... sending postcards

it's caturday!

2012-02-11T17:00:00.001-05:00

Remember how I mentioned that we took a million photos of stray cats when we were in Marrakesh?

Well, here they are:

a night at the souk

2012-02-10T20:30:00.000-05:00

They say that you haven't really experienced Marrakesh until you get lost in Jamaa el Fna (the souk). There are rows and rows of stands in the main square: freshly squeezed orange juice, nut and date, olives, tea and cake... I could go on for a long time. The rows of stands for the same product are nearly indistinguishable. Once you wander further into the market, the little "shops" that sell scarves, tea pots, clay tajine bowls, leather shoes, and so many other trinkets also start to look the same. It really does feel like a maze. I'm directionally impaired and have been known to get lost in malls, so luckily I had Alex with me who has been great at navigation during our travels. But, on this evening, we allowed ourselves to get lost. We exited the souk with two pairs of, probably fake, leather slippers ($5 each!), and ended up somewhere pretty far from our apartment. We had a map and the long walk back was nice. Sometimes during our "around the world" honeymoon, when we were getting a little stressed out, we'd tell the other person to relax because "we've got nowhere to be". This night reminded me of those times. That feeling, of having no place in particular to be, is one of my favourite things in the world.

lunch in marrakesh

2012-02-09T13:09:00.002-05:00

The first time I had heard of tajine was when we visited Luxor. I find it a surprising meal choice for places with hot climates because it's essentially a stew, and I associate stews with cold winter evenings. We were reunited with the dish in Marrakesh and ate a different kind, almost daily.

We planned on another restaurant for lunch but were at Majorelle Garden a lot longer than anticipated, so we just popped into the café that was attached. They let us hang out in this room with a beautiful orange wall. A cute little cat pranced in and whined for some food and stayed for awhile. This definitely will not be the end of cat photos from Marrakesh - they're everywhere. They all looked pretty healthy for strays; they must know to go to the tourists for food. It's kind of ridiculous how many pictures we have of the cats. If we owned one, I would be one of those people who sits around all day taking cat videos and uploading them to youtube.

After we spent a few minutes being entertained by the cat, we ate lemon/olive/chicken/potato tajines, shared a smoothie made of avocado, dates, almonds, and milk, then drank a tea called "mystérieuse médina". We ended the meal with nutella crepes. Needless to say, it was a pretty great lunch.

majorelle garden fisheyes

2012-02-07T14:32:00.001-05:00

some fisheyes from our trip to the majorelle garden

*pretty sure i look crazy in the 3rd photo down, but alex convinced me to put it up anyway

jardin majorelle

2012-02-06T06:30:00.000-05:00

The Majorelle Garden was designed by the expatriate French artist, Jacques Majorelle, nearly 100 years ago. Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé were the owners of the garden since 1980 and when Yves Saint Laurent died, his ashes were scattered in the garden and a modest monument was erected in his honor.

Seeing cacti and palm trees never gets old - perhaps it's all those years of living on the prairies. This garden was one of the many highlights of our time in Marrakesh. It's a serene oasis in the middle of a very busy and very loud city. The gorgeous cobalt blue on the walls reminded us of Frida Kahlo's home in Mexico City, as did the overall vibe of the garden.

Apparently, there are many species of birds that can be found there, but we only counted three. We definitely heard, what sounded like millions, of them near the bamboo. The shoots were covered in carvings, much like you would see on a tree stump in the woods. We're not into vandalizing nature, but we did serendipitously find a heart with M+A carved into it.

I wasn't familiar with Majorelle (the artist) before visiting Morocco and gather his paintings are largely unknown. I'm so thankful that he designed this amazing place and that we were able to experience it firsthand.

le marrakchi

2012-01-30T06:04:00.000-05:00

No trip to Djemaa El Fna is complete without dining at one of the rooftop restaurants. We chose the most touristy one, despite how overpriced it was (compared to the local fare), because it looked really pretty and welcoming. We arrived before the restaurant filled up, admired the market from above, and then grabbed a cozy corner seat for a filling meal while being serenaded by Moroccan musicians and entertained by showy belly dancers.

djemaa el fna from above

2012-01-27T13:15:00.003-05:00

Alex took this picture of Djemma El Fnaa with the lomo fisheye from one of the rooftop restaurants.

