Casablanca

So Sarah and I spent the entire next day in Casablanca. A goof-up in travel scheduling meant that our other roommates flights were the day after ours and we had a day to kill and hotel accommodations on someone else's buck.

We woke up in Casablanca on the 5th. I was surprised how early I woke up that morning (8:30). Before I left the States, it seemed everyone I knew was inclined to share their jet lag "horror stories". Actually, jet lag hasn't been that big of a deal.

Anyway...

Our breakfast at the hotel was free and it was tasty: milwi (pronounced "malawi" as in the African nation)- thick, oily pancakes with La Vache Qui Rit (more commonly known as Laughing Cow cheese :), tea, fresh-squeezed orange juice that was the best I've ever had (mine had seeds in it), and pain chocolat.

There was no way I was going to sit around the hotel all day long, so we got the hotel to hire a cab driver to take us around the city for a few hours. Our French must have left something to be desired because the hotel clerk commented "It's okay. You can speak in English". As it were, our cab driver-'Aziz'- didn't speak English so we had ample opportunity to enhance our French vocabulary.

We went a few places that I had no idea the significance of because of the whole language thing. But I took some pictures. Next, we went to the Hassan II mosque (more later) and walked around. Pretty impressive. We posed for a few pictures on the ocean. Aziz seemed to really like our cameras. We hopped along the coast by the beach clubs, hotels, and other stuff I had no idea what he was talking about. We went to some beautiful gardens, by the palace, down to the market, and to another mosque. He bought us roses at a flower market and almond pastries at a patisserie in the square.

It was the best $15 I've ever spent.