Day 2 Antanrivo or Tana for short (the capital)

We had some difficulty getting up this morning. I was particularly overtired. Breakfast was good, omelet, freshly squeezed juice, coffee, and French bread. Then it was out onto the streets of Tana which was kind of scary I gotta say. Young men just standing on the side of the road with seemingly nothing to do, and many, many people. Our neighborhood is actually good but in the big picture, not so much. Like I said, to many young men standing around with nothing to do. The buildings, except for a few are generally run down. The difference being that they are buildings. In much of Tana there are just shacks like the ones we saw on the way in from the airport. Only 24% of homes have running water. Most people carry their water in big yellow and orange containers from public taps they pay to use. Nicola found most depressing the people selling used clothing, stuff people in Canada wouldn't dream of wearing.

Our first job was to find an ATM. The girl at the desk told us to turn left and walk for 80 metres which we did. After backtracking once we decided that her idea of 80 meters was different from ours. More like half a kilometer. The streets were narrow with cars lined on both sides leaving less than a body width of room for pedestrian travel and a mish mash of stores. Nevertheless, perseverance won out and with the gods acting in our favour the ATM we found took our Alberta treasury branch card.

Then it was off exploring. We thought we would do the guide book's tour which suggests we start at the Select Hotel. It is a hole with outdated and run down 70s style architecture. But across the street was a cute little shop that sold objects made out of recycled aluminum. I not bought a bicycle and we bought a cute little gift for Elizabeth.

We took the stairway up to the gardens. It is wide and made of brick and cement and market. At the bottom of the stairs were the rubber stamp sellers. Nicola was curious and raised the hope of a couple of salesmen. She thought it might be cute to stamp a lemur on gifts and cards at Christmas. There were also tables with sun glasses and regular glasses for sale, and second hand clothing among other stuff with each type of product grouped with others of the same not unlike western does would do in a city.
We confirmed the location of the gardens with its proximity to the information office. Otherwise I would have mistaken it for a very modest looking park, about 50 metres squared with grass and a few trees. Here we managed a few stares but we're generally left alone.

From here, we retreated to the pastry and coffee shop in the Colbert Hotel by the presidential palace. The only other customers were expats on business or part of an embassy. In fact, this is the first country we've been to for a while where the colour of your skin will grant you entry into exclusive hotels. A few years ago with the kids, we'd tried to have a drink in the Oriental Hotel in Bangkok and been turned away at the gate because we'd been identified as back packers. Not so here and a good thing because nor only had we escaped the crowds but the chocolate mousse and fruit tart were amazing, particularly the chocolate mousse. The coffee was definitely the stuff to keep you awake.

Nicola had a guard blow his whistle at her when she attempted to cross the parking lot for a better picture of the palace. In fact there were very few people in this block where the national bank was located and a number of ministry buildings.

The crowds reappeared as soon as we left the area but as we approached the area of our hotel we discovered what had intimidated us earlier was the most upscale area of the city.

Dinner was wonderful at Chez Sucette. Included with the expats as customers in this restaurant were back packers and tourists. Here we were served some excellent french cuisine, just what you'd expect in Madagascar