Niagara Falls

It's our 10th wedding anniversary this week, so we decided to kitsch it up as much as possible and go to Niagara Falls. It was really fun! We flew into Buffalo, NY and took a cab over the border to Canada. We stayed at the Marriott Fallsview and here was the view from our room!

You could even hear the Falls if you were standing right next to the window. We got in kind of late, so we didn't do anything the first day except go out to dinner and watch TV in our room. So relaxing and fun!

The next day we lounged around for quite a while, then walked around town a bit. We went to see the IMAX show about the history of Niagara Falls which I thought would be super cheesy. It was, I guess, but it was also good enough that we brought it up constantly for the rest of our trip. It was mostly about the people who've tried to go over the falls in barrels and other contraptions, aka Crazy People.

On Monday, we took a city tour which was good. We went up the big observation tower (of course!). Our driver took us down the river to where the huge rapids and giant whirlpool are, though they're not that scary right now since most of the river is frozen. Apparently in the summer, it's incredibly dangerous.

It was a great trip and a fun way to celebrate our anniversary!

Chicago

I loved Chicago when I went for the first time in 2005. We had such a good time that I was fully expecting this time to be a little disappointing, but it wasn't!!!

Our trip to Chicago was fabulous and very relaxing. We got there Friday and went straight to our hotel which was right on Michigan Avenue and very nice. We had lunch at Gino's East and ate deep dish pizza. The restaurant was very fun - they let people write all over the walls, so everything is covered in graffiti, and I liked that part a lot. The pizza sauce was great, but the crust was this weird yellow crispy cornbread-like crust. I did not like it.

That night we went to the Improvised Shakespeare Company at improv Olympic. I had watched a clip online and did not think it looked that funny. It was a clip of three guys prancing around the stage looking very obnoxious, and I didn't want to subject myself to 90 minutes of that. But, I agreed to go, and I'm happy to say it was really, really funny. There are 5 guys who do the show. At the beginning, they take a play title suggestion from the audience, then they make up a play in two acts right on the spot using Elizabethan English. It was mighty impressive.

On Saturday, we met up with Cassie and took a cab down to the University of Chicago. She has a former student (whom J and I happen to know as well) who is getting her Master's there and works at the art museum on campus. We ate lunch together and then went to the museum. We walked back to the metro through Washington Park which was FULL of giant geese and then rode up to visit with Cassie and Tim at Tim's brother's house in one of the neighborhoods north of the city.

Sunday, we had tickets to the Cleveland Browns vs. Chicago Bears game. Tim is a lifelong Bears fan, so we had invited him along. Unfortunately, he'd gotten food poisoning the day before, so he felt terrible, but he totally bucked up and came to the game with us. And he didn't even hurl. It was quite an accomplishment if you ask me. The Bears pretty much creamed the Browns. It was still very fun, though, and we had good seats on the 50-yard line on the upper deck, so we could see everything very well.

We ate dinner at Giordano's, whose pizza sauce is not as good as Gino's East, but whose crust is amazing. I'm a crust girl, so I have to say I like Giordano's better. There's a third pizza restaurant I want to try in Chicago, but I can't remember the name of it. I'll have to try it next time I go. Because I totally want to go back! Chicago is a fantastic city! I loved it again!

Day 9 - Granada

Our last day! We got up early and went to the bus station since that is the best way to travel between Malaga and Granada. I was a little apprehensive, since I know the American bus system is not really much to brag about. Not so for the Spanish. The bus was very clean, comfortable, and well air conditioned. The tickets were also pretty inexpensive. No complaints at all! After about a two hour ride, we made it to Granada.

The whole reason for us going to Granada was to visit the Alhambra, the last palace of the Arab leaders before they were run out of Spain in 1492. When I was getting my Master's degree, I wrote a paper on the painted ceilings in the Hall of the Kings, and it was really difficult to find good images of them. I was really excited to get to see them in person and perhaps take some good pictures of them to pass on to my former art history professor.

