Piano Piano!

The language skills of the little kids here amaze me. I guess when your parents throw you out on the street and you're amongst tourist everyday, you sink of swim. 

And they are dressed so crazy. Like this little guy we met today. Jeans tucked into pink socks and hot pink Crocs. Maybe he's leading the latest trend among Moroccan boys age 5-7?

Today a group of little boys--always boys, never girls--approached us. First in French. Then they switched to Spanish. Then German. It was cute. They probably the basic in about 10 languages (so jealous!) So finally I say to them in Italian, "I don't speak French." Silence. We thought--awesome! They don't speak any Italian, they will leave us alone. Yeah. 

Then one little boy, bursts out, in perfect Italian with accent and all, "Italiano piano, piano!"  I laughed so hard.

Back in my element in Fes

I feel like a real experienced Moroccan traveller now. We navigated the Fes medina flawlessly, negotiating parking with ease, and found Riad Fes without paying  a little kid one. single. dirham.

The medina of Fes is mostly souks....and the are narrow and steep. Many more tourists here. It's interesting to notice the subtle and not so subtle differences between the three cities of RAK, RBA, and FES. FES is def less orthodox--more Western clothes, more tourists, but still have an authentic feel to it. Olives and nougat seem to be the prized gems here.

And because I am such a hotel junkie, I have to comment on Riad Fes: it's wonderful. I'm definitely back in my element at this amazing 26 room Relais & Chateaux property. The Junior Suite on the second floor (I have my own private stairway up to the suite) is huge. The all white marble bathroom alone is bigger than the room at the riad in RAK! Dinner at the restaurant--complete with Moroccan wine (finally some alcohol!) was amazing. The house speciality is a lamb dish tossed in smoked onion jam with roasted potatoes--called L'hame M'hamer. Yummy. And the wine made it even better.