Have a Piece of Piza!

Today we started off by going to a riding lesson we did one yesterday and Josephine wanted to go again. Yesterday we all rode except Dad obviously*Sigh*. Josephine rode a cute little horse called Pixi and I rode his/her twin! They had the tiniest ears EVER! It was very cold so we stood by the fire. Today only Josephine rode. I stood by the fire, played fetch with a dog, and fed hay to the horse that I rode yesterday. After freezing for a bit we got into our car and went to another dead town! It wasn't too dead because I saw around 15 or 20 people. Then we walked around a bit and had lunch, it was extremely good. Then we got back in our car and drove to Pisa to see the... Leaning Tower Of PISA! Wooooo.... I'm not getting much of a reaction here. *Sighs* Did you know that Galileo dropped balls off different floors of the tower to figure out how acceleration works? And that was all that there was to do there so we left. So we came we saw we pushed we bought. Not the tower. Just a clock... then we left and drove back.

Soo that was our day!
Emily

Welcome to...Deadsville

Today was our second day in a VERY small town by Cinque Terre, called Deiva Marina. Since it is a summer town, we decided to go hiking. *sigh* We did the three hour tour with a description of "A steep two hundred meters" I think they forgot and extra zero when they described it. But the scenery was lovey.
Then we the sign "Wild boar hunting" We were all a little freaked out, until we realized that in was Sunday and Tuesday, and it was Wednesday. So we went down the nice big path until we got to a town that was even more dead then ours. We saw three people, some VERY run down houses, and some gardens in need of a very good weed. We decided to take the train back, but in the train station, 1/2 the machines were broken and we didn't have any bills.. so we jumped on and jumped off at our stop (which was the next one) hee hee Then we went back to our house.

Goodbye, Josephine

The City of Fashion

Today we were touring Milano, the city where fashion comes to life, unless of course you are backpacking, then once again you are stuck wearing the same clothing over and over! Oh well, after t months of wearing the same stuff you don't know that you are wearing the wrong stuff!
Today is Saturday, well the day we did the tour was on Saturday and today is well Tuesday, I have been a little behind schedule on posting this blog, oh well. So we did a walking tour of Milan and we were in luck in that we were the only ones who were on this tour so we had our own personal tour which is great because then we can ask questions and get answers to them. The weather was not very nice to do any tours since it was sooooo cold, but we did it anyway. We walked over to where the La Scala opera house and when you look at it from the outside it is bland, but going inside you are in awe! I have never seen such a fantastic looking opera house, however I have to admit that I have not been in a lot! Maybe 2 or 3 of them, however it was magnificent! We were not allowed to take pictures inside so I will not post any! Across from the house there is a great big statue of a famous Italian and I will let you guess who that is!
After that we went to the plaza where there is a tile in the floor where you must rotate you foot 3 times for luck, here is a pic of Jane doing that. Across from that point is a seven star hotel where they feed you and take good care of you, we were not staying there!!
Once we walked through this wonderful plaza we went into the Dumo and what a Dumo, church, it is covered in fantastic marble and has some 200 statues on top. Inside was pretty interesting but once you have been in about 10 churches they all seem the same, except in this one had two unique things that we saw. The first one is that the ceiling was painted to look like it was carved, we could not take a picture of it since it was too dark in there. The second was a statue of St. Bartholomew which showed him flayed! It was kind of gross but it was neat.
After the chuch visit we went for lunch and it was out of this world! We have not had a meal like that since we left France. I had pasta which was very mouth watering and the wine was too die for.
With full tummies we ascended the Dumo to the top via elevator, since we had the tour we received tickets for the elevator so that was nice. Once we got to the top, we were surprised to see that we didn't have to go into another staircase and go to the top, however we were able to walk around the roof of the church which was awesome.
Tomorrow we head off to cinque terre.

Where have we been!

