Marrakech!

In order to get to Marrakech, I had decided to use the bus. My Frommers travel guide listed the bus companies that it trusted, one of which was Supratours, and also mentioned that the buses were relatively new and safer than some other companies. This was all correct. The bus even left on schedule. What I hadn't anticipated, however, was the difference between the way Moroccans and Americans drive.

To say the least, Moroccans are aggressive drivers.

I'm fairly certain that the bus driver thought he was driving an Aston Martin, as he passed over 25 vehicles (mostly trucks) in the first half hour on roads with one lane on each side. I lost count after that. Usually, there wasn't anyone coming from the other side, however. There were a few notable exceptions to this when we missed sideswiping other buses or cars by literally inches (I was sitting near the front at a window seat on the left). The driver also seemed to think that the lines marking the different lanes were more of suggestions rather than requirements, as he frequently traveled down the center of the road rather than in just one lane. In fact, the bus spent more time in multiple lanes than it ever did in just one. This practice was not quite as accepted by other Moroccans as we did get honked at a couple of times (most cars and trucks just scooted farther over in their lane though).

One good thing was that the roads the bus was on were in excellent condition, clearly having been paved fairly recently. But when there was any construction, instead of having just one lane open and a worker letting traffic go though on that side like in the US, there would be a gravel road hastily built on the side of the real road for everyone to travel on. Inevitably, we would be smoothly coasting along and I would be just about to fall asleep when there would be a big bump and the bus would suddenly transform into an all terrain vehicle. Sigh.

Thankfully, I made it to Marrakech Supratours station alive, and was met by a taxi driver arranged through where I stayed, the Raid dar Maia. The Riad was very nice, and the owner met me with hot mint tea (a Moroccan tradition) and a map so that I wouldn't get too lost. It was located very close to the main square called Jemaa el Fna.

Jemaa el Fna is basically a large open space surrounded by cafes and vendors. Inside the space during the day, there are mostly just fresh orange juice stands (3 dirahms or $.40 per glass). However, it really transforms at night with all sorts of food stalls grilling meat, fish, vegetables, etc. along with snake charmers, and more vendors selling all sorts of merchandise.

Although I spent a good amount of time at the square, I also really enjoyed wandering around (and of course getting lost in) the souks. The souks are one of the main attractions for many visitors to Marrakech, including myself, as you can see not only an incredibly vast array of hand made pottery, leather goods, products made out of thuya wood (a local tree), but also see the people dyeing the wool, or carving the wood boxes. Parts of the souks were also filled with locals (who usually bought food and clothing there) so you could get an even better feel for what life is like for someone who lives in Morocco.

Marrakech, like in Essaouira, was an excellent place to just try to take in as much as you can by walking around. Although it is nearly impossible to keep track of where you are in the souks after a while, most roads lead back to Jemaa el Fna (and you always know you're close when the people you pass are more tourists than locals) so getting lost wasn't such a bad thing.

One other thing to note was that if you are the type of person who is easily intimidated, Morocoo is probably best explored in a group as opposed to alone or even with two people. The shopkeepers are incredibly insistent salesmen, and once you walk in a store, walking out without purchasing anything is a difficult task. I found it was easiest just to ignore the shopkeepers as they don't bother you once you've moved on from their shop. There are also many illegal guides who will try to convince you they should guide you around the souks, and who are more persistent about attempting to earn your business. After following me around for a couple of minutes and realizing that I had no intention of paying for their services however, they left me alone. Essaouira was the complete opposite, and was much more similar to the US in that assistance was offered only if you requested it, so I was definitely glad I went there first!

Unfortunately, it always seemed incredibly inconspicuous to take photos, so I don't have too many from Morocco. What I do have, should be available shortly however.

And speaking of photos, I am in the process of uploading them as I write this. As soon as I have put some comments on so that you have an idea of what you're looking at, I will post a link here to access them via Flickr. I also plan on posting the pictures to Facebook, so you can look at them there as well.

