Jardin Majorelle

Parisian winters are dreary. In general, days are cold and skies are grey; it's often raining, too. Real snow (the kind that covers cities in blankets of white), on the other hand, is rare... even if I've somehow managed to experience it twice. In other words, I totally appreciated my weekend of warm, shining sun in Marrakech. Anna, Leslie, and I made the most of it with a visit to the Jardin Majorelle on our last day there. This natural oasis in the midst of the new town would have felt like a secret garden had there not been other tourists there. Extending over more than an acre of land, it's--in a word--gorgeous. Apparently it took Jacques Majorelle, a French painter with a love for Morocco, over 40 years to completely create.
In the 1980's, French designer Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé purchased the garden and restored it. They also converted the painter's studio into a museum with their personal collections of Berber artifacts. Today, there's a separate entrance fee to the museum and cameras aren't allowed. It's worth seeing anyway.
Before leaving, we also stopped at their terrace café: mint tea for Anna and I, avocado smoothie for Leslie. In other news, though I strongly dislike airports, I loved the one in Marrakech. Wouldn't mind going again :).