Morocco (part one)

First of all -- our adventure in Morocco was AMAZING.  The question we got the most from people was (and still is):  "Why Morocco?"   Well, for starters, 1) we'd never been   2) it's exotic  3) we found a good deal   4) I like going places that everybody and their dog haven't been to.   (David tells me that I'm the only person he's ever heard that uses that phrase.)   And another thing: the theme for Girls Weekend 2015 is Arabian Nights, so I had homework to do.

It was a 7 hour flight from New York City to Casablanca.  We were met by our travel guide and immediately left for the capital city of Rabat.  Morocco has had a few capital cities over the centuries, and so each one has the distinction of being called an Imperial City. 

We were given that first day to rest up and deal with jet lag.  We slept for an hour or two and then met a senior missionary couple serving in Rabat on a Church Service mission.  No proselyting allowed.  They took us around on a great walking tour of the city.  It was so great to be with them and have a more in-depth tour and to hear about the service that they are doing in the country.

Now - let's get on to the many pictures.  It's always a good idea to start with a picture of food.

Can you say YUM?  (By the way, this was at a restaurant where Elder Holland had been not too long ago when he dedicated the land.)

They serve a lot of olives.  Which I LOVE.  For the most part, out of the four of us, I liked the olives and the dates the most.  Lucky me.  Oh -- and they have TONS of oranges and tangerines.  I ate more of those for the two weeks than I've eaten in years here at home.  And I even have a tree!

We went on this adventure with David's brother Jim and his wife Sharla.  Great traveling companions.

 This was at the Hassan Tower in Rabat.  Those horses have learned to stand still for hours.

 In the lobby at the hotel in Fez.  (these pictures aren't in order)

 This was a dinner and a show at a restaurant in Fez.  I didn't used to appreciate mosiacs -- I thought they were too busy and kind of ugly.  I have done a complete180. Now I love them!  Every wall in this big place was covered in mosiac.  LUV.  (And I have already ordered and received a mosiac wall hanging for the house.  Now where to put it. . . )

Those guys in the above picture played for a long time.  Then there was a bellydancer (she was so bad it was hard to keep from laughing my head off) and a magic show.  Three times I was called up to join the performers.  Three!  And David was even led to the stage once.  I have videos if you ever want to see them.

 After being in Fez for a couple of days, we headed up over the Middle Atlas mountains.  The picture below was in the town of Ifrane.   If you didn't know you were in Morocco, you'd think you were in a Swiss ski resort.  We stopped for lunch at Kasbah Asmaa. 

 Middle Atlas Mountains.  We watched the monkeys in the trees for a while. 

 At the restaurant.

 The florist in Rabat is friends with Elder and Sister Madsen, so when he saw us, he gave Sharla and I each a rose.

The Oudaya Kasbah in Rabat

 Baby turtles for sale.

 The ancient ruins of Chellah in Rabat.  Those towers are called Minarets.  And at the top?  Stork nests.  And we saw plenty of storks.  They nest there for the winter.  And those nests are massive!

Below is a natural spring that has eels in it.  And still today as in ancient times, "old maids" come to bathe in the waters and wrap the eels around their waists to invoke powers to find a husband.  Because everybody knows that's the way to find a mate. 

 Just thought it was pretty.

 Okay, back in Rabat.    This building is the Hassan Tower.  It's new.  Inside, the current king's father is lying inside his gorgeous tomb.  The whole building just for that.  Mosiacs covering EVERY wall.  The most gorgeous tile on the floor that I've ever seen.  The ceiling -- amazingly beautiful.

 Treats.  I bought a piece of baklava.  I paid a whole dollar for that piece!  Rip-off.  But I'd do it again.

 Okay, now we're at the ancient ruins of the Roman city of Volubillis. (a stop on our way to Fez)  There are wonderfully preserved original mosaics, the Roman Road, and the city layout.  This city existed before Christ.  And I learned that the phrase "all roads lead to Rome" is literal.  Had no idea.  

Everywhere we went, the local guides would tell us that the Lisbon earthquake in the 1700's leveled a lot of places and caused a lot of damage.  I had to look it up when I got home.  On today's Richter scale, it would have measured in the 9's.  So I can see why there was a lot of problems because of that.

 I was very surprised to find out all the cultures and peoples that called Morocco home at one time or another.  Besides the Romans, it was a thriving Jewish stronghold.  But when Israel became recognized, most of the Jews went back "home."   And our guide said "Israel" by using air quotes.  He probably didn't appreciate that I laughed out loud when he did that.  Too bad.

