A full day in Fes!

Sunday
AAAHHhhhhh I'm in Fes!!!!! It was amazing. This morning we were up and at breakfast at 8 and out of the hotel by around 9. First we had a small bus tour and started at the king's palace. Btw I took waaaayyy too many pictures so I made another photo album on Facebook. Feel free to creep =) Then we went to the top of this big hill so we could see all of Fes. It's HUGE! oh man is it huge. The medina alone has 9,000 something roads and even the native Fessi get lost! It crazy. Then we went into the medina and oh man was it incredible. There were so many narrow roads! Cars couldn't possibly fit so they used mules for heavy lifting and carrying stuff long distances. It was c.r.a.z.y. It gets soooo crowded and you have to pay attention because people are constantly running around with these huge wheel barrow-like carts for their shops full of animal skins and books and whatever else you can think of! We first went to this place where they weave silk scarves, bags, sheets, and cushion covers. It was awesome!!! I guess they use vegetable silk, not like silk worm silk. They put scarves on us and we all got great pictures. But it took all of my self control not to go crazy and buy everything. So instead I didn't buy anything at all! My main goal was to buy shoes and I would not be distracted. But the next place.... oh man. I had just been saying to myself that I needed to get cheap shoes.... we went to a tannery where we watched the working men dye the leather in front of us. then they said they took credit card. Shoot. It was all over for me. They had shoes and bags and wallets but all I could see were the shoes. They had every color imaginable. Luckily I was sensible (kinda?) and only bought 2 pairs of shoes. In US dollars 2 pairs of authentic leather dyed-at-location shoes were only $35. I'm sorry but I was not going to pass that up. lol. Once we left the tanney, we went to a couple mosques, one we were allowed in. Both are schools and the architecture craftsmanship was incredible. So after that, we went to lunch at this really cool restaurant. Once lunch was finished, we went to a djellaba/kaftan store and once again I was doomed. They had us try on the dresses "For free!" they said as they found any color you could possibly want. If you didn't see the color you wanted they took you in the back room with stacks and stacks of dresses again in every color and several patterns. It was crazy. So first I tried on this red dress-like thing that looks like pants ish, but feels like a dress. Then I was in trouble. I asked to see a dress in a certain color and the man comes out with this GORGEOUS blue dress. I was done before I even put it on. It was just amazing. It's actually a kaftan which can be worn to weddings and fancy events. I think it's the cultural equivalent of a prom dress. And the cost? $45 US. I think that's how I justified buying it. At first he said it was around $70 and I said I couldn't do it so he asked me to say a price. I have absolutely no idea how much it should cost, but I told him I could do the $47 (which is actually 400 dirhams which is shocking to spend. I have to constantly do the exchange rate in my head so I don't pass out from sticker shock). He suggested closer to $52 and I said that I might be able to, but when we went to pick out a head piece he told me that I could have it for the $45 but not to tell anyone. I was so excited! after we left we went through where they make the wedding platforms and exited the medina. We had the option of staying in the medina or going back to the hotel and I opted to go back. I was so tired! I had planned to take a nice long nap (we had 5 hours to of free time) and walk around, but instead I ended up having an aweome conversation with my friend nicole and having the chance to (finally) talk to my mom for a long time. We had. The chocolate didn't happen, but we walked around the main road (Hassan II) which they call the Champs Elyssee of Fes. It actually really reminded me of France. So we fo dinner (couscous!) at 8 and after dinner a few of us (don't worry it wasn't only girls in the group) decided to wander around the city and maybe get some chocolate or ice creamund the least sketchy cafe and got some ice cream and talked about life for about an hour. On the way, or what we thought was the way, back to the hotel we saw a wedding party! the bride and groom were in cinderella-like horse drawn carriages (which btw I'm sooooo doing that for my wedding) and all of the cars were beeping with their emergency lights on. It was so cool! Finally we realized we had no idea where we were going and it was almost 1am, so we took 2 taxis back to the hotel. It was so much fun!