Cat had a meeting at 11 back in Agdal so Aicha and Ahmed dropped us off in that area after we drank juice and ate the chocolates we brought as a gift. Anna and I went shopping for a bit before the three of us met up for a sushi/Thai lunch. Asian food is pretty rare in Meknes so this was a real treat! It was also pretty cheap - 4 rolls of any type cost anywhere between 2 to 4 dollars. We then took the tram (so much newer and cleaner and nicer than Metro - above ground too!) down to the border of Rabat and Sale (Rabat's sister city) and got a cab to take us to Rabat's main beach. The beach was pretty nice - not too crowded nor filled with seaweed - and although the ocean was bordered by rocks they held a lot of wildlife that was interesting to see.
From the beach we went downtown and got ice cream at the main train station for the city while we tried to locate a Mexican restaurant for dinner. No luck, but we did find a Spanish place in Riad! We walked around the city for a bit before we flagged down a taxi and returned to our home base for the weekend, where we enjoyed delicious tapas and mediocre sangria late into the night.
The next morning we went with Aicha to Paul, a French restaurant/pastry chain that has a couple of locations in DC, to have breakfast together. We talked about her experiences in the US and Europe over a meal of pastries, jam and honey, coffee, fresh juice, and omelettes. She then drove us around Rabat and showed us the sights - government buildings, the king's palace, where Mawazine (big yearly music festival) is held - before dropping us off at the train station downtown around midday. Even though she and Ahmed had guests coming later that day, it was really sweet of them to still let us stay the weekend and then take us out that morning.
After we said our goodbyes we entered the station buy our tickets home and do some homework. Our last stop for the weekend was the Mohammed VI Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art down the street, which opened last year. The museum is fairly big and even though we spent two hours there we still didn't get to see everything! The first floor held 10th- to 18th-century art as well as a ton of information on the history of Morocco (in both Arabic and English) and the second floor had the contemporary art exhibits. With an entry price of $2, we'll definitely have to go again and check out the rest of the museum.
Overall we got to see a lot of Rabat (including Agdal and Riad which I had not visited previously), ate plenty of good food, and made some fun memories. Although I won't be traveling this weekend I'm looking forward to sleeping and preparing for our big trip to Europe at the end of August for our summer break!