 David and Jim at Volubillis.  ( Notice the stork nest up there on the column?)

Inside the medina.  Rooms are open in the middle to collect rain water.

 The above picture is inside the Medina in Fez.   We walked into a leather factory and then upstairs to look out over those pots of dye for the leather.  Fez was the capital of Morocco for more than 400 years and is home to the University of Al Karaouline, the oldest operating university in the world.

In the medina, there are over 20 miles of alleys.  We had to have a guide because there is no way on earth you could find your way around.   Ever.

 This was a place of worship inside the Medina.

 At a pottery plant.  The guys below hand chip each small piece of mosaic.  I'm impressed.

 I bought two soup bowls at this place.  And I got the blue ones.  Indigo blue is the color of Fez.

 We traveled to Erfoud (very close to the Sahara Desert) and pulled up to this Kasbah.

As we walked through the keyhole entrance (have I mentioned how much I love those keyhole entrances yet?) we were greeted with a GORGEOUS site.  We only stayed one night here, but I would have been happy to spend a few days here.  Oh my gosh!  Even the bathroom sinks were to die for.

The meals were amazing.  Best "hotel" ever!

 The next morning we arose at 4 a.m. to travel to the Merzouga Dunes (30 minutes-ish) where we rode camels.  Woo hoo!  Highlight of the trip.  We can now say that we rode camels in the Sahara Desert.  It was still dark when we arrived.  We were assigned our camels (one per person), climbed up (easy-peasy) and rode for about 20-30 minutes to where we would leave the camels.  We climbed up a few more dunes and watched the sun rise over the Sahara.  You can wipe the tears from your eyes now.  I'll wait while you go get a tissue.

Our shadows.

 Our guide had that way-cool garb to put on me.  And yes, he was tipped generously.  And then we rode the camels back to the Kasbah.  You know what?  I think I want a kasbah.

Our tour group.  We are in Ouarzazate.  (War-za-zot)  This is at the Atlas studios and this particular set is where Return of the Mummy was filmed.   Jewel of the Nile was filmed here and anything else that needs to look Egyptian.  We even saw the castle where the exteriors for Game of Thrones is filmed.  Brad Pitt also starred in a movie that was filmed there.  Can't remember the name.

 This is the Dades Valley.  Famous for its roses.  And dates.

Kasbah Taourirt in Ouarzazate

 We took a half day 4x4 Telouet Kasbah tour and stopped by a home of a family.  As usual, we were offered mint tea and bread.  It was wonderful to see what the inside of these homes looked like.  And people were very gracious this whole trip to make tea for the four of us Mormons with just hot water and mint leaves.

The girl above had served us the tea and bread (below) and then went to work making her rug on the loom.   And we got to see the room just off the kitchen where the goats, sheep and chickens live.  In fact, a goat wandered in once to say hello.  I'm impressed with the manners that Moroccan goats have in greeting guests. And the oven where the bread was baked?  A tiny rock dome outside. 

 Meat for sale!

This was a side trip to Todgha Gorge.  The river started right behind where we're standing and just bubbled up out of the ground.  Donkeys were there quenching their thirst, and women were there doing laundry and filling up jugs for drinking water.   We crossed a rickety bridge to get to the restaurant.  I have to admit that I really enjoyed the fact that they don't have OSHA rules there.  Things were more "real" and authentic.  There was also a guy trying to get us to rock climb straight up the canyon wall. You mean this powdery loose rock wall?  Are you kidding me?  Okay okay, maybe OSHA's not so bad.

 At Ait Benhaddou.  A World Heritage site. 

Every hotel (or kasbah) should have a camel zoo out front.

 Ait Benhaddou.  Sharla and Jim in the frame.

 On our way to Marrakech, we went up and over the Tichka Pass in the High Atlas Mountains - the highest road point in Morocco.  (that number is in meters)   Kudos to our driver for negotiating those roads.

Fatima and Mohammad

 David and Jim

  Sharla's couscous lunch at Kasbah Asmaa.  

Languages spoken in Morocco?  Arabic and French.

And now I'm thinking:  this is only part one?  Gee - we must have had a super great time if there's more.  Oh yes we did!

New York

I don't know what it is about New York City, but every time I've been, it is always for less than 24 hours.  One of these days (years) we will need to go and spend a significant amount of time there.  Two weeks ago we were going to be there less than 3 hours, but ended up deciding that was too short of a window to catch an international connecting flight.  So when Jim and Sharla suggested we spend an extra day in the city with them, well -- what a great idea!  So off we went.

