Sec State visit!

Well, instead of enjoying the beautiful city of Barcelona, Kirk & I spent the weekend working at the embassy. When I returned back from the Mary McBride band tour, I was told that our boss was coming to visit U.S. Embassy Algiers.  What was supposed to be a 4 day weekend turned into close to 80 hours of work between Kirk & I!!

 I was asked to be the site officer for the embassy meet & greet event and Kirk worked the control office in the hotel.  It was a great experience but we are both exhausted!!  We had to reschedule our Barcelona trip and our hotel was non refundable but all the overtime should make up for that. 
It is incredible the amount of planning and preparation that go into a visit like this.  We were short staffed at the embassy because this holiday weekend is like our Christmas in the states.  To the Muslims, this is their biggest religious holiday of the year so it was difficult finding local staff willing to work. 

This visit was a bit of a surprise and we got less than the normal amount of time to plan for it.  Things were very hectic!  Secretary Clinton was supposed to arrive late Monday and visit the embassy Tuesday morning but because of hurricane Sandy, they moved up the departure time to make sure she got out of DC before the storm hit.  So she arrived a full day early, which caused quite a bit of extra work! 

She has been to Algeria twice this year, which is rare.  She rarely visits the same country more than once a year.  It was quite an honor for the country. 

Band roadie in the Sahara!!

I was asked last week to fill in last minute for a trip with the Mary McBride band into the south part of Algeria (Sahara desert).  I left on Saturday and we flew to a town called Ouargla.  As we flew in, we had a great view of the Sahara.  It was surreal. 

We stayed in a hotel that I NEVER would have stayed at in the states!! LOL  Those of you who know me well, know that I am a self-proclaimed hotel snob!!  First of all, everyone smokes everywhere, so that was not good.  The decor of the hotel looked like something out of the 70's with purple textured wallpaper, shag area rugs in the bathroom, floral bed spread,and a phone that I didn't even think they made anymore.  The tv had no channels in english or subtitles so I got to practice my french! The shower area was a tiny cube with a hand held shower (that fell apart upon my first shower).  The toilet was in a separate area.  They did provide a large bottled water in the small fridge which I used to brush my teeth.  One of the doors to my patio didn't lock so I wedged a chair up underneath it.  The door to my room was covered with leather and the lock was an actual key.  To lock the door from the inside, you had to put the key in and lock yourself in.  Good thing there wasn't a fire!  We sat outside on the patio the first night and had some wine (thank goodness the restaurant served alcohol)!!  The minister of cultural affairs from the city hosted a traditional dinner in a huge tent for us.  We sat on the floor on pillows in this huge tent, covered in beautiful tapestries.  They served us salad, bread, traditional soup (which was lamb & couscous), bourek (which are meat filled egg rolls), then plates of meat (chicken, lamb & quail) with herbed couscous and then baskets of fruit for dessert.  It was a wonderful dinner and great atmosphere.  We drank some more wine on the patio, hoping it would help us get to sleep.  It didn't because the beds were very hard and uncomfortable.

The next day, we went a radio station to promote the concert where the band sang an accapella version of "Swing Low Sweet Chariot".  That song has meaning here and they sounded great in 4 part harmony.

We drove around the city of Ouargla for awhile, found an Algerian soccer jersey for Mary to put on during the concert and then headed back to the hotel to get ready for the concert.  The band played in an open air colisseum type venue.  There were about 400 men and about 10 women (very typical in the more traditional Muslim cities).  The women aren't allowed out without chaperones.  I introduced the band to the crowd and got an ovation!  I guess they don't see too many 6 ft blondes in southern Algeria!  LOL  I sat in the front row with an Algerian colleague from the embassy.  The crowd came down close the stage and were dancing and having fun.  One young man pulled me up to dance and then after that, they were lining up to have their photos taken with me.  It was a weird feeling!! I kept telling them that I was not with the band but they didn't care!!  Then they started crowding around me and the security guard grabbed my arm and pulled me to the stage where he brought a chair up and made me stay up on stage behind the band for the rest of the night.  It was a very weird feeling!
The concert was great and the band awesome...if you haven't heard the Mary McBride band, check them out on facebook or google them.  They play country rock with some blues influence.  It was fabulous.  Mary put the Algerian soccer jersey on for the encore and the crowd went nuts!!

