Back to the Sea...Southern France

Friday, April 2^nd. I arrive with lots of bags. Ellie meets me at our metro stop, helps my tired body carry them up a big hill 3 blocks away, go out to a quaint restaurant and get a carafe of wine, catch up like we are old friends…grow quite close that first night.

Saturday, April 3^rd. Ellie’s 23^rd birthday. She wakes up early, I sleep while she gets ready in our bathroom w/o doors. We wake and grab quiches…amazing! and walk to Jardin du Pharo, view of ships coming in and out. We chat for a long time and grow closer…talk about faith and life and our lives.

Walking by a food market. Garlic! Yum...

The Marseille Harbor.

A boat race.

Me, watching ships.

Harbor Pic.

Next, head toward the busy shopping street. Run into Harry who’s asking for directions right when Ellie is telling me the climax of a very long story. We reluctantly chat and he is actually cool. From Leeds, England and visiting friends here. Get his info and find an ATM. Walk through a market and I find an amazing street food: a massive crepe with red-pepper salsa-like sauce inside. Apparently beans are in there too. I get all messy. We come back to our dodgy hotel that we have to ourselves and relax, do internet stuff. We go out and shop for awhile down the busy shopping street. Both buy ourselves something, come back and shower and freshen up to go out to Ellie’s birthday dinner. We find a place that looks crowded and reasonably priced. We want it nice because it’s a day to treat ourselves to something fancy-ish. 

Weird atmosphere. Long service, small dining room upstairs. Small tables with just a few groups. Everyone likes to stare at one another. There’s two Americans that try to help me with the menu when Ellie is in the restroom. It’s obvious I’m confused about the specials. The waiter loudly announces he has a menu in English. Everyone turns to look at me. Then Ellie comes back. I tell her she missed a lot. I go all the way and order a seafood appetizer AND dinner. Shrimps and salmon. The shrimps arrive with eyes and legs attached. I’m grossed out. Ellie’s laughing. I’m told later by a French girl that restaurants serve shrimp like that to show their freshness. I’m like, I could care less about freshness, just give me something that I don’t have to work for! My salmon is amazing. Ellie tries mine and confirms this. She likes seafood and everything else for that matter. Her paella seafood dish comes out with the same shrimp—eyeballs and legs attached too. Karma! Now she has to pick them apart for 20 minutes. In the end, we agree the food is awesome. Esp after dessert. We order a chocolate cake and strawberry and vanilla ice cream between the two of us. Our 3 course meal includes it. It’s amaaazing. Tops it all of and now I’m full.  A doggy emerges from the staring table next to us. They are actually nice people and I say “hola” to the dog without thinking. It looks at me and says “hola” back with a nose nudge to my hand. I’m in France.

We head to the metro stop where Harry first asked us for directions to meet up with him and his friends. On the way, we are followed by a few men, who eventually get on cell phones. It’s like a conspiracy. We are really freaked out but almost to our meeting point. Plus, there’s lots of people on the street. But not necessarily friendly-looking kind. It’s a creepy time to be out at night in Marseille. We meet Harry and his 2 friends, they drag us back to where we came from after quick hello. We go to their friend’s house who are American girls teaching English here. They are really nice. We stay and chat then head on a night bus back into the town’s port area, where we live. We go to an Irish pub and sit outside and I people watch and am fascinated. The Irish pub has expensive drinks. It’s next to the bar that’s in Love Actually, the bar where Colin Firth’s character proposes to his French love. SO cool cuz I just watched that movie in Portugal.  We sit and chat with Harry and Mohammed. They are a riot. We get tired and the boys walk us to our hotel. It is late, so we go to bed and sleep till 11:30am the next morning.

Walking up to the Notre Dame Basilica.

Sunday, April 4^th. It’s Easter and we wake up late. We eat our apples and fruit we bought at Monoprix for breakfast. We head up to the Notre Dame Basilica because it has a great view and it’s Easter. We try to walk fast to get a workout and my lungs burn. It’s a good feeling. We arrive to the top where the amazing church sits at the top of the hill, overlooking the entire city. It’s INCREDIBLE. I notice the different heights of all the houses and buildings below because Gordon from Barcelona once pointed that out to me about views of cities. It’s amazing how many buildings I notice. We take our time and take in the views of the old port town. Ellie says I should go inside the Basilica. It’s amazing. I’m churched out, but I listen. I am taken away. It’s my church. It combines the sea and a humble, yet intricate mosaic masterpiece inside. There are so many elements of water and maritime life. It even has little ships hanging from the ceiling. I sit in the pews and take it all in. I pray.

View from the Notre Dame Basilica.

View from the Basilica.

See the ships hanging like a baby mobile?? So unique.

The front of the Basilica.

