In Paris...

Well, the agent said "come to Paris!" so we spent a million euros and did. Then he said "to be honest, I think the landlord is going to prefer the other couple who looked at it". And we said "oh". We didn't like to ask if he was going to make a donation to all the money we spent getting here, but we thought it.

So now we are sitting in our hotel room (because we have been walking around all day, which was very nice, but now we're tired and are having a break before going out to Chez Georges for drinks) and wondering how to handle this. My parents would say "We know! Forget Paris and move back to Dublin!", but we are not disheartened yet. What is bothering us now is how to time our move. If we don't get the fabulous (and it really was fabulous) Montparnasse apartment we saw today, should be abjure agents and their exorbitant fees altogether and do it on our own? We could. It would be a LOT cheaper, too - no agency fees, you see. But FUSAC, the expat magazine that has all the listings for apartments comes out on the 23rd of October and then the 7th of November. I would like to come here, take a short term place for a week or two and get the edition on the 23rd. John says we should get it on the 7th. A small quibble, and not really worth even discussing, but I feel disrupted and would like to be in here as quickly as possible and back to work, rather than dragging all our stuff to Ireland for a week and then dragging it all to a studio in Paris while we look for a real place. It would be mid-November before we were in somewhere and just the thought of it all exhausts me.

This was supposed to be a pretty post with pictures and macaroons, but all this is on my mind, so that's what you get to read about instead.

Consoling comments are much appreciated. Oh, and if you are an American lady who works on an oil rig and has an apartment in Paris she is trying to let, pick the Irish academic couple, please!

A kasbah in the mountains

We have just returned from wonderful Imlil, just south of Marrakech, tucked high in the Atlas mountains. After some brief squabbling about hiring a car, hiring a car and driver or getting the bus, I suggested getting a grand taxi all the way, and this is what we did, with remarkable ease and economy.

A little over an hour later we arrived at a fabulous little village arranged along a curving road - the end of the road, we discovered - after Imlil, you're into donkey tracks and little else when it comes to roads. We were met by a man from the Kasbah du Toubkaland led up a steep hill, along tracks winding through trees and rocks, eventually coming to this...







I will leave you to look at their website for more interior pictures of their lovely (but *very* overpriced) accommodation, but what really sells the the Kasbah has to be its unforgettable views, perched as it is on a hill surrounded by mountains with only a narrow gap, through which you eventually arrive back at Marrakech.





The air was crystal clear, it was windy and sunny and clambering through the rocky, tree-filled glades with grass (grass! in Morocco!) and small waterfalls and streams was positively heaven after months of urban centres, dust and traffic both in North Africa and Europe.

Advantages of guests continued...

It has to be admitted that we have developed the habit of hiding in our house most days, rather than going out and exploring, so having a guest here who we feel we must impress with a) our city and b) our casual confidence in navigating it has forced us out of our beloved house and onto the streets...

Yesterday we explored the northern medina - we saw alleys, gates, cinemas showing Arabic zombie movies and small boys taking unbaked bread to the district's communal oven. Today we are going to the Menara, and on Sunday we are going to Kasbah du Toubkal. We should have guests over more - this is great!

Essaouira again

We are still in Essaouira and have decided to stay an extra day because it is so lovely here - last time we were here, during the height of the hot weather in Marrakech, it was very cold indeed - extra blankets on the bed, heaters, wearing every scrap of clothing we had brought at once; this time it is breezy, sunny and warm and John and James have even been swimming (not something which would have held any appeal here last time).

My trips to Ireland and England were very very busy and exhausting - all the more so because our lives in Marrakech are so very quiet and relaxed. We get up in the morning, study, read, write and chat and sometimes venture out into Gueliz for lunch or a trip to the supermarket but that is pretty much it. This, of course, leads to a rather dull blog-reading experience for my readers, with anxious articles about shopping and interiors composed in an attempt to mask our Moroccan inactivity.

Of course, as I have mentioned, we have guests with us for the rest of the month and must at all costs hide from them the fact that we rarely leave the house if we do not absolutely have to, and must therefore bring them to all sorts of exciting places while casually pretending that this is what we always do. Oh if only they did not all actually read this blog. Still, whatever deception we practice on our guests, my family, friends and readers will have the satisfaction of a little variety when they come here to find out what I have been doing, starting with our few days here in Essaouira.

Yesterday the tide was in but John and James cheerfully stripped off and swam the short distance to the ruined fort that lies drunkenly on the beach here before coming back into town to eat grilled fish at the port, sleep it off and then go out for a long, slightly boozy dinner with a couple of bottles of excellent Moroccan vin gris at La Licorne, a fabulous and gorgeously located restaurant right under the sea-facing ramparts of the town. After a short conference with the chef at La Licorne, my husband had his first good tagine ever, which must surely endear Essaouira to him forever - John is vegetarian, an unnatural concept in this country and as a general rule resulting in the most boring food imaginable while I tuck into all sorts of fishy wonders. However, La Licorne had a meaty tagine on offer with all sorts of dry fruit and nut delights and the chef was applied to to adapt this for John and it was delicious, or so I was informed.

Today will involve more swimming, eating and sleeping, I imagine and when we are back in Marrakech and I am reunited with my computer I try to put up some photographs.

Essaouira again...

So sorry for my continued silence, my faithful readers (if there are any of you left). I got back from the UK very late after my flight was delayed in Gatwick. I didn't mind the delay too much as I was reading the gripping Atonement - go read it right now, if you have not already. I got home to be met by John and our friend James, who is staying with us for a couple of weeks and just about had enough energy for cocktails on our terrace before going out for dinner and afterwards falling into bed for a few short hours before leaving for our early bus for Essaouira, which is where I am now. However, my husband is standing over me as I write this, as we must leave immediately for a long walk on the beach, to which I am looking forward immensely, so I must go, but promise that I will be back if not later on today, then tomorrow morning.

Go read Atonement in the meantime.

I am here

Normal service will resume tomorrow.

Interrupted service

I'm going to London and then on to Cambridge today for a conference and will not have my trusty ibook with me, so there won't be much in the way of updates for the next few days. If I see an internet cafe I will pop in and do the needful, but I think you're just going to have to wait until I am back in pastures... well, pastures dusty on Thursday to hear from me again. In the meantime, you can amuse yourselves by thinking of the following...

Avoca (where I bought a pretty dress and necklace on Friday)

The Gate Theatre (where I saw Private Lives last night - indifferent performance, fabulous costumes as always from Patrick O'Brien, one of which is at the top of this post)

The Unicorn (where I had a delicious lunch with my parents on Thursday)