When we arrived in Granada, we headed straight for this little tourist desk in the middle of the bus station. We asked the girl there how to get to the Alhambra. She asked, "Do you already have tickets?" Um, no. "Then you have a lot of work to do today! Here is the website (she handed us a little brochure with a map), and there is an internet cafe. You have to check and see if they still have tickets available for today. Probably not. I think it's better if you stay the night here in Granada and try to go tomorrow. Today you can ride the tourist bus and see the monuments of Granada." Panic immediately set in. What?!? We had to buy tickets in advance?!? We can't stay until tomorrow! We have to get on a plane to Texas tomorrow! This is our LAST CHANCE!

We went into the internet cafe and paid for 10 minutes (50 euro cents). I went to the website on the brochure, and sure enough, it said they were sold out for that day. We were sitting there, disappointment beginning to overwhelm us, when the guy next to us said, "You don't need advance tickets. I was there yesterday. You just walk up and they let you in. You should go try to get in." That's really all the encouragement we needed, so we took a cab up there. It was an expensive ride. If you go to Granada, I recommend you take the city bus to get around. It's way more economical.

There was a bit of a line, but I was encouraged that there WAS a line. It's not like they were turning people away. There was a little sign that said you could only gain admittance to the Nasrid palace (that's the oldest part) at the time written on your ticket. As we got closer to the front of the line, I saw a sign that said "Cash only" and began to panic again. We had just blown half our cash on the cab fare up here, and there weren't any ATMs in sight. Luckily, the combined cost of tickets was 24 euros, and y'all, we had 25 euros!!! Phew! Plus, I discovered later that there totally was an ATM nearby, it was just in the advance ticket retrieval office, so we would have been fine. I was so excited about getting in that every tiny obstacle seemed like a huge hurdle I had to overcome.

So, tickets bought, they let us in! We were on our way! Here I come, Hall of the Kings! We showed up at the Nasrid palace when we were supposed to and began to make our way there. We passed through all the famous rooms - the Mexuar palace, the Hall of the Ambassadors, the Courtyard of the Myrtles. I started to go crazy with the camera taking pictures of all the beautiful details on the walls when I noticed the "Low Battery" light coming on. Nooooooo! Luckily, we had brought a backup camera. I asked Jonathan about it, and he said, "We left the other camera back at the hotel." What?!? Why didn't I think to bring it? Panic, panic, panic. So, I kind of stopped taking pictures so that I would be sure to be able to get a photo of my ceiling paintings.

We finally got to the Courtyard of the Lions - probably the most photographed part of the palace - only to discover that the famous lion fountain AND my paintings were under restoration and were NOT ON DISPLAY. AAAAAAAAAAAH! I cried. Jonathan was so sweet to me, too. He was like, "Well, next time we come..." And this was his second time to visit the Alhambra. I said, "You don't want to come again! You're just being nice!" But he kept saying stuff like, "When we come back, we'll do this part first..." and "After we buy our apartment in Spain, you can come here with your friends..." It really did make me feel better. After all, it was 12 years in between visits for him. There's hope for me to see it again. Maybe by then they'll be done with the restoration. Ha!

Here's a picture of the pavilion where the paintings usually are. As you can see, it's covered in scaffolding and there are all kinds of ropes and big pieces of plywood denying you access. Boooooooo! Although I will say, I'm glad they are being restored. I do want them to be preserved for future generations. I just wish it hadn't been on my time, you know?

Eventually, I sucked it up and decided to enjoy the rest of the day despite my crushing disappointment. After living in Paris, I knew that this just happens sometimes. You travel all the way across an ocean to see something, and then the museum workers decide to strike on the day you want to see the Mona Lisa or whatever. Denied. Or you can't go to the top of the Eiffel Tower because it's too windy. Seriously.

Happily, there's plenty to see at the Alhambra besides that fountain and those paintings, and we had a really fun rest of the day together, walking around and laughing. A great way to tie up our vacation! Now, where are we going next?

Day 8 - Malaga

We slept until after 11:00, and it was fabulous! After breakfast, I went upstairs and took a nap which was also fabulous. Then we started walking around the city.

First of all, let me say, Malaga is beautiful. I had been to Spain twice before and really liked it both times, but for some reason, I have always still thought of it as somehow less than the rest of Western Europe. I don't really know why. After being in Malaga, though, I will never think that again. Spain is gorgeous and fun to visit. Maybe if we never have kids, we'll get an apartment there. For serious. I love it.

