Marseille

We love France in the spring time, we love France in the fall.

Okay, so it's summer, but we still love France. Instead of hopping to many different cities like we were doing in Spain, we decided to chill out in just a couple, and what a grand decision. Marseille was fabulous. We arrived without having booked an accomodation, but at the first hotel we tried had such a nice owner that struggled with us through our language barriers and gave us a very affordable and comfortable room for three nights. One of our first days there, we visited their beautiful Basilica. It stand 230 meters above the city, with a huge statue of the virgin and child perched atop to look over the city. The climb up to the church was tiresome, but totally worth it. At the top, we could see the whole city sprawled out on one side, and the beautiful mountains and ocean on the other. I thought Florence had it all, but after that view I decided it would be JUST PERFECT with an ocean to top things off. We spent the rest of that day exploring the neighborhood Cours Julien, a funky international area where you could find every cusine imaginable. After enjoying an afternoon coffee, we had a bit of an adventure trying to re-fill our phone cards, and with the help of the friendly and considerate Marseilleans, we finally did. We enjoyed a gourmet dinner at a cute, but sophisticated restaurant. I had chicken in a rich peanut sauce, and Nicole enjoyed sesame-baked salmon. Their chocolated desserts were TO DIE FOR...mmmn. We spent our second day at Marseille on the beach, much different from any other we've been to. The beach was made up of teeny pebbles instead of sand, it kind of felt like being at a playground on the ocean. It was relaxing and uncrowded, surrounded by a park with lots of nice green grass. While napping on the beach, we got an unexpected call from our cousin Gabe who said he was in Marseille, ready to meet with us! We immediately left, in an excited rush to see him, and spent the rest of the day just catching up. Gabe makes such a lively addition to our party, and always keeps us on our toes. I personally think we need to write a book of Gabe-isms, to collect all of his courky advice. For example, Gabe believes he can replace shampoo, tooth-paste, detergent, and a dryer with baking soda...he LOVES the stuff and won't travel without it. He also dubbed me "ice-cream willy" and Nicole "Jack-in-the-box." We love our new nick-names. That was the pleasant end to our Marseille visit, Nicole will pick up in Nice.

Au'revoir,
Amanda and Nicole