... sending postcards

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

2012-01-26T15:23:00.003-05:00

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

roomorama

2011-12-20T20:02:00.000-05:00

We've tried short-term apartment rentals in the past and loved the experience. It's nice to have the option to cook your own meals, if you'd like a break from eating out and, more importantly, they're usually less expensive. So, when Roomorama contacted us to let us know about their company and whether we were interested in writing about our experience using their service, it was a natural fit. We receive a lot of emails asking us to push products and usually decline, but the people at Roomorama are friendly, professional, and offer an enticing alternative to traditional accommodations, so we're happy to promote them. While Roomorama did sponsor our stay, this is an honest review and all opinions are our own.

It was easy to search for, and book a place using Roomorama. The accommodations were exactly as pictured on the site and there weren't any negative surprises - only pleasant ones in the way of a selection of flavoured teas and proximity to a grocery store. The owner of the apartment unit (in the 1st arrondissement) that we chose responded to any inquiries we had promptly - up to, and during, our stay in Paris.

The only minor inconvenience was having to bring a cash deposit with us. Fortunately, our host was very helpful and allowed us to give him the deposit in Canadian dollars so that we didn't have to waste money exchanging it to, and from, Euros.

We would absolutely use Roomorama again. If you're planning a trip, we would recommend searching your destination on the site just to see what's available.

rain

2011-12-18T11:36:00.002-05:00

There's a scene in 500 Days of Summer that is just perfect; it's about expectations vs. reality. I try to live by a "hope for the best and expect the worst" kind of attitude but usually just end up omitting the last bit and that sometimes leads to disappointment. So, when I saw that the weather forecast read heavy rain for our time in Paris, I hoped it would be wrong and that there would just be a light drizzle... but I bought a coat with a hood (that was my "expect the worst"). The weather was horrendous. I had pinned out every point for every place I wanted to go on a google map and figured out how much time it would take for each. When we arrived at our accommodations, I was so cold and damp that I sat by the heater for nearly an hour nursing a cup of too hot tea. So, we didn't stick to my schedule; we abandoned it.... and had an amazing time despite the weather. When I was younger, I might have sulked and missed out, but we made the most of the city. And as they so often do, The Beatles ~~said~~ sang it best in their song about rain "it's just a state of mind".

-Mina

paris demain!

2011-12-13T14:00:00.003-05:00

Tomorrow, we're headed to Paris for a few days before our Morocco trip.

I can't wait to be reunited with tea from Ladurée, the beautiful architecture, and the Eiffel Tower.
I'm also looking forward to sharing new adventures.
~

Photo of a little souvenir key chain we picked up from a street vendor during our first trip to Paris together.

travel gift guide - under $50

2011-12-12T01:58:00.002-05:00

1// Art Inspired by Travel - It's always nice to have things to remind you of your favourite places. This watercolor print from Jessica's Little Shop of Illustrations is cute and reminds me of the times I spent in London.

2// Clothing Steamer - I strongly dislike ironing, and you probably do too :)

3// Portable Speaker Dock for your iPhone or iPod - One thing we missed during our travels was listening to music. Although we had out entire iTunes library on our macbook, the speakers weren't great. On flights we would usually watch movies and TV shows. This would be great to have for those hotel room dance parties.

4// Life - If you were a fan of BBC's Planet Earth, you'll love Life. This series would inspire wanderlust in anyone and is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen on TV. The original UK series is narrated by David Attenborough, but if you miss Oprah's voice, you can get the version that aired on the Discovery Channel, narrated by her!

5// An Entire Season of Any Show - I think I watched more TV, movies, and documentaries while we were traveling than I have in my entire life. Those plane/bus/train rides go by so quickly if you have hours of entertainment loaded onto your iPod.

6// Boxed Set of Wallpaper City Guides - These aren't the most practical travel guides, but they're not trying to be the next lonely planet. What they lack in depth, they make up for in glossy photos of boutique hotels, trendy restaurants, and unique stores... plus, they're cute.

*see the under $20 travel gift guide here

big bang

2011-12-06T15:18:00.001-05:00

The Big Bang exhibit opened at the Montreal Museum of Fine arts a few weeks ago so we went to check it out. The exhibit consists of 16 installations by several visual artists. Arguably, the strangest installation was a room full of stacked plastic lawn chairs, somewhat pretentious but still kind of cool - maybe just because it's so absurd.

My favourite was a room full of bean bag chairs that you could sit in to admire the floor-to-ceiling murals. (I didn't snap any photos, but there are some good ones here).

I also loved Jeannot Painchaud's installation entitled Souffle et reminescence. Videos, that looked like holograms from a sci-fi movie, of dancers, gymnasts, and trapeze artists were projected on large panels in a dark room with eerie music playing in the background. The exhibit is on now through to January 22nd and if you're in Montreal you should definitely have a look for yourself.

travel gift guide - under $20

2011-11-30T22:53:00.002-05:00

Since the holidays are fast approaching, I thought it might be fun to do a series of little gift guides at different price points. Here are a few items that I'd love to see in my stocking. Perhaps this will help you cross an item or two off the list for the traveler in your life.

1// Moleskine - I've rarely left the house without my Moleskine for the last 5+ years. I've been holding onto it as my primary way of planning and have yet to move into the digital age. I like the idea of using these notebooks to make a travel comic like the author of French Milk, Lucy Kinsley, did.

2// Penguin Classics Luggage Tag - A few travel themed titles on luggage tags, based on the well designed book covers.

3// Tazo Tea - A hotel I stayed at in Europe was charging 3 euros for a tea bag, and tea was difficult to find in Spain. I like loose-leaf tea at home, but while abroad, I now make sure to throw a few packets into my purse.

4// Luna Bars - These bars are so great when you're stuck in an airport and all you can find are overpriced vending machines. They're 70% organic and don't use artificial flavors, colors, or preservatives. I try my best to eat healthy on travel days so that I can feel as fresh as I possibly can after getting off of a stuffy airplane.

5// Muji Linen Ballet Slippers - I have the worst circulation and my feet are always freezing. A lot of B&Bs in Mexico, Central & South America have tiled floors, so they'd be cold even in the summer. These wouldn't take up too much space in your luggage and would keep your toes warm.

6//Bossypants by Tina Fey - I listened to the audiobook instead of reading the actual book. It made metro rides and grocery shopping go by so quickly, and Tina Fey reads it, so you get to hear all of her impressions. I can't imagine that reading it would have been better than listening to her tell the stories herself. I plan on loading up my iPod with a ton of audio books for my upcoming 8 hour flight - recommendations are always welcome!