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

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...

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.

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.

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!

Dimanche

Above - Looking towards Fort Saint Jean from Vieux Port

Above - Le Palais du Pharo as seen from vieux Port

Above - Looking towards Le Panier from Vieux Port

Above - Fort Saint Jean

Yes! These pictures really were taken on Sunday! It was a beautiful beautiful day. Warm and Sunny. I went for a walk with Rachel and took some pictures. We then watch the football - Manchester United v Manchester City but it wasn't a very good game. I came home afterwards for something to eat rather than staying to watch the Chesea v Liverpool game which, judging by the score - 0-0, wouldn't have been that interesting anyway. OM played Nice later on but I didn't see that either. So, Auriane has gone home for the holidays (yes, it's the holidays!) and she said I could watch her tv so that's good. I watched the semi final of Star Academy (which is like X factor) and can't wait for the final on Friday!

No much else to say really about Sunday. I just wanted to show you the beautiful pictures with the blue blue sea and clear clear sky.