CasaByeBye to ParisBonjour

A final coffee and tea was required before we excused ourselves from Morocco. At a cafe down the street Tim attempted to order a coffee but received a cup full of steamed milk. Fearing confrontation he sipped on his hot beverage until the waitress eventually returned. Casually pointing out the miscue the server left slightly embarrassed then returned with a something that resembled coffee. It was fitting that our last transaction was complete with language barrier issues. 

As we left I spotted the soccer ball in the back of the car. We had parked near the medina gate and there was a group of children near by so we opened the window and handed them the ball. A young boy went to grab it but then his older sister pushed him to the side and took the ball. They thanked us and we were on our way.

We left Casablanca 4 ours before our plane departed. As we pulled onto the main street we were presented with the traffic jam to end all traffic jams.

This ended up sucking up a huge amount of the time we had allotted. Tim was not the calmest I have ever seen him and was yelling at the other cars. I was still fairly confident we would make it with time to spare.

Sure enough we finally poked our way through the congestion and were on our way to the airport with just enough time to return the car. This turned out to be a confusing process as the rental agent blamed Tim for loosing the papers he was never given. Even without the papers we were able to return the car fairly quickly. 

  

The lines to check in were fairly short and we got our travel documents in no time. I had 3 flights and 27 hours of travel. Tim had 4 with 30 hours of travel. 

A third of these hours were attributed to an 11 hour layover we both were to have in Paris. Not wanting to spend the night in the airport Tim attempted to arrange plans with his friend Kealan who currently resides in the city of love. The plan was to meet Kealan at 10 pm at his workplace. Being that we were to land at 8:30 and had no way of contacting him once we landed we had to move quickly. The flight was pretty smooth and we didn't have a lot of issues other than Tim's small bladder. 

After landing we quickly made it through customs and found our way to the metro. We figured out the correct train and ticket combination but when we attempted to make our purchase we were denied. Turns out that these ticket machines only accept European credit cards or coins so our paper Euros were worthless.  

A small voice emerged from behind us and a young Asian woman took the helm and purchased the tickets for us. We handed her mother our paper Euros to compensate. As we walked away I noticed they were speaking Japanese. This turns out to be the only time my Japanese has become useful outside of the country of Japan. They not only told us which gate to go to but where to get off and how to take the metro to our desired location.

We thanked them and made our way to the next train connection. It is about this time that Tim discovered he has had lost his train ticket. A little frazzled I drag him through turnstiles as he piggy backs on my ticket until we arrive at our destination; at 10:10 pm. 

Kealan's bar is right at the metro exit and we inquire to the bouncer of his whereabouts. He nods and waves us in. Tim then asks server at the bar if she knows where he is but it is only her second day and she had never heard of him. We turn around a little discouraged only to find Kealan walking out the door to leave work for the day. We had achieved the improbable as Tim and Kealan jumped up and down in an awkward man embrace.  

We swiftly walked back to Kealan's place and dropped off our luggage. Along the way caught a gimps of the Eiffel Tower.

Along the way Kealan informed us that we were in the ghetto of Paris. We laughed as it was the nicest thing we had seen in a while. The area even had a bike rental station.

With our things safely in Kealan's apartment it was time to hit the town.

With tensions raising we managed to board the last metro of the night at 2 AM.

We got an hour or so of sleep before our 4 am cab was waiting outside. He got us to the airport in around 30 minutes. With train rides, 3 rounds of drinks, and a cab back our night in Paris was achieved with only 90 Euros between the two of us. The airport was still closed when we arrived so we got to sleep on the floor.

Paris was where our paths split. Our goodbye and was sealed with an awkward handshake. Bon voyage.

White House

We were unsure what to think of Casablanca due to its online reputation. It is generally regarded as a seedy city with very few tourist destinations. So few that TripAdvisor ranks the Hassan II Mosque as the #1 and #2 stop in their list of top attractions. My first impression of Casablanca was quite different than I expected. It is a large modern city with more character than it is given credit for.

Due to its popularity, our first stop of the day was the aforementioned mosque. 

The Hassan II Mosque is the 7th largest mosque in the world and is one of the few in Morocco that allows Non-Muslims inside its doors. The whole complex was very impressive. The exterior courtyard was decorated with elaborate fountains and archways.

Upon closer inspection of the tower we found they favor one side over the other.

Colossal steel doors gave way to the spectacular architecture inside. At this point we were only permitted to take photographs from the threshold of the door but it did not disappoint.

While in the area we decided to take a stroll across the dazzling 50 meter long beach. 

The sand was unique and fine grained.

We decided to stop at a nearby cafe for some lunch. It was at this point I decided it would be interesting to try an avocado smoothie. To my surprise it was very tasty and salvaged the bland cheese pizza that accompanied it. 

Chock-full of dairy we headed down the walkway next to the mosque that lined the ocean. By this point the beach had given way to a fortress of geometric concrete objects.  

While we climbed around this concrete playground I started to feel a little heavy in the stomach. The overload of lactose turned out too be too much for me and my delicate stomach. I returned to the land what my stomach had taken. I am not sure if this is a result of my questionable lunch choices or my continued sickness but either way I felt considerably better after the incident. I was just thankful it did not occur anywhere near the mosque grounds. 

Thus far Casablanca had exceeded our expectations. With the Medina around the corner this would prove to be the final test. We entered it expecting a myriad of scumbags approaching us to feast upon our white tourist flesh. To our surprise we were met with no harassment of any type (other than a hash dealer). The Medina roads were also wider, easily navigable, and clear of asshole motorbikes.

All in all we give Casablanca 4 thumbs up. All we can figure is that other travelers must love the filth and constant harassment other cities offer. I wouldn't spend multiple days here but its worth a stop.

Tim needed a suitcase to transport his stash of African goods so we entered the first bag shop we saw. The shop owner had a weird pricing scheme where bags were priced based on how many wheels they had. After some haggling Tim got a 4 wheel bag for a 2 wheel price. With not much time left in our trip we decided to finish our shopping at the medina. It took some scavenging but after a while we were able to find everything we needed.

Following our final chucking of cash we needed to reclaim the various relics from our trip so we could do our final packing. We went to collect these items from the trunk of the prestigious Dacia Logan. Outside we found it parked next to some questionable cars. I think we really classed up the place compared to these clunkers.

As we waited for the valet to retrieve our coach we observed some important safety information posted on the wall. We we believe this is how to properly remove any remaining dignity of your customer.

When we first left our car with the valet we were instructed to park in front of a large elevator. We wishfully thought that this was an elevator for cars. When we were instructed to just leave the car in front of it we didn't think much more about it. This time our suspicions were confirmed as the large doors opened.

Christmas came early in the room as we unpacked the artifacts from our journey. Behold the magical genie camel lamp that Tim purchased. Part of his catastrophic deal.  

After some down time we headed out for dinner. The city was abuzz as we strolled down the busy streets. We eventually came upon our last tourist site, the twin towers of Casablanca.

Not feeling terribly adventurous we went for an authentic Moroccan dinner.

It was almost as authentic as this option: