vendredi 29 février 2008

Last Week

Above - Louise prepares her tuna sandwiches for the TGV to Paris

Above - Notre Dame de la Garde from Le Palais du Pharo

Above - Vieux Port from Le Palais du Pharo

Above - Le Palais du Pharo by night


This post is snappily entitled 'Last Week' as, surprise surprise, it is going to cover the goings-on of the last week. A week of firsts and lasts; a week of sadness and happiness, of sun and cloud and of course, as we're in France, a week of strikes! Quite shockingly maybe, this post is going to begin with Monday. Monday is the day that follows Sunday. Sunday being the day Aimee and me got back from Lyon. I came home to unpack (ok, ok, I lied, I'm actually starting with Sunday afternoon rather than Monday) and relax. I was talking to Louise on msn and she announced her departure. A departure without a return. The kind where you need only a one way ticket, a one way ticket destination Northern Ireland. A cinema trip was in order. We went to see 'Paris' at Varietes and afterwards, stood outside the cinema in front of the Marin Pompier station for what was probably a little too long. We stood talking watching the world pass by up and down La Canabiere. We saw Le Secours Catholique give soup to a homeless person. We saw a homeless person arrive and make their 'bed' in the shop window opposite the cinema, they just missed the chance of hot soup. If they were to have been 5 minutes earlier...

Monday saw the last ritual that is Monday evening coffee, meet at Vieux Port at 18h. It's a long standing tradition where Rachel, Aimee, Louise and me meet and go to La Plat Provincal for coffee and watch the waiters set the tables in anticipation for floods of hungry Marseillais. We usually stay until about 19h when we can't bear to delay the setting of the last table any longer, we can't bear the twitchiness of the waiters waiting to set the last table in the corner ready in time for the mad rush of hungry marseillais. This mad rush we never did see. Nor were we ever able to decide whether they dreaded us arriving at 18h on Monday because we delayed the setting of the last table or whether they were glad to see us if only so the place wasn't empty!

Tuesday was a day of Stikes. Now, a week in France just wouldn't be complete if there wasn't a strike of some sort somewhere. This week it was the turn of the public transport workers to strike. The opening hours of the metro are being extended, albeit ever so slightly. The RTM workers were striking over pay - the metro will be open later, we will have to work longer, that pay rise you're offering is just not good enough. Or something like that anyway. I had to be at Lycee for 10h10 so I left at about 9h15 but metro Colbert was closed with a sign saying 'Perturbations entre La Timone and Saint Charles' (Colbert is the stop just before Saint Charles). I about turned and went home. I wasn't going to work today. After lunch I went to Joliette metro (It appeared the red line was working fine, it was just La Timone to Saint Charles) and met Louise. We were to going to randomally get off at Jules Guesde metro stop which we knew was somewhere around Saint Charles. It turns out it's just behind the Porte d'Aix. Coming out of the metro on the escalator you could be forgiven for thinking that you'd just taken a plane to another country. It was like I'd been transported, in the space of one stop on the metro, to somewhere, anywhere, other than Marseille. We walked along and round and through and back to Saint Charles. I recognised some areas as where I go with Les Restos du Coeur in the evening. We saw building sites in an attempt to redevelop the poorest part of Marseille. But you have to ask yourself what good luxury appartments with extautionate rents are going to do for the people who need housing... We made our way back to the centre ville and went to the library where Louise un-s'inscrire-d and I borrowed two children's books on the history of France. We then went for coffee. We decided to try somewhere new. A first. It was a nice place not far from Vieux Port. We went in and ordered a tea and coffee and two desserts - a flan and a lemon merangue. Now, I've given up chocolate for Lent. You'd think ordering a slice of lemon merangue would be a pretty safe bet for a chocolate free desert wouldn't you?? Apparently not. Seriously, it's about as hard to not eat chocolate as it is to not eat meat in this country! Ok, so it was only drizzled around the merange and across the centre but still, who in their right mind puts chocolate on a lemon merangue?!! I ate around it/scraped it off. We left, my giving up chocolate for Lent still intact, just. We went down Rue Saint Fe and around Vieux Port in a few of the shops. We bought some postcards. Louise bought one (which I already have) with the departments numbers on. For example 'Bouches de Rhone' is 13 so all postcards in that region start with 13 and all cars registered in that region have 13 on their number plate) We then walked to Le Palais du Pharo as, despite having lived in Marseille since last September, it was one of the many tourist attractions Louise hadn't done. It was cloudy so not as pretty as it could have been. We stayed until it began to get dark and then spent 40 minutes walking half of Vieux Port back to La Canabiere. This 10 minute walk took us 40 as we were number plate spotting. 'Ooh, a 68, I wonder where that's from...' Out comes the map - 'Isere'. Two steps later 'Ooh, a 75, I wonder where that's from...' Out comes the map again - 'Paris', and so we went on. There's a suprising mix although it has to be said the overwhelming majority are '13'.

