Exotic Morocco

Nathan and I have just arrived back from Morocco.  We did a 10 day tour of Morocco with traveltalk tours.  Our group size was 14, three kiwi's, one toekn brit, and the remainder were aussies. The map to the right shows you where our tour went, you can see we got quite close to the Algerian border.
Our tour started and ended in Marrakesh.  The 'first day' consisted of meeting at 7pm in the hotel lobby for a meeting and then a group dinner.  Day one done.  Bit of a joke.  Just like day ten is breakfast in the morning and then heading to the airport.  After an exhausting first day we then headed to the desert where we were amazed at the luxury of our camp site.  We had proper beds and showers and flushing toilets.  Totally not expected but brilliant.  Our food for the three days in the desert was excellent, lots of tagines and fruit.  I have never eaten so much fruit in my life! While in the desert we enjoyed a jeep safari, a camel trek, meeting a nomad family and climbing sand dunes to watch the sun set.  It was so peaceful and quiet in the desert, a far cry from London.

After our desert oasis it was time to head to Fes, with an ovenight stop over along the way in Erfoud.  There is nothing much in Erfoud, just a bunch of hotels, obviously just a tourist stop off along the way to elsewhere. On our drive from Erfoud to Fes we passed through the Atlas mountains, reaching Midelt, an impressive mountain city at 1488 metres above sea level.  It is at this point the weather changed and started snowing/hailing.  There is debate amongst the group if it was snow or hail.  Here is where Nath and I got caught out wearing shorts and jandals and a singlet top for me in freezing cold weather.
We arrived in Fes in time to go to a dinner and show that evening.  The show was pretty budget, with long gaps between performers with groups of guests leaving as they thought the show had finished.

     
We had a full day to explore Fes, the oldest imperial city of Morocco with more than 10,000 tiny streets offering the largest “medina” (old city) and souks in the world.  It also has the oldest university in the world and is a protected UNESCO heritage site.  We did a fair bit of shopping here, stopping off at pottery workshops, tanneries, and carpet shops.

From Fes we travelled to Rabat, the capital of Morocco. 
 Rabat is a coastal town with a large marina and big yachts moored.  It had a tram system and was the most modern of all the Moroccan cities we visited.  It was then onto Casablanca where we spent the night before arriving back in Marrakesh. In Casablanca we had a night on the town as it was one of our group members 30th birthday.  Being a muslim country alcohol is not freely available, but luckily our tour guide sourced some for us that we had to sneak into the hotel and drink before dinner. Our guide Muzza also made arrangements with a restuarant that we could take spirits in as long as they were premixed into a fizzy bottle. In the morning we visited the United Nations Square and the impressive Mosque of Hassan II.

We arrived back in Marreksh in the afternoon where we were able to explore explore the famous Djemaa el Fna Square, where there were snake charmers!!  Everytime I wanted to get close enough to see what was happening a man would come over shoving snakes at us as a way of enticing us over.  That type of marketing certainly didn't work on me! There were also loads of monkeys chained up and being dragged around as tourist draw cards.  Some even had nappies on, it was rather disturbing and most of our group asked about animal cruelty groups getting involved to stop the abuse of the monkeys and the cobras. In the evening we headed back to the square for dinner as it had been transformed into outdoor restuarants.  The area was bustling with families out for a cheap meal. As we were paying for our meal a young mother with a toddler in tow came up to me and begged for our left over bread.  I gave it to her and felt good.  Nek minnit I turn around and two women are putting our left over chicken bones into a plastic bag and eating our left over couscous and vegetables with our cutlery.  I found this quite disturbing and wasn't sure what to do other than get Nathan to watch them too.
All-in-all we had a fabulous time in Morocco.  It was nice to go away for a long period of time and meet new people on our tour group.

Hampton Court Palace

We had a lovely family day out with Anna and Borrie to Hampton Court Palace.  The weather was amazing and just perfect for wandering around the gardens with an ice cream. 

The Palace was built in 1514 for a friend of King Henry VIII, but when they fell out Henry moved in in 1529. We saw the 'Great Vine' planted in 1769, it is the in the guinness world records as being the oldest and largest grape vine in the world.
The day was topped off with a bbq at ours in the late afternoon sun.  As usual there were some antics with lighting the barbie; Nath frantically waving the lid, the use of nail polish remover and over cleaner all proved unsuccessful!  Borrie headed back to the supermarket to buy firelighters which worked wonders.  We had no way of beating the cream for dessert so we poured it into an empty fizzy bottle and took turns shaking it up.  Great idea until we realised we couldn't get it out again.  The bottle was cut in half to rescue the whipped cream inside.  My Dutch colleagues weren't too sure what they had got themselves into as it was their first kiwi bbq.

Stratford Upon Avon

We travelled to the birth place of Shakespeare to escape London for the weekend and to help Anna celebrate her birthday.  Luckily for Anna she was only 29 and not the big 3 0 this year.  Im well jel.  The roady started off with a scenic lunch stop in Broadway, an old market village, which was just beautiful.  It helped that the sun was shining and we were soaking up the vitamin D.  On our drive we were slowed down by riders gathering on horse back for the start of a hunt.  We thought the good old english sport was illegal but we witnessed the whole pageantry first hand. 

We then arrived in Startford where we were bombarded with all things Shakepeare.  Where he was born, where he died, his tombstone, his mothers house, his wifes house, the pub where he drank, etc etc you get the picture. 