The band greeted a few people after the concert and took some photos and then off to the hotel.  We sat outside in the beautiful weather and drank a few more bottles of wine.

Next morning, we boarded a bus that looked straight out of the 60's to drive over 5 hours through the desert.  It was pretty cool.  We had a pit stop at this tea house where we had to use the bathroom but there was no way in Hades that I was going into that smelly, filthy place where there was only a hole in the ground.  My colleague and I had the armed security guard follow us out back to a walled area and we went behind the wall, amidst piles of garbage, to pee out back!!  Thank goodness for travel packs of kleenex.  On the way back there, we passed this small  cement structure and as we passed by this ferocious guard dog comes charging out of the structure, frothing at the mouth and snarling at us.  We screamed and the stupid security guard (the one with the gun), was behind us!!!  Thank God the dog was on a chain and we were out of reach!  The owner came out and took care of the dog until we finished our business out back!  What an adventure but when you gotta go, you gotta go!  :)

Back on the bus and through the desert. 

We arrived in the city of Biskra and checked into a hotel where we were greeted by a lobby full of taxidermy!  We checked into our rooms where the decor again was from the 70's.  We went to the dining room and encountered more taxidermy on the way, including a very badly stuffed camel.  These animals were just creepy looking!!  The dining room was huge and completely empty and one of the band members said "This reminds me of the movie The Shining".  Well, that freaked me out because he was right!!  Those of you who have seen The Shining would understand!  The food was completely terrible.  Mary and I ordered salads and couldn't finish them.  How do you screw up a salad?!  The lobby was full of smoke, as was the bar area. 

We rested after lunch and then were off to the concert venue for sound check.  This one was an indoor theather.  Another one of my American colleagues joined us in Biskra so the 2 of us were sitting in front, where we were inundated with photo requests (she is also a blonde).   There were about 200 people at this event with a few more women.  The band rocked hard and it was a great show.  Again the Algerian soccer jersey got a huge response!  They close every show with a rocking version of "Amazing Grace".  It is awesome!

We arrived back to the hotel, where we only had to spend one night.  I do have to say that the bed was much more comfortable and we had one channel that was playing movies in english with arabic subtitles.  The next morning, we toured the city, went to a date store to buy dates since this city is known for their dates, supposedly the best in all of Algiers. We then stopped at an outdoor cafe for coffee, where a senator from the city paid our bill.  The weather during the whole trip was absolutely beautiful.  It was hot and sunny, in the 90's during the day.

We had lunch at a local chwarma place.  It was really good and had the best bread!  Then off to the airport and back to Algiers by plane.  The van  stopped by my apartment where I dropped off my bags and picked up Kirk.  We then took the band to a Turkish restaurant called Bosphore.  They have super kabobs and we enjoyed several bottles of wine with our kabobs and great company!  The band is great and we laughed and relaxed.  The next day, we had to go back to work but the band had one more local concert to perform.  We took a van to the concert after work to the theatre.  We were backstage before the band went on.  The theater was very nice and it was a good crowd.  There were definitely more women and girls at this concert.  You could tell we were closer to the city!

The band left the next morning and I was sad to see them go.  It was a wonderful trip and great opportunity for me.  The band members were so nice and very fun to be around.  I miss them already! 

When I arrived back to work on Wednesday, I found out I was tasked with something big....which you will have to read about in my next blog!!  :)

Marseille, France

Due to the crazy on again, off again internet, we haven't updated in awhile.  Since we last posted, we took a long weekend trip to Marseille, France. We left work Thursday evening for the airport and flew directly to Marseille from Algiers.  We landed in Marseille a little after 11pm.  We had to find a bus that took us to St. Charles train station where we found the Metro station and took the Metro to the Old Port (Vieux Port) where our hotel was located.  We had to walk about 5 blocks at midnight to our hotel but no worries....the streets were FULL of people.  Every café, restaurant and pub had outside areas that were packed.  It was like a huge street festival was going on.  We must have looked really funny walking down the street pulling our suitcase!

We checked into the Radisson Blu hotel, which is right on the old port.  We had a nice room with a great view, overlooking the harbor.  We could also see St. Victor's Abbey out our window to the left.
We slept in on Friday morning and then took off exploring. The weather was absolutely gorgeous, with blue skies and brilliant sun.  We found a bakery (which wasn't hard to do since they are on about every corner in Marseille) and enjoyed breakfast sitting outside on a wall, overlooking the old port. 

