After we almost went to the mosque, we headed to Ain Diab – a beach area lined with restaurants.  On the way Ben announced from the front of the bus that we were going to the area where the “rich bastards” go.  As Gia and Ben were discussing the use of the word, I heard Nic pipe up from the back of the bus – “We’re going to the area where the rich ambassadors go!”  Pretty soon all of the kids were talking about the rich ambassadors.  I don’t think we saw any, but I’m sure they were there. 

After doing a little postcard shopping we stopped for lunch.  I sent Ben down ahead of our party of 15, to make sure they served food.  They did, and the menu looked fine – pizza, paninis, brochettes, etc.  Except that they couldn’t make pizza, or brochettes, or most of the other things on the menu.  And they were out of Diet Coke.  Oh well…we’re in Morocco.  Paninis for all!  Except Adlani who ate a crepe spread with Nutella, which he would not touch at home.  Progress!

After lunch, Dani (our driver) took us to see a few other Casablanca landmarks…the king’s palace (with historical narration by Ben), an area of shops that we were too tired to shop at, and Place Mohammed V.  Ben and I have visited this small park before.  It has a fountain in the middle that is always covered with hundreds (thousands?) of pigeons. 

As we strolled around the park doing some people watching, I noticed small areas cordoned off: 

I finally realized that each small area was controlled by a photographer, who would call a bunch of pigeons into his area by scattering corn, and then take your photo for a fee.  The funny thing about Morocco is that when someone has an idea, everyone jumps on the bandwagon.  How many pigeon photographers does one park really need?  Someday I’m going to bring some fresh new products to Morocco – I already have lemonade, chocolate chip cookies, and seedless watermelon on my list.

In the park we had our first diapered monkey sighting, some water seller and horse photo ops, and something I have not seen before – colored chicks for sale for 10 dirhams each (less than a dollar).  Very strange and probably cruel to the chicks, but the kids were fascinated and promptly broke rule number 42 AGAIN (don’t touch the animals).  Until one chick made a leap for freedom and apparently broke his leg – off.  So sad.

We’re off to Marrakech tomorrow!

This morning we left home at 9:30 and rode to Casablanca in the mini-bus to go on a tour of the Hassan II mosque.  Unfortunately, today is the anniversary of the king’s coronation (who knew?), and the mosque was closed to tours.  This was not unexpected – there are no guarantees when it comes to making plans in Morocco, or most of Africa for that matter, but it was still a little disappointing.

Here are a few stats on this mosque:

• largest mosque in Africa, 7th largest in the world
• tallest minaret in the world – 689 feet (6o stories)
• completed in 1993
• lasers on top of the minaret point toward Mecca
• can accommodate 25,000 worshippers inside and 80,000 outside
• has a glass floor over the Atlantic, and a retractable roof
• construction cost is estimated at 585 million Euro (almost 800 million dollars)

Some photos from the exterior…

Nic looking through the keyhole:

The pattern on the door:

This light fixture is at least 4′ tall:

I’m fascinated by this inside corner with the perfect zelij pattern:

A close-up of zelij:

Ben and the kids on the rocks next to the mosque:

We may try to go back for a tour at some point if the schedule allows.  It’s definitely worth the (second) trip.

First of all, the Jobinoffems are here!!! 

Second, we have a small problem.  We don’t know what time it is.  The problem didn’t come to light until this morning – the first time since we arrived that the time actually mattered.  Can you imagine not needing to know what time it is for 4 days?? 

We were discussing what time to leave for the airport and we realized that the time had changed on our iPhones, so we were 5 hours ahead of the US rather than 4.  I checked online and found some websites that said it was 4 hours later here and some that said it was 5.  I asked my niece, and she said it was the time on my iPhone.  Ben asked his brother-in-law, and he said it was one hour earlier.  I ended up watching the flight on flightaware.com, and when it got over Spain we drove to the airport. 

Apparently there is a time change coming on August 2nd, but somehow our phones have changed early.  We are being picked up tomorrow at 9:15 a.m…or is it 8:15 a.m…or 10:15 a.m.?  I’m confused.  Is it possible that all of the iPhones in Morocco and many websites are wrong?  I guess we’ll just embrace the Moroccan “makayn mooshkeel” (“it’s not a problem”) and hope for the best. 

Tomorrow’s itinerary includes a trip to Casablanca by mini-bus, to see the Hassan II Mosque and some other Casablanca landmarks.  Today’s post-airport events included a delicious meal of couscous with beef, a nap, a trip to the beach for the boys and Norah (the girls were sleeping), a lot of window-watching, and feeding the cats.  So far, so good.

Today was the last day of Ramadan, and we all fasted.  Each family member’s motivation was different.  Ben, of course, has been fasting all month, including the days we spent traveling to Morocco (he could have been excused because of the travel).  At this point I think he is actually enjoying the fast on some level – I know he loves to break the fast with his sisters and their families.  For me, it is uncomfortable for Ben’s family to be cooking food for us when I know they can’t eat.  I’d rather fast along with them, even though I’m not Muslim.

Aliya fasted yesterday along with her 13YO cousin, Amine.  Kids are supposed to start fasting once they reach puberty.  There was a possibility that yesterday was the last day (the beginning and end of Ramadan are based on moon sightings), but when we found out that there was one more day, Ben convinced Aliya to fast again.  Adlani saw that Aliya got to sleep all day yesterday, and he had to go on the 5-mile walk.  So he fasted today so he had an excuse to lay around and do nothing all day.  Oy.  Norah noticed how much praise Aliya got for fasting yesterday, so she decided to fast today.  About an hour after she woke up she bent the rules and had a cookie, but after that she fasted for the rest of the day.

If you have questions about Ramadan, there are some answers on this blog post.

The day’s activities consisted of a trip to Marjane (the supermarket), and a few other errands.  There are lots of photos from a previous visit to Marjane on this blog post from our last trip.  My brother-in-law Aziz drove us on our errands so we didn’t pass out from hunger while walking downtown.  Ben brought some gloves and a mask for the guy who polishes metal with his bare hands (his picture is here), so we dropped those off and promised to bring our friends back later to shop.

As we were driving through town I saw smoke off in the distance and asked what it was.  Ben and Aziz said that it was trash burning, but as we got closer we realized that there was a pretty good brush fire going.  The fire department showed up to put it out.  One truck with a water tank, 4 guys with a hose.  We didn’t stay to see whether they ran out of water before they got it under control, but they were actually doing a decent job, given the circumstances.  It’s a good thing structure fires are not common here, which is surprising considering some of the cooking methods.

The Jobinoffems are currently on a plane to Paris, and we will pick them up in Casablanca tomorrow afternoon.  I hope they’re ready for instantaneous Moroccan immersion!