So, we just kind of wandered around, loosely following a walking tour we found online. Malaga is the birthplace of Picasso, so they have a Picasso museum there which was really the only thing I knew about to do there. We did go, and it's a very different collection of his work than I have ever seen. Most of the works were donated by Picasso's family members, so there are a lot of sketches and studies for other paintings as well as a lot of his later work. Jonathan and I both really loved one particular painting called "Minotaur with Glass," but alas! it was not available in the gift shop and I've been looking for it online, too, and it's not there either! So, we settled for buying a poster of another painting we both liked called "Bather."

Just like I thought I knew how I felt about Spain, I also thought I knew I wasn't a big Picasso fan. But after we bought this poster, I realized I now have three Picasso posters for my house. I guess I have to realize that I am actually a fan. I think the problem is that when I go to a museum, I get a little sensory overload and don't appreciate everything I'm seeing. But when I go to a small museum or exhibit that is dedicated to one artist or style of painting, I can absorb it. That's when I've found these posters I like. With Picasso, there is almost always one that really makes me think and that I know I won't getting tired of looking at.

From the museum, we went to a little bar called "El Pimpi" that seriously had the best sangria I've ever tasted for less than 2 euros a glass. And apparently Antonio Banderas goes there a lot (he's also from Malaga). He had autographed one of the wine barrels and they had his picture up. Sounds silly, but it wasn't really over the top. If you ever go to Malaga, I suggest you stop by and taste their delicious sangria. So good!

We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the Alcazaba which is the fortress built by the Arab rulers and seeing some of the Roman ruins. Beautiful!

For dinner, I had migas which are completely different in Spain than here (they're better here), and Jonathan had monkfish which looks totally crazy. I had a dream about it last night. Here's a photo. He, of course, did not eat that whole thing.

Day 7 - Trains, Boats, and Automobiles

We got up super early to catch our train to Tangier and said our goodbyes to Ali and Tasneem. Thanks, you two, for being such fun and gracious hosts. We appreciate everything you did to make our trip so comfortable and enjoyable. Now we have to plan our trip to India! Or France! We'll definitely plan a trip to Boston once you get back. We loved all the long talks and playing with Zahra. You're so fun to be friends with! Thanks for having us.

Once we got to Tangier, we took a cab straight to the ferry port so we knew what time our boat left for Spain. It turns out we only had about an hour, so we didn't really have a chance to explore Tangier. It seemed like a nice enough city. We only got one picture, though, because they didn't allow photographs at the port. I guess they don't want people to be able to take pictures and figure out how to smuggle stuff in/out of the country? So, we took a photo from the ferry as we were sailing away.

The ferry ride was just over an hour long, and we passed right by the Rock of Gibraltar. Jonathan was disappointed that they didn't have a giant British flag painted on the hillside or whatever. I told him we should try to go over there and see if they would let us in, and if they asked us why, we could tell them we wanted to see the monkeys. I have since discovered that people do that ALL the time, and now I kind of wish we'd done it. Ah, well. Next time.

We arrived in Algeciras and had a few options: walk with all our suitcases to the bus station, get a ticket to Malaga, then walk to our hotel there; take a cab to the bus station; hop in a car with some stranger who offered to drive us to Malaga for half the cab fare; or just take a cab all the way to Malaga. Jonathan was very tempted by the mysterious stranger. I was not. I was like, "No way am I getting in a car with some strange Spanish man with my suitcase, passport, and credit cards. I don't care how good a deal it is." In the end, we decided we were tired and travel-weary, and we just paid a cab to take us right to our hotel's doorstep in Malaga.

We got in the cab, and the difference from Moroccan cabs was amazing. Moroccan cabs are the oldest, cheapest cars they can find - usually an old Mercedes or Fiat with no air conditioning, no seat belts, and dirty interiors. Plus, the drivers don't always know where they're going. They know neighborhoods, but you have to kind of tell them where to go once you're in the general area. The Spanish cab was a brand new air-conditioned Audi with a leather interior. When the driver asked for the address, I gave it to him and asked if he knew the neighborhood. He said, "No, but I've got a GPS," and he proceeded to use it. The drive was about two hours, and cost a pretty penny, but it may be some of the best money I've ever spent. No regrets.