Wednesday brought with it a first and a last all at once. Breakfast at Vieux Port with Louise, Rachel, Aimee and Lucy. Albeit a staged breakfast (and I don't mean that in the theatrical sense, more in the 'sittings' sense). I got there at 9h and Rachel and Louise were already there. We ordered because Aimee had text to say she would be late and that we should order without her. Lucy had text to say she'd be there shortly after she'd found her keys. Lucy came and ate with us but 50 minutes later, croissants, coffee and orange juice long finished, Lucy having left for work, there was still no sign of Aimee... good job we did order without her. She came and we then went to Rue Saint Fe and then back to Louise's to drink tea and help her get her things down the four flights of stairs to Saint Charles for the TGV to Paris at 13h28. It was sad, we stood on the platform and said goodbye. Louise then got on the train. We waved and then Rachel and me went with Aimee who ate as she was waiting for the bus to go to Aix to go to the university (she's doing courses there). I went home.

Thursday was a work day. Metro and buses back to normal so I was able to get to Lycee today. It was my first day back after the holidays. I arrived for my anglais renforce class at 9h. I did role plays with them. Christiane (the teacher) wanted me to do something on smoking so I got them to write roleplays between either two friends discussing the smoking ban, a doctor and a patient or a child and parent. At 10h I had a class of terminale - more global warming. I'm now a self declared global warming expert after having done this lesson so so so many times. I then had a new class at 11h with Andree. They're very good. They're preparing for a 'concours' to go to engineering school so they've already done their bac. Afterwards I went home for lunch queuing for a good 10 minutes to buy a baguette. I then went back to Lycee for a class of Seconde at 15h. I like this class and was disappointed when the teacher asked me whether I'd work with her Terminale rather than come to this class from now on. More Terminale - more images - more global warming no doubt! At 16h I went to the staff room as I had some printing to do but the printer in the staff room was jammed so I went to the CDI to use the printer there but the computer wouldn't ready my USB stick. I enlisted the help of a teacher who came to the staff room and unjammed the printer there. You have to hold the lid down to avoid it jamming. Trouble was I then ran out of paper so had to go on a paper hunt. The computer was then being incredibly slow. I was beginning to get incredibly frustrated. A coffee was in order. Whilst the machine made my coffee and I drank it, left hand firmly holding down the printer lid at all times to avoid further jams, the computer and printer managed to work together to eventually print my 6 sheets. It was, by this time gone 17h. Apart from my 6 sheets of printing, the only good thing to have come out of this palava was that I learnt that 'coince' (with an acute accent on the 'e') is used for a paper jam. I then did my photocopying and walked to the metro calling in the supermarket en route. It was the first time I'd been in an 'Ed' supermarket. It reminded me a bit of Lidl. I didn't buy much - some cereal, fruit juice and sugar. I then got the metro. Disasterous. As it was getting towards the time where everyone was going home it was really busy. Because I get on at the first stop I got to sit down. Everything was going fine until we got to Chartreux. We stopped, just sitting there on the platform. It was warm and busy. People were crammed in. After literally 15 minutes (and several chapters of my book later) we began moving, only to arrive at Cinq Avenues to sit there again for another goodness only knows how long. I thought about getting off and getting the tram but I thought that that'd be just as busy. Besides, I couldn't physically move, the people were crammed in that well, let alone make my way to the door to get off. We eventually began to move only to stop at Reformes for a good 10 minutes. When we eventually got to Colbert and I got off it was 19h10! A 20 minute journey had just taken me 50!