Essaouira

Sorry again for the delays in posting - the first couple of days have been pretty busy at HEC. In any case, here's what I wrote about Essaouira:

Luckily, I was able to find a direct flight from Paris to Essaouira, Morocco on Royal Air Maroc. The flight went very well, although it wasn't very full and no one was sitting in first class. Being an American, the Moroccans said I had to see the doctor before I would be allowed to leave the Essaouira airport. However, this turned out to be a simple yes or no questionnaire about whether or not I had H1N1 flu or if I had been in contact with someone who had. Certainly nothing like China!

Essaouria is a smaller town on the western coast of Morocco. I chose it since I knew that I wanted to visit Marrakech (the second city I visited), and Essaouira isn't too far from there. I arrived at the place where I was staying, called the Riad de la Mer (Riad, which is used I think to describe a converted house into a place for people to stay, and de la Mer, which means of the ocean). It was very conveniently located, as there was a square nearby with a number of cafes.

As a town, Essaouira was pretty laid back, as no one really hassled you to buy anything. Other than to walk around the city area and see the ocean, there really weren't any 'sights' to see in the normal sense, which was ok with me as I have certainly seen many in the past 3 weeks. Rather, Morocco has some of the best people watching you can imagine.

Moroccans don't usually eat at restaurants much, so those are more or less just for tourists. There are two Moroccan specialties that you can find at almost any restaurant serving traditional food - tajine and couscous. Tajine is sort of like Moroccan pot roast, only it's served with different types of cooked fruit/vegetables and meat like beef, chicken, fish, etc. Couscous, I assume you know about, and the time I had it there were also some cooked onions and chicken on top of the couscous. These two entrees made up the bulk of the menus, so if you were looking for something different you more or less had to go to an Italian restaurant, for example.

Next up will be Marrakech and my exciting/terrifying trip to get there!

More Posts are Coming!

Now that I finally have internet at HEC (the school where I am studying this semester, for those of you who don't know) I will be able to post the entries I have written...sort of.

I wrote them on my iPod touch but I don't know how the wireless internet works here yet, so I may have to retype them onto my computer, along with uploading photos.

So stay tuned!

Provence, Parts 2 and 3

We got a bit of a late start on Thursday, so instead of going to the market in Nyons as originally planned, we headed for Avignon for a day of sightseeing.

After arriving, we went to see the Palais des Papes, or in English, the Palace of the Popes. For a number of reasons, mostly concerning safety, the Pope temporarily moved to Avignon, France from Italy. They of course built a grand palace for the Pope in Avignon, which is still standing. Though the tour was informative, the building itself wasn't all that impressive. However, its importance in history is certainly hard to ignore.

We then went to see the Pont Saint Bénezet, a bridge from the 12th century that spanned over the Rhône river. Although most of its original 22 arches across the river have been destroyed (there are now 4), it is a popular tourist site since there was a song written about it.

The following day, we headed out right away in the morning for a market in Carpentras. This was an excellent decision, as there were so many stalls that I'm sure we didn't see all of them. The vendors were selling all sorts of things from locally grown produce, to rotisserie chicken, linens and tableclothes, and of course herbs and soap. Mom went on quite the shopping trip, that's for sure.

While at the market, we bought food for a picnic lunch, since we went from there to a driving tour in the Côte du Rhône region. We took a bit of a detour off from the original route, which put us on some very narrow roads back towards Avignon! We did find some scenically located picnic tables along the route where we stopped to have our lunch.

From there, we made a quick stop in the city of Orange, where it turns out there wasn't much to see. We continuted on to Avignon which is where we dropped off the car and took the TGV, which travels at 200mph, back to Paris for the night.

Our hotel room at the Mariott was definitely a huge change from the incredibly tiny ones we had been in! Unfortunately, we didn't arrive at the hotel until just before midnight, and we had to wake up at 6am the next morning to make sure that Mom had enough time to get to the airport for her flight out.

I certainly had an excellent time travelling all over France, and I know Mom did as well. After her flight took off, I had one day to rest in Paris before my last big trip before school starts - to Morocco!

Provence, Part 1

After driving about 4 hours from Vichy, we arrived at our first stop, Pont du Gard. The Pont du Gard is a bridge that was built by the Romans as a part of their system to transport water to different cities. It has the largest arch ever built by the Romans that spans over the river below.

