In and out of Connecticut

It’s been awhile!
We are leaving CT after just over two weeks there. During that time we (in no specific order):

1. Caught up with family – including watching bad lifetime movies and getting the pants beaten off me in Scrabble by ol’ Pops the literary whiz.

2. Purchased a Black ’99 Subaru Forrester, which we got a sweet radio and handsfree phone system for (Thanks Ma!)..and which Gregg did a bit of work on. It may indeed have a sketchy past, but we are crossing our fingers for it’s performance on our road trip.

3. Played with the fuzzy family dog Winston the pug.

4. Visited NYC (saw the Guggenheim and the Met, didn’t love either)

5. Saw my uncle, aunt cousins and cousin’s boyfriend in their beautiful Manhattan apartment (and were provided a tasty repast despite the Passover limitations)

6. Re-tiled the second of my mother’s three bathrooms

7. Visited my friend Lydia at Haaaavard, where she is a PH.d candidate in the Sanskrit department. (and I recently found out she was the only one accepted out of 60-100 potential candidates!)

8. Walked around Boston and remembered how amazingly beautiful the city is. Thought about a more extended visit, possibly in the fall.

9. Visited Salem, Mass, where there is a red line painted on all the sidewalks in town guiding you through the town (Who wants to make those kind of decisions on their own).

10. Met up with an old friend Karl Stevens, who is a fantastic artist.

11. Reunited with an old professor, Tony Apesos from my first art school

12. Worked a ton for clients and setting up my business.

13. Went to synagogue with my mother – the first time in probably over a decade for me, and the first time ever for Gregg. The one prayer that stuck with me in the services says (when translated) something like “Don’t say harsh words to others, say them to God and treat others with kindness”

So now we are off – driving on the New Jersey Turnpike as we speak. It is rainy out, and New Jersey looks like a most unsavory place from this vantage point. We are headed to Fairfax, Virgina, where we will visit Aimee de Raismes, one of my closest childhood friends, who I haven’t seen in probably 7 – 9 years.

In the next 2.5 weeks, we will drive down the eastern seaboard visiting friends, stop in New Orleans (where we may go to Jazz fest), then we will head through Texas, New Mexico, Colorado – and then back to SLC. As usual, any and all of this is subject to change.

Once we get back, it’s nose to the grindstone – time to get my new company built and launched!

Back in Business...

Gregg went out and about today – but I stayed and worked on the site and plans for the next phase of my business. I had a lovely day to myself – and the hail and rain outside didn’t make me regret my decision one bit!

The business is shaping up, and I believe it will be successful in time. I have been working in custom websites now for a few years – which are costly for the client, and can drag on and on for me. While I enjoy it – It is hard to justify the cost. So I am developing my company into a web template site, where a company would basically pick what they want their site to look like, provide the materials, and we will have it up and ready in 48 hours.

This differs form other sites that offer templates, in that we actually add in the site content, for a super low rate compared to other similar sites. I believe this will benefit me in that it will offer a quick turnaround for a relatively good day’s rate for me – and for the client, it will give them a very inexpensive, professional site, super quickly. Small businesses can’t really afford a custom site, and I want to create a business plan that allows for everyone to afford themselves one of the main resources a business needs nowadays.

The National Gallery

The national gallery today was the most amazing museum I have ever been in. Side by side Van Gogh, Manet, Monet, Delacroix , Titian, Raphael, Michaelangelo, Da Vinci, ….

I could have sat there all week learning about all the artwork…

For now at least, it will e the museum by which I compare all other museums….I would return to London solely to see this museum. It differed from the Louvre for me in a few ways. Firstly, the layout was easier to grasp and comprehend. The Louvre’s collection was in several different rooms, areas and floors – and while the National Gallery’s collection was also spread out, the floor plan felt far more linear and organized to the untrained eye. It was easier to move about the Nat. Gallery with a sense of time moving forward and periods shifting before one’s eyes.