Friday saw a first. I went in a rather appropriately named cafe (for Marseille anyway) on La Canabiere - 'Moing'. I sat and read that morning's paper with a cafe creme. I then, at 11h30, after having been to the centre de jeuneusse, monoprix, the post office and various other places, met Angeline devant la pharmacie. We walked to Castellane and had lunch at the new Patacrepe that has just opened there. Afterwards we walked back to the centre and I bought a pair of converse. I came back home and prepared for my cours de conversation which I went to give at 17h. I then came home, showered, ate and went to bed.

Which brings us nicely to today - Saturday.

mardi 26 février 2008

Le Grand Voyage - La fin

Above - the Youth Hostel

Above - inside the Youth Hostel

Above - our bedroom

Above - the view from my bed

Above - the view from the Youth Hostel over Lyon

Sunday morning. We had our last breakfast in the Youth Hostel and took our sheets down to the laundrette. We packed our suitcases and said goodbye to the Argentinian girls we'd met. They too were leaving to go back to Toulouse. We checked out and made our way to the station passing through the fruit market again. We found our train - the 11h11 to Marseille Saint Charles. As we got closer to Marseille the sky got bluer, the sun came out. As we were pulling into Saint Charles at 14h47 we noticed the grafitti, the litter, the run-down-ness. Aimee took the metro home and I walked from Saint Charles home picking my way through the litter, the dog poo. Looking around at the road works, the building sites, the mess and chaos. Welcome to Marseille - elle est belle mais elle est sale, c'est vrai. En 1995 elle etait en retard mais maintenant on dit qu'elle est a l'heure et qu'elle advance mais je n'en suis pas sure. Je crois qu'elle est toujours en retard, peut etre qu'elle sera toujours en retard. Il y a une certitude - c'est vraiment un defi pour ameliorer cette ville.

Le Grand Voyage - Grenoble

Above - The Alpes - the backdrop to Grenoble
Above - the view from la Bastille

Above - le telepherique arriving at the top of the hill

Above - the view out of one of the bubble things that transports you to the top of the hill.

Above - a Square in Grenoble

Above - the river and Alpes

Above - Grenoble

Saturday morning. 10h45. We navigate our way successfully to Lyon Part Dieu Train Station and manage to get on the right train going to Grenoble. On our way to the train station we walked through a markey selling fruit and vegetables. It all looked so delicious. So well presented, so bright, colourful and fresh. Anyway, we arrived in Grenoble at 10h45 and navigated our way to the tourist information centre where we picked up a map and asked the lady what she recommended we do as we were only there for the day. She told us about la Bastille et le telepherique which was a cable car that took you to the top of a hill and also a walk that we could do around Grenoble. We decided to first have lunch. We stopped at a restaurant and sat outside in the sun in a big square with the snow-topped mountains in the distance. After lunch we began the walk around Grenoble to le telepherique. We went up to the top of the hill where there was an amazing view over the city. We then came back down and continued our walk around. We saw lots of squares, churches. We walked across the river and went to a museum - the museum of old Grenoble, where there was an exhibition of paintings of the city. It's the 40th anniversary of when Grenoble hosted the Winter Olympics and everywhere there are posters and displays to celebrate this. It was quite funny that they were making such a bit deal of the 40th anniversary of having hosted the Winter Olympics but indeed they were. Grenoble is a lovely city. Definitely better than Geneva and possible preferable to Lyon, although it's a close call. We got the 17h44 train back to Lyon where we arrived at 19h12. We stopped for a panini and then went back to the Youth Hostel.

Le Grand Voyage - Lyon

Above - Looking towards the top of the hill where our Youth Hostel was over the Saone

Above - the centre of Lyon

Above - Aimee and a rather strange but beautiful tree

Above - Place Bellecour - the largest square in France

Above - the church at the top of the hill.

