BARCELONA

We were only here for two days, but we explored the entire time.

Gaudi's Park Guell.

Extremely crowded but his architecture is so badass. This building reminded me of a marshmallow.Barcelona is great because it is so lively with music and wacky architecture. It was nice to be in a place that didn't have too many straight-lined buildings. We also went into his house, which had a lot of wild furniture designed by him.

Sagrada Familia. Church designed but Gaudi, but he ran out of money, so it is still being built today. Stalk-like columns growing up and bursting on the ceiling.

Sagrada Familia.

It is impossible to capture the beauty of the stained glass on camera. The light shown through the glass and onto the floor. I stood there for a long time staring at it because it was so incredible. This church was the perfect fusion between Gothic and Modern architecture. 

Building designed by Gaudi.

I love his curvy, skeleton-like style. 

Parc de la Ciutadella.

I stumbled across this park. There were giant wooly mammoth statues, ponds, music and dancing. It was a sunny and warm paradise. We spent a while sketching here.

Fes, MOROCCO: The love of my life

Some old croissants in a glass case with flies and bees all over them. Funny.

The King's Palace

Behind an open-air mosque

"Poterie de Fes."

In this picture, the workers take the chiseled pieces of pottery (tesserae) and create designs for mosaics.  It is still a thriving business in Morocco, as there are elaborate mosaics even in train stations and restaurants. 

Outside of this small factory, pieces of colorful pottery were driven into the dirt road. I snatched a few and got distracted by the sunset. My people almost drove away without me. Great friends!

This is only a part of the shop which sold tons of gorgeous pottery. Trying to decide what to buy was the most overwhelming thing ever. I got a really nice pot with silver relief. There were also some damn nice ash trays, which I didn't buy.

After the pottery place, Hassan drove us to the top of a mountain overlooking Fes to see the sunset. It was so beautiful. There were also Roman ruins at the top. On the way up he blasted Beyonce and Arabic music, which, as you can imagine, I enjoyed immensely.

Hassan then took us to a shisha (hookah) bar before dinner, where I tried my first taste of famous Moroccan mint green tea. I had only read about it in the guide book, and didn't realize how popular it was here. It is a symbol of hospitality, and almost everywhere it is served automatically. The water is boiled, and then boiled again with fresh mint and green tea. Then the Moroccans add a generous amount of sugar. It was DELICIOUS. I drank it everywhere. This was the only time we were ok with drinking Moroccan water. Otherwise we stuck to bottled water. Here is Hassan pouring us the tea. 

Moroccans and Europeans don't eat until later. Hassan told us he he could take us to a lady who would teach us how to cook and then feed us for 150 dirham (about 15 euro). Apparently it is common for people to open their homes to feed tourists. So Hassan drove us to this house, where two cute little boys and a girl greeted us. We also met their mother, the chef, who could speak no English. I was actually surprised at how much English was spoken in Morocco. I thought they would only speak French and Arabic. Anyway, Hassan then told us that this was his family, which I could have guessed, since his kids looked a lot like him. They were so awesome-cute, obedient and helpful. The kids helped us peel vegetables. We all helped make a large salad, lima bean and lamb dish, and fruit salad. It was delicious.

 By the time dinner was ready, it was about 11:00, and we were all exhausted, but of course we had to stay later for the mint green tea. We all ate together off the same plate, which normally I would consider strange and gross, but here it was ok. Hassan shared a water cup with his kids, but we got our own glasses. We wee overwhelmed by their kindness and generosity.

Me with Mohammad and his sister (She had a tricky name which I can't remember). They were so nice.  I don't know where there little brother Lalil was at this moment. He was a sassy 6 year old with a naughty smile. 

The Medina

Bou Inania Madrasa.

Founded in AD 1351-56. Functioned as a school and mosque.

The Medina.

So we walked into the medina and it was a whole other world. It smelled of rotting meat and garbage in  many areas, but like spices in others. I loved how real and raw it was. It was unlike any other place I had ever been. Things were surprising here, because the culture was so different. 

Lots of pack mules

A cart full of live, crawling snails.

The carpet place and annoying salesman. "I HAVE NO MONEY." And they still didn't believe me. At least they gave us mint green tea.

This place made scarves by hand. The guys tied them around our heads.

The leather tannery.

You can see the vats of dye used for coloring the leather. Before we walked on this rooftop, a guy who worked there gave us all fresh mint leaves to cover the smell of nasty meat.

This was the store that sold the leather from the tannery. I purchased a pair of Moroccan slipper-shoes which I knew I wanted before I arrived in Fes.

On out second day, we had a different tour guide, named Rashid. Hassan introduced us the night before in a hookah bar. He was very nice, and could speak 7 languages!

Later I decided to walk around our hotel when I had some free time. A group of boys walked by and asked, "How many camels? I want marriage!" 

The colors in Morocco could take your breath away.

Berber woman's cave house. Built in 14th or 15th century, and passed down through the generations. The lady served us mint green tea and I bought a fossil from her.

 On our last day, Hassan took us to a market and told us to sit down in this restaurant. It smelled so good, like barbecue. 

Hassan bought us these kabob sandwiches. I was very grateful, since I have no money. 

He also bought us tons of fruit to eat, which was great because I thought I would contract scurvy.

The COLORS

After Morocco I also got some food poisoning, but it wasn't too severe. The food poisoning was totally worth it though because Morocco was the best place ever! 

PARIS

Arc de Triomphe de l'Etoile. We really wanted to go up to it, so we ran across many lanes of traffic, almost getting hit, only to realize there is a passage that goes under the road. We climbed the arc.

This is the view.

I went back to the Louvre, and saw lots of Rembrandt's (some shown above), Vermeer's, and Van Dycks. The Louvre is the coolest thing in Paris.

The day before we went to Musee D'Orsay, but could not take pictures. I saw a Degas exhibit, many Monet's, Van Gogh's, Renoir's, Cezanne's Manet's, among others. 

I was staying in Paris with our Friends Mary and Carol Dorgan. They were so kind and generous to me and made me feel right at home! On our last day, Mary drove us to Normandy to See Monet's house and garden (above). The h ouse was so charming, cosy, and bright, using colors seen in his paintings. 

Mary and I in the garden.

The pond where he painted his water lilies.

Mary also drove us to see where Van Gogh lived. We also saw the church he used in a famous painting of his and where he was buried. It is very beautiful outside of Paris in the countryside. Then we flew home to Rome!