Saturday, July 31, 2010

463 Steps

Buon giorno,

On Thursday, after enjoying a few days in Vicenza and Padua (Padova), we traveled to Florence. On Friday, we hit several museums and toured the Piazza del Duomo. The Duomo is one of the most famous buildings in Italy and is conveniently located a block from the apartment we rented. In the photo above, the cathedral is pictured at night.

The Duomo was begun in 1296 and took nearly 150 years to complete. It features a beautiful red tiled tome, with incredible frescoes. Tommy wants to know how they could paint those frescoes, way up at the top of the dome.

Of course, we had to climb the 463 steps to the top of that dome. The climb harkened back, a bit, to trying to get into the pyramids. But this time, although there was again a line to enter, stop-and-go traffic in the stairways, and a big crowd at the top, I was able to conquer my claustrophia. And, in exchange, we were all rewarded with these views of Florence.

Here are a few more shots from the city, taken during our romantic stroll after a fancy 17th (!) anniversary dinner ... with the kids, of course. (Yes, that's the dome of the Duomo in the background of the last picture)

Ciao,

Kim

Friday, July 30, 2010

Vicenza, Italy

Buon giorno,

We're off to Italy, the land of Tommy's dreams, where he can eat pasta for every lunch and dinner and snack on gelato every afternoon.

Having already visited Venice in April, we decided to skip the summer crowds there. So, after arriving early this week (without my luggage, alas), we first traveled to Vicenza, home to some of the great architectural works of Palladio.

In Vicenza, we stayed for 3 days at Villa Pasini, a lovely place surrounded by vineyards, with a spectacular view of the surrounding countryside. Even better by Anna and Tommy's standards, Villa Pasini had two resident dogs, two resident cats, two other kids who spoke English among the guests, and lots of room to run and explore and eat grapes right from the vine.

We first rented bikes to tour Vicenza, hitting highlights in the largely tourist-free town, like Palladio's Teatro Olympian (begun in 1580, seen in the first and second pictures below with Anna outside the theater and the stage inside the theater) and cruising out to famous villas in the countryside, like Palladio's Villa Capra, best known as La Rotonda. La Rotonda (seen in the fourth and fifth picture below), has columns on all four sides and has inspired numerous buildings like Thomas Jefferson's home, Monticello.

Vicenza has fabulous shopping, too. But to both my relief and chagrin, just when I was about to begin replacing my clothes in the lost bag, the airline delivered it to the villa. Of course, my clothes in that suitcase didn't look nearly as fabulous as the stuff I saw in the Vicenza shop windows.

That said, I'm sure to find other shopping opportunities in Italy.


Ciao,

Kim

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

The Casablanca Aquapark

Bonjour,

Since arriving back in Rabat, the city has seemed sort of empty -- a lot of Moroccans and foreigners seem to be on holiday. It's very quiet everywhere, except for the beaches, which are packed.

During the short time we are here before leaving for our next trips, we've been hitting the water activities every day: pools, beaches, and one day last week, the Aquapark in Casablanca with friends.

Based upon my limited knowledge of American waterparks, we were impressed by the one in Casa. It was clean, well-run, and had good rides, although it was not something many Moroccans can afford to do often (about $10 for kids, $15 for adults). And the staff didn't make you follow the rules for each ride (two people on a raft... cool!).

Before I stashed the camera safely away and went off to show Anna and Tommy how water slides are really "done", I grabbed a few quick pictures so you could see what a Moroccan waterpark looks like.

In addition to the pools and river shown, there were about six really great, huge waterslides and rollercoaster-like rides, where we spent most of our time. There was also a huge wave pool.

Afterwards, it was off to the beach for dinner with our friends...

A bientot,

Kim

Monday, July 19, 2010

Marrakesh, Part Two

Bonjour,

After finishing our trek, we headed back to our Marrakesh riad for a little R & R (in our family's vernacular, this usually means reading on couches, preferably on terraces).


We also did some shopping in the medina when the heat wasn't too overwhelming. The rest of the time, we hid from the 115 degree temperatures in the riad or in the pool at the riad.

Bob made the biggest purchase of the trip: A homemade "bass guitar."

(Figuring out how we're going to get our stuff back to the States is becoming an increasingly serious issue).

And we had a last big dinner with Sasha, Kyra, Sheri and Don at a Thai/Moroccan restaurant in another restored riad.


The next day, it was back to cool and breezy Rabat after a sad good-bye to SKSD in Casablanca.