This place was like nothing I'd ever seen.

djemaa el fna

2012-01-26T15:23:00.004-05:00

I am unreasonably irritated by the fact that the Arabic names of pretty much everything have no correct English spelling. On our first evening in Marrakech / Marrakesh we visited Djemaa el Fna / Jamaa el Fna / Jemaa el Fna - the main square and souk in the medina. We quickly realized that we could spend a lifetime in this market and never see the entire place. Alex sticks out for obvious reasons whenever we go on vacation and gets harassed by touts who want to make some quick cash. I get harassed for other reasons. This is part of traveling (to certain places) and we've grown accustom to it... and have learned some lessons. But, our guard was down as we entered the market and two ridiculous looking guys grabbed Alex and demanded that I take a picture. It was fine though - I just made sure I told them I wasn't going to pay them more than a dollar to take a photo that they were forcing us to take, and that seemed to satisfy them so I took it and we parted ways. I did want to get a photo of the snake charmers, but had read that they will throw the snakes on you and not take them off until you pay them... so, I kept my distance and ran away squealing whenever I saw one nearby. It's definitely a sensory overload but we obviously enjoyed it, because we ended almost each night with a trip to this maze of a market.

catching a cab

2012-01-24T17:35:00.002-05:00

Most of our days in Marrakesh began with a walk down Ave. Mohammad V to hail a taxi.
These are some photos that we took during our walk on that street, on our first day in the hectic city:

first night in marrakech

2012-01-23T14:43:00.001-05:00

The not so impressive view from our room.

Our arrival in Marrakesh was late at night, which is always makes me feel slightly more disoriented than I already am when arriving in a foreign country. But, we were lucky that the owner of our accommodations arranged a ride for us, from the train station, and it was quick and comfortable. We discussed staying in a Riad, but decided on a short-term apartment rental instead. It was in Gueliz - the newer, less hectic, part of Marrekech. The apartment was owned by a friendly young guy who owned a few other properties and was very professional. We talked with him awhile about his life, how he lived in Dubai for some years before starting his business in Marrakech, and used the chat as an opportunity to learn the local price for essentials like water (important to know when visiting a country where fixed prices are rare).

A quick perusal of the tv channels included the predictable lineup of Arabic soap operas, camel racing, and dubbed "western" films. After studying the guidebook and charging our camera, we settled into bed looking forward to what Marrakesh had to offer.

thanks!

2012-01-22T12:05:00.000-05:00

Thanks for the birthday greetings. You're fabulous. I made this for you.

another year older....

2012-01-20T02:32:00.000-05:00

casablanca to marrakech by train

2012-01-18T11:30:00.000-05:00

Casablanca sounds like such a romantic place to visit - most likely because of the eponymous film starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman. In reality, it's the economic center of Morocco, and not really designed for tourists (apart from cruise ships that dock for a day). Most guide books suggested to skip it, in favour of more scenic places in Morocco. On arrival at Casablanca airport, we decided to take a train straight to Marrakech (we did spend one lovely day in Casablanca on the way back though). An $8 upgrade from the $15 second class fare for the first class seats was recommended by many other travellers and proved to be a useful tip (the second class seats were incredibly crowded and didn't look as comfortable).

When the train finally pulled into Marrakesh, 3 hours later around 11pm, there was a helpful driver waiting to help us with our bags and drive us directly to our short-term apartment rental, giving us our first glimpse at the historic city.

Sorry about the iPhone photo overload. I promise, no more for a little while.

en route to casablanca

2012-01-17T13:52:00.008-05:00

So, I know we're terribly late to the party but we finally caved and got an iPhone. Alex ended up getting one for free and that seemed like a fair deal to me. I was happy with my ancient flip phone and didn't feel it was necessary for me to get another gadget that I didn't absolutely need. But, we'd be out and trying to decide what restaurant we should go to or wondering when the next train was scheduled to arrive and thought that there's likely "an app for that". Why not make our lives a little more convenient? Any app recommendations are much appreciated!

It's probably good that we finally got this thing. I was one step away from becoming your annoying mom who wants you to set up the VCR to record a show. Anyway, we got it right before we left on this trip so I went a little crazy on the plane with instagram. Here's my series of "cloud study" photos ;) ...between Charles de Gaulle and Casablanca.