 Jim was put in charge of getting us tickets to a show.  We were game for whatever.  The night started off with a yummy Italian dinner and then we had awesome seats to see:

 "They say the neon lights are bright on Broadway."

 David, Sharla, Jim

 Times Square

 We walked right past this on our way back to the hotel.  Of course Sharla and I had to stop, mainly to say that we'd been there.  Oh, and cupcakes.

 The next morning we walked a couple of blocks to the Empire State Building.  The best part was that there were no lines.  NO LINES.  We walked right on in and right on up.

 At the top.

 The tallest building is the new World Trade Center.  The little island to the right of center is Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty.

 Central Park

 Looking down to the Macy's store.  THE Macy's.

 We're actually inside here taking a picture of a mirror.

After that little adventure, we took a cab down to the 9/11 Memorial Site.

The last time we were in NYC was 20 months after the terrorist attacks and walking by all that devastation and the homemade memorials was very sobering.  I really wanted to go back and see the progress made and have a more positive experience.

 The new WTC building.  Not yet opened.

 The NYC skyline made from steel from the original Twin Towers.

 We visited Saint Paul's Chapel across the street from Ground Zero.

 A fireman's outfit.  Still dirty from ash.

Thousands of badges that people have left in honor of those who fell.

 Me, David, Jim

 At one of the pools.

The names of the nearly 3000 victims are inscribed in bronze parapets all around the two pools.

Whenever it is the birthday of one of the victims, a white rose is placed on their name for the day.

 We walked into Macy's, mainly for the sake of saying we had.  Seriously huge store.

  Sharla and I.

Did we buy anything?  Nope.  Saving our money for the next adventure.

We picked up our luggage at the hotel and a driver took us to JFK airport where we boarded 

Royal Air Maroc for a 7 hour flight to Casablanca.  Morocco -- here we come!

 Stay tuned for more.

Random

 Every once in a while I think I should update my blog.  But then I think:  with what?  What have we done that is blog-worthy?  Which then makes me smile.  We are CONSTANTLY busy.  And with cool stuff I might add.  I notice that other people put the most random and dumb things on their Facebook pages and I think, seriously -- you think people need or want to know THAT?  And posting something every day?  Oh my gosh, don't get me started.  And so I don't want to fall into that category either.  But we really do fun stuff and since this is more like my own scrapbook, here goes:

 

David, Michael and Jessica went to South Bend to the Notre Dame/BYU game in November.  Super fun.  Super cold.

 

Did I mention that they F-R-O-Z-E?

For Thanksgiving, all of us except for Michael and Laura and fam went to Las Vegas.  Adam brought his soon-to-be fiance Stephanie to meet everyone.   Love that girl!  In the picture below, Steph is pictured on the right with my niece Emma.  Twins, huh? (and she's now his full-fledged fiance)

 

Emma and Stephanie

 David and I had a Christmas party.  First time in 20+ years.  And it was fun!  And get this -- we played a game.  I know -- me!  Anyone that knows me knows that I HATE games.  Games at bridal or baby showers make me want to head for the hills.  My thought is:  why do games?  We want to visit with each other and watch the honoree open gifts and ooh and ahh.  That's it! Oh, and eat cake.  But I digress.

So the "game" we played was with a candy ball.  Pictured above.  I got a ton of candy, nail polish, chapstick, lip gloss, Slim Jim's, etc. and wrapped it in plastic wrap and packing tape.  One person starts to try and unwrap as fast as they can.  They get to keep whatever they unwrap.  All the while the person next to them is frantically trying to roll doubles with a pair of dice.  Once they get doubles, THEY get the candy ball and the person next to them starts rolling the die.

 And then we went to Fremont to spend Christmas with Cheri and Spencer's family.  On Christmas Eve we went to a neighborhood where practically everyone has cartoon characters on their front lawn.  Adam is pictured above with a military Santa.

Papa and Tyler

The day after Christmas we went to San Francisco.  We did the usual tourist stuff and then went to the BYU/Washington pep rally in Union Square.  Our coach, Bronco Mendenhall, was very gracious towards Washington, but their coach didn't mention BYU at all.  He's an interim coach and not very knowledgeable.  Yeah, that's what I'll go with.

The next day the Fight Hunger Bowl was played in the AT&T Giants baseball stadium.  Football on a baseball field.  But they made it work. Or maybe they didn't since BYU lost.  Everyone went to the game except for me and Tanner (3) and Sadie (13 months).  I got to be the babysitter and enjoyed it more than the rest of them enjoyed the game.

 David and I at the youth New Years Eve dance.  So long 2013.  Lots of fun planned for 2014.

Stay tuned.