Relais de la Magdeleine Gemenos

... even a few unaccompanied women sneak past.

After I've had enough excitement for the evening I walk back to the station to wait out the rest of the night. Its only 2am, so I've got some time to kill. I end up talking with an old man who is standing in front of the station smoking a cigarette. After a brief chat, he invites me back to his place to wait for my train. He seems friendly enough, and the prospects of waiting in the cold for three more hours aren't ...

... my first History assessment. Unfortunately they get harder as you go along. Especially as 19th Century France was quite manic! Revolutions, revolts, riots, Republic to Empire to Republic, wars, expeditions, misery and huge economic developments! All very interesting of course, keeps me on my toes. European Studies is still a bit all over the place, and a bit boring as we’re covering subjects we’ve covered many, many a’ time before, but hopefully that ...

... made some friends had we the time and resources to put together costumes... I decided we were dressed up as Canadians, which I thought would have worked great until Tom pointed out that Canadians would probably speak more French. But we weren't really left out, there were only a handful of people dressed up. Overall; here is the tally of costumes in Aix on halloween: 2 girls in witch hats (with one stocking each), 5 ...

... figured this out and got on the right boat - well, a different boat anyhow.

Driving onto the boat we followed the sign that said ‘Embarkments’. I love how so many words in French are similar to what we use in English, but with slightly different meaning. I certainly feel as though I am embarking on something this evening. Something completely new and unplanned - even to us who hardly do ...

... 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 ...

... kill two birds with one spoon; it works. Ever the alchemist I go buy a handful of mint leaves in the Arab market; now we’re getting somewhere. I can’t look a pizza in the face anymore, so I close my eyes and savor the flavor.

After missing Rachid Taha last week on my first night in town, and Lura the week before on my last night in Wroclaw, I resolve to catch the Ba Cissoko show tonight. It’s ...

... similaire et commune pendant la Colonisation française. L'Afrique Equatoriale Française (A.E.F.) a une unité t**ritoriale, des ressources et une histoire très différentes. En deux mois et demi, nous avons parcouru, JP et moi, 16.000 km, trav**sé et pénétré la Mauritanie, longé la totalité de la vallée du fleuve Sénégal, au nord de ce pays, nous avons suivi le fleuve ***** sur près d'un milli** de km, nous avons fait le tour du Burkina Faso et enfin trav**sé la Côte ...

... lives as they saw fit, in a place where they could practice their beliefs unscorned. The settlement they named for their American poet would be theirs, and theirs it was when we came to it." Marriage to Al Fisher took Mary Frances Kennedy away from Whittier to France, and gave her the name by which we know her: M. F. K. Fisher. This was the first of three marriages, the beginning of a life of travel between homes in France and California, the raising of two daughters on her ...

Well, at least it is not hard to figure out what you are wearing when you are back packing through Europe..I think my jeans will be standing up on end by the time we are at Paris and can do some laundry. Marseilles is absolutely one of the greatest cities. Contrary to popular belief, so far everyone has been very friendly. A lot of the waiters speak ...