Marseille and Provence

Thursday 22 December, after packing, I met the fam at the Liverpool Street Station to catch the train to the Stanstead Airport to fly to Marseille. We finally got on the plane and caught an amazing sunset between layers of clouds. By the time we got into the Montpellier airport, it was dark, though we were all v. excited to get new stamps in our passports. Mom's high school friend Ellen, who works at the American Consulate in Marseille, picked us up at the airport and drove us back to Marseille, filling us in on useful bits of info and answering all of our questions. Her "big" car was still too small for us and our luggage, so we rode the two hours with Leslie's bag on our lap. When we got into town, though we were all exhausted, we went to dinner at a great Italian restraunt on the Mediterranean, knowing that we wouldn't make it out of our rooms again if we went there first. Though everyone in my family had taken some level of French, we were still unprepared to use it at the restraunt and Ellen served as a great translator when we got flustred (which was quite a bit).

After dinner, we headed to the Consulate General's house, since Ellen had arranged for us to stay at the intern's housing at the guest house on the property (next door to where a former South American exiled dictator had lived). Mom and Leslie shared the apartment downstairs while Joe and I had the one upstairs. Ellen had provided some snack food and breakfast food that, together with the amazing view of the ocean we saw the next morning and the wonderful price of free, made our accomodations in France incredible.

The next morning, after catching the "multi-million dollar view" of the ocean, Ellen picked us up and took us to the consulate to introduce us to her coworkers and show us around. They were all lovely and we were treated to freshly-baked olive bread and even a personal recruitment speech for the NCSI. We then embarked on a tour through town where we stopped at the Santons market. Santons are a provençal tradition of statues of local traditional people that they arrange in village scenes containg the usual christmas manger scene. Leslie really like "le fou" or "the fool" and we began to see how hardcore some of the people became about their village scenes. We checked out the Santons museum and a bookstore before heading to lunch. Marseille and Provence are very well-known for their olives/olive oil, fish, wine, and lavender (needless to say, we at a lot of olives and fish and drank a good amount of wine!). They also apparently make a lot of ceramics and lots of soap (usually with lavender). After lunch, we continued through the markets, took a ferry ride across the harbour (it lasted only about 60 seconds, since it wasn't a great distance, but Ellen insisted it's a Marseille tradition), and went to another museum known for its architecture and now for its hovering and over-informative (though v. nice) docents. We did get a lot of info on Mary Magdeline, who is said to have landed in Marseille in 40 AD before continuing her life in Provence. We also then made our way into some of the oldest neighborhoods to a chocolaterie (delicious!!!), and one of the cathedrals in town before going back to the consulate and then to dinner. We ate at a little seafood restraunt on the Mediterranean that caught its own fish earlier that day. We all shared a humungous lupe that they did a whole presesntation with, including cracking its sea salt coating and filleting it infront of us. We also then had to eat the eggs, which they brought to us on a plate looking absolutely disgusting. We returned to our apartment that night absolutely exhausted and absolutely stuffed. (photos: part of the view from our room (the other way included some islands and the Chateau d'If); the santons market; the fam at the port; some of the streets in one of the oldest quarters in Marseille; a crêche scene with santons; and Marseille harbor with Notre Dame de la Garde above the Vieux Port.)






The next day we slept in slightly before heading to le Beaux de Provence, a small walled mountain-top town that reminded me a lot of the one from "Chocolat." We'd stopped on our way at a local ceramics shop and were starving when we arrived in town. We headed straight for a creperie before then making our way to the chateau (castle) at the top of the city. Joe and I did lots of climbing up precarious stairs to get wonderful views of the countryside. After the Chateau, we followed a procession of traditional provençal dancers that was preceded by shepherds and noisy donkeys and sheep. Eventually, with only a brief stop to buy cookies, we were back in the car to get a quick tour of the area before going back to Marseille. Leslie was thrilled to see some Roman ruins and we drove through St. Remy (the town Van Gogh featured in "A Starry Night" since he stayed in a mental hospital just outside the town near the ruins after cutting off his ear). Once back in Marseille, we went to Ellen's house for a Christmas Eve dinner of cous cous and relaxation. Again, stuffed to the max, we returned to our apartments for a chance to really sleep in the next day. (photos: Our apartments and Lesie with part of the ex-dictator's house in the corner; the streets of Les Beaux; Joe, Ellen, me, and Leslie in Les Beaux; the Chateau and Les Beaux; the view from the Chateau, including vinyards, etc.; and some of the traditional provençal dancers and musicians.)






Christmas Day was very quiet. We slept in and eventually were picked up by Ellen before heading on a scenic drive up the coast to a little fishing village where we would be having our Christmas Dinner. We arrived at La Grotte, the restraunt, and all had quite a bit of sampling of each other's food. Joe and I liked Ellen's mussels in lovely garlic sauce, and I enjoyed Joe's pulpe (a local kind of squid). After multiple courses, we finished with dessert before going on a drive up the coast along the Colanques (apparently v. similiar to the Norwegian Fjords) with some mini hikey-hikeys, photo ops, breathtaking vistas. Leslie and I even got on our bellies to peer over the edge of what's supposedly the highest cliff along the Mediterranean, if not Western Europe. Once it got dark, we headed back towards Marseille, making a quick stop at the village of Cassis. We returned to Ellen's flat to have tea again with her and her husband before going back to our flat for some rousing games of Euchre played with French playing cards (actually a bit different!). (photos: Hiking in the Calonques with Cassis below; big cliffs with Joe, Bob (Ellen's husband), and Mom; Leslie looking over the edge; Mom and Joe; Ellen and Bob; the fam doing what Joe called "The Face;" and us looking downright adorable.)







The next day, Mom, Joe, and Leslie left early to catch their train to Paris en route to Germany. I stayed behind to help Ellen clean before my train took me back to Montpellier before I flew on to Glasgow. However, we finished cleaning v. quickly and soon had nothing else to do to kill 4 hours with. We went up to Notre Dame de la Garde, a landmark in Marseille since it's on a hilltop overlooking the city and can be seen by sailors from miles away. After the church, I went to the train station to read and relax for a few hours before my train. After arriving in Montpellier, I caught some lunch and then a taxi to the airport to wait for my plane. The plane back to London actually arrived early, but after waiting for a delayed flight, we got into the terminal late and, among other things, nearly missed check-in for my flight to Glasgow. Luckily, I made it, met Trace and our friend Kara at the gate, and made it into Glasgow around 11:30pm, and then to our hotel. (photos: Notre Dame de la Garde; view from Notre Dame de la Garde with the islands and the Chateau d'If; and view from the church including the two forts at the mouth of the harbour and the Vieux Port.)



France was great and I really enjoyed it, especially being able to hang out with family. It was a v. strange Christmas since it was nothing like traditional Christmases, and was apparently equally bizzare for Josh and Dad who stayed in the US. However, we still had fun, Ellen was a tremendous host, and I hope to visit her when she is stationed in Haiti at the end of the summer.