I'm still trying to figure out instagram. I forgot the password and barely know how to use it.

I think our username is alexandmina.

Next week, I'll be so embarrassed that I admitted to not knowing how to use it and think I'm a pro.

Until then, I'm on a search to find "Instagram for Dummies".

au revoir, paris.

2012-01-16T12:30:00.003-05:00

Well, we couldn't leave Paris without going to Ladurée. I think the one on Rue Royale is really pretty ...and we were finally able to pop into the Maille store that we regretted not checking out during our first time in France (we picked up this fig & coriander grainy dijon that we've been adding adding to everything). Our last evening was spent enjoying a lovely dinner at our friends' home in Chaville.

Well, this is the end of it! Thank you so much for the kind comments about the photos; I love taking them. If you'd like to see more, there's are a few in our Paris flickr set that weren't posted here. I'm really looking forward to going through all of our Morocco stuff over the next little while - such a crazy and beautiful place.

la tour eiffel

2012-01-13T16:00:00.000-05:00

Parisians are so lucky to have such a beautiful monument in their skyline. Even though we'd been to Paris before, I couldn't help but get a little excited when we saw it. All this short layover did was whet my appetite and I've been daydreaming about going back ever since. Wouldn't it be lovely to have a picnic, next to La Tour Eiffel, at Champ de Mars, in the summer?

-Mina

musée du thé

2012-01-12T09:02:00.000-05:00

While we were waiting for the tea room at Mariage Frères to open for brunch, we walked upstairs to wander around the musée du thé. There was no one else in the museum so we had the place all to ourselves. The best thing we saw: little teacups with mustache protectors built-in. I'm assuming it wasn't a very successful invention because I've never seen a mustachioed man having trouble drinking tea, but perhaps it was more of a concern back in the day.

mariage frères - maison de thé

2012-01-11T14:30:00.002-05:00

Yay for Lindsey who writes a blog about Paris and suggested Mariage Frères for tea. We thought that we'd just be stopping in for a sip or two but ended up spending the better part of our morning there, looking through the museum (more on that tomorrow), the tea shop, and enjoying a leisurely brunch. It was magnifique!

place de la concorde fisheyes

2012-01-10T15:14:00.000-05:00

Alex took these at Place de la Concorde while we were waiting to meet a friend.

I love this little camera.

paris day two

2012-01-09T14:26:00.001-05:00

A few shots from our second day in Paris:

an evening in paris

2012-01-06T12:36:00.004-05:00

Despite what Midnight in Paris may have you believe, Paris is not more romantic in the rain - at least, not in the winter. I couldn't escape the permanent chill in my bones for the entirety of my time there. I foolishly bought new wedge shoes in hopes of keeping up with fashionable Parisian girls only to realize that, for me, comfort beats fashion on most days, and changed into my flimsy flats which were perpetually soaked. I suppose this makes it sounds like we had an awful night... in all honesty, it was really lovely, just not more romantic than it would have been if it hadn't been raining. After our museum visit, we strolled around (because you don't walk while visiting Paris, you stroll) snapping shots with the Eiffel Tower in the background - which is almost unavoidable when you're doing said strolling in the 7th arrondissement.

For dinner, we went to Café Constant, a crowded bistro that doesn't take reservations. Proximity to the Eiffel Tower notwithstanding, it's not a tourist restaurant. The employees are polite, while making sure things are moving along quickly because there's always someone standing in the doorway to take your seat. Having said that, at no point did we feel rushed. For appetizers, Alex ordered the most amazing pumpkin soup (probably because it was more crème fraîche than pumpkin) with comté cheese and truffle oil and I had some foie gras/mushroom thing which was good but not equally as delicious. For main courses: "Patte Bleue" roast chicken with herby butter and pan fried new potatoes, plus a duck and potato pie with crispy apples for me. There was no room for dessert, which is always a shame.

While we would have liked to have stayed out until the wee small hours of the morning, the rain started coming down too heavily for us to be bothered to fight the weather anymore. We hopped on the metro and called it a night.

fotoautomat

2012-01-05T07:40:00.000-05:00

There's a photobooth inside Palais de Tokyo!

