Suitehotel Marseille Centre Euromed (Ouverture Le 1er Aout 2008)

... poor university residences, the state subsidise the university restaurants and canteens. Friday, for example, I had couscous, carrots, runner beans and a beautiful piece of fish, followed by a piece of bread, a slice of tarte aux pommes and a small bunch of grapes, for 2,90€. Aixellent. Just need to balance the mentalities of trying to get a good grade, but at the same time knowing that this semester is only worth 3% of my whole degree, so it's time to relax before ...

... yesterday, Saturday, and it is cooler but still nice. The trip here was spectacular with many olive groves and big mountains. Today we went on a tour to Les Beax - another medieval town with a castle - poor Graham and on his birthday too. Then we went winetasting and to the premier olive oil producers in France. The Mistrql was blowing on the tour and it was very cold but warmer back here in the camp. Tomorrow we explore Aix on foot then we go to Avignon.

... 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 ...

... to Aix-en-Provence.

Some random observations on the way to Aix: parking is much better in Avignon than I would have thought. There is not a whole lot of parking in the city walls, but free parking is available in large lots just outside the walls and even up against the wall. Men do hang out and play bacce ball, just like in the books and movies. There is a group that loiters about the tobacco shop that I have seen several times. Lucy’s preferred ...

... Wifi,’ so I’ve got fingers crossed. The mall’s closed on Sunday. Welcome to France.

Sunday is a flea market. Early in the morning stuff hits the streets, literally, laid out for perusal. Mostly it’s junk of course. But that’s about all the business that gets done on a Sunday. French laws are strict about this, though they’ve been relaxed recently. Marseilles is not like most of France, of course. Like many ...

... determined to guess what it was that Lorlinda, "really wanted." Now there were two angry lines. When it looked as though another employee was about to join in on the puzzle game, Mike and Lorlinda made a quick exist. It was clear no one could understand each other. A bit of a Babel story.

After leaving the huge supermarket, they were both hungry for breakfast. Tired of salami and cheese sandwiches for breakfast (the typical French breakfast), they broke ...

... day. Dave, Tia and I went up to the French War memorial where they were haveing the remberance day ceremony. I totally forgot that it was rememberance day and it was nice to see how the French did it. Not knowing a word they were saying, Dave started to translate, even though he was from Australia, he has been living in France for 6 months and has picked up the language. We hung around there and then toured the fortress again ...

... avion il fait plus frais que dans celui qui nous as emmenés en France, et le personnel est encore plus sympathique. Commence un marathon de 7 heures 50 minutes pour retourner vers le Canada. Au dehors, le soleil est étrangement fixe au-dessus de nos têtes, mais ce voyage à onze kilomètres du sol se déroule avec à peine quelques timides turbulences. On arrive, il est 13 heures 30 au Québec, et après les vrais derniers contrôles, on sort. Les quatre autres ont quelqu'un qui ...

... library is great, I really liked the layout and the vibe of the place. Day 5 The last day. This was mostly a reporting back day, all of the groups reporting on what they worked on over the week, and handing out some tasks for people to do in ...

... spelling, I'll fix it later) wine region of Provence, just 1 hour north of Marseille. Our tour guide, who we shall call "Tim" because he spelled his name and it was pronounced "T-Bo" but I could not spell it back to you if I wanted to. Tim explained that in the states most of the people live in the suburbs and drive to the city to work. In France it is opposite, people live in the city and drive to the suburbs to work. We also found out that a liter of gasoline ...