Continuing with the Roman theme, we then drove to Nîmes, where we saw one of the still standing Roman coliseums. This is the most well preserved of the coliseums standing today, so it certainly provided a good idea what they would have looked like when the Romans used them. The tour came with an excellent audioguide that explained some of the history behind the gladiator to gladiator fights but it mostly talked about when specially trained gladiators would fight bears, lions, etc.

We then decided to head for the hotel. We located it fairly easily with the help of the GPS, but after I got out to get the key Mom drove away since there was one lane and someone was behind her waiting to get by. 20 minutes later, she resurfaced. Apparently, going around in a circle to reach the hotel again wasn't as easy as one would assume.

After that ordeal, we headed out to a nearby restaurant and had an excellent dinner and the best dessert so far - frozen nougat with red berry sauce.

Not surprisingly, it wasn't hard to get to sleep that night!

Bayeux/Mont Saint Michel

So, after the Normandy tour, there was still one thing left to do in Bayeux: the Bayeux tapestry. It was created in the middle of the 11th century and is 210 feet long (only about 2 feet wide though). It was made since most of the population was illiterate, so a tapestry was used to tell the story of how William the Conqueror (who was the duke of Normandy) became the King of England. I didn't get any pictures of it, but if you google 'Bayeux tapestry' you'll see it. The colors were surprisingly still pretty vibrant, especially considering its age. I thought it was interesting to note that Britain's WWII memorial said something along the lines of 'we have now helped to save the country that once conquered ours.'

From there, we drove to Mont Saint Michel, which is an abbey that was built on a rock that practically makes it on an island. There's a causeway that drivers use to get to it, but parking could be an issue at high tide since, well, there isn't any more parking. Luckily, the lot wasn't supposed to flood until later that night. The walk up to the abbey was touristy, with all sorts of souvenir places, but the abbey itself wasn't. The best part was actually the first time that I saw Mont Saint Michel from the car. It's neat because all of a sudden you see this almost castle like building high on a rock and it one of those times where you can't help but go 'wow'.

From there, we drove to the Loire valley to a city called Amboise. The Loire valley is famous for its châteaux (castles). We are on our way to Provence, which is in the south of France, but we won't actually arrive there until Wednesday.

Chenonceau and Villandry

(FYI: there are two new posts, this one and the previous about Bayeux)

Tuesday began with a visit to Chenonceau, one of the many castles of the Loire valley which is southwest of Paris. This castle had a bit of a unique history. It was one of the first castles that was bulit just for pleasure instead of fortification.

Much of what we saw reminded me of the song "Anything You Can Do I Can Do Better." It was originally inhabited by Diane de Poitiers, who had one of the castle's most distinctive features built: its arched bridge over the river. However, once her husband died, Catherine de Medici waltzed in and unceremoniously kicked Diane out.

Catherine subsequently built her own garden opposite Diane's, put a ballroom on top of Diane's bridge with excellent river views, and put her office on the floor above Diane's and used the same layout, but added a ceiling painting that rivaled those of Versailles and the Louvre.

Mom liked Chenonceau better than Versialles, an observation that I also agree with. Although Versailles was grand, it seemed a little bit too over the top and cold at times. Chenonceau, on the other hand, felt much more liveable and had a better setting on the river.

After driving around in a circle for a while (or so it seemed) we found Villandry, another château. However, it is known more for its gardens than castle, so that's all we saw. They had a number of different gardens including a very impressive vegetable garden that had all the vegetables arrainged geometrically. There were also over 1200 lime trees, but I didn't see any limes.

After meandering through the gardens, we headed to Vichy to stay the night since tomorrow would have a good amount of driving to reach our final destination (Provence), about half a day.

Normandy

Our day (Sunday) got off to a bit of a rough start. Our Battelbus tour of the D-Day beaches (along with some other stops) was to begin at 8:30. We left with enough time to arrive as per the person at where we were staying. Evidently, someone before us had set the GPS in the car to 'Avoid Highways.' Not surprisingly, it took us longer than expected to arrive. I ran up to the van just as they were about to leave, and we made it on the tour.

