Sunday April 15

Today we hired a tour guide for the “full day” option.  It really ended up being a very full day... 

         We had breakfast at 9 o'clock, and the riad manager was weirdly hovering over us and talking during it.  Met tourguide, and off we went.  Saw the PALACE and Jewish quarters.  Then we went to an OVERLOOK which was very windy.  You can tell by the picture.  Mom looks great tho (as always).  Then we went to a really great pottery co-op.  We were put to work right away. The man at the store said that if I wanted a Moroccan husband (I don’t) then I have to learn to make pottery and bread, so he made me knead the clay.  It was much harder than I thought.  I was done quickly, and then MOM JUMPED IN! It was great & I think the pottery place was her favorite stop.  Then we saw Fes’ SMALLEST STREET.  We could barely fit in between the walls.  This was a VERY funny moment of the trip.  Not sure if you can tell from the pic of us, but I was really laughing a lot at this point. 

      Here is the story.  We were walking towards this street, and this cute little girl holding an umbrella said “Bonjour!!!!!!”.  Mom was always kind of behind the the tourguide and me, so the little girl really just said bonjour to me and him.  Mom was not far behind, but she wasn’t walking with us.  I heard some sort of a “SMACK” sound and I looked back to see (NB- I am really really laughing out loud right now as I type this story) my mom facing away from me, and the little girl running away.  I asked what that was and my mom said “she just hit me with her umbrella!!!!”.  The girl ran up to my mom and hit her with the umbrella and then walked away!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  It’s not funny at all, but I am laughing a lot.  We have no idea why this little girl did this, but it became a running joke for the rest of the trip. 

  After the smallest street, we went to the TANNERY.  I bargained realllllly well for a bag for my mom, but forgot to inform her of the scent (pigeon poop- that’s how you know it’s real leather, and why you need the mint leaves to visit the tannery) that usually stays with the bag for a few weeks after purchase.  Whatever tho- it’s a great bag, and I got it cheap.  Then we went to the world’s oldest university- KAIRAOUINE MOSQUE/UNIVERSITY.  The rooms were very small, and we made (unfunny) jokes about my room in the plex next year.  The last stop was at a RUG CO-OP.  We were so tired and un-interested in buying rugs (even though it might look like mom's interested from the picture…), but the man was nice, we were served delicious tea, and there was a great terrace, which was the backdrop for the cover picture.

     That was basically the end of the tour, so we went back to our hotel and rested a little.  I was pretty hungry because apparently there were no lunch restaurants worthy of our tour, and it was almost 5 pm (remember that we had breakfast at 9 a.m…..).  We went downstairs and asked the riad manager for a good place to eat dinner.  He called someone and a young man picked us up and walked us to this palace thing.  It was beautiful, but empty.  I didn't even care- so hungry. We both got dinners (I got kefta, and mom got tajine) they came with "Moroccan salad", which is actually enough to be a meal in and of itself.  THEN we had our meals, AND fruit and cookies for dessert.  Lesson learned: share meals.  I couldn't remember the last time I felt that full, but I think it was in America….