mrose
madison rose Joined: September 25th 2006
Logged in: September 6th 2010
Logged in: September 6th 2010
I'm currently studying and traveling in France. Well, that’s a bit of an understatement. I'm learning a lot about France and French, great cheeses never pasteurized, wine, dancing until my hair is soaking wet and beautiful rain showers and glorious road trips in the country side. I'm learning bits of Spanish and Finnish, and how to doge the inevitable puddles of poop that litter my adorable town's streets. In theory, I am learning International business, but more, I'm learning that everything in France requires twenty sheets of paper work and a long lunch over a bottle of wine. To be romantic, in a place where poetic license is to be expected, I am learning about living freely and without inhibitions of remorse. I'm learning to leave things up in the air, and learning the necessity of those pesky quinze minutes de France.
Travel Blog Posts
Hi everyone, I just writing update, because it's been along time. Everything has been a bit busyand a little hectic with school starting, exams (already!!!) and travel planning (I'm thinking Lyon, Budapest, etc). The weather is wonderful - sunny, and beautiful 15°C everyday! I have been eating French foods - cheeses, wines and pork, pork, pork! Anyways, I should have new photos and new adventures to write about in depth soon. All my love, Madison... read more
Here are the photos from the return journey from Maroc. Update, I start school tomorrow and I am settled in my new apartment! Spent time in the spa on Friday and spent the weekend at Ludo's dad's place int he country over the weekend. It's warm and sunny here, real spring weather. Love to all!... read more
Ludo
Here are the photos of Clermont-Ferrand I took on Christmas Eve but forgot about until now! Enjoy! ... read more
So this is a photo update, I know, there have been a lot but I have been occupied with these photos for a lllllllooooonnngggg time. I have dedicated upwards of 60 hours to trying to get these photos up, and they are coming along. A few notes on the Morocco photos: 1) Photos are courtesy of me (of course), but also Ludo, Kouider, and Antoine from the trip. 2) Some how the photos from Marrakech ended up in the Agadir entry, and vice versa. 3) Note that there is some graphic content in the photos of Marrakech, in the Agadir entry, due to Eid and photos of the feast! Here in Vichy, it has become quite cold, snowy and icy, though I know I will get no sympathy because it was 17°C up until a week ... read more
I left off as our journey into the Sahara began. Half an hour into the desert our 4x4 broke down. It took about 20 minutes to fix, do to the magical appearance of two dirt bike riders who helped us out. We travelled through Dra'a towards the Algerian border. The desert is large and sweeping, but not all of it is like the orange sand dunes you see on tv. A lot of it is flat dry land with small shrubs and scattered volcanic rocks. Though I asked everywhere, no one could tell me where the rocks came from. There is also evidence of life- tracksin the ground from birds, snakes, lizards, the remains of goat bones and food waste frol human camps; camel droppings. Anyways, an hour of driving later brought us the what could ... read more
food plates
Agadir, what a beautiful drive for 7 hours of perfect panoramas, and endless breaking waves of the Atlantic Ocean. It was so mesmerizing no one said many words at all. We stopped in Safi and Essouara, where we dropped of an English guy we had met in Casa. The land was flatter than I had expected, too flat. Salt flats littered the ride from to Safi and the strong spelled of potassium filled the air around the city. Agadir is a tourist town. One that has long been trapped in the spell of vacation packages and sun burnt Europeans that travel a thousand miles to sit in French cafés and look at a vista no different than those of the North Mediterranean, or for that matter, Florida or the Caribbean. Its a place over run with ... read more
Fixed Prices, a rarity
Marrakech is one of the Imperial cities of Morocco, and has a palace on the edge of the Medina, though like all Moroccan Palaces occupied by the king, you can't see the palace, just the giant gate around it. We arrived in Marrakech the night before Eid and the city was crowded. Smoke from barbecues made the air thick and my eyes blurry. It seems many people travel from the North of Morocco to Marrakech for Eid and the Medina is so packed its hard to move. We get lost and tired, and it takes us forever to find where we are going. After freaking out at each other, we find a hotel and set out for food. There is a large square in the center of the Medina, and at night, a hundred kiosk set ... read more
Herding on the Mountain
Somewhere between the High Atlas Mountains, and their snow covered caps, Antoine poisoned me with tap water. I will get back to that in a couple minutes. At 2750m, we stopped to take pictures and that turned into a snow ball fight. The road to Ouarzazate looks like a three year old scribbled on the map, and every 15 seconds you make a sudden turn along the side of a giant mountain. Every five minutes a medieval bus of the Moroccan transit system tries to run you off the road. Four hours later, we find ourselves in Ouarzazate. Kouidre and I are looking worse for wear and after getting to the hotel, Kouidre begins to sleep for 20 straight hours. Antoine, Ludo and I eat at a café and return to the room early for some ... read more
Shortly after we left Ouarzazate, I started to get a chilling feeling in my gut. My head began to spin and the road was bumpy. I started to think that a late night trek into the Sahara might not be the best idea ever conceived. I open the window, clawing for fresh air. I was nauseated and weak, but not wanting to be a baby, sat in the back seat staring out at the darkness and wondering where the sand dunes were. I didn't see any and I worried about how long we would drive into the night. We passed Zagora and veered away from civilization. I kept quiet, with my eyes out the window looking for a nice, quiet, dark place to die alone. I started to think, what have we done? I am dying ... read more
We arrived in Casablanca on a sunny afternoon, Boxing Day, after travelling 30hrs through France, Spain and on a very rocky boat across the Strait of Gibraltar. The city is expansive and modern, with white sky scrapers and cars. Cars, cars, cars, two million cars all madly beeping their horns. Their are donkeys and slums too, and all of them have satellite dishes or antennas. For us, its all a blur, weak legged from sitting so long and choking on the pollution we drive around forever before finding Sidi and Antoine and dropping our bags at the hostel. Then, we dove right into the Medina, to the shops and smells. We ate sunflower seeds, cracking the shells in our teeth and spitting them out. We took the car out of the Medina for ice cream near ... read more
