they said the restaurant wouldn't open until 7:30, so we could only drink until then (too bad…).

Anyway, the trip was lots of fun, and it was great to see Anna! And everyone else should come visit.  : )  

Paris

Anna attempting to touch the top of the pyramid. Her spatial skills are lacking.

Being a tourist.

We both thought it was a great idea to pop out from behind a bush.

What's that!? It's Anna with the Eiffel Tower, of course.

A cute chubby kid all bundled up.

Morocco

We got lost when we first tried to go to the souks. So we took pictures and pretended we knew what we were doing.

In the gardens

Cactus!

Anna is a great photographer. Ashley in between a cactus!

Ashley with a yellow pot! (I still don't know how to rotate pictures on this blog..)

Caught fixin' her hair

Green highlight camera setting

So colorful! Such a pretty background! And a pretty person!

They hung the mannequins by their necks in the souks...

Tourist dinner overlooking the square

Spice test at our cooking class

 Fish tajine! The superior looking one on the right is obviously mine.

We even had live music while cooking...

The whole group

Lots of rain while we were there...I don't think this was supposed to be full of water...

Dinner at the riad

At the Koran school

A Spanish gameshow kicked us out early so they could film. Luckily we got to be in the background of the film while they were running through the streets of the market.

Shopping!

Translation?

Nom nom nom. Poor fish.

Pretty impressive.

Room service! I was really sad on the phone when they said they didn't have any more french fries...so the guy asked the kitchen staff to cut up a potato and fry it for us. Quite tasty!