Hello,

Where have we been for the last week! Well....we managed to get to the 20,000 km mark on our car and had to have a service check in Barcelona. We didn't get there until in the afternoon on Friday and couldn't get an appointment until Monday so we put our feet up for a few days. We found a super cheap (6 euro/night) hostel and it was nice! Picture below is of our little cubby hole that we shared with 6 other people. The glamour of hostel living! Only one guy snored a lot, not too bad! We also met some great people from Australia and New Zealand that made our stay very enjoyable. We were going to leave on Tuesday morning but our computer completely died and the N.Z. guy, who is a IT for a living, spent a day and a half trying to fix it. We had to then stay another day. He was able to save all our stuff on it but the hard drive is gone. At least we have the Mike's old computer that Jen brought at Christmas time. So we are now in Milan for 2 nights and are then going to a place we have rented in Cinque Terra. We tried to see "The Last Supper" but it's booked until Tuesday! Apparently in high season you have to book 3 months in advance. The girls wanted to see it because they found a copy of the Da Vinci Code in one of the places we stayed and thought it would be cool to see it. Oh well. Jane

Morning in the Desert

Today was suppose to be our last day in Morocco however due to the snow storm that we had on our way to the camel trek we had to spend another night in Fez.
Which I don’t mind since Fez is a wonderful city. Oh I have to mention that this morning we woke up at it was only 2 C in our tent and getting out of bed was not pleasant, however seeing the sunrise in the desert was marvelous. Jane had taken some wonderful pictures! We had to climb the tallest sand dune to see it, 150 m. We didn’t climb to the top though, only about half way and by the time we got there we had shoes full of sand! And again running down I had another booter!

The camel trek back was uneventful, however Hamid made the girls proper turbans and gave them each a Berber name: Josephine is Fatima Couscous, and Emily is Isha Tagien. As we were driving back we passed the area where the snow storm was and most of the snow was gone, go figure.
Back in Fez we went looking for a non-Moroccan meal and let me tell you it was hard to find! We were just tired of the Tangiens that we have been having here! So we had spaghetti which was not on the menu but the guy made it for us which was great!

Ships of the Desert

Our day in the desert finally arrived! After a long drive from Ouarzazat we made it to Erfroud, a town on the edge of the Sahara. We met our camel guide Hamid and he introduced us to our camels. We got on and held on tight as they see-sawed back and forth to stand. It felt a bit like a horse but the neck and head are so far away! Our little caravan of 4 then walked into the dunes. Hamid had to walk because apparently a camel will not go if you are not leading. We found that to be true with Emily’s camel. Part way into our ride Emily’s camel’s rope came undone. She was at the back and no one noticed that her camel just stopped.
We just heard this little voice say, “Daddy!” and saw her a ways back. It was really funny! The desert was amazingly beautiful. The deep blue sky, graceful dunes, bits of green grass and the silence was awe inspiring. Having been in busy cities for a week the silence was wonderful. But it wasn’t completely silent because there were camels. I’ve never known an animal to burp so much and so often! I’ve had horses for years and can’t remember a horse belching once. We giggled a lot as our camels took turns out doing each other. We stopped for a few minutes to watch the sunset and play a bit in the sand. As soon as the sun went down the temperature dropped dramatically. We then rode for about half and hour more to reach our Berber village. After stowing our bags in the tents Hamdi explained with a wave of his had that the bathroom was the desert. There was one bush…and it was none to big! The girls decided that they would wait until we got back the next day. Hamdi sent us to sit in the tent while he got Berber tea (or whiskey) ready for us. It is very strong tea with a ton of sugar. We sat and talked for a bit, drank tea and ate peanuts until he came with supper. He made us Tagien with chicken and I have to say it was the best we’d had so far. After dessert of oranges and apple we went out to watch the stars. I’ve never seen so many! The sky was almost white with them. The night was cool so we put on our long underwear and climbed into bed – a stiff mattress with 4 blankets. As we lay down and looked up we could see the stars through the holes in the tent! I thought we were going to freeze but the blankets were pretty good, and of course Mike is a little oven! The night was peaceful except for the fighting cats and the grunting camels.

