Morocco

France and Morocco could be more different. They share some similar traits... Both are full of people and food and culture, both speak French (at least to some extent), both have a lot of scooters/bikes etc., both have less going on in August (for Paris it's because of holiday & for Morocco it's because of Ramadan). And there, many of the similarities end. Paris had dogs, Morocco had cats. Paris had modern, Morocco had... not modern. Paris had museums, Morocco had mosques. And so it goes...

Our original plan was to stay in Casablanca for the duration of our time in Morocco. As has become normal, our plans changed. We arrived in Casablanca with minimal complications with our flight (if you don't count the mysterious kid who was yelling things in arabic for the first 30 or 45 minutes we were on the plane resulting in several passengers being moved to first class). Once we arrived at the airport, Ed went to pull up the address for the place we were planning to couchsurf, and it was gone. In its search for wifi, his phone was no longer displaying the address we were intending to go to in Casablanca. A younger Moroccan guy in an Australian t-shirt walked with us all over the airport in the endeavor to find wifi (unsuccessfully) and then told us where to get the train from the airport to downtown. We head down to the train, go to get our tickets & despite the credit card emblems displayed on the window, find out that they only take cash (dirham- the Moroccan currency). I stayed downstairs with the bags while Ed runs back up (talking his way out of waiting in line at the security station) to exchange money. Did I mention that we first got to the ticket station with ten minutes until our train left? Ed rushed back and got our tickets... we just boarded the train when it started moving.

Everyone speaks Arabic & most speak some French. All the signs, announcements etc. are in those two languages, neither of which I understand, though Ed speaks some French. We rode the train until we felt like we were in a "downtown" area and then got off. We roll our suitcases down some dusty streets past many people who are blatantly staring at us (reasonably so) and several taxi drivers insistent on offering their services. The streets are mostly unmarked, littered with trash & rubble & stray cats. We find an internet shop- a bottom floor with three or four small booths for telephones and a tiny staircase to the internet lab upstairs. Ed tried asking the guy in charge of the shop the "nom de rue" (name of street) so he could get directions, and despite several attempts and the guy supposedly speaking French, he had no idea what we were asking. Maybe they don't really use street names there? It appeared our suitcases would not easily navigate the stairway so I stayed downstairs with the bags while Ed went up to figure out where we would go from here. Long story short, we were not able to get in touch with our host so we set out to find alternative housing. We ventured out in search of our prized free hotel so we could get some rest. And for now we're gonna give this a rest... We'll return with more stories to share...

Paris

We've nearly completed the first leg of our trip- 8 days in Paris. From the start it's been a bit eventful- our plane was delayed in DC due to weather (though nothing like we hear VA's been getting/expects to get!) which caused us to miss our connection in Iceland. We were switched to a flight to Amsterdam where we were seated in front of the exit row (read: not able to lean the seat back) by the bathroom and a few rows back from first class... where everyone else from our original flight who was also switched to Amsterdam was sitting... (it was pretty funny). We finally arrived in France... & our luggage did not. After a couple of hours of waiting in the airport we were told that our bags would be delivered to the hotel the next day. So we headed to the hotel & from there went exploring!

[picture ed took our first night in Paris]

Thus began many days of maintaining jetlag for the sake of staying up late & sleeping in. We've been all over the place, from Sacre-Coeur [Sacred Heart Basilica] to the local Monoprix [part grocery part clothing etc- somewhat like a Target]... taking pictures, eating crepes & guaffres [Belgian waffles], people watching, looking at art & architecture...

On day four of wearing the same outfit [as our luggage did not arrive the day after we did], we went to church at Hillsong Paris. After the service there we talked with some girls who prayed for us and connected us with another girl who took us to her apartment & gave us an outlet adapter and water and directions to stores with cheaper clothing... it was a blessing. At one in the morning on Monday our baggage arrived at the hotel! :)

On Monday night we went to the top of the Eiffel Tour and from there we saw an area not far away with clusters of blue and green and white lights. It looked intriguing so once we returned to the ground we walked over to check it out. It turned out to be a museum's garden which closed in the evenings. Ed hoisted himself up on a ledge in order to better see the lights/garden & take a picture. He then started reading information about the museum and the hours of the garden when a security guard from inside the garden came over and told us in broken english that to come into the garden was forbidden. We asked him a couple questions and found out that the garden was free during the day. Once Ed got down and we were about to start walking, two more guards came up from outside the garden and again told us the garden was "forbidden". Apparently we caused quite a stir... who knows what we could have been up to!

Other Intriguing things about Paris:

-There are dogs everywhere. Seriously... People walking dogs, people carrying dogs, dogs in baskets on bikes, dogs in stores, dogs under tables at restaurants, dogs begging (not like a poorly trained pooch, but people begging & using their dogs to do the same)...

-Everyone is on holiday right now. That means that there are lots of stores that are simply closed for the month (or some portion) of August.

-Police sirens here sound just like they do in the Bourne movies. Which means I think of those movies every single time I hear one.

-The first night we were here, we were sitting at a cafe after dinner (around midnight) & we saw a massive (seriously massive) group of people rollerblading by... like enough people to constitute a parade... rollerblading... at midnight... together. It was strange. Then the next night we were taking pictures by the Louvre (again around midnight) and there was another group of rollerbladers wearing their helmets & blinking lights that cruised up and stopped... and listened to their tour guide tell them about the Louvre. Did I already mention strange? So Parisians (and their visitors) apparently have a thing for blades. :)

-Instead of people writing their names all over public places (though that still occurs), there is a thing with locks... Several bridges that have chain link railings are covered with all sorts of locks. It's really interesting. [See picture]

-It seems they call it onion soup. And fries. And bread. Apparently they drop the adjective "French" from things here. :)

Saturday we head to Morocco! :)