Blogs from Marseille, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France, Europe - page 10

Well, it is blogger time. Our latest pioneering visitor who has managed to survive Marseille for the past week is our close friend Janet Johnson, who also serves as Kathy’s walking partner when in Lincoln and while here in Marseille. Janet and Kathy have been making walking sorties each day in Marseille—while Garry labors away at the lab. Garry picks up the baguette from the patisserie on his way home, and Kathy and Janet have the wine and cheese ready upon his arrival. Janet and Kathy have been cooking up some fine home-cooked meals. Last weekend we headed to Cassis, one of our favorite seaside places. This time we took a boat out to view 5 of the nearby calanques, fiord-like inlets lined by white cliffs. Some of the cliffs are very steep and are peppered ... read more

The next morning Kristi and I woke up early - as was the case this trip - and Vince slept in. I went for a run to see the train times since we had to check into the hostel in Marseille between 10-12 and then we gathered up our stuff and went to the station. Turns out there was a train leaving right when we got there and we sprinted to get on. The train was pulling away as we found seats. the ride was short but the walk was fairly long when we got to Marseille. We weren't sure what to expect at this hostel as we'd read it was just an apartment where a guy had put bunk beds in most of the rooms and charged people to stay. We rang the bell three ... read more

Welcome All, So after the hustle and bustle of Paris...a lot of tourists...Louvre...Eiffel Tower...Museum D'Orsay and ahh yes Crepes, Pain du Chocolate and Vin, we decided to go to Barcelona. Little did we know that the CNL train (overnight train) would cost €138 for two to go Barcelona and we would have to be in separate cars...yeah Spain doesn´t let men and women be in the same sleeping car...imagine that. So to avoid paying a riduculous amount of money on a trip across the country we chose Toulouse,which was completly booked. FYI, travlin out of Paris on Friday (Vendredi) is not the ideal day to leave, because everyone is leaving. So we got the last two seats to Marseille. If you guys and gals didn´t know beacuse we didn´t, Marseille is the third largest city in ... read more

Well, this week Garry will be acting as chief blogger since Kathy is off having a “wonderful time” in Beijing, China, where she is to give an invited talk. Her plane left Marseille 50 minutes late, which would have given her exactly 5 minutes in Munich to get to her plane for Beijing, but that flight was also delayed. So, I am happy to report that she and her luggage arrived safely. I sent our one-and-only beloved camera with her, with orders to bring back lots of pictures—next week’s blog! Upon Kathy’s departure to Beijing and my immediate loneliness, I found a small television set in one of the storage rooms left by a previous tenant—we had heard rumors there was one around. We have 7 public channels, by antenna, including one USA channel (TMC). I ... read more

Cassis We went to this great seaside village last Sat (9/27) and we shall return! It was so very pretty. We wanted to take the town's tour train but ran out to time. The train takes you out to the calanques (limestone-like fiords), one of the many reasons we want to go back. There are also boat trips to that area, plus several walking tours out of town, winery tours, and a nice town square. Garry will include pictures, but really, you can't see the charm. The town’s name is Cassis and it’s just how you would picture a French coastal village. We even walked by a couple vineyards on the way into and out of town. We did walk a lot, maybe 2 mi just from the train station into town and 2 mi back ... read more