Above - the Rhone at night

Above - La funiculaire - the cable car that avoids '10 minutes de grimpette'

Lyon is a beautiful city. It has the Rhone and Saone river flowing through it. It has an old quarter. It has a hill, a steep hill - where our Youth Hostel was and also where there is a beautiful church and fantastic views over the city. It has a quirky quarter - croix rousse, again with good views but also with some interesting shops, and is also home to the largest square in France - Place Bellecour. Lyon is clean, the people are friendly, the drivers don't drive like maniacs, they actually stop to let you cross the road, unlike in Marseille...

We went to the Textile Museum as Lyon's economy was based on textiles, silk in particular. We ate in a creperie. We saw the Hotel de Ville, La Prefecture, La Theatre, L'Opera, L'Eglise, Lyon's very own Eiffel Tower. We took a bus and used La Funiculaire which is like a cable car to avoid walking up the ridiculously steep hill. Lyon's transport network is more impressive than Marseille's, but then again, that's not hard. There is a more comprehensive metro system of 4 lines rather than 2. And, more importantly, 4 lines which cover the city and run past 21h. There are more buses, buses with cloth covered seats rather than the plastic ones in Marseille. What does this tell you? That the Lyonnais are able to respect their public transport, ie. not grafitti on it, so they get comfy seats rather than hard plastic ones. There is also a tram. Put this together with clean streets - no litter and more importantly - no dog poo, and the distinct lack of grafitti and it makes for a very amicable city full of happy, polite people.

lundi 25 février 2008

Le Grand Voyage - Geneva

Above - The centre of Geneva, Switzerland. But it could be anywhere really.
Above - Geneva, near the station.

Above - A street in the old part of Geneva.

Above - Geneva's tramway. The most ancient I've ever seen.

Above - the flower clock at the entrance to le jardin anglais. I'm sure it's prettier in summer...

Above - le jet d'eau. And it is indeed that - a jet of water. I'm still not quite sure of it's purpose...

Above - a Swiss police car. Stylish.

0904 Lyon Train Station. Platform I for the train to Geneva. We went to platform I and we got on the train that was sitting on platform I. We were sitting comfortably. We started to move. We then began reading the list of stations where the train would stop. Geneva wasn't one of them... Umm, where are we going??! After a considerable amount of pacing up and down the train looking from map to map we realised we were going to somewhere south of Geneva called 'Genois des bains' or something like that, anyway, it wasn't Geneva! It wasn't even in the right country! Hmm. It turned out that the train was going to divide into 2 at some point so, at the first stop, we got off the train, ran down the platform and asked the man at the door for the other half of the train 'est ce que c'est ce train pour Geneve?'. The reply we got was 'What Love?'. Yep, we had stumbled across the Manchester United supporters from the night before. When we asked him in English whether it was the train going to Geneva he said 'oui' in a very English accent and so we got on. We had to walk the length of the train to find a seat. It was like walking through the middle of Manchester. Not a french person in sight, just Manchester United supporters everywhere. What amused me was that all these non French speaking English football fans had managed to get themselves on the right half of the train...

When we arrived in Geneva at 10h57 we stumbled across our next challenge. Things today were really not going well. Anyone would have thought that there was someone somewhere who didn't want us to go to Geneva. As Geneva is in a different country. Ie, Switzerland not France, we needed our passports. That was fine for me. I had mine. Aimee on the other hand had completely failed to realise we were leaving the country and so didn't have hers with her. Trying to cross border control with a provisional driving licence is not recommended. France were happy for her to leave but Switzerland were reluctant to let her in. There was a second when it appeared she was going to have to remain in the bit of land between borders for ever. I think the thing that eventually swung it was the fact she was young, female and white. The man infront of us had his passport examined closely - his french passport may I add, and was also asked where he was going! I thought, if they ask me that what am I going to say? Je vais faire les choses touristiques!

