Workers of the world unite............

Yesterday was spent on the trail of old Karl with 2 comrades, Bob Treasure and Sue Brand, from Warrimoo on their Grand Tour. We met up in Baker Street where they are staying (Sherlock Holmes Museum just round the corner) and headed off to Highgate Cemetery as part of the pilgrimage....what a wonderful place...so neglected and overgrown....and crumbling stone angels everywhere (not on Marxist graves though).

Then, after a lovely lunch in the park across the road with squirrels aplenty, we set off to Soho for  an old abode of the Marx family in Dean Street (once very down at heel but now quite 'effluent') and then a couple of streets away to the site of the Red Lion pub (still a pub but with a name change) where Marx and Engels lectured upstairs circa 1874 and wrote the action programme for the Communist League which was the published in 1848 as the Communist Manifesto and of course as they say the rest is history!
Then off to central London via the tube and a brief visit to the National Gallery and a good Thai meal and a play Samuel Beckett's ' Krapp's Last Tape'...a rather short and depressing monologue starring the amazing Michael Gambon (a rather expensive 50 minutes but a rare treat to see the man in action...and 3 rows from the front).

Also this week Kew Gardens in full Autumn colour full of very busy squirrels adding to their winter hoard and back to the British Museum just because I can and certainly can't when I'm home......

This is the last blog as the plane leaves tomorrow evening and there will not be too much more to record...thanks for your comments and for putting up with me the last few weeks...looking foward to seeing you all again and for life to return to normal and for a change of clothes as I have been wearing the same 3 shirts and pairs of jeans the whole 10 weeks!

Adios,au revoir and good bye....Kath xo

Paris to London

The Louvre

 I spent another afternoon in the Louvre,in amongst the acres of Egyptian antiquities etc etc (you really need at least a week there to give it justice) and Ben had a rest in the hotel room and the remaining time we just hung out in Montmartre. Our train back to London through the channel tunnel on Saturday was only 2 hours and very comfy.
I have to say the only time we were not treated well the whole time in Paris was by the Pommy customs officer at Gare du Nord in Paris...he was downright rude and as Ben said "welcome to England"

Now back in London for the few days before the flight home on Thursday night.
The weather has changed dramatically since leaving here 4 weeks ago...it is definitely Autumn and just a little dreary at the moment as the sun is in short supply and it's very chilly (the sandals are definitely back in the suitcase). But as always there is so much to see...yesterday The William Morris Museum in Walthamstowe at the end of the tube run...of course when he lived there 150 years ago it was all green fields....now very suburban in the dreariest English sort of way although very diverse with a large immigrant population lots of kebab shops and Indian takeawayand even 2 hindu temples.

 A very extensive museum and lots of personal items and at times very moving..

I am looking foward to getting home to family and friends and the garden but will miss Ben very much
He has headed off to the doctor this morning to get some tests done and feels that it was something he caught in Spain.

Paris

We arrived here on Tuesday 21st September for 4 nights after a 3 hour flight from Marrakesh..yes everything is so close here...even Africa.
The change is a bit af a shock to the system but we are coping.....it is Paris after all!

Montmartre

Ben found us a cheap hotel online in a great spot just near a metro station in Montmartre so we are right in the middle of things. This is such a great area, well Picasso,Van Gogh,Renoir and Tolouse-Lautrec had it right...elegant apartment blocks line the steep streets, tree lined squares and lovely small shops selling the most exquisite pastries, fruit,cheese.wine and bread...what more could you want!

The French,despite what I had been told, are very friendly and generous and so so polite....it is a pleasure to be here amongst them....The language is not too  much of a problem as most speak a little English and are very accomodating.
So far we have been to the Louvre (it is enormous),Musee D'orsay and Musee Rodin and have glimpsed the Eiffel Tower on several occasions (hope to actually get to it today) and spotted the Arc de Triumph in the distance. It is such an elegant city with very grand boulevards and opulent public buildings and gardens. It is much more spread out than I expected but the metro is extensive (over 200 stations) and very very efficient.

We visited THE booksop on the left-bank opposite Notre-Dame....what a treat...great shop, great staff....

The downside to all this is that Ben has not been all that well since Granada and yesterday we had a dramatic exit from the Louvre in a French ambulance(nothing but praise for the French health system and the Louvre staff) as he was on the verge of collapse....a chronic stomach problem that needs to be addressed when he gets back to the UK...he has been pushing himself and has been told to rest...so he is stuck in the hotel until we leave tomorrow by train to London. So it has not been as easy as it seems ......

Kath

Morocco continued

We took a day trip out to the Atlas Mountains, in theory only an hours drive, but after numerous  photo stops where there was always a shop selling local wares or a man on a bicycle with a portable shop.(even though we said no shopping).it took a couple of hours. The mountains are very rugged and steep and covered in snow in winter which must be a sight to behold. We took  a walk to a waterfall up the side of a ravine...however the side of the track was covered in more shops selling everything from cooked tagines to fossils...not quite the wilderness experience we are used to.

