Ibis Marseille Prado

... English in the entire town. We found our hostel super late at night (and they don't make hostels in France like they did in Spain... no more free internet!). The next morning, we walked into town not really knowing what to see or do. But as we were looking for a quick Petit Dejuner (breakfast) we stumbled upon the Saturday market. We sat at a cafe on the square and had the most amazing breakfast 5 euro can buy if you ...

... Argh! I tried to get him to go up into the town and explore, but I couldn&#8217;t drag him further than a few blocks - worry that we needed to be back in time&#8230;?!?!<br><br>Finally around 4, they opened the gate so we could drive in. Only to find the ticket office didn&#8217;t open until 6pm. While waiting, we talked with a lovely Frenchcouple who were completely unperturbed at our lack of language ...

... present was some cereal and kidney beans from Amy...we're waiting to experience her famous chilli con carne (hint hint). However, the French don't really 'do' birthday cakes in the same way that we do, so, instead of spending 15&#8364; on an admitttedly beautiful patisserie cake, we've been sticking candles in madeleines and such like, so not all of our birthday traditions are lost!<br><br>As well as some of this quite blatant indulgement, we've also been immersing ...

Bonjour avec Aix-en-Provence Cherie<br>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.<br>We arrived ...

... I have to spend $8 for a sandwich and bad coffee- like Maxwell House espresso or something- to find out whether their WiFi&#8217;s up and running, then that won&#8217;t work. I&#8217;ve got about one more place to try, and then I&#8217;ll have no other option but funky cyber-cafes. Welcome to 1999. I like my room, though. The French have just about perfected the combo bed/bathroom, which allows them to save dirty face ...

... to converse in English with us. They weren't rude or anything...they just couldn't be bothered and kept shuffling us down the line of counters until someone decided to help us. I asked for a ticket to anywhere that was typical French and the guy told us for 5 Euros we could travel all day anywhere within Provence. Now that is a deal. We hopped on the first available train and I can't even tell you what city it ended up in. There was nothing much there to see at ...

... It is the second largest city in France, but Marseille has a totally different feel: the colors of its buildings are different, the architecture is simpler, the Marseillais have a different walk, they carry themselves with a different attitude, they favor different foods, and they speak with a very pronounced accent--using many words not found in a Parisian's vocabulary. How I savored finding my favorite pastry, croissants aux pignoles--the almond paste and pine ...

... is guarded by Fort St Nicholas and Fort St Jean, is home to 3,000 boats, and is the heart of Marseille. and took a 'petite train' (see map below - the red line is the one we took) up to Notre-Dame de la Garde (the big church overlooking the city). It has a gold statue on top. The locals refer to the statue as 'la Bonne Mere' (Our good mother ...

... map and stopping where I feel like. I've not got much choice actually...I've got a road map and no guide book. Hopefully this will bring me in contact with lots of country grandmere housewives with steaming bowls of soup, pate de campagne and pain rustique. Not to mention lashings of custard. Calm it Enid. The food is better than in Britain. Hands down. Have to admit it. No wonder the Frenchies are so snotty about it. It ...

... to help them solve their problems--or maybe it's my personality type (I'm an ENFJ, what are you?), but I just wanted to step in and take over the whole thing! Hah, it's probably just that I'm an imperialist. Wow, that was a long rant. I apologize. After falling asleep during several unnecessary speeches by people who were convinced that their role in the Académie was something 300 hung-over foreigners would be interested in, I and ...