Donkeys through a river

Today we drove closer to the place where the camel trekking is. We had to go over the Atlas Mountains again but this time we made it! Yay!!! Then we went to a place where there was a fortified city. All the buildings were made out of sand like stuff and straw. We didn’t want to get our feet wet so we rode donkeys through the river mine was brown and Josephine’s was grey. Dad and Mom got mules… They filmed part of the movie Gladiator there! (Not that I know what that is… but they filmed it there!) It was I really cool place and I had fun there. To pass the time of our 5 hour car drive Josephine and I cut out Pokémon cards! (He he)
Bye everybody!!

Emily

Marakech

We left our hotel at 9:30 and drove to a mosque with lots of graves and then we went to a place formerly owned by a prime minister with five wives and 27 children. I loved all the beautiful ceilings and tiles, but it was ruined by a modern art exhibit. After that we went to another, older mosque, where we looked at the gardens, they were very beautiful. After that, we went for lunch at a restaurant, over looking the older mosque. I had a calzone that was very, very good. Then we had popcorn tasting gelatie! (Pardon my spelling) Then we went to another medina (walled fortress) I didn’t like it as much as the one in Fez, because cars were allowed in. They had some VERY nice lamps and other things. Note to any cat lovers: Emily and I counted a total of 61 cats in the medina today. Then we went to the square, where we saw some snake charmers, so Emily and I got out pictures taken with a non-venomous water snake. It was very cool. After that we went to a famous garden where there was a memorial for the famous fashion designer Yves St. Laurent. Then we went back to our hotel. I feel bad for this donkey!

Josephine

Taste of Manitoba

Things today did not turn out as planned. Today was supposed to be our camel trek out to the desert. We got an early start, no rain....but then we tried to drive over the Atlas mountains. As you can see from the picture (Mike is there somewhere pushing), we hit a blizzard of Manitoba proportions! But of course there are no snow tires, shovels or mitts! We had to turn back and go to Marrakech instead. We made a little stop for lunch - Moroccan specialty. Chopped up meat, various kinds, BBQed with tomatoes and onion and eaten in fresh baked bread. It was like a hamburger, but they don't show you the meat like this at McD's! It was hanging right there...notice the testicles too! Killed last night ready for the morning. He chopped it up right in front of us. Of course I'm thinking were all in for food poisoning or E. coli for sure, but I feel ok today! After 12 hours in the car, every Ipod was dead, we made it to Marrakech thanks to our amazing driver Hasani!! Our tour guy is busy rearranging the trip and hopefully we'll get our camel experience another day.

Jane

On the Road in the rain

Well today we went on a road trip to see some Roman ruins, however we were minus some people! Jane and Josephine were not feeling too well so they were in the hotel. Now on to the rest of the story!
We went to this ancient Roman site that once held 12,000 people it was fantastic till it started to rain, and when it rains here it comes down in buckets! Emily and my pants were soaked. However we did see some great mosaics such as this one before it rained. The site was discovered by the French and was partially rebuilt. The only people that visit this site are people from outside Morocco! And guess what it is a UNESCO site.
We then saw the first Muslim city ever in Morocco, however there are no pictures of it because it was raining!
Oh by the way we have a great driver for this trip and he is very helpful his name is Mohamed Hansani.
As we carried on to the next town as it was raining we went to Meknis, we saw some gates a shrine and a market. After that we went back to the hotel! It might not sound like a lot but we drove for a while to get to these places, while we were driving we saw the wonderful land scape's! I will post some pics later.

Ciao for now from Morocco Mike

Fez Jan 6 Donkeys and Cats and the Narrowest Street

Lot’s of Donkeys and Cats and the Narrowest Street ever!


Hello everyone!

