Family Catchups in Paris

We spent NYE with Danielle, Dominic and family in Paris which was a lot of fun. We chatted until 4 in the morning over sushi and champagne. It's great to see family over the Christmas period especially when you're miles away from home. We were also spoilt with wonderful meals shared with Denise and Aldo. Our pre-Christmas lunch fare was the favourite winter dish of raclette (Cessy's first time). Our New Year's Day lunch was a divine 5-course spread made by Denise including foie gras, oysters, roast guinea fowl and vegetables, cheese platter and salads, Christmas chocolate log. I'm salivating just thinking about the food. As the dutch would say, "Lekker!"

Goodbye Morocco....Thanks for the Memories

The wrap up of our Morocco trip...

Best views...Atlas Mountains

Most interesting dish that we tasted....pigeon pie covered in icing sugar.

Most interesting dish that we didn't taste...cow head stew.

Lowlights....'sensitive' stomachs and haggling for everything including taxi fares.

Favourite restaurants....Le Foundouk and Dar Moha in Marrakech.

Local Experience....Paul playing hacky sack with local kids in an alleyway.

Best bargain....Staying at a riad for 20 euros pp/night.

Favourite square....Jamaal El Fna.

Stay away from us.....snake charmers and all things snakey.

Most embarrasing moments...screaming at a wooden snake toy not a real one; Paul had to get loud speaker announcement at Paris airport to locate his wife who was about to board the wrong flight to Marrakech....

Lesson learnt....read flight number before boarding...something an ex-airline employee should probably already know!!

Shopping highlight....Morrocan lanterns

High Atlas Mountains

One hour's journey from Marrakech in an old Mercedes Benz taxi brought us to the village of Imlil in the Atlas Mountains. Followed by 15 minutes trek on foot with a mule carrying our luggage, we arrived at the Kasbah du Toubkal, an amazing mountain retreat that was a highlight of our holiday. One could go trekking in the surrounding areas or spend every minute in the hotel, we chose the latter. Conehead in the photo enjoyed reading in the sun with a scarf wrapped around his head to prevent a headchill, and also playing dress-up as a 'Jedi from StarWars'. Conehead's wife enjoyed the views, the pampers of the hotel, and reading her book, Atonement, that she picked up at the airport. Aaahhh, if only one could spend everyday living like this.

Moroccan Architecture

Despite waking up at a lazy 11-12 most mornings, we managed to sneak in a few tourist sights including the Ben Youssef Medersa and the Bahia Palace. The architecture and mosaics were amazing.

Christmas Eve Pigeon Pies

Christmas Eve was celebrated Moroccan style, with pre-dinner drinks at a rooftop bar called Cafe Arabe, super trendy and super pricey drinks (on par with London). Instead of turkey and ham, our Christmas Eve fare was tagine and pastilla (a Marrakech speciality - pigeon pie covered in icing sugar, a slightly strange savoury sweet combination that works). And as with all Christmas meals, we followed the tradition of over-eating. We wanted to wait until midnight to toast Christmas Day but after too much food and drinks we were fast asleep as the clock struck twelve.

Le Jardin Majorelle

Ok, I'm going to name drop...the Jardin Majorelle in Marrakech is owned by Yves Saint Laurent. He bought it several years ago and paid for its restoration. I was expecting an English style rose garden but was pleasantly surprised to see that it was filled with a diverse range of plant life from all over the world including a cacti garden and a chinese bamboo garden. There were even plants from Australia in the garden, but it looked like a weed so I didn't take a photo of it. There is a house in the garden that also serves as an Islamic art museum. The house is painted a magnificent blue, such a distinct shade of blue that it is now known worldwide as 'Majorelle Blue'. We had a lovely lunch in the courtyard cafe at the Garden. It was a very pleasant way of spending Christmas Day afternoon and escape the hectic streets.

Marrakech....souks, mint tea, hammams, tagines and couscous

We've lost our camera... so unfortunately we don't have any photos from December of our weekend trips to Cologne Christmas markets, visiting Diarmuid in Bonn and spending time with Paul's cousin Tania in Holland. December was super busy for both of us with our work, so we really looked for ward to our holiday in Morocco. It was a fabulous holiday. I will write more about it later, here are some pictures in the meantime (courtesy of my colleague's digital camera that we borrowed for the trip).