King Mohammed VI* opened an eponymous museum for contemporary and modern art in Rabat last week.  The king and his wife Lalla Salma invited Vanessa Branson to the museum’s inaugural dinner.  The King used the occasion to present Vanessa – the veritable woman of art in Marrakech – with the prestigious Ouissam Alaouite medal in celebration of her contribution to the Moroccan art world.

 

* if you’re like me and breath a sigh of frustration when confronted with roman numerals, I looked it up for us – VI means the sixth.

I love it when the Marrakechi shop owners get creative with their marketing strategies; this still life is a pleasant departure from the aggressive pleading you get in the medina.

“This way, this way.  English?  In here please.  Morocco bags.  Just here please.  I make good price for you.”                                                                                                                         –every shop owner in the medina

 

 

 

I hear this often when in Morocco; not quite sure what it means.  Does it mean that the Moroccan king was the first to allow an American embassy in his country?  Does it mean Moroccan’s were the first to buy t-shirts emblazoned with the American flag?  Who knows-