Egypt

Bonjour,

It's another beautiful, clear and cool day in Rabat, Morocco. Not quite like Egypt...

We began with four days in Cairo, which is a very dirty but vibrant city of between 15 and 20 million people (no one knows for certain). We stayed right downtown and had a chance to get the vibe of the city and "go local" on the food (largely vegetarian food that was tasty and cheap -- we could spend less than $5 for dinner for four on things like Koshari, a mix of macroni, rice, tomato sauce, lentils and fried onions. Tommy gobbled it up (and that's saying something)).

The Cairo Museum was, as promised, amazing -- the treasures from King Tutankhamun's tomb alone are worth the admission and more. Although Bob thought it was a bit too macabre to visit, Anna, Tommy and I also checked out the collection of mummies of Pharaohs (you can still see their hair! their teeth! the similar facial structures of fathers/sons!).

The great pyramids in Giza were, of course, massive. We bought tickets to go inside, but I couldn't handle it after about 20 feet -- way too claustrophobic for me, although I was also feeding off the panic of some British tourists. Bob said that claustrophobic feeling got much worse another 100 yards in, especially when you thought about the millions of tons of stone above you, but that it was incredible. I wasn't going to make it.

Leaving the kids at our apartment, Bob and I also took the subway during rush hour to see some of the early Christian sites in Coptic Cairo. I chose to ride in the "women's car" -- a good choice given how people were pressed together. As in other places in Egypt, though, as soon as we got off the tourist track, Egyptian people were so kind: People were clearly looking out for us and helping us get off (no easy task).

While we liked Cairo (good galleries, some good shopping although not like Morocco), from the outset, we ran into hustlers/scam artists who tried to convince us that the Cairo Museum was closed and we should instead go with them to the government bazaar for the good prices (ha!). We've encountered hassles before in Morocco (without the dishonesty), but it was far, far worse in Egypt.

After Cairo, we flew to Aswan and stayed at this resort, which the kids completely loved (good pool, good ice cream).


We also sailed on a felucca on the Nile, which was wonderful.

Anna got a bit too cocky, though, and fell into the river.
Here's Anna floating down the crocodile-infested Nile.
Actually, we all jumped in the Nile and floated down the river (some of us for longer than others), holding on to a rope attached to the boat. In retrospect, we probably should have worn life jackets (the usual careful parenting by Kim and Bob). But although there are lots of man-eating crocs in the Nile, they aren't located in this area. Or so we were told.

While the setting of Aswan is beautiful (see below), we didn't like the city of itself. Too few tourists, too many (truly poor) people trying (too desperately) to make money from the tourists. Not a good mix.
To get to Luxor, we traveled by train, Bob-style (filthy, hot local train -- NOT the tourist train -- again, with genuinely good, regular Egyptian people, who wanted to help us in any way possible. Bob was in heaven, but the kids were pretty hot and miserable). From a hassle standpoint, Luxor was much better than Aswan. And the ruins were amazing.

The Temples at Luxor and Karnak were absolutely incredible. See very first photo above and photo below for a picture -- the little figure is Anna -- which don't do the ruins justice at all (no picture would capture these ruins, although we again ran into camera trouble).

Luxor had the best ruins we've seen anywhere in the world, and the temples were, to me, much more impressive than the pyramids.

We also rented bikes to visit the tombs on the west bank of the Nile, which felt great and meant that the taxi drivers and felucca operators mostly left us alone. On the bikes, we hit some of the less-visited tombs, which also meant no crowds. Between that and the biking, Anna and Tommy were much more into it than they had been at the pyramids. Me too.

Alas, too long again. Shorter posts to come, I promise.

A bientot,

Kim

We're Baaaaack!

Bonjour!

We just returned to Rabat very late last night, and we're reconnected. It's great to be back in Morocco!

Sorry to go incommunicado on you, but except for our last two days in Luxor, we had very little internet access while in Venice and Egypt. I was largely limited to checking emails and corresponding using my wireless access on my Kindle. (Can I just say again how much we LOVE our Kindles? Best gifts ever. As Bob put it yesterday, what would this sabbatical have been like without our Kindles?)

We'll do a special posts on our adventures both Venice and Egypt. But first we'll give you a few images from Earth Day in Rabat -- two weeks ago today. Rabat was a major site for Earth Day activities.


At the time, I felt somewhat underwhelmed by the environmental efforts here. But now, after visiting Egypt, I can see how much progress Morocco has made by comparison,

Don't Anna and Tommy look ready to hit the concert scene?A bientot,

Kim

P.S. Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms out there, including two new ones -- my sister, Karla (Grace was born on May 1) and my good friend, Connie (Birch was born on April 29). Congratulations, Karla, Gary, Connie and Brian!

And happy belated birthday to all the May 6 birthday boys, Dad, Hunter and Uncle Bill!

Venice...

Salut!

It is Anna! (for once).