Our hotel in Malaga was very nice and right within walking distance of everything. We left off exploring for the next day, but did go out for dinner that night and found this hilarious turkey hand sculpture. So weird!

Day 6 - Volubilis and Moulay Idriss

We got up super early to go see a nearby Roman outpost called Oualili in Arabic. The Romans mutated the name into Volubilis. Apparently the town was inhabited until the 18th century, but since then it has been damaged by an earthquake and also scavenged for building materials for other nearby towns. It was still pretty neat, though. You can really see the layout of the town: where the roads are, where the houses were, how big they were, etc. There are quite a few immaculately preserved floor mosaics as well.

After Volubilis, we drove over to Moulay Idriss which is a tiny little town with a very large shrine and mausoleum to Idriss I, an 8th century ruler and the founder of Fes. It was a very pretty town with very few tourists. Of course, we were not allowed into the shrine, since it is one of the holiest places for Moroccan Muslims. Apparently, 5 trips to Moulay Idriss counts as one haj (trip to Mecca). That's how important of a religious site it is.

I was willing to walk around the town a bit since we were there, but of course some guy walks up to us and offers to take us up to a terrasse where there was a good view. I was immediately against it. Why? 1) Because our cab driver had already taken us up to a hillside where we got an excellent view of the city, and I didn't believe this new view was going to be significantly better. 2) I didn't want to pay this guy to take us on a walk when I was perfectly capable of walking by myself. 3) I was tired of being ripped off and I just knew this guy wasn't going to charge us a fair price. But, Ali and Jonathan said yes before I could really voice my objections, and off we went. And, y'all, it was far. Every time we turned a corner, and we were still going uphill, I stopped and glared at my companions and voiced a complaint. So, yes, I was grumpy and not a good sport at all. We finally made it to the top of the hill, and the view was nice, but I think I still would rather have walked around by myself for free.

Anywho, here's a list of some interesting things we saw:

Donkeys walking up and down the streets in a caravan with no one leading them. They were laden with bags of sand or something, and they knew their route so well they didn't need anyone to tell them where to go. Pretty cool.

Bakers baking bread by hand. They have a particular kind of bread that you see everywhere, and we saw them actually making it which was neat-o.

Two kids spinning thread. One kid was at one end of the street holding the threads up as high above his head as he could get them. Another kid had a little hand held machine that wove the threads together. They took up the whole side of the street. It was pretty neat to see that, too.

So, despite my complaining, it was a very charming town and I'm glad we went. We cut the day kind of short and took the train back to Fes. Our last night in Morocco! We ate pizza and watched more movies. Good times!

Day 5 - More Fes

The plan was to get up early and visit the tanneries, but we had already done that, so we slept in and took it easy before wandering back into Fes medina.

The reason my friend Ali is in Morocco is he wrote his Master's thesis on these bells that the Arab kings brought back to Morocco after they conquered Spain. They originally hung in a Spanish church, but now they have been converted into lamps and they hang in the Kairouine mosque in Fes as spolia, or war booty (feel free to post corrections if I'm wrong, Ali!). Now Ali has a Fulbright scholarship to study them in person. Anyway, I edited his thesis at least twice, so I feel like I'm pretty invested in these bells, too. Seeing them was the #1 thing I wanted to do in Fes.

However, there are a couple of hurdles I had to overcome. First, I'm not a Muslim, so I'm not allowed in any of the mosques in Morocco. This is not the case in other countries, but for some reason Morocco is very serious about it. They do open the doors of the mosque at prayer time, though, in order to let everyone in, so we had to time our visit to coincide with that if I was going to see them. We ended up getting there at exactly the right time, and one of the lamps was hanging right near the entrance. With a little help from my camera's zoom, I got a pretty good picture, although Ali says you can't really see the bell part unless you're standing right under it.

Success! I was so excited!

