Saturday, May 1, 2010

Marseille

5:30 in the morning. Somehow I seem to be able to pull myself out of bed on mornings this early when I know I'm traveling. I got ready it the dark because Mamie was still sleeping, and I was out of the house my 6:00am. The walk to the bus station was cold and dark but it wasn't too long. The bus driver arrived shortly after me and another woman. The lady was so indecisive about whether to take the bus or not, everytime the driver would close the door she would say, "No monsieur, I must get off." Then she would walk away and come back to get back on. She did that twice, but she ended up not going so I was the only one on the bus to the airport. It was unnecessarily early, so I sat and waited a long time for our plane but when it did arrive I fell asleep pretty fast. Right after the cute little French flight attendant messed up the whole safety talk in English. It was so cute because he kept messing up and then laughing into the microphone. He had everyone laughing. I woke up over Marseille and when we landed I walked to the bus station to buy my ticket to Marseille Centre. It was a 30 minute bus ride and it didn't start raining till we got there and it's pretty much been rainy like that all day.

I found my hostel fairly easily. My room wasn't ready but the guy let me leave my stuff in the locker and he showed me everywhere I should see in the town on a map. He spoke french to me without even asking if I spoke english and I understood everything. Made me feel good! So I took off into the city. I went straight to Vieux Port which is just so pretty with all the boats. I wandered around there and bought my boat ticket to go to the Chateau D'If. The island prison that Alexandre Dumas made famous with his novel, The Count of Monte Cristo. It's also the island that The Man in the Iron Mask was held in, so that was first on my list of things to do.

I had an hour after I bought my ticket to walk around so I went to find some lunch. I just got a panini and decided to go back to my hostel to grab my sunglasses because the sun had started shining. On the way home some little guy stopped and said, "Your eyes are beautiful!" Then he proceeded to follow me muttering things under his breath. I kept saying "No, Merci." But he wouldn't leave me alone so I walked into the first random store that I could find. He disappeared but when I came back out her ran up behind me again and was still muttering things in French. I said, "No Merci, I have a boyfriend" And he said, "Do you want another one?" When I said no again he actually left. That suprised me but I made sure he wasn't following me to my hostel.

When I got back, my room was ready so I moved in quick. I have a roommate that speaks French but she wears something strange on her head like she's Indian, but she's not. (Turns out it was her Bachelorette Party, I found out that night when they came in at 4am) She's nice and we speak French. I wasn't expecting to move into my room though so I was running late for my boat. I half ran to the port and got there just as they were opening the gates.

The boat ride there was very pretty and I took lots of pictures, but when we got there it started to rain. I got in free with my French student card, so that was a bonus! Then I just wandered around and read all about the chateau. It's so interesting, but the little info paper they give us is never enough so I'll have to look it up more later. The sights from the top of the tower were so pretty though! I could see all of Marseille from there, as well as the other islands. I also saw the rooms where both the famous characters in the novels were supposedly held. It wasn't a long visit. I got back on the next boat which was just an hour later.




I met some guys from Germany and Denmark that were touring the city on the boat, I didn't talk to them for very long but they were just touring around. Then I took off in the direction of the catherdral. It was pretty far actually. But it was so pretty. Then I went to the other places that the guy at my hostel told me to go to which were not worth it. And I was walking on some crazy back streets that I didn't like so I got out of there pretty fast. I walked past a market on my way to the Jean Jaures Park where I saw some people playing drums. Everyone was dancing and yelling and it was so much fun! I stayed for 3 songs and then I took off because I was so tired. It was only 3 in the afternoon! When I got back to my hostel I crashed on my bed with my feet still on the floor. I woke up from a dream that I thought was real. haha. Then I went down stairs and I'm now sitting the common room of my hostel with some people speakin spanish behind me. Too bad it's Spain spanish or I could understand them...

I'm going to go grab something to eat here soon before it gets dark, but there are two really good restaurants right next to my hostel which I'll probably go to. Then I leave for Nice tomorrow at 9:30!

PS. Some funny things I saw today. I woman was crossing the street and a car pulled out in front of her. She kicked it as it went by.

I saw a dog as big as a bear today. I took a picture but it doesn't do it justice.

3 comments:

  1. Hi Sierra,
    Excellent blog.

    I'm going to Marseille and Nice next month- could you share the names of the hostels you stayed at?

    Many thanks!

    BK

    ReplyDelete
  2. I stayed at La Belle Meuniere in Nice and Vertigo in Marseille. Both really cheap and very nice staff.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sierra,
    Thank you so much, I truly appreciate your speedy reply!

    Safe travels, I look forward to reading more of your blog.

    Peace,
    BK

    ReplyDelete