Secondly, for me, the recognition was there in the National Gallery, which made it a better starting point. I knew a huge percentage of the paintings from my art history textbook – knew the stories, the artists. While the same artists were largely represented at the Louvre, for me the paintings were more obscure. As a museum novice, seeing painting after painting straight out of a textbook was inspiring of the greatest museum awe I have yet experienced.

We had been underdressed for the drizzly rain walking by the Thames in downtown London, and I was tired of walking and freezing that day. The Tate Modern interested me little, but the National Gallery redeemed the day many times over. It will surely be my first stop in my next visit to London.

Vive Madrid!

Madrid! What can I say! I love Europe!

We walked miles and miles today, all about the city. To nothing in particular - we walked past elegant architecture, adorned with mythological sculpture, huge urban parks, scruffy dogs, a bull fighting stadium. There weren’t any particular highlights for me, but the day was pleasant, and the city was elegant and easy on the eye.

Tangier to Morocco

We had a relatively seamless transfer from Tangier to Madrid. We have found everything about Madrid to operate with the utmost efficiency. The trains come without much wait, and we have been impressed with the airport’s swiftiness in both baggage and customs.

It was overcast, and intermittently rainy the entirety of our trip to Madrid, all 48 hours of it that is. We met some college students in the Tangier airport, who were Americans studying in Madrid. They left us with metro directions on how to get to a neighborhood where we would be likely to find a hotel. We were ever so thankful to pay just a few euros and take the metro, rather then another expensive cab ride.

The transition from the airport was smooth, although the one bag we have left is overstuffed and difficult to travel with. Gregg has been the one taking on the burden, and will probably never let me forget it. My deepest apologies to him forevermore.

We went to a Kabob-ery for dinner, and found it was one of the cheapest most delicious meals we had had yet. The had excellent falafel and Pita wraps, for 3-5 Euro (still about 7 or so bucks). The Moroccan food we experienced had been so oily and unhealthy! Our stomachs had been craving some goodness!

Train to Tangier

They told us 1st and 2nd class were so similar on the train, that it didn’t matter. Take the cheaper fare they said! Bah Tooty!

There were a bunch of us crammed into a seating area on the train – the gentleman next to me was a stinky and neauseating example of the excellent benefits of hygiene and deodorant. Everytime he moved, my stomach moved with him. Thank goodness he didn’t go far, although I am sure he is a lovely person.

He got up and was replaced by a mother and her three little children, one of them who could not stoop chattering and provoking his brothers the entire trip. He was a nightmare, although he did amusingly remarked that Gregg was a girl because he had long hair. His mother occasionally told him to stop, but mostly just slept and occupied herself with her younger child, leaving him to his annoyances.

On top of the lady with three children, none of which had a seat because the area was too small – we were then joined by another lady with two children! We were already cramped, with no room, and we protested her joining our car – but she insisted. Her children were actually angels. I watched old Scrubs episodes on my ipod to escape the annoyance of the antagonistic child – but eventually good mother said some words to bad mother and bad mother left. Hallelujah. It was a long 6 hour train ride.

Oh, and did I mention someone had been playing on the top of the train for some reason, and fell off while it was in motion? Yeah…they stopped the train for awhile – but with the language barrier, we never did get the full story.

Story Moral: On a long train ride in an overpopulated country – upgrade yo’ self to first class. It is probably only an extra 5 dollars.

In the Medina

We haven’t left the Medina (walled marketplace) all week! When we left to buy our train tickets out, we realized how much more of Fez there is! It is so easy to see just what is in front of you as the entire universe! We won’t have time to explore now, as we leave for Tangier tomorrow – but the taxi ride was a nice reminder of the outside world!

Chilling in Fez

So we have been totally laying low in Fez...Spending most of our time lounging around the guesthouse..

We found out Gregg's backpack is being shipped to our home in Salt Lake - nutty!!! Mind you - we still haven't seen it since leaving for this trip! It fell victim to the 15,000+ bags bungled by London's Heathrow Airport Terminal 5 madness. (new terminal, new baggage system..but not enough training for the employees I think). The kicker is they need someone to sign for the baggage back in SLC. Brilliance, pure brilliance. Thank goodness for neighbors. (We hope!)