Next, we tried to find the Belghazi Museum which I had heard was a beautiful Moroccan art museum. We ran into one of the ladies who had offered to help us the day before (not the one who took us to the wrong terrasse), and she started guiding us to the museum. It was really pointless, though, because there were actually signs with arrows telling you how to get there. I was pretty grumpy about it, since I knew she would expect us to tip her for leading us to a place we could have just gotten to by ourselves. Once we arrived, the museum was closed for restoration. Little did I know it, but this was to be a recurring theme on this vacation (dum dum DUM! Nice foreshadowing, eh?).

So, we just kind of wandered around after that trying to find the exit. I made several attempts to photograph the many donkeys laden with goods walking up and down the alleys, but I just wasn't quick enough. I finally found one who was standing still, though, and his owner let me take a picture. There are so many donkeys in the medina that they have put up donkey bars to keep them out of certain areas. I'm not sure why they want to keep them out, but they do, so every once in a while you have to duck under a huge piece of timber.

We also went into the Medersa Bou Inania. It was tiny but very pretty. I was so hot, though, I kind of just stood against the wall the whole time.

We took a little break at a restaurant, and it was so hot I started fanning myself with the ashtray.

After we were done at the medina, Ali took us up a hill outside of the city to the Merenid tombs. The Merenids were a dynasty of Moroccan rulers in the Middle Ages. Their tombs are in shambles now, but the view from the hillside is pretty amazing and well worth the cab fare up there. Ali put on his scholar cap as he explained to us about the history of the city and pointed out the oldest parts. Fes still has most of its medieval wall, and we got a really good view of it as well as the rest of the city.

That evening, Ali and Tasneem's maid Fatima prepared us a huge meal of harira which is a kind of chickpea soup, and couscous with vegetables. It was so neat to have such an authentic meal, and it was delicious on top of that. Then we all watched "The House Bunny" which was not really an authentic Moroccan experience, but it was still really fun!

Day 4 - Fes

We took this day really easy and mostly just lounged around Ali and Tasneem's apartment until the sun started to go down a bit. But, then, we ventured into the Fes Medina. In Arabic, medina just means "city," but in Morocco it also means the oldest part of the city. Fes Medina has been around since the Middle Ages, and it apparently hasn't changed that much. The streets are extremely narrow - in some places only wide enough for one person at a time, and they wind around in a sort of labyrinth that is nearly impossible to navigate. It was kind of awesome!

Obviously they can't drive cars down these narrow streets, so there were a lot of donkeys. It was set up like the Marrakech souqs in that there were just stalls and stalls of vendors, but I got the impression that the people in the stalls also actually made the merchandise since several times we passed by artisans handcrafting their wares. Also, the vendors did not harrass us. Many of them kind of shouted out to us to come look in their store, but when we said no, they left us alone.

The medina is broken up into these small public squares where the streets meet, and there is a public water fountain in nearly all of them.

In the end, we decided to go to the tanneries. However, getting there proved difficult. It's a big attraction, so a lot of people approach and offer to take you there, especially children. You can't go onto the tannery floor; you have to go up on someone's balcony and look down on it. So, we agreed to let an older lady take us up to a "terrasse" where we could look down on the tanneries. She took us to a staircase, accepted a small tip, and left. We climbed the staircase and ended up in a rug shop. The people there let us up onto their roof where they said they had a great view. They did, I guess, but not of the tanneries! Swindled! We took a bunch of pictures of Fes anyway, then wandered back downstairs only to discover that the shop owners expected payment. Ali talked them down from whatever exorbitant price they were asking to the equivalent of about $2. So, we paid two people to take us to see absolutely nothing. Ugh!

We finally made it, though, and got there around 6:30 or so. I had read in several places not to go in the afternoon because they use pigeon poo to treat the leather, and when it has been baking in the sun all day long, it STINKS. As you might imagine poo would. We braved it anyway, and it did smell pretty bad, but it was not as bad as I was expecting from reading other people's comments about it. Wussies. While we were there, they told us they also treat it with cow urine. I, of course, bought a handbag there. Who could resist that combo?

The brown ones are the poo vats. The white ones are chalk. That big wooden drum at the bottom middle of the picture is a giant laundry vat for washing the leather.

These are the skins being hung out to dry.

These are the dyes. We were there the day before they changed the colors, so it's hard to see. You can see orange in the back left and green in the front left.