Inter-Hotel Parc Des Expositions Marseille

... full of huge luxury yachts. No sign of Jonny Wilkinson though...maybe next weekend! The mountain area was also very pretty, definitely motorbike/cycling country (Dad, you'd love it, Eileen, the bends and drops are scary!), but although pretty, I still find the landscape up there quite arid and hostile...wouldn't feel quite as comfortable peeing in a bush up there as I would in a gorse bush on Exmoor (don't look like that, needs must)!

And now a little bit about ...

Bonjour avec Aix-en-Provence Cherie
Since the last news we have visited the Cote D'Azur spending time at Monte Carlo and Antibes. We stayed near Antibes at a place called Biot and at night you could hear the seals at nearby Marineland - very strange. It was still quite hot and stickey with more mozzies. Monte Carlo was wall to wall money with billions of dollars in boats and cars. Antibes was similar but it had a lovely old town as well.
We arrived ...

... sequence touching land in a tornado and leaving buildings lying limbs akimbo in its wake. I like entering at some unknown entrance and just seeing where the maze will spit me out, as long as it’s still daylight. The main street is Canebiere, which I affectionately refer to as the ‘canebreak,’ in homage to my roots, and from there streets radiate in all directions.

Marseilles is pizza ...

... how very many cafes there are. Of course, our real purpose was dessert. At the gelato stand Lucy got chocolate hazelnut and dark chocolate. I wanted to fit one more serving of fruit in for the day so I got passion fruit and lemon.

No pictures tonight...but here is a link if you want to read more about how those dainty little calisson are made: http://www.nytimes.com/1989/02/26/trave l/fare-of-the-country-provence-s-almond -calissons.html?pagewanted=all

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... can appreciate the pay-as-you-go economic factor, and admittedly many of the customers of the cheapest places here are Arabs who would simply prefer a traditional hammam, but it goes deeper than that. Every room has a bidet, so I guess that covers the important areas. Thus was born the French perfume industry. Of course it’s not that I MIND paying €3-5 for a shower, it’s just the hassle involved. It reminds me of the old Western ...

... Marseille is just a big seaport that happens to be France's second biggest city and starting place for points more interesting. I am glad I was able to spend a few days here to absorb its unique culture.

But having spent three days here I have gotten to experience the people first hand. Last year in Paris I found the locals to be nice enough contrary to horror stories I had heard from others. Now to all of you whom I told ...

... wa koers richting Marseille. Het was buiten ondertussen al zweeeeten. Dus volle bak airco in de auto! De rit duurde ongeveer een kleine 2 uur. Gelukkig hadden we cruisecontrol. Op de terugweg heb ik voor meer dan 80 kilometer geen pedaal moeten aanraken! Lekker die benen strekken. Ma bon, 2 uur in de auto is dus beetje saai en we hebben hier genoeg inspiratiebronnen rondom ons om wat bezig te houden: effe lean-back en ...

... are claimed to be the highest cliffs in Europe (I must check that as when I went to Iceland last year they claimed to have the highest cliffs). Thus ends our visit to the coast of Provence - our next port of call is the Camargue, not far to the west. ps: just for a bit of light-hearted entertainment, while studying the map of France I found a number of place names that are amusing in English - Condom, Gap, Corps, Mens, Six-Fours, Die, Apt, Percy (if you don't believe me look them up).

We spent Halloween in Marseille and were hoping the locals would be celebrating it the way we're used to back in New York. They weren't. Unfortunately the weather wasn't great for our 1st day but me made the most of things and had a great hike up to the main cathedral on the second morning before heading off to Nice. Not much else to report but a little sightseeing and a few pictures around town. .

... paperwork or someone official pontificating about the importance of their role in the Académie. We were, however, invited to a barbeque at the Consul General's house, a sweet little mansion overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. The road leading to the Consul General's house; Holly and me There was oodles of wine to be drunk, and plenty of food, which was (fortunately) still hot despite our being delayed by the bus, which managed to ...