When finally in the country we were disappointed by what we found. I had an image of a rich, clean, elegant city. A city of banks and beautiful architecture. A nation with a clear identity: They're not a member of the European Union, they still have their Swiss Franc. We did not however find any of this. The reality was somewhat different: A city that could have been London. I felt like I'd been before. It was not clean. It did not strike me as being rich. There were no banks, no impressive buildings. The city was far from elegant andwas, it seemed, struggling to find an identity for itself. All the prices were in Swiss Francs but yet everywhere excepted Euros. This made for a complicated system. I bought a postcard for 80 centimes (Swiss Francs) and handed over €1 to be give 50 centimes (Euro) change. Aimee then bought some postcards from the post office and handed over a €10 note only to be handed a whole handful of Swiss currency. I guess it makes for an easy system for short changing. Surely even the Swiss themselves cannot get their heads around such a system! Despite the confusion, our first encounter with the Swiss Franc was a positive one. It is a currency of beauty with charm and character - more than can be said for the Euro and certainly more than can be said for Switzerland (or at least Geneva). We were fascinated by this currency and wanted to get a collection of a few coins to take back to France with us. We continued walking around Geneva. The weather didn't help, it was cold and cloudy. but I think it would have taken more than the sun to make Geneva impressive. We saw the huge waterfall, the clock made of flowers at the entrance to le jardin anglais, albeit dead flowers but I guess that was the time of year. We walked around the old quarter and saw the cathedrale (although we were unable to go inside as there was a funeral going on).

We then went for some lunch. My word, Switzerland is expensive! We had jokingly said that we should take a sandwich with us as we would be unable to afford Switzerland's prices. It shouldn't have been a joke... We eventaully found somewhere that was reasonably priced. We had sandwiches in a very very very busy place. I say 'place' because it was neither a cafe nor a restaurant. It was a cross between the cafe you find in Marks and Spencer and a sushi bar. It was so busy as it was reasonably priced and tasty I guess. We eventually found a seat and sat and ate. Switzerland do not appear to have a smoking ban so we didn't stay long. Whilst we were there however we heard English, French, German. The lady next to us was French and so too was another lady who wanted to know whether a seat was free so why oh why oh why, in a French speaking country did one french person talk to another french person in English?! Like I say, this city really needs to find an identity.

We decided after lunch that we would go around the museum in La Maison Tavel - Geneva's oldest house dating from the 12th century. The Musuem was of old Geneva and was possibly the most intersting thing we saw all day. We saw a model of Geneva that had been made by a Genevois who, for some reason we were unable to imagine, had been so proud of his city he felt the need to make a scaled model of it. A project that took him 16 years to complete! The model was impressive, I'm not sure if it was 16-years-worth-of-work impressive though! We stopped in a cafe for a drink and by this time had collected quite a bit of Swiss currency, we thought it might be wise to spend some of it! I sat photographing the 20 Swiss Franc note and the 10 Swiss Franc note which earnt us some strange looks. We then got excited about the packets of sugar (there isn't much else to get excited in Geneva about). Each packet had a map of Switzerland on and highlighted a different area. We wanted a packet that highlighted Geneva so, at the end when we were paying, we asked the waiter if he had one with the area of Geneva on. He handed us the whole pot of packets of sugar and we went through them. All of them. Well, they already thought we were strange after having photographed bank notes, why disappoint them?! We did not managed to find a single sugar packet for Geneva though. We left disappointed.

We then decided to get on the tram. We had a bit of time left and not a lot to do so thought we'd have 10 minutes going in one direction and then get off, have a walk around and then 10 minutes going back. We got on the tram and realised we were heading for the train station. It was almost as though Geneva was trying to tell us something... We were in plenty of time for our 16h58 train. I seemed to still have a lot of Swiss Francs left so I bought a magazine and some Swiss chocolate. I paid so as to elicit a 10 Swiss Franc note because I thought only the notes would be able to be changed back into Euros in France. The man gave me 2 coins each worth 5 Swiss Francs... So, after having started the day wanting a collection of Swiss currency I now had quite a lot of it. Hmm.

