Hotel Acanthid Toulon

... fight, as I make my way to Cours Julien, the main pedestrian/ night life area.

I push through the crowded streets, and find a well lit area to sit and watch. Cours Julien is split down the middle by a modest smattering of green space, fountains, and children's playgrounds. Its already late, but a few children still play on the swings and slides. However, the playgrounds are mostly dominated by groping teenagers.

On either side, crowded restaurants, cafes and ...

... planning at all!

But tonight we’re talking a relaxing voyage by boat over the Medeterranian. Which will be followed by another. A few relaxing sailing days it would seems. Not exactly what I thought we were going to be doing, but it will work. We have our own berth with a shower and bed. Oh the luxuries never end! At least these 2 fools will rest well tonight and prepare for what lies ahead.

NO MARSEILLE for us!!! The captain went by when we had 21 foot waves and winds of 50 gusting to 65. It was sunny but not good enough to dock in Marseille, so on to Barcelona we go. In spite of it, we had a great relaxing day and i had a 3 hour nap this afternoon. Naps are totally not my thing but apparently i was exhausted from our whirlwind schedule. Anyway, nothing exciting. We have seen numerous people in arm slings and just ran into a woman in a ...

... handstands and all the rest.... spend hours cleaning the sand out of our bags and clothes! The next day was a stunning 26 degree day.. so so so nice. We never thought we would be at the beach again. Were tempted to stay but found out the next 2 days were not going to be great weather. Sadly we headed off at 4pm to head to Avignon.. Saying goodbye to the med forever was very hard.. and sad....

... as if they omit bathrooms strictly as a matter of space. So I’ve got the bell tower room, high above the street and across from the Gare St. Charles, watching people come and go at all hours. I don’t have TV, but I do have Tinariwen on my buzz-box.

This room could probably be dubbed the ‘suicide suite’ if it weren’t so small, given its high perch five stories over the street far ...

... yesterday’s popular beach resorts- Acapulco, Brighton Beach, Coney Island- Marseilles is a bit past its prime tourist days, long ago replaced in the popular imagination by places more exotic and more exclusive. But it has weathered the storms better than many others, sandblasted by time and left to acquire a polished sheen naturally. It has none of the stuffy je ne sais quoi of Paris, nor the generic beachiness of Cannes or Nice. Marseilles is not ...

... pollution, high unemployment, a crumbling infrastructure, sporadic riots from immigrants and streets full of absolute filth. You would be like him, too living here.

(6) Finally, you will be told to your face that you are basically inferior because you come from the US and they still like to blame Bush for their woes. Just be proud you are from America...after all, if it weren´t for us 60 something years ago, they would ...

... 1:30, so we looked in from outside the fence. I have a few pictures here of the ampitheatre. It was much smaller than the one in Orange, and in much worse state of repair. They had built modern seating and staging over top of the ruins, so that there wasn't much sense of what the original would have been like to attend events in.

Then, when leaving town, we saw some ruins over on the side of the road and stopped. It turned out to be a series of bases for ...

... So now, thanks to Mandy and her extraversion, all the assistants have about a dozen new friends. We filled two tiny French cars with four people each and made our way to the Lac du Verdon ("Lake of Verdon, surprisingly enough), following the winding roads through dormant lavender fields and ripe olive orchards-the epitome of beauty in Provence-dotted here and there with medieval hillside villages. The lake was a brilliant blue color ...

Our last day in Toulon. We have enjoyed some aspects of Le Cote d'Azur, but, despite the eight out of nine sunny days, the weather tends to be spoilt by the Mistral. We have attempted swimming a few times, but usually it is either too hot or too cold or both at the same time. We did a day trip to Cannes and another to St Tropez, both worth a visit, but we like Toulon itself just as much ...