Top - Aimee and LouiseMiddle - Cours Mirabeau
Bottom - La Rotonde
Yesterday morning at 11am I met Aimee and Louise outside Gare Saint Charles. We walked to L'arc de triomphe - yes, Marseille has it's very own L'Arc de Triomphe, or at least I think that's what it's called. We couldn't decide whether L'Arc de Triomphe and La Porte d'Aix were one and the same thing or whether La Porte d'Aix is a bit further along... Anyway, we got the Navette to Aix. It only takes about 20 minutes. Trouble was we didn't know where to get off and then when we finally did get off we didn't have a clue where we were or were to go. Our reason for going to Aix was the go to the university to find out about enrolling for some classes. Aimiee's studying Russian as well as French at her university at home and actually has a scholarship to study Russian here. I thought too that to sit in on a few French Language lectures might be quite interesting. Trouble was the secretariat closes at 11h. It took us quite a while to find the university and we stumbled across the tourist information centre on the way and stopped to pick up a map. There was also a leaflet on a Russian exhibition and Aimee got talking to a girl who turned out to be Russian but she spoke French. Aimee took her mobile phone number and apparently there was another Russian working as an assistant at a Lycee who we could meet. We left the tourist information and went to the university which turned out to be a bit of a wasted trip. We headed into the centre of Aix to find somewhere to eat. I took a few photos of Aix but we didn't really have alot of time for sightseeing. We mainly spent our day around La Rotonde and Cours Mirabeau which was beautiful. For lunch I had 3 cheese pasta, orange juice and chocolate cake - delicious. I would go to that restaurant again. After lunch we got on bus number 4 to Lycee Cezanne to meet the second Russian assistant. She is living and working at Lycee Cezanne. Her name is Olga. Her french is fluent. She gave us tea (the vert) and chocolate and was really nice. We sat and talked to her. She showed us pictures of Russia - Moscow and Saint Petersbourg. I now want to learn Russian and go to Russia. We also randomally met 2 other assistants - one from England and one from Ireland who didn't speak French. Kelly, from Ireland, is working at Lycee Cezanne, Lucy, from England is based in quite a few places but she lives in Aix. We stayed chez Olga at the Lycee for quite some time and then walked back to the centre to get the Navette back to Aix. Aix is beautiful, the complete opposite of Marseille - no grafitti, no litter. We are going back next Wednesday to do sight seeing!