We couldn't resist cramming into it and taking silly pictures.

palais de tokyo

2012-01-04T11:19:00.000-05:00

Palais de Tokyo was a museum that I had pinned months ago while planning this trip and the first place we went after settling into our accommodations in Paris. Unfortunately, I didn't revisit their website before leaving, otherwise I would have learned that the museum was essentially closed, save for a few small exhibits. They had a small scale model of what it will look like after renovations - seemed pretty impressive. Since we were already there, we figured we might as well check it out anyway. Hopefully we'll have a chance to go to Paris again so that we can visit the museum when it's back up and running. A few photos of the exhibits and the cute restaurant inside:

two thousand and eleven

2011-12-31T19:25:00.001-05:00

This year was a very welcomed change in pace from the last two - less moving, and fewer airplanes, trains, and buses. Montreal's such a pretty place to live, with an endless opportunity of things to do. I'll admit that I used to have some ignorant prejudice towards Quebec but am so glad that I kept an open mind or I would have missed out on all of the beautiful things this province has offered us over the last year. Your recommendations have made our outings and trips a million times better. Thanks again for being here; your emails, messages, and comments always make our day.

A recap of of 2011:

The new year began in Times Square where we spent a layover to see what NYE in NYC was like. January in Montreal was significantly warmer than the Winnipeg winters we're used to, but we still tried to stay indoors for most of it because we're wimps. For my birthday, we went to Au Pied De Cochon and had an incredibly delicious meal.

In February, we took a road trip to Quebec City for the Carnaval festivities, where we experienced tire d'érable, grabbed some poutine for lunch, and had amazing hearty dinners to warm us at night.

We spent a lot of time in museums in March, tried some new restaurants, and spent too much time on the metro running errands.

In April, we visited some vintage stores on Amherst and St. Catherine to try and put the last touches on our home.

The Arctic Monkeys visited Montreal in May and I was thrilled to finally see them live. My brother also stayed with us for a weekend, and we put him to work. Sometimes, Alex and I still celebrate the anniversary of the day we started dating - we went to Liverpool House this year and I tried the lobster spaghetti that a lot of people here rave about.

The warm weather in June had us outdoors more often - in Mont Royal Park, and kayaking on the Lachine. We didn't see the moon eclipse in Montreal, but I took a photo of it anyway. After living in Montreal for nearly a year, we finally visited Schwartz's and spent an afternoon having tea at Maitre de Chocolatier; it was delightful.

On Canada day, we watched fireworks and ate french fries (from frite alors!) in Old Port. We also visited record stores, tested out our new tandem bike, and learned how to fix it, and we finally saw Paul McCartney live! July was fun.

There aren't too many photos from August - the month full of bike rides. I'm happy we captured one evening on video:

I started yoga again, after a long absence, that month, and discovered that I'm not as flexible as I used to be :( Nothing a few macrons can't fix! Our friends from Japan visited and we took them to La Banquise to introduce them to poutine - not sure if they liked it!

In September, we tried the infamous orange julep, went apple picking, and walked to the top of Mont Royal.

My brother stayed with us again, for Thanksgiving weekend, and we made a Thanksgiving dinner for three. Our friends from France visited in October and we showed them around the city, we indulged in Halloween apples, saw a free Arcade Fire show, and Alex made a really sweet video for our 2 year wedding anniversary.

Alex's birthday was in November and I baked my very first cake for him! Other highlights included a trip to the biodome and the big bang exhibit.

We left for Paris in December and spent some time wandering around the city in the rain. Next we headed to Morocco and spent Christmas Eve in the Sahara Desert, under the stars. It was such an unbelievable experience and it will likely take us a little while to get all the photos and stories up here, but we'll get around to it all soon.

A year ago, we promised ourselves that we'd have a quiet New Year's Eve at home this year - we're making a nice dinner, watching Home Alone, and playing some songs on the ukulele. Happy 2012!!

+ a 2010 recap and a 2009 recap

merry xmas

2011-12-23T19:02:00.002-05:00

We hope you have a very Merry Christmas (if you celebrate) and a Happy New Year!

We'll be back with stories from Paris & Morocco in January.

Alex & Mina

2010 card + 2009 card