A Sprinkle of Gratitude

Today we explored Fes. We started in the World Heritage listed medina in the city. We went to a museum where the documents of independence from France were signed. We then went to look at the entrance to the Royal Palace.

A Birdseye view of Fes.

We visited mosques, schools and souks for the remainder of the day. In the souks we visited a ceramic factory, a tannery and a weaving factory. It was amazing. We walked down tiny narrow streets , walked through low little doorways and into relatively large artisan factories.

The tannery

The weaving factory.

We had a lovely meal in a traditional restaurant in Fes before falling into bed at our lovely hotel.

We spent the morning in Casablanca. I am so spoilt. I have three men looking after me. My beautiful husband, our driver Rashid and our guide Elaziz. We left our hotel Hotel Le Doge which was like an oasis in the middle of the city. We were too nervous to venture out on to the streets last night so stayed in and had room service – a club sandwich!
Our first stop was a photo opportunity in front of the restaurant the film Casablanca was filmed in.

Our next stop was Hassan 2 Mosque. This was finished in 1993 and only took 6 years to build. It was built by King Hassan 2. The reason it was built so quickly was the work was carried out 24 hours a day seven days a week. We are visiting Morocco during Ramadan which means it was very quiet in the morning when we visited. By sunset this Mosque has 25000 Muslims praying in and around it. Everything in the Mosque is amazing – 57 Venician glass chandeliers, the roof opens so the Muslims praying don’t get too hot, the doors are made from Titanium and the floor is marble.

The washing area and baths under the Mosque.

After visiting the Mosque we drove to the Corniche. A long strip of seaside pools and restaurants – again this was very quiet due to Ramadan.

We also visited the Old Medina and one of the markets.

We then drove four hours to Fez where we are staying for the next two nights. The drive was on highways that were pretty good. It was a big surprise when our driver had to stop suddenly for a mule on the highway!
Our hotel in Fez is Riad Fes another oasis in a busy dusty town.
The view from the rooftop of our hotel.

We flew from Bordeaux to Morocco today. The next part of our adventure starts here in Casablanca. We are spending 7 nights in Morocco. We made it to the hotel safely. I will try and take a photo of the traffic in Casablanca in the morning…it is quite nuts! We had lunch on the roof of our hotel and the photos are the roof garden and the surrounding area.

We have had sleepy mornings on Sunday and Monday and visited wineries in the afternoon. I have learnt much about Bordeaux wines. I have learnt about grapes, soils, the climate, the process, vats, barrels and the different nuances of the wine makers. I have also learnt much about who decides what wine is supposed to be the best. The most important thing I have learnt about drinking this wine is choose wine that tastes good regardless of others opinions.

Today we had a big day. We did a walking tour of the Landmarks of Bordeaux and then we went out to the countryside. The Landmarks Tour we did was done by the same company that we did the market tour with – Bordeaux Walking Tours. They do walking tours that include landmarks, wine in the city, gourmet food, the farmers market and a customs tour. The owner is American and very knowledgeable. I love listening to the French speaking but it was refreshing to listen to someone speaking English.
David before the tour.

The longest pedestrian street in Europe – Rue St Catherine.

The Opera House.

The Mayor of the city has worked very hard to make the centre of Bordeaux more beautiful and a pedestrian oasis. He has been instrumental in the development of tram system and he strongly encouraged individuals to clean their buildings. This is an example of a building that has not been cleaned next to a clean building.

An example of a street that has had three different names during history – during the reign of the king, during the time of the French Revolution and the final name in blue is the name of a major of the city.

Our afternoon was spent tasting some beautiful reds and exploring the town of Saint Emilion.

We finished our day in the most fantastic bar I think I have ever been in – beautiful architecture, many many wines by the glass at extremely good prices and very yummy small tasting plates. The name of the bar is Le Bar au Vin.

Today is Thursday . We travelled from Champagne to Bordeaux today on the TGV. It was a 6 hour journey . We spent the afternoon exploring the old city. We had dinner at a restaurant called Petite Commerce which specialized in seafood. We had oysters, prawns, winkles and other delicious seafood with lots of bread and butter. I am in heaven in France because it is a country that loves butter, the butter is heavenly and I love butter!
On Friday we did a walking tour of the farmers markets and spent the afternoon exploring more of the city. The walking tour of the markets was fantastic. We learnt lots about the local produce. One interesting fact that I discovered – It is illegal in France to genetically modify food. It was wonderful to spend time just wandering with David in the afternoon.

We had another day in the Champagne region today.
We started the day visiting the Reims Cathedral. It had been damaged terribly during the First World War. The photos of the devastation to the Cathedral and surrounding area were very sobering and I found more upsetting than the visit we had last year to Hiroshima. The cathedral felt full of sad souls to me. Hiroshima in contrast was terribly tragic but very peaceful.