The rest of the day was undoubtedly amazing and very moving. We stopped at a number of places including Sainte-Mère Eglise (one of the cities where fighting occured), three entry points for US troops (Pointe du Hoc, Utah and Omaha beaches), a church that was a medic station in a small town (the guide knew the two medics that had been stationed there), and of course the American cemetary.

My favorite part was learning about the medics, and Mom liked learning about the paratroopers and hedgerows. Hedgerows are more or less what they sound like - rows of extremely dense hedges (up to 10ft thick) that were actually built by the Vikings to divide up land. This made it very difficult for the Americans to get through to where they needed to be, as there was just one small exit in no standard place that would allow you out. Some remains of them are still around today and in our many scenic drives we got to see them.

Another one of the best parts of our tour was the guide. He was originally from England, but had moved to Normandy about 5 years ago. He definitely knew what he was talking about and had met many vets from the war (both American and German) and so was able to give their perspective on the invasion.

After the tour finished at 5pm, we went for dinner at La Rapière, which was recommended by one of Mom's friends at work. The food was excellent; I had poppy seed encrusted sea bass and Mom had a filet of beef with prune sauce, which she evidently liked.

Even though our day got off to a rough start, it was certainly a great one in the end!

Versailles

Sorry for the late postings- internet access isn't always readily available!

Our day began of course at the local bakery for breakfast. We then headed out on the RER train to Versailles. Before the main attraction, however, we had to rent a car. This was actually very easy, and we were upgraded to a car (a Citroen C5) with an automatic transmission (hard to come by and $$$ in Europe) and a GPS system for no extra charge. That should definitely help make things a little easier for the next week!

Since we were there on a weekend, Versailles had the fountains in the gardens on for an hour (for an extra charge, of course). The gardens were much larger than I thought they would be, and it was mostly comprised of a Harry Potter-esque hedge maze with fountains located in the center of each square. The gardens were much better with the fountains on; I don't think they would be nearly as impressive without them.

The castle itself was of course an incredible sight. The amount of money put into making everything as elaborate as possible was evident in the many carvings and ceiling paintings. We used the audio guides which definitely help in understanding how the different rooms were used.

After Versailles, it was time to drive to Bayeux, where we would be sleeping for the night. We stayed at the Château de Lignerolles, which was run by a couple from Holland who were excellent hosts. The rooms were in a house built in 1731, so there was a sink in the room but the bathroom was down the hall. We were definitely tired by the end of the day, so we went straight to sleep.

Paris, Part 2

The morning of the 4th, Mom and I were so tired, we slept in until 9AM. After getting ready, we went straight to Notre-Dame. The cathedral was busy with tourists to say the least. However, the general grandeur of the cathedral was still a sight to see.

I preferred the Sainte-Chapelle cathedral though because of the magnificent stained glass windows. They surrounded the entire church and each set of windows told a different story. Although it was kind of hard to figure out what the message of each scene was, it was still pretty incredible that they had so much intricately detailed stained glass.

We then headed across the street for some chocolat chaud (hot chocolate) since it was a bit cool and drizzling. It was kind of unusual because they gave you a cup with the melted chocolate and a cup with the hot milk and you just got to make it how you liked. Nonetheless, it was exactly what we needed before moving on.

If that wasn't enough history in one day, we then walked over to the Louvre. We of course saw the Mona Lisa (not as underwhelming as people make it out to be, I thought) and Venus de Milo and many other famous pieces. We ended up getting quite lost in the Sully wing with the Egyptian artifacts. I actually didn't mind too much since ancient Egypt is one of my favorite time periods to learn about, but it was very warm in the museum so we headed out.

By that time, we were hungry for some dinner, so we assembled a true French picnic complete with baguette, French cheese and meat all bought from different stores. Later, we took off to see the Eiffel Tower at night when it is lit up and there was even a light show at the top of the hour.

Right next to the tower were the Seine River boat cruises. It was an hour long, and mostly pointed out things we had already seen. However, it was cool to see how more of Paris looked at night.

Our last day in Paris was certainly a good one, and we really felt like we had taken in the true 'atmosphere.'

Paris, Part 1

Sorry that it's been a little while since the last post, but a lot has happened!

Two days ago, I arrived on my SAS flight back from Oslo. I went to the hotel I was staying and and mostly rested up for the next day.