Me and my Swiss currency now needed to get Aimee out of the country. You'd think it would be easier to leave a country than to enter one wouldn't you? Not in Switzerland it would appear. She was told her passport was compulsory and that she couldn't leave without it. Her provisional driving licence was not enough. Even though we argued they'd let her in the country with it just a few hours before. A €200 fine was in order. Either than or prison. Yes, it sounds like he was being funny. He was serious. Very very serious. After a couple more minutes discussion he agreed to let her leave the country. Probably persuaded by her being young, female and white, the fact she had her tickets to show she'd been in the country for only a few hours or maybe, just maybe, he was concerned by the amount of paperwork not letting her leave would entail. That is of course if Switzerland is anything like France. Once safely on the right train, Aimee and Swiss Francs in tow and not a Manchester United supporter in sight, we sat opposite a man who, upon hearing me moaning about 'the damn Swiss currency' told me to use it as an excuse to come again. Haha! I don't think I'd go back to Geneva even if you paid me! He turned out to be a very nice man. Paul, aged 62. Extremely well educated, interesting, well travelled. He lived in France and England, that was when he wasn't flying to Japan or America to interview people for his recruitment firm. When we finally arrived back in France we went for some tea before going back to the Youth Hostel completely exhausted. There were two new people in our room. Both from Argentina, both very nice. One of them is a student in Toulouse and speaks English, Spanish and French. The other is just over to visit her friend but could also speak English. They were really nice. That was one thing I liked about the Youth Hostel - there were so many people from so many different places. Interesting.

So yes, Geneva was dissapointing. It's tainted my view of Switzerland. But I refuse to believe the whole of Switzerland is like this. Maybe because it's only just in Switzerland it isn't a true representation. I'll keep my Swiss Francs, well, I mean, I don't really have much choice. They'll give me an exuse to go again. To a different part of Switzerland may I add. It can't do an harm. any future Swiss experiences can only improve my view of the country!

dimanche 24 février 2008

Le Grand Voyage - le depart


Above - the view over Lyon at night from the Youth Hostel.

I met Aimee at Saint Charles Train Station at 13h45. We were catching the 14h05 train to Lyon to go on holiday for a few days. The train was on time and we arrived at Lyon Part Dieu Train Station at 17h34. There were lots of Manchester United supporters at the station as Lyon were playing Manchester United in the first leg of the Champions' League knockout stages at Le Stade de Gerland in Lyon. We made our way to the front of the station to catch the number 28 bus as the guide book said. We asked the driver of the number 28 who said we needed the number 99. We got on the number 99 and the driver said we needed the last stop for the Youth Hostel which was on the other side of town to the station in 'vieux Lyon' (the old part of town). About three quarters of the way towards the last stop the bus went to turn right and the road was closed. There were police whizzing by, van after van packed with officers, sirens blaring. Everyone had to get off the bus as it was terminating early due to the road closure. We asked for directions to the Youth Hostel and began walking the length of the closed road. It was whilst walking the length of the closed road we realised why it was closed. The Manchester United supporters had taken over a 'special' bus that had presumably been put on especially for them. They were shouting and screaming and foot stomping and all sorts. All the vans of police we'd seen were going to contain the Manchester United supporters. It was discraceful behaviour. We were ashamed to be English (well, Aimee's Scotish... We were ashamed to be English speakers - anything that might relate us to the football hooligans, sorry, I mean supporters) and extremely pleased not to be from Manchester! We eventually found the Youth Hostel. It was at the top of a very very very steep hill. Amazing views but still - a very steep hill. There was a man riding a bike up it! Self torture! Give me a plate of broccoli anyday! When we arrived we checked in and went to our room. We were in room 8. Each room sleeps 6 and has a washbasin. There are 4 rooms on a corridor with 2 bathrooms. The Youth Hostel was quite big - it sleeps 180. There was a room for eating/watching the tv. A room with views over the town, a laundrette, reception. Our room was empty when we arrived, so we unpacked our things and went out in search of something to eat. We found a vietnamese restaurant in the old part of Lyon just at the bottom of the hill from the Youth Hostel. It was a lovely restaurant. When we walked in it was like walking into someone's house. It had a lovely cosy feel to it and smelt delicious. We shared a starter of vegetable spring rolls and then I had a vegetable noodle dish that was lovely. As it was vietnamese we had chopsticks which aren't that easy to eat with! I managed to eat the spring roll with them but when it came to the noodle meal I had to use the fork and spoon. If I hadn't have done I think I would still have been there now! After the meal we went back to the Youth Hostel and showered. The shower was good, only one complaint - you had to either hold the button down all the time for a continuous flow of water or keep pressing the button as every 5 seconds the water cut off. After the shower we went to sleep but as there was only warm water in the room it made teeth brushing an interesting experience...






