WEATHER: A pleasant 25C – can you believe it!!!!
HIGHTLIGHT OF THE DAY: Walking to The Majorelle Gardens and not getting into a sweat ball
BUMMER OF THE DAY: Nothing of note today
BUYS OF THE DAY: Nothing to note of today on this either
WORD OF THE DAY: Marrakech is DODGY
We had breakfast at a café next door to the hotel and for 2 pots of tea, an omelet and a chocolate croissant cost us 2.90AUD total!!! You really can eat cheap if you pick the right place!
So we had a pleasant walk to The Majorelle Gardens. It was so nice to not end up in a ball of sweaty mess going for the walk and Marrakech this morning really felt like a world away from yesterday. The gardens are a botanical garden and artist's landscape garden. It was designed by the expatriate French artist Jacques Majorelle in 1924, during the colonial period when Morocco was a protectorate of France. It is supposed to reflect 5 of the 7 continents and I could see this place would be a shady sanctuary from the hot Moroccan heat outside. We were lucky we didn’t need to rely on it today with the weather as it was. The garden has been open to the public since 1947. Since 1980 the garden has been owned by Yves Saint-Laurent and Pierre Bergé. After Yves Saint Laurent died in 2008 his ashes were scattered in the Majorelle Garden. It was a pretty cool place and had an awesome collection of cacti. The gardens felt like we had stepped out of Morocco, it was like an Oasis in the middle of a dusty and busy city.
After about an hour in the gardens we caught a taxi back to the hotel. The weather was a little overcast, so it blew my plans of swimming and working on my tan to smithereens, which I guess is a blessing in disguise to give my skin a break from the sun. So I decided to get some more office work done and download and upload pictures and organize my Bernstar jumps. It has been a while since I have loaded them. I also need to clear my C drive, as I am running out of space due to my photos, and I realized I have not backed them up on my portable hard drive since my second week in Russia 2.5 months ago. Boofhead, what’s the point of caring the hard drive if I’m not going to use it. So I now safely have my pictures saved on my portable hard drive. I still have the memory cards (which I won’t write over) and I have my pictures posted to Facebook. So I will need to now delete the photos off my computer, but it is still scary hitting that yes to ‘are you sure you wish to delete album’ – Ahhhhhhhhhh yes……….. I also checked my Gap Adventures trip I have booked for Ethiopia in October and it is now a guaranteed departure, so that was the last tour that had not been 100% confirmed. So that is a relief, but I was getting used to the idea of it being cancelled, visiting Addis Ababa for 4 nights and then getting extra time back in Europe, but back to the original plan is also a great outcome, as I now won’t have to change my flights, so I now have all tours confirmed and guaranteed till April 2012!!!
The afternoon was completed with a nana nap before meeting Susan at 7 for dinner. As we were walking out of the hotel, Annette and Jeff saw us, so we came back and had a vodka and lemon with the Foys before they joined us for PIZZA down the road from the hotel. Moroccan food is getting a rest. The pizza was delicious. We also saw Tony just before we left, so Michelle and Tony came down a little later and also joined us for dinner. 10 became 6, and tomorrow we all leave for our new destinations. As my flight was changed, it just dawned on Susan and I that we are now on the same flight from Marrakech to Lisbon, and then she continues on to Paris. So just when she thought she was rid of me, we will still be together for the next part of tomorrow as well. Sucker!!!
So the rest of the night will be getting my bags packed for airline travel tomorrow again. I have stream lined myself with no side pack now, and I know that I cannot go over 23kg for my main backpack, so here’s hoping for an easy check-in tomorrow with TAP Airlines. I do have a bargaining chip up my sleeve, since they cancelled my flight tonight, it has cost me extra money to stay in Marrakech one additional night, there was a 40AUD change fee for my accommodation in Lisbon and luckily enough I changed my transfer and day tour in the nick of time before change fees, but they don’t know that, so I will use all that as ammunition if they bat an eyelid at me being over their 20kg restriction.
Goodnight for the last time Morocco and Marrakech and thanks for a mild temperature on our last day xx
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