top - le stade velodrome
middle - parc borely
bottom - la plage
Dear Marseille,
I think I'm a bit like a magnet; a magnet that's attracted to the worst bits of Marseille. My first two days here gave me a bad impression. Le Passage Lorette with it's rats and La Rue de la Republique with its roadworks are in no way, I discovered today, representative of Marseille.
After opening a bank account at La Poste this morning I met Angeline along La Rue de la Republique. Nous sommes allees a la plage. It's in the 8e arr so we took the metro. Because I haven't yet made my mind up what I'm going to do about getting a travel pass I bought a carte journee. I was worried about using the metro, I can barely manage the London Underground and the Paris metro still confuddles me. It was ok though! There are only 2 lines, I don't really think I'll be able to go wrong... (watch this space - you'll be amazed what I can do!) There were two, possibly drunk, men (if you could class them as men...) at the metro. They asked a question that Angeline seemed to think they already knew the answer to, so it was like an excuse to talk to us. Whist Angeline went to check the signs to answer their question one of them asked me whether I went to 'college' here or something, to which I replied 'je ne suis pas francaise'. He then asked me whether I was Spanish... hmm, do I look Spanish? I think not! They asked Angeline for her first name but then the metro came and we lost them, phew! We got off the metro at rond point du prado. This part of Marseille is different to the centre, there were trees, it was nice. We then took the number 19 bus to the beach. It was beautiful! Well, look at the picture - you can see for yourself. We walked along the beach, past the restaurants and towards where there were boats. The sea was so blue, the sky was so blue. We saw the ferry on its way to Corsica, top-less sunbathing and a strange sculpture. We turned around and went back to the restaurants and ate at Patacrepe. Moi, j'ai pris le crepe 17 - tomates et mozzarella et Angeline a pris le crepe 30 - saumon fume. It was delicious and really big too. After we'd eaten it we had desert, moi, numero 128 - pomme cannelle et Angeline, numero 127 - bananes glaces. I also, in the process of choosing which crepe to have, learnt a new word - chantilly. I saw it on Saturday when I had a crepe in Le Vieux Port but I couldn't find it in the dictionary. I now know, however, that it means whipped cream! See, you learn something new everyday! We sat and ate and talked (and admired the waiter - he was quite cute). The food was so well presented I kind of wish I'd have photographed it, although I would have felt ridiculous doing it at the time... maybe if I go again. I'm sure it got windier as we were sat there, by the end I was quite cold! Yes! Cold in Marseille! I never thought I'd be saying that! We were also both really full too. We took the bus to Parc Borely and walked around there. It was pretty - there was a rose garden and a pond with ducks. I like ducks. We walked around the garden and it was just a nice relaxing walk. By this time I was no longer cold, infact I was hot and there were people running around the park! Madness! After Parc Borely we went to see Le Stade Velodrome! LE STADE VELODROME! I was quite excited about seeing this. The home of L'OM. I want to go and see them play at some point, hopefully they will do well in the group stages of the Champions League and be drawn against an English team... that would be fab! They're in a group with Liverpool but they play away (at Anfield) otherwise I would so have gone to see that! Anyway, after getting over the excitement of seeing Le Stade Velodrome we got back on the metro to Castellane in the 6e arr. We got off and walked around. It was nice there too! I'm beginning to get the impression that every bit of Marseille except Le Passage Lorette, La Rue de la Republique and then a market area off of La Canebiere are nice! And to think I said all those awful things about Marseille in my first couple of posts... We then walked along La Rue de Rome to La Canebiere and then turned right to walk along La Canebiere. That's when I learnt that the market area I'd discovered on Saturday was not a nice bit of Marseille. Well, that's why I stumbled across it, isn't it? I'm a magnet for the not so nice areas! Anyway, further along La Canebiere is much nicer, there are book shops and a cinema and I saw Lycee Thiers which is where the British Council post language assistants and is also where Angeline went, what a coincidence it would have been if I'd have been posted there! After La Canebiere we went to Cours Belsunce and the Library which is like no library I have ever seen before. It is so modern and light and bright. I can see I will spend alot of time in there. They have lots of English books and yes, I know, it's French books I should be reading! The only odd thing was that they look in your bags as you go in and charge you to join. I've never heard of a library charging you to join before, but then you can borrow dvds and cds without paying so I guess it evens itself out. After that we fell upon Rue Colbert which is where La Poste is and is also the way to Le Centre Bourse avoiding La Rue de la Republique and the library is at the end of this road. I've got my landmarks sorted for finding everything - where to cross over - la societe generale or something or other (with a red and black sign) then left down Rue Colbert past the pharmacy. (One thing I've noticed is the number of pharmacies, and bakeries for that matter - there's literally hundreds of the things!) Not one pharmacy or bakery to be found in Brighton and here you can't stop falling over the things! Why's that then? So when you've eaten too much 'flan' (I discovered it yesterday - delicious) you can go to the pharmacist to get better?! Anyway, by this time I was pretty exhausted but happy. Not only had I had a great day but I also felt happier, that I knew where places were, and that Marseille was nothing like my first impressions had led me to believe. Thank goodness! As we were standing on Rue Jean Trinquet a girl came up to us and asked us how to get to Le Panier. Well, as I live there she could follow me. I said goodbye to Angeline, and with this girl in tow, walked home. I took a new route - a route which avoids Le Passage Lorette! It's slightly further but who cares if it reduces my chances of encountering more rats?! Anyway, I was talking to this girl, who also lives in Le Panier (quite why she couldn't find her own way home is still beyond me, maybe because she's only lived here for a few days... like me) She's studying Law at the university in Aix. She commutes by bus but finds it's a long way everyday. I hope to bump into her again, I mean, she only lives around the corner! I didn't ask her name but she seemed nice enough.
And so here I am, completely exhausted but happy. Marseille is nothing like my first impressions led me to believe. I am not dredding spending 10 months here. Quite the opposite - I am looking forward to it. So Marseille, I hope you can forgive me, you are beautiful and I do like you! I have a feeling that we are going to be just fine!
xxxx