We then visited the Verve Clicquot and Pommery Champagne Houses. Verve Clicquot has always been my favourite champagne and it didn’t disappoint. The tour in this house was very good and again we visited the crayeres . Our guide was very informative. The Champagne House was lovely but I didn’t think it was as elegant as the Champagne House of Moët and Chandon. We had a glass of the Grande Dame Verve Clicquot and it was very yummy. We have never seen the Grande Dame Champagne in Brisbane and we shall now look for it. Our bags are too small to bring any home with us.

Our next visit was Pommery. This house seemed much more commercial and touristy. Our tour here was also very good. The special thing about this tour was not the champagne but the art in the crayeres. This was a passion of Madame Pommery and although the house is now part of a much larger commercial operation the house still continues to have contemporary art exhibitions in the crayeres. Madame Pommery also had many frescoes carved into the chalk in the crayeres that are still there. When they were done there was no electricity so they would have been done by candlelight.
All the houses we visited were so different and all had many stories attached to them.
We finished our day with a very very special meal in Le Parc Restaurant which is part of our hotel. It is a Two Star Michelin restaurant and I would love to have taken photos. I am sure the staff would not have minded but it seemed a very inelegant way to behave in such an elegant place.

We left Paris today. We were picked up at 830am and made our way to the Champagne region. It was a day learning about how Champagne was made and drinking beautiful Champagne! We visited three Champagne houses.
The first one was Henri Giraud. It was a medium sized Champagne House that made about 18000 bottles per year. We had lunch in a lovely restaurant in Epernay. After lunch we visited Moët and Chandon and had a private tour which finished with a very beautiful glass of 2004 Dom Perignon. On this tour we visited some of the wine crayeres. These wine crayeres are tunnels underneath the ground that are carved out of the chalk and go for many kilometers. At Moët and Chandon they have 28 kilometers. Moët and Chandon produce 26 million bottles of champagne per year. The Dom Perignon we had was the most beautiful Champagne and one that you could drink with food not just as an aperitif. We were served this Champagne in a normal wine glass so that we were able to appreciate the flavour and aroma.

Our next stop was the smallest Champagne House in the region. This Champagne House was in a persons home ! It’s name was Jean-Claude Mouzon and they produced 3000 bottles per year. The owner opened her garage door and we learnt about their process. We even got to walk down the spiral stairs and see where the wine was stored during fermentation. This Champagne was also very good and the owners were very passionate about their work.
The formation of Champagne is such a complex process. The special areas the grapes come from are very important. The fermentation process and the way the champagne is stored are quite complex. I have a much greater respect for real Champagne now and I will not describe Australian Sparkling wine as Champagne!
A panoramic view of the champagne area.

Our day finished by being driven to our room for the night.

Today is Monday and our last day in Paris. Everyone was well rested after having a quiet day yesterday. Today is Bastille Day! Our hotel is very close to the Champs Élysées so we wandered out to have a look at the Bastille Day Parade. There were lots of people and lots of military. It seems the French wanted to show off their military vehicles and aircraft. There were fly overs all morning. One fly over had smoke coming from the planes in formation that formed the French Flag.

Although it was interesting watching parts of the parade we also wanted to make the most of our last day. We walked from our hotel to the Conciergerie which took us three hours and although slow we all enjoyed the walk and the galleries we walked past . The Conciergerie was a palace originally but converted into a jail during the French revolution and was the place Marie Antoinette was kept before she was executed. It was hard to imagine cutting off a Queen’s head.
After visiting the Conciergerie it was time to go back to the hotel and get ready for another trip to the airport with the children. We again gave ourselves a lot of time and we were ready for a fight. David was very prepared and had worked very hard to ensure our children would be allowed to travel. They were allowed on the plane this time ( not without a few terse words!). I am very proud of the way the children behaved during this whole time and I am very relieved that they are now safely home in the Gap with very very relieved grandparents.

Once we had confirmation from Nicholas that they were all sitting safely on the plane David and I made our way to the Moulin Rouge. We were not quite sure if we would make it on time. We did and it was a very fun night. The show was amazing and our meal was very delicious. We sat with four Aussies who were on holidays for 15 weeks! They were staying in accomodation that was $23 per night. I am sure whoever is going to pay for the stuff up with the children’s flights wished we were staying in accomodation worth $23 / night!!

It rained all day today in Paris. The children had a big sleep in and then we all went out for a short walk to get breakfast. After our stressful evening the night before David and I were unable to convince anyone to sightsee. Instead we all snuggled up in our hotel room together, closed the curtains and watched a movie. Even though we did no sightseeing it was a very precious day and one that made us all realize how unpredictable travel can be and how special being together is. The children had room service for tea and settled down to watch the last game of the soccer World Cup and David and I had a beautiful meal in the restaurant of the hotel.