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We flew into Paris on a sunny Sunday and met up with Mum who I haven't seen for over a year. We had enough time to establish that we had a bottle of vodka and she had a bottle of gin so the bar was fine, before rushing out the door to meet up with her gorgeous old friends Catherine and Nathalie for dinner. Apart from one awful rainy day, we managed to get around and see Picasso and the Impressionists, the Latin Quarter, Notre Dame, the Seine plus a night tour of the rest. The Eiffel Tower was gorgeous with flashing fairy lights all over it. I was glad to be back in France, Mum was reliving old memories from her partying days and Gav was enjoying Paris for the first time - it's a great city. Highly recommended.

Now that we had Mum and her giant suitcase, buses, trains and stairs became longer affairs than normal. Still, we managed to get to the airport and within 3 hours we were in Marrakech (gotta love the Continent for that!)

We stayed again at Riad Ghallia with French owners Thierry and Thierry, who made it feel like we've been friends for years. Mum was sick as a dog and we dragged her to the Medina for dinner, managing to get lost in the souk and nearly killing the poor woman. But the couscous cheered her up plenty. The next day was desert-sunny and off we went to a Moroccan garden followed by lunch in the Medina again. In the evening we had a hammam, a traditional bath. Gav and I just had undies on and went into a steam room where a girl and a guy proceeded to wash us down and cover us in black soap, scrub us down, throw water around, wash our hair. This was no gentle affair. They pushed and pulled us into position and doused us and scrubbed us like naughty little kids. Lashings of dead skin peeled off us too. It was great!!!

Part 2 of our Morocco trip was staying in a Kasbah. We traveled to the High Atlas and the town of Imlil where donkeys took our luggage and we followed them up the hill to the Kasbah. The photos are best to show you but it was 3 days of peace and quiet and doing nothing but breathing pure mountain air and eating delicious Moroccan food. And maybe a vodka or two. I now had Mum's flu so I was happy to hunker down.

Next stop: Seville, Spain.

My mum is a flamenco dancer so she was in her element in Seville, the guardians of flamenco and true Spanish culture.

Gav was in photographers' heaven at the Moorish palace and gardens of Alcazar with amazing mosaic tiles, then the immense cathedral Giralda, a bull ring, delicious tapas and an authentic flamenco show, of course. Seville is a quiet laid back place and in the warm days we ambled through the town in its quiet buttery light.

Barcelona has really cheap shoes! I wish I had room in my pack but alas, not to be. I made a deal with myself at the start that if I wanted to buy anything then I had to throw something out first. I was in danger of soon walking around naked but with fabulous shoes. Gav and I chilled out a lot in Barcelona, having visited only 6 months earlier but Mum went nuts with all the Gaudi and the novelty of the Ramblas. We managed a day at the beach before Gav & I flew to Athens to meet my sister Karina who was arriving from Perth. Mum went on to her hometown, Budapest.