A bientot,

Kim






Sunday, July 18, 2010

Sasha's Sweet 'n Savory Snacks


Bonjour,

For those still considering a trip to Morocco to visit us, the KBATs, you might be wondering what we propose to feed you while you are here.

The answer will depend, in large part, on whether you are going out for food with Bob or with Kim.

Let's take a look at some of Sasha, Kyra, Sheri and Don's culinary highlights of their Morocco visit.

The day after they arrived, I (Kim) took SKSD out to one of my favorite French patisseries, for dejeuner (fresh salads with goat cheese, smoked salmon sandwiches, etc.) et les petits gateaux.



By the end of their trip, however, Sasha had become much more adventurous and was ready to set out with Bob. So, one night, still hungry after a dinner without meat, Sasha, the fledgling vegetarian, was searching for food in Djema El-Fnaa Square. Having assured him that snails are really vegetables, Bob led Sasha to a snail stand and demonstrated his technique in fishing out the squiggly black snail from the shell.


Kyra looks pretty tempted too, doesn't she?


And here he goes...


Look at that tiny black vegetable (may need to click on the screen to blow up the picture)...


Not to be outdone, Anna joined in the feast.


Sasha ate the whole bowl (with just a bit of help from Anna and Bob).

And earlier, Sheri and Don, having already discovered the fresh o.j. in the Square, headed back for more.



The price for these and other delicious snacks? About $2 for the fancy cakes, $.30 (yes, 30 cents) for the orange juice, and $.50 for a bowl of snails. You could also buy (with Bob, only) a very fresh fish sandwich with large chunks of fish for about $2.25. Or you could go with Anna and Tommy to their favorite ice cream place and get a small dish of ice cream for about $1.25.

So who else is coming?

A bientot,

Kim



Friday, July 16, 2010

Trekking in the Atlas Mountains


Bonjour,

As you might imagine, I was not the instigator of the plan to go trekking through the High Atlas Mountains. Frankly, it sounded a bit too hard core for me: Three days hiking 12-15 km a day at higher elevations through remote villages and then staying at night in rustic Berber homes? I tend to be more of a luxury-riad-kind-of-gal (not very Coloradan, I realize). But I knew Bob, Don and the others would be in their element. And, of course, they were.

That said, I was right about it being pretty hard core. Don and Sheri characterized it as more rustic than their 5 or 6-day trek on the Inca Trail in Peru. But it was also beautiful.

The first day was the hardest, not helped by an early series of fall by our group that left many of us bloodied. Before we even set off, Tommy fell off a 12-foot roof, which most fortunately produced only banged-up knees. He's a lucky boy.

After the rough start, we began hiking up and over a mountain pass, going through villages with simple stone houses shared by people and livestock alike. The Berber families are largely subsistence farmers, using long-established, irrigated terraces.




After a long morning climbing, we broke for lunch at spot overlooking the by-then dusty valley. Most of us collapsed for a couple of hours, even some of the mules.


Some of us still had some energy to burn, however.




Of course, those very same persons had often enjoyed some help with the steeper parts of the trail.


For the trek, we had a guide, a cook, and three others to help with the mules (the "muleteers"). We also had four mules to carry our bags, water and food, as well as the occasional tired hiker under the age of 14. Here's Sasha and Tommy with one of our muleteers (who was quite cute).

Is Sasha making a new man friend?


On our second day, a couple of our 17 year-old muleteers met up with a couple of young Berber girls (see one of the lovely young ladies on the left in the photo, in typical dress. You can click on the photo to make it bigger) and engaged in some pretty serious flirting (didn't need to know Berber to understand what was going on). Bob did his part to try to negotiate a love match by extolling the virtues of our muleteers. Our guide, Lahcen, found that very funny.


At night, we stayed in gites, which were better-than-average Berber homes made of stone and concrete and included the most basic of bathroom facilities. Here I am in the doorway of the gite we liked best, mostly because of the unbelievable setting.


The second day of the hike was by far the best, as we climbed to a spectacular setting near an impressive waterfall, where the kids goofed around and climbed down to the bottom.




Families from the closest Berber village had moved up to their "summer homes" next to our gite, bringing their goat herds with all of the baby goats. They were, as Tommy would say, "so adorable." We may have 50 pictures of those scampering little goats, since I turned the camera over to the kids. The people ones, that is.


By the end of the trek, I could have slept through every call to prayer and any livestock noise. But I was also ready to return to our lovely Marrakesh riad, with the fancy soaps, hot showers and pool. More on that next....

A bientot,

Kim