Here's Looking at You, Kid

Oh boy! This weekend was a whirlwind of adventure. We clambored on the bus early Saturday and headed west! First stop was Casablance, a modern city and the industrial hub and main port of Morocco. The beach was beautiful, and palm trees lined the French-style streets. The most tourist stop in Casablanca was at the Hassan II Mosque, on of only a few mosques in the world that allows non-muslims to visit the interior. It was erected partially over the ocean and boasts the highest religious minaret in the world (200 meters). Construction of the mammoth mosque took 6 years (1987-1993) and 12,500 craftsmen and workers. The mosque covers 20,000 square meters. That's about 215,278 square feet for you Americans.

That night I visited a book store and bought some French classics and a Moroccan cook book, had a complete meal for under 3 dollars, a large bowl of ice cream for more than I paid for my dinner, and watched as a man tipped over an escargot table in anger. That evening, accompanied by a few friends, we went out in search of Rick's Cafe. In case you don't know, Rick's is the bar from the movie "Casablanca", and eventhough "Casablanca" was filmed entirely in Hollywood, there is a knock-off bar for suckers like me who feel they "have to" at least see it! We had to get two cabs to take us, and it turned out that neither of the cabs knew where Rick's was. By the end of the trip, Julie and I were in the back of our car singing "Que sera, sera" and interjecting with "C'est la vie!" They finally, I think out of exasperation, dropped us off in front of a castle-like building and insisted it was Rick's. We climbed the stairs to find a deserted restaurant, that looked nothing like the Rick's in the movie. After getting directions from a nice young Moroccan girl, we were able to find our way to the cafe. Though it wasn't an exact replica from the movie, it was very fun and fancy. They had some fake gambling tables to sit at, and a piano in the middle of the first level, that was playing "the song" as we sat down upstairs around a small table and ordered cocktails. There was a television that was playing the movie silently, and we talked and sipped our cocktails to the sound or our very own "Sam", every now and then laughing at the representation of Casablanca in the movie-monkey's sitting on lamp posts, and everything so spotlessly clean...

The next day we headed to Rabat. We saw some of the old quarters, some roman ruins, the burial site of the past two kings, and had free time to wander the medina and visit the beach. The beach in Rabat was quite different from the beach in Casablanca. The beach in Rabat was made up of rocky cliffs. We hiked around on the rocks, tried to pry snails off of the rocks, and even made friends with one of the Moroccan fishermen. On the way back to the bus, I needed a bathroom break, and Olivia accompanied me to a gas station where the men were nice enough to let me use their facilities. When I came out Olivia mouthed, "I told them you're married."

The man proceeded to ask me, to verify my friend's story. I nodded in agreeance, and he asked where my ring was. Then he asked my husband's name, to which I replied Monsieur Skoy. I don't have too much of an imagination when put on the spot! We were able to get away from the station without any dates or proposals and even managed to find the bus eventually!

It was a very fun weekend, one that had me saying, "play it again, Sam."