The King is Coming!

For the last several weeks there have been rumors that the king, Mohammad VI, is coming. This was fueled by fact that the entire city was in preparation. Trees were being trimmed, all the road lines and curb lines were re-painted, buildings were cleaned up, Moroccan flags were set up lining the major road from several miles out of town all the way through, and a huge billboard with his picture was just put up at the entrance of town.

After days of "...is today the day?" it seemed that Wednesday finally was. So I made a lunch and took the girls down town to sit and watch with everyone else. The streets were lined with people, the town bristled with police and military, about 10 groups of elderly men dressed in all-white traditional clothing playing tambourines and singing were stationed evenly along the side of the road opposite to the people, the air was full of excitement, and our personal favorite - a huge group of fantasia horses completely decked out with their proud riders also in full garb rode so close to us I had to run to get Kendra out of the way.

We waited on a hilltop a bit out of the way so as to not be so conspicuous even though that soon changed with Katrina squealing with delight as she did all manner of running, jumping and climbing with some Moroccan girls nearby while we were waiting. The girls and I talked about how we are to get ready for The King to come. Katrina was quite perturbed to know that we don't even know the day.

After two hours of waiting and with Katrina's ballet class to get ready for, we finally had to go. Apparently the king and his entourage came about 2 hours later, so I'm glad we didn't stay!

The king is here until Friday - staying at the palace here which we can see out our window. When I first pointed it out to Katrina, she was terribly disappointed. "But that doesn't look like Cinderella's palace!" But it is actually quite grand, and it's lovely grounds cover one entire part of the city with about 5 entrances over several miles. Kendra is quite determined to go see the palace and the king. When I told her it is by invitation only, she said, "Maybe if I dwess up in a weally pwetty dwess and knock on the doow, he will let me in." I told her sorry, that wouldn't work. Later, as we were driving past one of the king's pictures, Katrina said, "We know what the king looks like, but we don't know him." Pretty profound, I thought. How awesome to tell them they can know The King and that His doors are always open and that we can know Him! They were quite impressed.

Ifrane was the former king's favorite city, and he came here often. Although this king does not come as much, it is still kept in a constant state of perceived perfection - for example, street vendors and beggars normally allowed everywhere else in Morocco are not allowed here. The university where Gerald works was founded by the former king and the Saudi king which is why the name means "The two brothers."