Above - eating with chopsticks.

mardi 19 février 2008

Lundi - L'Estaque et Les Calanques

Above - les Calanques looking beautiful, as always
Above - it's me! Honest!

Two old cars (citreon c4??) at L'Estaque - both with Marseille '13' number plates.


Above - L'Estaque

Above - a dog on a wall in l'Estaque. Don't jump!

Monday morning. Rendez vous a la Joliette. 10h. Me, Aimee and Alex. We get on the number 35 bus and head to L'Estaque. We walked around but were quite disappointed that we couldn't sample, or resample as the case was for Aimee and me, the panisse and chichi. It was Monday. France has an annoying habit where shops close on Mondays. As a result there wasn't much open. We walked around. Saw the port, the church, and numerous animals! Dogs, cats, chickens - you name it, we saw it! Towards mid day we decided we were hungry and decided to head back to Vieux Port and go to Cafe Simon for Bruschetta. After lunch Aimee went home and me and Alex went to Les Calanques where I'd been with my teacher. We took the bus. In the evening Rachel came round and we had broccoli and potato cheese with tomatoes (vaguely based on the idea of cauliflower cheese...). We were going to watch a film but instead watched random videos on youtube.

Il ne fait pas toujours beau a Marseille


This picture proves that it isn't always sunny in Marseille. Unfortunately. This picture was taken from Saint Charles on Sunday whilst waiting for Alex who was passing through on his way to Marocco. Typical that he brought Chambery's clouds with him!
Sunday evening saw the biggest game of the season in the French league as far as Marseille is concerned. It was OM against PSG at Le Stade Velodrome. OM won, of course, 2-1. Cracking match. I watched it with Rachel, Alex and Joe.

dimanche 17 février 2008

My OM mouse

And, as promised, a picture of my OM mouse. Just to show I'm embracing Marseille and all things Marseillais with great enthusiasm! Look - it even lights up!!

France's answer to soup



Ok, so the top picture is of my moroccan strawberries and carte d'or icecream. Delicious. The bottom pitcure is France's answer to soup. Now, usually French soup is nice. It doesn't always look that appetising but the taste is usually good. I tried a different kind. Big mistake. It was called 'legumes verts' (green vegetables). You might therefore expect it to be green... But, to be honest, it resembled green gooey slime. Like the sort you'd associate with monsters maybe. Despite it's anything-but-appetising appearance it tasted not too bad. And by that I mean it was edible. There's another carton of it (yes, because the French don't have tins of soup, they have cartons of soup!) in the cupboard. Let's just say I won't be rushing to buy it again!

vendredi 15 février 2008

Vendredi

Above - Vieux Port as seen from Saint Victor. Just to rub in how beautiful and sunny Marseille is...

Last night Angeline came round and we cooked Risotto. It was very nice, the risotto, and the evening too. I hope we'll cook together again soon.
This morning I met Angeline devant la pharmacie at 9h30 and we did some shopping. She wanted a new pen. We went to Galeries Lafayette, Virgin, another stationery shop, then we went to do some food shopping. I then came home, had lunch and made my way to Castellane to go to Cesar to watch a film - Le voyage du ballon rouge. It was, umm, different. I wouldn't recommend you go and see it. Oh well, I guess that's French cinema for you...
Tonight is the final of Star Academy. It's very exciting. It's between Mathieu and Quentin. I'm hoping Quentin will win...

jeudi 14 février 2008

L'Abbaye de Saint Victor

Above - L'Abbaye Saint Victor
Above - In the Crypte of L'Abbaye Saint Victor

Above - The Sarcophagus of the Holy Innocents from the 2nd century. Discovered in 1628. The decor is Pagan.