Despite picking up a few things in Paris, he is still super short on clothing and hygiene products - so we will have to pick up a few more when we get to Madrid and can get receipts for what we buy. (Reimbursement is key).

Here are some picture of the Medina, our guesthouse and Fez in general.

!!! *** You can use the arrows below the thumbnails to scroll through all the images. *** !!!

All is well that ends well...

Via Blackberry emails, my brother found us a hotel in Fez – which took a good deal of work to find. Eventually we located it in the middle of the Medina – the walled old city market.

Some young boys, begging for a tip, took our luggage and placed it in a cart which they sped down the narrow cobbled streets of the Medina, with us running to keep apace. We hadn’t even considered that the hotel might not have vacancy.

Not only did they not have space, but it wasn’t a hotel! It was a guesthouse owned by an Aussie women! We were super exhausted from the lack of sleep and stress of the long drive and the rough morning. Vacancy was the only word we wanted to hear.

The Aussie guesthouse owner volunteered to call some British friends who owned a neighboring guesthouse. Within 15 minutes, Joe, one of the owners – an early 30’s Brit – came to collect us all, and led us back to his place.

By this point – Joe pretty much felt like an angel to us all. Fez is hectic and loud and crazy and stressful – all of which was gone when we stepped into his home. It was beautiful, spacious, luxurious, authentic and quiet. (with the Bonus feature - Wireless Internet!)

Relief was the word as we joined Joe, his fiancée Claire, and their visitor-friend Dave on the deck for wine, and a fantastic view of Fez. The long stressful day could not have ended any more satisfyingly to any of us. This guesthouse was perfect.

To Fez!

We opted for a grand taxi for the four of us to Fez - both or the comfort, and because the bus wasn’t scheduled to leave for another 6 hours.

The ride started out all wrong. I was hungry from just eating a small amount of bread hours earlier for breakfast – but was told we would stop in the next town and get lunch. For the first hour and a half the cab kept saying he would stop to eat in 20 minutes, but never did.

He sped around the winding roads, passing everyone. This compounded with our hunger and our language barrier made gave us all a good deal of stress. Three of us were just plain angry at the driver, but it was our fourth, Adan, who suggested we try to buy the driver lunch and appeal to his human side.

Although we found a translator at the café to talk to the driver through, tensions were still high back on the road. Adan sat in the front and the two began to bond over broken French. Before too long, the cabbie was driving prudently, and became much nicer - a great relief to all of us.

Our driver had a long day ahead of him. 6 hours to Fez, and then 6 hours back. On the way, he flagged down a cabbie going the opposite direction, and proposed to him a passenger switch, which meant each driver got to head home immediately while carrying the other’s passengers. A large group exited our new cab – one of them looking deathly frail, with a bandage wrapped around his head. The other men carries his limp body to the new cab – and I felt badly that he had to move. Apparently he had been injured in a small bus accident.

Our new driver was friendly, and drove prudently the remainder of the way to Fez, and I began emailing my brother through my Blackberry requesting the name of a reasonably priced hotel with internet.

Morning time in the Sahara

Today began early, and felt very long by the time it ended. Three of the four of us hadn’t slept well, which caught up with us by the end of the day.

We arose at 5:30, to climb atop a sand dune and watch the sunrise over the Sahara. There was a chill in the air, but it was quite calm and beautiful out.

Slowly more and more people came out – and we realized how many others there really were around us. Coming in late in the darkness of night had afforded us the feeling of solitude in the desert.

The lifeless desert began to take shape as the glowing sun warmed it up and created the most beautifully endless shapes of the light and shadow.

We descended our dune to a desert breakfast, which actually wound up being just day old bread and juice and coffee. There were skiis and snowboards to go down the dunes on – which Gregg was delightfully awaiting – but our plans were cut short by the shuffling onto the camels by our guide, Idir. Though we were the last group to leave, we still felt very rushed.