 

 

After we finished our pastries, we started walking along the Mediteranean coast.  The water on the coast is so blue...I can understand now why the south of France is called Cote d'azur.  It is amazing!  We walked and enjoyed the coastline, the architecture of the old houses with their blue wooden shutters and wrought iron decorations.  We stopped for water and another snack at a patisserie. 

We kept walking along the coast and then veered up the hill toward Notre Dame de la Garde.  It was an intense uphill hike but so worth it when we got to the top.  The views from the cathedral were breathtaking, as was the actual basilica & cathedral itself.  One side of the cathedral still has the shell marks from German bombings in World War II.

On the way back down the hill towards our hotel, we saw a tank in the middle of the street.  It was a memorial from WWII.  The streets were very narrow and winding...some were still cobblestone.  It was a very charming neighborhood.  We definitely got our workout in with that hike! 

On our way back to the hotel, we stopped at, yes, you guessed it, another bakery!!  We bought some sandwich type pastries, one with meat and cheese, the other like a bruschetta with ham.

We went back to the hotel and stretched out in the sun by the pool to rest.  The concierge suggested a couple of restaurants so we got cleaned up and ready to go to dinner.  We walked to the main square to have dinner, only to realize we were way too early!!  The restaurants didn't even open until 8:00pm!  So we wandered around the area for awhile and then went to the restaurant, where we sat outside on a beautiful evening and enjoyed a bottle of wine and some fabulous food!  Marseille is famous for their boullabaise but since I don't like fish, I didn't order it.  It was very expensive too...about 58 euro for a bowl of fish soup!  I had a wonderful green olive ravioli and Kirk had a nice filet of beef with "really good" mashed potatoes. The white wine was local and it was wonderful.  We were so full we didn't have room for dessert....but we had our share of sweets earlier in the day!  We tried eclairs, apple tarts, brioche, baguettes, beignets, ganache, and things I can't even pronounce!! LOL It was all so yummy!


We slept in again Saturday morning.  After we got up and moving, opened the windows and had a beautiful view of the port and we could hear the bells from St. Victor's abbey.  We grabbed a pastry for breakfast and headed for the port where we caught a shuttle out to les isles frioules (the Frioul islands).  We enjoyed a nice boat ride to the islands where we disembarked and proceeded to hike up the highest point of the island.  It was another beautiful day and the terrain on the island was dry and rocky...almost like Arizona!  There were lots of old stone buildings, bunkers  and gun mount stations from WWII.  The island served as a fort and first defense of the city against attacks by sea.  It was really amazing to see these ruins.  And the view of the bays and coves around the island were unbelievable....azur blue water dotted with white sailboats everywhere....and not just little sunfish sailboats, we are talking huge yacht type sailboats!!

After returning back to the port, we decided to check out the shopping districts.  It was fun to walk around the streets and see what kind of shops and stores they had.  There was a luxury district, an affordable district and the bargain district.  I went into a clothing store where I had my own personal assistant, bringing me different outfits to try on and helping with accessories.  I left the store with a beautiful navy dress for work and a silk scarf from Paris.  Thank you Kirk!!  We bought some wine and cheese to bring home with us, along with some lovely handmade soap. We were extremely hungry and wandered into a McDonald's in the shopping district to grab a snack and use the bathroom.  The prices were crazy and then I realized they sell Heineken beer at the McDonald's!!  How funny!  :) 

We went back to the hotel to rest up for dinner and this time we waited until 8 to go out!  The concierge recommended a yacht club right on the water for dinner so that is where we went.  It wasn't much to look at from the street side, but the inside was nice and we sat out on the deck to watch the boats coming in and out of the port. We enjoyed another great bottle of local wine and we both ordered filet with vegetables and hollandaise sauce (Yumm-o) and a side of pomme frites (french fries).  So good!  We shared a lemon macaron with lemon ice and lemon cream for dessert....ooh la la!!  So many pastries, so little time!! 

We had to leave the next morning for the airport.  It was hard to leave because we had such a great time and beautiful weather.  Getting around is very easy and we plan to go back again...next time we will go north into provence to explore the French countryside. 

Our next trip though, is planned for Barcelona, Spain at the end of the month.  Can't wait!!  More adventures to follow!