A Mean Marseille

Today I woke up to rain again. I got ready while Jill was still sleeping and he started cussing at me into his pillow. He had kept me up last night so I didn't really care that he was mad at me this morning. I didn't really have plans today except to meet that little guy I had met on the beach my first day in Nice to buy a painting from him. He said he'd give me a good price. I got to the place and he laid out all the paintings for me so I could pick. I picked up all the ones I liked and he layed those out next to each other. I had a hard time deciding between two. So he told me where they were painted and it actually helped me decide. I got this really goreous painting from the chateau looking down on the port side. It's fairly large so it will go nicely in my house/appartment when ever and if ever I settle down long enough to get one. He even gave it to me for 18 euro!

I said goodbye to Christophe and headed back to the hostel. I was going to try to see the Russian Cathedral before I left but I had to walk a long way to meet Christophe so I didn't think I would make it. So I stopped and got a pain au chocolat instead and headed back to the hostel where I picked up my backpack and said goodbye to Robert. I picked up a newspaper which had some awesome pictures of the waves from yesterday and hopped on my train. The train ride was long but I read my French magazine again the whole way.

When I got back to Marseille I knew right where to go so that was a nice feeling. I checked into my hostel and then took off to the Notre Dame de la Garde, the huge cathedral on the top of the mountain. The view from there was incredible. It was far too cold to really enjoy it though. I could see a 360 view of the whole city. I tried to get a really good panarama picture so I'll see if it works..... I could see the islands and everything. Really awesome view. Too bad it wasn't sunny.

The church itself wasn't that great. Except for the large gold Mother Mary and baby Jesus on top. There were picture of boats covering the walls and some boat models hanging from the celings. And lots of mosaics.

I waited for the bus for too long outside and my boots have holes in the bottoms of them now so water was leaking into my shoes. I had wet feet and I wasn't a happy camper so I took the bus back to the port, and then the metro straight to my hostel. I grabbed a panini on my way back and I ate that right after I took off my wet boots and socks. I talked to the guy at the desk in French for a while about the storm in Nice and what I had seen in Marseille. I plan on staying in tonight. There is a huge soccer game - Marseille and Rennes - and most everyone is partying and going to be drunk, and I don't trust Marseille guys. I have some nice roommates that are all girls, and honestly I'm exhaused so I plan on going to bed early and sleeping in till 9:30 and checking out right at 10. Nothing planned for tomorrow because the rain has just put a little damper on my trip, but I'm ready to go home anyway. I'll probably stay in and talk to the workers in French if I can. Get some good practice in.

Well I'm headed to bed! I love you all and thanks for keeping up on my travels! Gros bisous a tous!