Though the scenery was unforgettably beautiful riding out of the desert, the camels were uncomfortable, an were chafing our legs at the seams of our jeans. The sand in the pants / camel combination is unfavorable to say the least.

The sky was vivid and clear – and soon enough the distant Atlas mountains came into sight, and we were back at the car.

We offered Idir money to take us to Fex, a 6 – 7 hour ride, but he declined. We didn’t know if it was his fatigue, disinterest or the expiration of the rental car fueling his decision.

***There are more pictures if you use the arrow underneath the thumbnails below! Or just simple keep clicking on each large picture, and it will keep advancing as long as there are more pictures to see!***

Oarzazate - The Sahara

April 1st, 2008

Well, as mentioned yesterday, we booked a tour for today and tomorrow. It wasn’t hard to do so, as everyone in Morocco seems to own a travel agency.

Naim, the “agent” we booked through, showed up as promised in the morning – although he attempted to convince us that the four of us were to squish in the back of his car – saying it was made for four people. We called him on it, and pushed to him to honor his promise of an English speaking guide, and plenty of car space for the 6 or 7 hour ride out to Merzouga / the Saharan Desert. Shortly thereafter, Idir arrived. They rented a car, and we were on our way. He proved to be trustworthy, full of humor, and an excellent guide. He drove prudently and showed endless patience with our photographs, bathroom stops and questions.

We spent the day driving east from Oarzazate to first the Todra Gorge, and then Erfoud and finally Merzouga. We arrived at the base of the Sahara in time for the red glow of dusk on the mammoth dunes. The sand was soft on our feet as we waded far out for better views of the setting sun. After the sun went down, we hopped aboard our camel caravan and rode for two hours in utter peace under the clearest of starry skies. We arrived for a late dinner in the nomadic tents of the “Oasis”. We had a typical diner of Targine – which is kind of hard to describe, but generally consists of boiled meat covered in potatoes, beans, carrots or other vegetables. In the coming days, we were to grow quite sick of this dish.

After dinner, the traditional tea ensued, and then we reconvened in the next tent over for drum music before going to sleep in the provided tents.

**Please notice the arrows underneath the thumbnails the pictures below...I know the later pictures can be easily missed!!****

To Oarzazate

We began the day hearing the typical Muslim call to prayer, before dawn. Then we heard another moments later. Someone must have left the mic on - because we heard chirping birds for the next alf hour thereafter.

Breakfast was on the beautiful terrace atop our hotel, which afforded a fantastic view of the nearby mosque. The buffet breakfast consisted of coffee, fresh squeezed orange juice, warm temps and clear skies.

After breakfast, a cab brought us to the bus station - where we were immediately approached by a man selling tickets to Oarzazate - our destination. After verifying the price with the bus company, we boarded the hot tight bus and sat for at least half hour until we left the station. We were approached, on the bus, by countless vendors of all ages attempting to sell their tissues gum, candy and travel services.

Somewhere between 4 and 5 hours later – we arrived. We had been advised to sit on the left side of the bus – and greatly pitied anyone who hadn’t been advised similarly. The view was extraordinary! We looked down on lush green grasses, bright red mountains, and occasionally snowy peaks in the distance. There was very little during the ride that was not superb for the looking.

Getting off the bus, we hooked up with a Canadian couple about our age – Jasmine and Aaden, who had similar plans for the next few days. Together we found a hotel, (by the way – they are AT LEAST 1/3 of the price you will pay for online – so always try to book here in person!) – we also booked an overnight trip through the desert for tomorrow, and walked around and got dinner together in Oarzazate. Tomorrow we set off in a private car, touring the sites of the desert, eventually camping out under the stars – complete with cooked meal and camel ride. Yippee!

While we are eating out and booking tours, it is still cheaper here in Morocco – our dollar goes a lot farther, which brings the stress level down, and broadens the scope of activities we can do.

I am super loving being a traveler again. It has been too long. I haven’t felt this liberated and free to do what I please since long ago – well before I met Gregg. Probably since 2004 and Israel. We are truly loving the freedom we feel now – and hope to plan our future lives with this in mind.