Sunday started off with a good hearty english breakfast at our B&B before we headed off to do the touristy sights of Anne Hathaway's cottage (Shakespeare's wife) and to exolpore the ruins of Kenilworth Castle.  The castle was built in the 13th century and hosted Queen Elizabeth in 1575.  Quickly becoming tradition with our weekend trips away we ended the weekend with an english afternoon tea of scones with clotted cream, naturally, cake and tea.  What a way to finish the weekend and prepare us for the drive back to London.  

Tallinn and Riga Girls Trip!

Thanks to it being Feb half term it was time for me to go on holiday again.  This time the boys were left at home as 8 girls from NLIS took to the streets of Tallinn and Riga.  Luckily the temperature in London had taken a dive before we flew out as this helped us acclimatise to the -10 temps of Tallinn.  The holiday got off to a good start when the hotel reception offered us free mulled wine upon arrival and then a top up of white or red after that.  From then on it was eating out with long lunches and delicious dinners with a spot of sight seeing thrown in around all the restuarant stops.  One of the highlights was a tour of the KGB museum.  In the Commy era a hotel in Tallinn was famous for being a tourist drawcard.  The hotel had 22 floors but the KGB operated on a secret 23rd floor of the hotel.  We heard some fascinating stories of how the KGB spied on people in the hotel and we got to see one of the rooms exactly as the KGB had left it. 

Free beer!

KGB spy equipment

Four of us were keen enough to take a 4 hour bus ride to the city of Riga.  The bus had free wifi, coffee and so much leg room I couldn't reach the footrest in front of me!!  We had fun looking around the city and discovering the Kiwi Bar where Lisa and I received a free pint for being Kiwi.  Nice.  We so nearly missed the bus back to Tallinn as we couldn't find the bus stop.  It turns out its not across the road from where it drops you off to head back in the other direction.  A frantic phone call and a mad dash across traffic and we found the bus waiting for us.  Thank you bus driver for waiting for us for 10 minutes.

Beautiful doll like buildings of Riga

We arrived back in Tallinn with it snowing and Lisa and I the only ones brave enough to face the cold.  We walked along the old city walls and walked to the other side of the old town to see the cathedral.  After we warmed up inside with a nice baileys hot chocolate and our final meal before heading back to London.

Alexander Nevsky Cathedral

Looking out over Tallinn from the KGB museum

Yorkshire - Green Hammerton, Pateley Bridge, Knaresborough

Nathan and I had a fabulous weekend catching up with Helen and Chris, and most special of all meeting their new son Lewis.  He is the best baby in the world as he doesn't cry and is very relaxed about having visitors cuddle him.  He was very snuggly and unfortunately Helen wouldn't let me bring Lewis to London.  We had loads of laughs over the weekend and as usual with a stay at the McCullys we were taken on a couple of walks.  It was a beautiful weekend to be out of London and in the country side as it snowed and we got some amazing photographs.

Faithful Followers

To all my faithful followers I have decided to reward you for your diligent reading of my blog by posting some pics here that will not appear on facebook. Geez aren't you lucky!!  These photos were taken by Anna or Borrie on their camera on our winter road trip. 

Random graffiti wall in Berlin

Christmas tree infront of Brandenburg gate

New years celebrations in Krakow

Nussberg Hill, Vienna

Drinking Punsch in Vienna

Last night we had a successful planning mission of our Italy trip with Anna and Borrie.  We are going to have 2 days in Rome and then on the 3rd day take a day trip to Pompeii, before heading up to the Cinque Terre for 3 days of relaxing among the coastal villages.  The trip will be rounded off with two nights in Venice!!  It is going to be such a brilliant holiday but June seems such a long way off at the moment.  Luckily I have a trip to Tallinn and Morocco before then to tide me over. 
Currently we are looking for new flatmates.  Our current flatties are getting married next month and want to set up a love nest on their own.  We had a Kiwi couple come round and take a look this morning but I got the feeling they weren't keen.  Maybe the 75min bike ride to our place put them off!

Part II of Winter Road Trip

We are now back in London and have had 2 days back at work (3 for Nath - I love being a teacher!).  When we last left you we were in Vienna for Christmas.  From there we moved onto Slovakia to a little palce called Liptovsky Mikulas which is situated at the base of the biggest ski field in Slovakia, Jansa. We had two awesome days of skiing for a very reasonable price.  Even at the ski field beers were only 1 euro.  We were unsure how good the snow and facilities would be as Slovakia doens't have a reputation for skiing.  The snow was mostly good, much better than what we get at Ruapehu, and the chair lifts were cool and even had a gondola.  Overall better and cheaper than Ruapehu.

We then drove onto Krakow where we were to celebrate the New Year in the Old Town square.  The square was packed with people and fireworks were set off at midnight.  In previous years there is usually bands and DJs playing but not this year, the atmosphere was still good though.  While in Krakow we visited Wieliczka Salt Mine and the concentration camps of Auschwitz and Birkenau.   Nath and I got up early on the morning of the 1st and walked up the hill to Wawel Castle, where the Polish Royal Family used to live, and had a wander around the castle grounds. 

The last leg of our journey was a stop over in Wroclaw.  When we walked to the main square we could see a big stage being dismantled so we wonder if New Year celebrations moved from Krakow to Wroclaw and we didn't get the memo!
A fantastic road trip came to an end as we had to resume normal life and head back to work.  I have been eased into it and have 3 teacher only days this week with students starting back on Monday.  To ease the post holiday blues Nath and I have booked some flights and have plenty of travel lined up for 2012.  Bring it on!