My original plan for today was to go to Avignon but what with one thing and another I didn't quite make it. I might go tomorrow or Saturday. I'll see. So, this morning I emailed the uni with questions about my dissertation, I did some catching up on my German, that's about all really. After lunch I made my way to l'Abbaye de Saint Victor. It took me about 20 minutes to walk there. It's in the 7e arroondissement just to the right of Vieux Port. The views over Vieux Port were very pretty and I saw the tunnel for the cars which I knew existed but had never seen. It's strange to think there is a tunnel going under the port. But then again there seems to be as much under Marseille as there is on top what with the metro, underground car parks and a tunnel - it's a miracle it doesn't all collapse!

L'Abbaye Saint Victor was founded in the 5th Century. Needless to say it's old. I went down into the Crypte and I don't know whether you're supposed to take pictures down there or not but everyone else was so I took a couple too. There were English people down there! I asked them whether they were on holiday and they said they were. They were from Cambridge - very well spoken. They were speaking quite loudly, I still haven't got why English people think it necessary to speak English so loudly. Anyway, they seemed quite nice, asked me whether I was on holiday and I was proudly able to say I was living here, I then got on with exploring the Crypte.






mercredi 13 février 2008

Le Musee de l'Histoire de Marseille

Above - Le jardin de vestiges

So, the days are taking on a pretty standard pattern. Dissertation in the morning and a museum in the afternoon. This afternoon's museum was in Le Centre Bourse and was the museum of the history of Marseille. It was a lot bigger than yesterday's museum and there was a lot more to see. The only thing was that le jardin de vestiges was closed. I could still see it though I just couldn't walk around it.
Marseille - une ville phoeceene parce qu'elle etait fondee par les Phoceens vers 600 av JC. Elle devient metropole phoceene en 545 av JC apres l'invasion de Phocee par les Perses. Les Phoceens avaient la reputation d'etre d'habiles marins. Ils utilisaient de rapides vaisseaux a 50 rameurs les "penteconteres" a bord desquels ils oserent se lancer vers l'ouest jusqu'aux limites du monde connu.
Il y a environ 40 000 ans, sous un climat glacial. A cause des glaciations, le niveau des mers etait alors beaucoup plus bas, jusqu'a 100m. C'est ainsi que les iles de Marseille, l'Archipelde de Riou, et les iles d'Hyeres etaient reliees au continent.

mardi 12 février 2008

Musee du Vieux Marseille

Above - La Cathedrale de Major au Panier
Above - I'm sure this appears on many a post card of Marseille! It's Notre Dame de la Garde.

Above - In the heart of Le Panier - the 'home' of one mes sans abris?


Above - the heart of Le Panier


Above - Le Panier

Above - La Maison Diamentee (The Diamond House) Home of Le Musee de Vieux Marseille (The Museum of Old Marseille). It's one of Marseille's oldest buildings.
So this morning I worked on my dissertation. I'm getting there albeit slowly. After lunch I went to a Museum - Le Musee de Vieux Marseille. It was on rue de la Prison which, although is in Le Panier, I didn't know how to get to so I went onto lepilote.com - a fantastic website that gives you directions to and from anywhere. I took my directions and my map and off I went after lunch. It was really easy to find even though the directions took me a way I'd never been before. And there was me thinking that having lived in Le Panier since last September that I knew it inside out! And here I was going along roads I didn't even know existed! Some of the roads are in the photos above. I went round the musuem which was small but interesting. I have a whole page of notes and bits of vocabulary and things I want to look up. After the museum I came home, picked up a book and my phone, as I'd forgotten it when I went to the museum, and went for a walk towards la Cathedrale and around the fort. I sat and read my book - it was such a lovely afternoon. Aimee called me. She was just on her way back from Madrid and wondered if I'd like to have dinner with her! She is bringing the vegetables and cheese and I have bought the baguette and desert - tarte aux framboises that I picked up from the boulangerie after my walk around the fort and Vieux Port.
I think you can expect a post a day this week seeing as I'm on holiday!