First Stop: Fez part 1

A mosque that we were not allowed to go in.

One of many spice shops.

wedding chairs

This will be Kelly's wedding chair since I had one shipped home for her. Surprise!

The oh so popular community fountains.

The blue "door" entrance into Medina Land.

A view from our hotel

The best mint tea ever!

Dinner our first night

Also with our dinner: a lentil soup. Delicious.

The Fez airport and our first glimpse of Morocco.

View from our hotel.

Another view from our hotel.

Making friends

Nick and I made friends with some rather cool Americans. They are teachers in Tangier at an American international school. They told us they have, essentially, been travelling the world teaching at these schools that are just as they sound: American schools located around the world. The schools are beneficial to those families who work for international companies but would like for their children to receive the same american education regardless of where they live. Before they moved to Tangier in August they lived in China for 3 years where they had their son Mac, almost 2 years old and super cute. And before China, they lived in Prague. What a sweet lifestyle. It's a shame I don't like teaching.

Later, on the over night train from Marrakech to Tangier, we met 2 Canadians about the same age as us. They were enjoying a post-graduation 2 month jaunt around Europe with a small detour in Morocco. Skiing in Canada next winter break, eh?

The Tanneries

Today we went on a tour of Fez. My favorite place we visited was the tanneries. When you enter the building they hand you mint to sniff because of the incredibly awesome animal smell that makes you want to gag. Which was a pretty good idea... The mint smelled amazing, the tanneries, not so much. It was interesting to watch the men stretching and dying the animal hide. At one point a man through a hide into the wrong color, retrieved the hide, and threw it into the other barrel of dye. A very forgiving job until it concerns his health. The man that we talked to there told us that within five years of working in the dyes (as you will see the men doing in the photos) they have serious cases of arthritis, however, they continue to work as long as they are capable of doing so. Nick thinks it may be more than that, perhaps heavy metal disease. I'm doing a little research on it and maybe in the future I will have more info.

The building is about 4-5 stories high with different leather goods on each floor. I didn't do a lot of shopping in the tanneries however I noticed the first,main, floor has nothing but house slippers. I slightly regret not trying to get a few at a "good price". The top floor where we took most of the photos is covered wall to wall, floor to ceiling, with leather bags of all shapes and sizes. Nick and I definitely got some great souvenirs in the shape of an awesome leather briefcase and purse/laptop bag. Thank you mama and papa Baker for the Christmas presents.

The Train People

Not the people who work in transportation but the weird people on the train. There happens to be outlets on the train strategically placed in the bathrooms. As a result, lots of people are always hanging out around the bathroom charging their crappy French phones which don't have half the battery power as our American phones. Americans 1 French 0.

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Brest-Paris-Montpellier

So I took the train. I received an email from ryanair that they would reimburse those customers who were unsatisfied with the change in plans- like me. The new plan included taking a navette to the Brest airport and at 3 o'clock they would shuttle us to Nantes which would take 3.5 hours, our flight would then take off about 10pm and we would arrive in Marseille around 11:30pm. Now that's awfully nice of them and all, but what am I supposed to do at 11:30pm? There are not any trains to Montpellier that late and I didn't really want to run around a strange city at midnight looking for a hotel/hostel. So I'm trying to get the reimbursement, although I don't think the online form works (intentionally), but in the meantime, I bought a train ticket and I'm on my way.

The train hasn't been quiet the smooth ride I was hoping for though. I tried to buy the earliest ticket possible which would Leave about 6am and arrive about 4pm. And yes, the train ride takes presque 10 hours. Unfortunately, I think everyone decided to change their plans last minute as well, a cause de la greve. And as I was trying to purchase tickets online they were selling out within seconds. Finally I managed to purchase a ticket for the 1:30 train. The slow train that makes a million stops between Brest and Paris and takes about 5 hours. THEN... Luck strikes again. Our train arrived 15 minutes en retard putting me in jeopardy of missing my correspondence on the other side of the city. As I was running into the next train station, nearly in tears and sick with worry of missing my train, I saw on the train board that the train had been delayed 40 minutes. Finally! Some real luck. However it was freezing in the train station and now it is 11 pm and I'm still on the train. Ugh.


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Planes Trains and Automobiles

I'm taking the train tomorrow. Hopefully I wont have too much of a problem trying to change trains in Paris, as the métro is striking too.

N'importe quoi.

La Grève

For those of you who are unaware of how much the French like to strike... Let me tell you.. The French love to strike! The teachers went on strike about 2 weeks ago, however, us assistance were required to come in nonetheless. Last week, the cafeteria workers were on strike and as a result we did not have lunch. I here that the metro in Paris is striking over Christmas and that the people who work in transportation are also striking... Such as the delivery trucks. More importantly, the Brest airport is striking. There was a strike on Monday and no flights left the airport. And again the workers will be striking on Friday aka tomorrow, the day I'm supposed to fly to Montpellier. Thank you disgruntled French workers. Merry Christmas to you too.