The last day we wandered the streets looking for a palace we never found...but did locate the tomb of past rulers(Saadin Tombs) that had lay hidden (entrance blocked by the next ruler who had a grudge) for 300 years and was only discovered in 1916 by air....it would have been something in it's day when the carved ceilings were covered in gold and not overrun by 200 Italin tourists.

Then went to Yves Saint Laurent's garden Jardin Morelle..a riot of colour and exotic plants and a real haven from the heat and bustle of Marrakesh.....back through the souks to the riad and some much needed time out...it is a pretty challenging and exhausting place

Morocco

Ben arrived in Granada on Sunday(Maris went back to the UK the same day) and after a visit to the Alhambra we headed off on the Tuesday by bus to Algeciras on the Straits of Gibralta for the ferry to Tangier...this took all day and some of the night ...we arrived about 8pm..
Ben has been able to access cut price hotels for us along the way on his laptop...wi -fi seems to be everywhere..Morocco is no exception. So we have been living in style for not a lot of money!

Tangier was a busy port city...with a transient feel to it....but still the walk through the old medina the next morning was like stepping back in time and a shock to the senses....spice,herbs,veges and meat all crammed into narrow crumbling alleyways full of Moroccons in Arab dress...sat in the square drinking mint tea from a glass taking it all in. Now there is a mosque on every corner and the call to prayer echoes through the city via a multitude of  speakers set in the minarets.

Did a bit of a Beat trail as we had to wait until the end of the day for our train to Fez. So checked out the hotel where William Burroughs wrote 'The Naked Lunch' and was visited by Jack, Alan et al...and had a cuppa in the literary hangout The Cafe de Paris...frequented by Burroughs, Kerouac, Ginsberg, Capote and Tenessee Williams to name but a few.
The food has vastly improved in quality and price...tagines and Moroccan salads to die for

Arrived in Fez late at night and thanks to Ben's internet skills and lastminute.com we were amazed at the extravagance of the 300 year old riad (old upper middle class townhouses set around a tiled courtyard and fountains)we had welcoming us in Fez. Just step outside the door and the steet is full of rubble and rubbish and looks like all the rest.
The next day we took a guide with us to navigate the maze that is the medina...12,000 alleyways with no street names and crowded with people and donkeys...and mosques of course....a great experience...

Tanneries in Fez

Our riad  had a terrace on the roof with an amazing view of the whole medina and the call to prayer from mosque to mosque was almost deafening. The people are very friendly and helpful and we are managing to negotiate most things without any French or Arabic.

The next day we took a train (the trains are excellent and very modern...make ours look very second-rate) to Marrakesh and after a very long journey of 8 hours we managed to be ripped off by the taxi driver and porter in the first half hour...the guard is now up and we are now very careful....'very democratic price' holds no weight here!
Our riad is in the old part of the city on the edge of the medina and is very nice indeed (could be straight out of one of those Moroccan interiors books we have had at work)...again Ben's find , although the little Moroccan man who runs the place is a cross between Basil Fawlty and Manuel (not very helpful at all) no doubt because he works 14 hour days for not much pay ...

Djemaa el-Fna at dusk

We have to walk through the souks (market stalls) to get to the main square, Djemaa el-Fna, where it all happens..dance troups,snake charmers,acrobats,magicians,food stalls and hustlers....

Granada: The Alhambra

Finally we have made it to the bottom of Spain and The Alhambra it´s crowning glory....The hotel is a short walk up a steep hill to The Alhambra Palace and extensive gardens...so it´s very handy....
Once through the gates the temperature drops a few degrees as there is parkland and channels of water running in a torrent down to the river below.

The Islamic palace dating back 700 years has weathered well considering the changes that have occured in the history of Spain. It is very very beautiful, breathtaking in fact..even though much of the colour is gone from the interiors. The archways,fountain filled courtyards, delicate yet elaborate stucco covering the walls and the honeycombed ceilings are exquiste. Water fills the whole place in fountains and channels and pools and niches in each wall for water jugs each with it´s own poem or set of poems. Cool breezes fill the palace as it is open to the weather and was designed to have cross ventialtion so it a pleasure to be able to escape the hot summer heat. FANTASTIC!!!

The gardens are enormous and beautifully looked after..including the original 700 year old vege garden and orchard. Quite formal with lots of hedging encasing the flower beds and lots of water again flowing through fountains and ponds...just beautiful!!!
We were lucky enough to encounter an English speaking guide by chance in the Alhambra museum this morning whose knowledge was so extensive it really enabled you the visualise life in the palace under muslim rule....it made such a difference to have the meaning and context of the artifacts explained..(usually the commentary is in Spanish only and you don´t have a clue as to what is what.).

I hope spring is in full flight and the Labor Party can stop being poll driven and undemocratic and work with the greens and independants.

Sorry still no usb port to insert photos with... Kathie