Footloose and fancy free in les plus beaux villages

David spent a week at "American village," or what seems to be a regular camp (eating hamburgers, roasting marshmallows, sleeping in cabins, etc). Meanwhile, Lisa got a 10-day trip back to Canada.

With no kids, Deb and I rented a car and drove to some of the "most beautiful villages in France". These were small hill towns in the south of Rhone-Alps and north Provence. They really were beautiful.

Report cards!

The kids got their first French report cards. Since they arrived here mid-year (mid-way through the second trimester), there were lots of missing spaces on their report cards. (I tell my NCAA bracket friends that I count missing information as a 0!)  Like much of my life here in France, life is filled with mysteries everyday; but, as near as I can tell, the marks they did receive seemed good. And, in another sports analogy, a tie goes to the runner.  So until I hear otherwise, I'm proud of them.

I took David out to lunch to celebrate.  (You can't see her but our dog Skoshi is sitting under the table, a bit of a treat for her, too.)

Meandering in Morocco

Marakkesh is an amazing place. But after 3 days I felt the need to explore further. So I arranged a tour headed to Ait Ben Houdda and Ourzazate and beyond. We headed up the Atlas mountains

We made stops at a couple tourist spots including a cafe and an argan oil place that seemed more about kickbacks for the tour company than interest by tourists. Oh well...

Then we arrived at Ait Ben Houdda Kasbah (village). It is a UNESCO world heritage site that is an example of an old Berber village.

I knew it was a mid-day stop and the light for photography would be flat so I had asked about stopping off the tour and picking it up the next day. They said this would be fine. Meet in the same place tomorrow, no ticket required. I arranged to stay in a hotel (only 250 Dinhars (25 Euros or $30) including dinner and breakfast. Then I enjoyed exploring, seeing some local sights, and catching the kasbah in the setting sun.

The next day I waited around to catch up with the next day's tour. As near as I can tell, it never came. Hmmm... Stranded in Morocco with my plane leaving the next day? That wouldn't be good.

So I hopped a "grand" taxi. After a bit of discussion the taxi driver suggested I would be better off (it would be more relaxing) to catch a ride to Ouzazate and there a regular coach instead of the informal busses that cruise from town to town (I was impressed with myself for having conducted this conversation in French!). So I paid 100 dirhams (€10) for the 40 minute cab ride. The bus ticket cost only 60 dirham (€6) for the 4 hour ride back to Marakkesh on a nice large bus. It was a rainy evening in the Atlas mountains and the bus seemed to leak from every window. But after 4 hours we arrived safely in dry but chilly Marakkesh. It was nice to be back in familiar territory and I treated myself to a nice dinner (salade nicouse and seafood patisse).

The following morning I was off to the airport, a flight direct to Lyon, the bus Grenoble, and the tram home.

More Marrakesh

Marrakesh seems to me to be a crazy melting pot. You start with a foundation of Berber, Arabic and Muslim culture, buildings, and ancient markets. Then use a French occupation to add more language and culture and the bulk of modern tourists. Bring in some hippy counterculture. And then throw it into the modern world where Islam runs head on into hiphop nightclubs. Then I think you get Marrakesh.

Here are some of my favorite images...