Yesterday, Mom arrived in the morning, so I went to go meet her at the airport. Her flight arrived early, so she actually had to wait a while before I got there. After getting situated at the hotel, we went to Rue Cler (Rick Steve's favorite street in Paris) and had a sandwich at a café and took in the local atmosphere. Even though Mom was a litlle jet-lagged, we knew the best cure was to stay active and not rest. So, we went to the Orsay Museum, which is famous for its collection of impressionist paintings. After wandering around for a while, and seeing many famous works of art, we decided it was time for some true Paris - the Eiffel Tower.

Although the line was kind of long, we went up to the second level where there was an excellent view over all of Paris. Even Mom, who prefers to stay on the ground, thought that the view was great. It was also interesting to note that many of the buildings had rooftop gardens and places to relax. Parisians also seem to enjoy putting a multitude of plants on their little tiny balconies.

After the tower, we had an excellent dinner at a nearby restaurant. It was definitely the type of place where you go 'now why can't we have food like this in the US?' We ended up returning to the hotel room after dinner and going to bed since it was an overall fun-filled, but tiring day.

Bergen

So, about Bergen. Well I guess one of the most important things to know is that it rains a ridiculous amount. Evidently, if they get 60 days of sunshine in a year, that would be considered good. I definitely wish I'd brought a better umbrella than a pocket size one.

Not surprisingly, it was raining on Monday morning. However, since it was the last day of August, that meant that the tourist season was essentially ending and that there were somethings that if I didn't do them today, I wouldn't be able to at all. So, the first thing I did was a tour that included entrance to the Bryggen museum, a building that replicated the German and Norwegian community "living rooms," and the Hanseatic Museum.

They were all very interesting, and I was surprised to learn about the influence the Germans had on Bergen. They brought grain to Norway since it wasn't growable here in exchange for fish. Bergen was part of the Hanseatic league, which was the name for the cities that all traded together via the Germans. That meant that while there were 7000 Norwegians living in Bergen (the largest city in Norway at the time) around the 1300s, there were also 2000 Germans who essentially ruled themselves.

The houses were all made out of wood and put right next to each other, so fires have always been, and continue to be, a major concern. The Germans had very strict rules about fires, namely that you couldn't have them in private homes. So, they all met at communal living room type places at the end of the block at night where there was fire and food each night. However, the Norwegians allowed fire in private homes, thus the reason for the 20 or so major fires that have leveled portions of Bergen since the 1100s.

The largest fire was in 1702 when 87% of the city burned to the ground. The most recent (though not nearly as large) fire was in 1955.

Today, I started out by going up the funicular to the top of one of the surrounding hills. The view over Bergen was quite the sight. I then walked around the forest area for a little while which was interesting because their forests have so much more plant life on the ground likely due to all the rain. I then walked around by the University of Bergen for a while and looked at some of the shops.

The Norwegian sweaters are of course far too expensive for me, usually around 1500 NOK, or about $250, for a good quality Dale of Norway sweater. I did, however, buy a winter hat that has Gore-Tex type fabric to stop the wind and is Teflon coated to repel water.

One last observation about Norway in general: the stoplights for walkers here are very unusual. In both Oslo and Bergen, once the green walk man starts flashing, you only have like 5 seconds to walk, or rather, run, across the crosswalk. In Oslo, before the green man flashes though, you get a beeping sound. The first time I heard it I knew I recognized the sound from somewhere, but I wasn't sure where. Then, once when I heard it, I thought to myself "Ok who is playing Catchphrase (a game) in the middle of the street??"

Turns out the joke was on me - I knew I recognized the sound from the stoplights from somewhere! I guess Oslo got the same sound as the Catchphrase beeper. Bergen has a different sound for their stoplights; to me it sounds like the beep a truck makes when it is backing up. It's a good thing I'm not blind otherwise I would have had some unusual impressions about Norway...

Tonight, I leave on a 22:58 train back to Oslo, arriving at about 6:30. I will then head to the Oslo airport to return to Paris in order to meet up with Mom before we travel around France for a week and a half! I definitely enjoyed my time in Norway, and like I mentioned before, I will have to return (maybe once I have a bit more money...)!