Casablanca... the legend

I first heard of the word(s) "casa-blanca" when I was a little girl growing up in my home town in the island of Mindoro in the Philippines.  It was the name of  a hotel owned by my aunt, my father's sister.  I remember it being a beautiful white building, and I found it fascinating that it also had its own bowling alley.  I learned that "casa-blanca" were Spanish words for "white house", and my young mind registered that it was quite clever to come up with such a name for a pretty white building that happened to be sort of a house. Later on, I learned that "Casablanca" was more than my aunt's hotel:  that it was the title of a great movie,  set in a city named Casablanca, in the country of Morocco.

Today, I walked around Casablanca, in Morocco, and dined at Rick's Cafe with my husband. To complete the ambiance as if in the movie, the Cafe's resident piano player delivered a beautiful rendition of the movie's theme song, "As Time Goes By" as we were having dinner. If only I were Lauren Bacall, and my husband, Humphrey Bogart!:)

I've always had this curiosity about Casablanca. Perhaps it was borne out of my childhood memories of my aunt's hotel, or the romantic mystery borne out of the classic movie.

My husband and I are on our second year of our "bucket list" project, a commitment we made to each other to visit a place we've always wanted to, but haven't.  The commitment includes a plan to do so annually, around our wedding anniversary.

As we were enjoying our dessert, still listening to the beautiful piano music, I mentally checked Casablanca off my list.