Today we were in Fez. We woke up at 7:30 and had breakfast. At 9:00 our driver and our tour guide picked us up from our hotel and we went to the palace. We couldn’t go into it though… that was not good. Then we went to see the panoramic view of the medina which is the walled part of Fez. You need to know about the animals, the medina is not for cars the only vehicles are donkeys and bikes. There are a lot of cats there to. We aw some cats by the meat shops there they looked like this: The medina has 9,600 streets and if our guide hadn’t been there we would have gotten lost! We drove down to the medina and the first thing we did was go to a school, it was very beautiful and there was lots of cats there. After that we went to the local bakery. The people who work there know exactly where each tray of bread has to go! The bread was very good. Then we went to a collage type place. You had to memorize a really long poem ( The Koran) and lots of other stuff to be accepted into it! After that we went to the tannery which is where they make leather. It’s the third hardest jobs in the world! (I forgot the other two.) We went to a really yummy restaurant for lunch. It was extremely good. We also saw the tiniest street in the world! It looked like this:
Isn’t it narrow?!
Then we went to a pottery place and we got to see all the steps of making pottery and mosaics. That was really cool.




Bye!!!
Emily

Blog for: January 5, 2010-Traveling

Today, we had to wake up early…*sighs* and leave for Morocco. Dad had parked the car the night before, so we walked to the ferry, which was about five minutes away. Then we bought our tickets for the slow ferry, and got on. All I can say is that it was VERY wavy out on the strait of Gibraltar. Lots of people where throwing up, that made Mom almost through up, and made Emily throw up. After the awful ferry ride that was late by three hours, we got in a taxi and went to the train station, where we learned we had missed the train to Fez by about 10 minutes. So we had some lunch and waited for the next one. We couldn’t even find a plug so we couldn’t go on the computer! We also saw a herd of camels in a mud field since they have had a lot of rain here. When the train arrived, we jumped in our first class seats that were about 60 dollars in total and got part way to Fez.

At the other train station, we had drinks and some Oreo cookies. Then we played Numero and waited. Then we got on the next train and FINALLY got to Fez. Then we got a taxi to our hotel and went to bed.
Pictures

Africa

Hola,

Tomorrow we are off to Morocco! We are very excited to visit a new continent! We are not sure what the internet access will be like, so it may be a while until the next blog.

Jane

Happy New Year

Dec 31

Jen, Don and Luca are gone…..sniff, sniff….and it rained all day. I lay in bed a read the book she left me to distract me from my sadness. At 11:30 we ventured outside to find the fireworks. It was a bit of a walk which was fine but there were a lot of drunks on the road walking with us, a little unnerving. The fireworks were super and lasted a long time. Happy New Year! A new year and the adventure continues. We are now a little wiser regarding traveling, we have learned some new words and we can pack up very quickly. We still have a lot of things to look forward to but I have to say that I am at least a little homesick. But Morocco is coming, and I’m really looking forward to our camel ride out to the desert.

January 1

Today was sunny, bright and warm! We made our way to Paderna to the Medieval festival. Wow! With in a few minuets we were all caught up in the excitement. There were donkeys, horses, knights, falcons, pigs on a spits, soup out of ceramic bowls, fresh bread being baked over coals and tents with people in costume selling their wears. After an hour of wandering around and EATING, the performance started. We couldn’t understand what they were saying but we figured it out by the expressions. The show started with the 4 knights being introduced. Of course there was a good guy (he looked and acted just like Johnny!) and a bad guy from Granada. While the knights were getting their horses ready we were entertained with sword fights, belly dancing, snake dancers, a whirling dervish and some falconry. At one point the falconer asked for two volunteers and no one did so Mike and I did. We had to stand really close together facing each other and the falcon flew right in between us! Then he got Mike to stand with his legs spread and he told him to protect what he thought was most valuable….and the bird flew between his legs. It was all very funny. The knights finally started their contests. First they had to hit a shield on a spinning pole, get a ring with their lance, chop a cabbage off a post and finally hit a propped up board with a spear – all of this on a galloping horse. The good guy and the bad guy then jousted …. The good guy fell off his horse but rallied in the end to win. We were thoroughly entertained by it all. After a few jewelry purchases we were on our way, but to the 21st century. Back at our apartment we watched the latest episode of Merlin…we are in love with the medieval world.

Jane