Well, as you guys know,we just visited Venice.

My first thought when i stepped out of the train station was NO CARS!!! My second thought was, geez, that is a LOT of tourists.

But once you get out of all the crowds of photo-taking tourists you realize why they are there -- Venice is undoubtedly a magical place. We wandered around in alleys and probably went over a BILLION bridges.

For those of you who haven't been to Venice, i am going to try and "paint a picture" for you guys: Just picture narrow cobblestone streets with tall, different and beautiful houses each seeming seconds away from crashing down on you. Picture each window as having beautiful flower boxes and boats are floating leisurely down a canal, where there are old fashioned bridges arcing over the canal.

That gives you an idea of what Venice is like.

To sum it up, We had a spectacular time, though we had to try to avoid really touristy areas.

School's Out!

Bonjour,

So a roar (big, big cheers) went up yesterday at 3:45 p.m., when the kids were let out of school and started their two-week vacation. The kids definitely celebrate vacations here more in Boulder.... must be due to the French-style (very strict) of schooling.

Anyway, as you can see, Tommy is happy.

And our pets are happy today. Here is Bub waiting for his breakfast.
And here is Coco, playing around with Anna and Tommy.


Last night, we finally picked up our membership cards for the American Club, and while Bob and I hung out with friends drinking margaritas, the kids made new friends who, as an added bonus, live nearby. They also ran and ran and ran on the huge grassy lawn, something you don't see much of around here. Kids need space like that.

Tomorrow we leave for our next adventure to Venice, Italy, and Cairo, Egypt. We'll try to post while traveling over the next couple of weeks.

I'm hoping to have a guest blogger soon to describe his fun experiences with the traffic police. I'm quite sure you won't be able to guess who that is.

But now, as an added bonus, we have a word from Anna.

Okay, HI EVERYONE I know I haven't posted recently, but I have been VERY busy...
on Wednesday I had a book-report-type-thing due, but the catch was I had to present it to the class (groan), so I memorized a whole speech on Harry Potter #1 IN FRENCH (I am not yet done reading the book in French). So on Wednesday I was kind of freaking out, however, it went very well and the whole class applauded afterward. (something that they did for no one else). Then the teacher did a HUGE, INCREDIBLY NICE speech about my progress in French. (Very nice but more attention then I liked; I was totally blushing).

BYE!!!

A Saturday Stroll

Bonjour,

Yes, me again. I know it's been a while since you've heard from Anna. But that's just because she has been so busy, as you can see...

Yesterday, we went on a hike from our villa, through town and to the shoreline. Tommy wasn't very enthusiastic about most of the trek.


And it was clearly Bob's idea to go in the first instance.













A stop at a patisserie and a playground made everyone feel better, even if some of the playground equipment had seen better days.

Finally, we reached the jagged shoreline, with its coral, little tidal pools and a spectacular surf.

There were lots of wildflowers too. All just a 45 minute walk (or $2 cab ride) from our villa....


A bientot,

Kim

Tortoises in Love? (The PG-13 Post)

Bonjour!

More signs of spring here.

The trees and plants are covered with flowers and smell so good. We've had some nice April showers the last couple of afternoons to clear the air of pollen (and pollution). And Hercules and Persephone continue to engage in behaviors that may lead to the laying of some (seriously fertilized) eggs.



This is what happens: Hercules chases Persephone around the yard, ramming into her shell pretty hard (it makes a knocking sound). It looks like this. (And yes, the photo is blurry because of the high speeds involved, not photographer error).




Then, Persephone (makes a mistake and) pauses a bit, and Hercules leaps into action, assuming this pose for several seconds.

Persephone then seems to flee the area -- and Hercules....

Later on, Persephone appears to be very, very hungry from all of the, uh, activity, and has more than once chased the cats away from their dishes of cat food.






This, however, is much more appropriate treat for Persephone.




Alas, no signs of eggs yet, although a website I found suggests it takes many years for tortoises to reach maturity, so all of this may be for naught. Bob thinks, though, that poor Hercules is making up for all those years (?) that he was alone in our yard.....

A bientot,

Kim

P.S.: Yes, for those of you wondering, I am making excellent use of my time off from work.

Produce Shopping, Moroccan Style

Bonjour!

This afternoon, Bob and I went out to pick up some produce for dinner. We walked to Bob's favorite produce stand, which has what we assume is largely organic produce (not much money here for chemical fertilizers).

Here is Bob checking out the fruit.


Here are some of the veggies.


All kinds of people shop at this stand -- from the people who live on the same street in the fancy villas and pull up in their late-model mercedes to the people who work for them and live in the shantytown behind the stand.

In general, produce is cheap by our standards. That said, this spring, with all of the rain, the price of fresh tomatoes has gone up dramatically, from about $.20 a pound to about $1.00 a pound. That makes tomatoes, practically a staple around here, pretty expensive for regular Moroccans.

A bientot,

Kim