We head back to the port area to find food. We eat a big sandwich and little cookies for dessert. We sit on a porch ledge of a closed shop. We act like travelers. We head back to shower and clean up, then go down to the port area to find a café and relax.

Artsy.

Eating sandwiches on the street.

Soon, we get hungry and restless for the outdoors. The sky has turned sunny for the first time this weekend. Sunset is coming. We grab slices of pizza, pass by bars showing the big futbol game, and go back to the Jardin du Pharo.  I know the lingering clouds will make this sunset incredible. We walk through the grass barefoot. The cold ground feels good on my bare feet. Ellie thought it’d be nice to take off our shoes and walk through the grass. It feels real. We sit on our bench and stare at the ocean and ships passing through. The sun begins to fall. The clouds are all over and there’s a pink haze that lingers on the horizon. The magic begins to happen. It’s sunset and raining at the same time. The wind is heavy and yet, everything seems peaceful. We are in awe at its beauty and I feel light and dizzy and happy. We share stories and dreams for life. Then we head home to our little dodgy bungalow in the port town of Marseille.

Pretty evening in the harbor.

A cruise ship leaving the port...ohh it makes me soo nostalgic for SAS....

Magic Sunset.

Magic.

Rainbow!!

LOVE THIS.

A statue :)

Monday, April 5^th. It’s a beautiful day out. We wake up early because we have plans to visit Aix-Provence, a quaint town about 30 minutes away. We are both exhausted because neither of us slept much the night before. I blame my evening coffee from the night before. Ellie’s not sure why she didn’t sleep.

We are excited because we had planned a great breakfast for our last full day together in Marseille: quiches from down the street. We get showered then head to the place. It’s early so the quiche is fresh. Ellie orders two for us both and we assume it’s the same ham quiche I had a couple days ago. It’s not. It’s tuna and tomato. Couldn’t tell from the outside. I’m bummed. Ellie’s ecstatic. She likes everything. I remove the tuna as best as I can without ruining the whole thing. I took a bite and really really couldn’t handle the fish taste and smell this early in the morning. We eat on a porch step of a closed shop. Then we head to McDonalds for a cheap coffee for Ellie and a way to get the tuna taste out of my mouth. I get a coffee too.

We head to the bus to Aix. It’s a cheap ride and doesn’t take long. We arrive and it’s still sunny out, but very windy. We stroll through the quaint old town. There’s an expensive market with lots of soaps, jewelry and touristy gifts. It’s still cute. We navigate through some small empty streets. It’s Monday, and I have a theory that most shops in this town are closed on Monday. It’s been like that in some cities. Ellie says that in small towns like this, many take a long lunch break. We stop for a decaf coffee at an outdoor café because we want to sit in the sun and use a bathroom. There’s a black lab that is sitting near our table. The waiter tells us in broken English that it wandered here this morning. It looks clean and has a collar, but no name tag. I pet it and it likes it. The air smells of roses because there was a flower stand nearby, but it closed for lunch.

Look at the buildings above the cars...avoid looking at the bottom half.

DOGGY...

In Aix.

We walk through the shops and Ellie buys some running shoes. She loves how much I know about running shoes. I’m happy to help. We stop by a pizza stand for lunch. It smelled incredible that morning, so it was in the cards to eat it later.  It tastes as incredible as it smelled. Yummy yummy sauce and crust. Very flaky goodness. I got chorizo on top. I know, I thought I was over chorizo too…..oops.

Cute street in Aix.

We hang out for awhile and sit in the sun. Then we head back. We hang out in our hotel room with the shutters open and take in the cool breeze. We get hungry for a light dinner and grab some salads at the Monoprix. We eat them at the harbor and let our feet dangle over the ledge near the boats. It’s a perfect view. We relax the rest of the evening before checking out the sunset over the harbor. It’s amazing. I love this harbor. The town may be a little more sketchy than I expected, but the harbor view and aura can’t be beat.

More cute Aix.

Pretty clock in Aix.

It’s April 6^th. I left extremely early this morning. I am taking 5 trains to an area in Italy called Cinque Terre. It’s supposed to be gorgeous. I will stay there two nights before heading to Rome to meet Mom and Dad. I’m soooooo excited to see them. These next two days on my own will be a nice way to reflect thus far on my journey. Marseille was a place where I found myself truly happy. I am now ecstatic I’m here in Europe, but it took me a long while to get to this place. It has slowly been heading in a positive direction, but now, my purpose feels more apparent. I’m starting to be more open to listening to my adventurous old self, and less to the self that has been a little hesitant.

My other sister.

Btw, I’m on a train now in Italy and just passed through the Southeast tip of France. It was incredible. Nice, Monoco, Monte Carlo, Toulon even…you guys are all just as pretty as I’ve heard you were.  I mean, wow. I will come back some day….until then, just gotta keep truckin’ with the funds. They’ve got to last me until May 7, my return date to Ventura, California!