Blogs from Marseille, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur, France, Europe - page 14

After my cricket match I trained back to Wigan and had a big night on the hooligan juice with Jaimee, Todd and his cricket team. There were some characters, one who was 18 that is fired from a new job every week, does superb Forrest Gump impressions and was chatting up 50 year olds on the dance floor. The night got even better when Todd found £50 on the sidewalk and shouted drinks. I think Jaimee probably should have passed on the free drinks because she was, shall we say very merry, nah that doesn't do her justice, she was pissed. Therefore when we woke her early the next morning she was feeling less than awesome and was in a panicked state to get her bags packed for our trip. Oh yeah I forgot to mention ... read more

August 25, 2007 - Up bright and early for a full day in Arles. I had read that there was the local market held on Saturday and as well as a Provencal fabric shop, and lots of Roman ruins, which, among other things, is what Arles is famous for. It also turned out that they were having a “Roman Week” that ended on Sunday so we could catch a couple of items there. First the market. I just LOVE the French (cross out - fresh) markets. I could smell the freshly baked bread two stalls down. I haven’t seen that many types of olives in one place together in my life! And just all the other stuff. I got some retail therapy in, and we bought up large. We had the cooler (Chilly bin) with us, ... read more

Aix is a prestigious student hub offering buzzing nightlife, art, culture and architecture. It is only 25k, from Marseilles. It is like a mini Paris, classy and chic, expecially the main tree-lined boulevard, Cours Mirabeau, which is bordered with cafes on one side and a string of Renaissance private mansions from the 17th & 18th centuries on the other. This is where the fashionable Aixois go to flaunt designer labels and sip expressos. Aix seems to be addicted to fountains. There are three fountains alone along Cours Mirabeau, including the massive cast-iron "Fountain de la Rotonde", dating from 1860 and guarded by haughty, stone lions. The life of local Paul Cezanne is treasured in Aix. To see where he ate, drank, studied and painted you can follow a walking circuit guided by footpath-embedded bronze plaques. Some ... read more

We were meant to be heading off to Finale Lugure today but we adjusted our plan as we realised how expensive Milan is. So instead we stayed an extra day in Marseille and plan to stay in Nice for the day before moving on. Really lazy day today got up at mid-day and spent to day with Thomas. I think he felt he was obliged to show us around Marseille, but he really didn't know where to take us and comunication was quite difficult!!!... read more

Those who don't know who Nadine and Vincent are, Nadine used to be my au pair when I was young and we have been in contact ever since. Nadine now have 3 kids of their own, one of which is coming to England in a week or so as I did to france a couple of years ago. So Nadine and Vincent very kindly put us up for a couple of nights and made a very good job of hosting us. Had a really really good day today, it was nice just to sit back and let Nadine and Vincent lead on and take us places without having to think about anything. Hot showers as well - oh baby. Also before we went out, got picked up at 0530 - ouch!!, we had plenty of ... read more