So March was relatively lowkey until the very end... when I went to Morocco for the weekend! I went to Fez, which while it's not the capital of Morocco, it's got a very famous medina [or market]. In fact, the medina of fez is the largest unmapped area in the world, with as many as 50,000 streets. I, for one, wouldn't doubt this. Our hotel is amazing, it was this super cool old villa which had been converted into hotel for tourists, but still had amazing fountains in the courtyard and mosaics. The medina is huge, and it is very much NOT a culture sight which caters to tourists. In fact, for every tourist in the medina, there was at least 10 moroccans. They sell everything in there too, from camel meat to rose water, to the traditional fez. I only spent 140 euros for the whole weekend, and that included my hotel, all my food, transport to and from the airport and every stupid souvenir I bought [including my not so stupid leather hand bag :)]. So now you're wondering, photos? Well I have a ton up on flickr, and frankly it's easier to send those interested to flickr because uploading photos always screws up the format on the blog.
Click Here for pictures!
Anyway, I had a few days at school before Spring Break! My spring break was pretty relaxing, eventhough I did travel a fair bit. I went to England for Easter and the first week of break. I saw Hastings [a beach town], Lullingstone Roman Villa and Hever castle which is where Anne Boelyn grew up. After that, I went to Amsterdam for a couple days to meet up with some friends, and I went to the Rijksmuseum and the Van Gogh Museum, the Heineken Experience and wandered around the city a great deal. This is the second time I've been to Amsterdam, and I think it's such a beautiful city. It's a shame it's only really known for prostitutes and weed, given that the canals and the beautiful houses are so wonderful to enjoy! Not to mention all the flowers and the rich history of the city. After my weekend in Amsterdam, I went to Paris for a few days, but because of the train strikes, I was unable to see the gardens at Giverny - what I was REALLY looking forward to! - and the weather was pretty dismal, but I made the best of it, and went to Versailles, the garden of Luxembourg and all around Montmarte. Oh well, I guess I'm not too bothered because I'll go to Paris again, and I feel like the more sights in Paris proper I see now, the more I can focus on just traveling the rest of the north of France when I come back.
Anyway, I arrived back in Aix the day before the volcano erupted! What luck, right? I was taking a train anyway, but it was a very good coincidence anyway, given how packed the trains reportedly were after the volcano grounded flights - some tickets were over 700 euros! Since then, I've just been in Aix, preparing and taking exams. I leave France May 30th! How crazy!
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