This is the second set of photos from Morocco. You can start with Part 1 and also check out Jardin Marjorelle. 7. Rural Morocco Travel in Morocco is slow. The roads vary in quality and pass through every town along the way. One some days, we spent six hours bumping along in our tour van. Yet it was eye-opening to see how people live. For examples, donkeys are really used (and quite useful in narrow souks). Olive trees are abundant. Half-completed construction is everywhere. We often saw school childen coming or going. Although one could fly or take a train between cities, seeing life outside the cities added to our experience, as did stopping for rest breaks at rural cafes (often in gas stations). ...
Our trip to Morocco was even better than we imagined. We looked forward to a very different culture, opportunities to shop for crafts, and an adventure. We found everything, but also encountered unanticipated surprises and delights. Make yourself a sweet mint tea, grab a comfy cushion and cozy up to a photo recap of our top twelve experiences, in roughly chronological order. The first six experiences are in this blog, and six more are in the next one. Also see the separate blog for the very colorful Jardin Majorelle. ...
When we arrived in Marrakesh, our first stop was the wonderful garden created by Jacques Majorelle and later restored by fashion designer Yves Saint-Laurent and Pierre Bergé. Upon entering the garden, we found a cool refuge from the hot Marrakesh air. Tall bamboo shaded extensive red terracotta walkways. The garden has winding paths that lead through different sections, for example, a water lily pond and a cactus garden. Also, inside we loved the Berber Museum which offered a compact, high quality collection of all sorts of arts and crafts from Berber life. Outside the garden, a mini fashion district has taken hold, with many nice shops and cafes. It was a great side trip just a short taxi ride from the Medina. ...
Julian Lage brought his new quartet featuring organist John Medeski, bassist Jorge Roeder and drummer Kenny Wollesen to Davies Symphony Hall on a Monday evening. I was excited to bring a group of colleagues from Digital Promise and we had a great time listening to adventuresome music in the grand space. Compared to other times I’ve heard Lage, he seemed more restrained–allowing more space for his very talented bandmates to shine. John Medeski’s work on organ and piano commanded attention and offered many different tones and textures. At one point, when he played nearly alone, the deep resonances of the organ in spacious Davies symphony hall were particularly magical. Although he allowed more space for others, Julian still had plenty of room to feature his amazing talents. ...
In 1982, I went to a memorable Miles Davis concert on Pier 84, as part of the Dr. Pepper Summer Music Festival. Forty some-odd years later, Marcus Miller led many of the same musicians in a Miles Davis 100th birthday tribute concert at SF Jazz. The music was fantastic then and equally fantastic today. When they started into the first driving funk groove and the trumpet player layered the first few muted-tone notes on top, it gave me goosebumps. ...