Bon voyage Simone

Simone, our family genealogist, is almost ready to travel to France and Morocco. She will first travel from Tel Aviv to Marseille, where she will consult official documents and meet with family members on the Foenkinos side. This side originated in Tetuan and lived in Algeria before moving to France. She will stay in Marseille at least 4 days before taking a plane for Marrakech, Morocco.

From there, she will go to Safi, known for its fisheries and potteries the world over, to research if her grand father, Isaac, was buried in that city, since her mother Alegria Foinquinos was born there the same month her gd father died. There were no official city records in 1907, so she will have to look at the tombs, many written in hebrew only, at the jewish cemetery. She might have time to visit Essaouira, famed city on the Atlantic coast, established as a trading post by the phoeniciens 3000 years ago and also named Mogador, and I hope for her also Marrakesh, the jewel of Morocco, a real tourist magnet. She will then go to Tangier to research more of her family documents and visit the tomb of her mother.

After that it's Paris and a meeting with Lise Foenkinos, who is a retired mathematics professor from the University of Versailles and is also building her family tree. Lise and Simone have been in contact for many years, as they are equally interested in researching our ancestry. Also in Paris, she'll meet with my friend Jean Attias, from the Editions de Courcelles, who is also interested in researching his family history. It would be a real surprise if we found common ancestors.

Maybe Simone will have time to take the TGV train to Geneva to meet with my sister Caroline and maybe work to put more material on the blog. Geneva is such a beautiful city, it will be a shame not to see it and miss the opportunity to meet with Caroline for the first time.

After all that, back to Haifa where Simmy will need some time to collect her thoughts and breathe a little. Bon voyage Simone and good luck too in finding what you are looking for.