Marseille, France

Last night, Geoff and I took the 9hr train from Barcelona to Marseille. I will admit, it was great getting out of the first train from Spain to transfer and enter into France; finally, a language I speak (well at a level that will get us by)! The police guard at the station didn't bother checking our passports once I mentioned we were 'Canadien'; the golden passport again has been amazing to have as we travel.

We are currently staying in the Morrocan part of Marseille, just south of the train station. There are some pretty poor areas in this city, this being one of them. Last night when we arrived we saw a family of four sleeping in the nook of a building, sleeping in what looked to be a pile of all their belongings. The city in most of the areas we saw today is a bit grimy, trash on the streets, smells of urine (in barcelona they had crews hosing down the streets at night), buildings not particularly well taken care of (mind you, they are hundreds of years old :)). Overall, a lot less well off than I had imagined for this popular mediterranean city; however, it is perhaps unsurprising given France's/Europe's current economic situation. Marseille is famous for being a port city, surrounded by a massive fort. Today we hiked up to the Notre Dame church on top of this massive hill, which had amazing views of the city (will add some photos). There was a lot of commemeration for world war 2. On August 25, 1944 when the church was finally freed from occupation, the church became a symbol for independence and freedom. There was a wall where you could see damage from the fighting that went on in the city, which for someone not alive during that period, made it seem/feel real and made me think of my grandparents, particularly grandpa Barry fighting over here in this war.

Other than that the food has been amazing! I ate the most delicious rhubarb, raspberry, apple tarte? I don't even know what it was called, but it was great. Geoff, as always, is enjoying the coffee and is starting to get used to saying 'Merci' instead of 'Gracias' after a month of being in Spain.

Demain, nous allons a Nice pour deux nuits, apres ca je pense que nous aiyons a Turin en Italy. J'ecrivais plutot quand nous arrivons!

Right-wing French magazine

Kitch Bar