Our second breakfast at Martin’s was just as delicious as the first… only this one had a chocolate éclair J I was sad to leave Vers so soon. Even though Vers was as tiny as it gets, I almost feel like there was more to see there than Paris. I want to eat in each of the three special restaurants, I want to meet the baker who made my beloved chocolate éclair, I want to walk every street. Living in such a small community, if only for a couple days, felt so organic, carefree, and right. When we go back (someday) we will definitely stay for longer than two nights. We bade Martin and Monique farewell, caught our bus, and were on yet another train to Marseille.
The port town of Marseille was a wonderful little one day and night adventure. Our hostel was a five-minute walk from the train station, and a 10-minute walk to the Veiux Port. We dropped off the backpacks at the hostel, threw on our bathing suits, and went to grab lunch before making our way to the beach. We found a small patisserie near the port and bought a really peppery piece of quiche, a fougasse (bread, cheese, chicken, all baked, yum), and two Heinekens – all for eight Euro! Definitely the cheapest meal we’ve had in Europe so far. We sat on the edge of the port with our feet dangling and ate and drank and talked. We were worried about drinking the Heinekens sitting outside on the port, but no one said anything so we went with it J
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lunch at the port |
Done with lunch, we took a bus to the beach. The beach in rocky Marseille was covered in tiny smooth pebbles instead of sand; at first we were disappointed, but they felt so good on our feet! Although the water was too cold to swim in, I got my feet wet – I’ve now officially been in the Mediterranean Sea! Tommy spent the afternoon playing volleyball with some new friends while I napped (typical).
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view from my spot on the beach |
Our four-person dorm back at the hostel had two girls, Tommy, and me. Yay! I was so happy the only male I had to deal with was Tommy J We got dressed and headed to a fantastic dinner at Vieux Port on the waters edge. Every restaurant on the Port served some specialty mussels, all the came with French fries. For dinner we chose mussels with fries and pasta carbonara. Both were incredible! The pasta came with ham and mushrooms and was served with a raw egg yolk in the center that we were to stir in. YUM. The mussels came steaming in a delicious creamy, winey, buttery sauce with lots of onions. When we got to the bottom of the pot it became pretty clear what the fries were for. Lots of dipping.
One bottle of wine at dinner + one bottle of wine back at the hostel ended the night for us around 1:00 am. In the morning our hostel was full of talk about the train strike. Excuse me? We’re going to Florence today! Please please please. We hurried to the train station to learn thankfully that the strike was only affecting regional trains. Whew.
Now I am sitting on a train to Lyon across from the most amazing French couple Luna and Gwen. They live together and attend the university in some small French town that I do not know how to spell… and am too embarrassed to ask! As soon as we sat down they asked us if we wanted to play Uno with them J She is studying social work and he loves photography and plays the bass guitar. They are headed home from a two-week holiday in the South of France. They are so beautiful and so in love, we talked about music, traveling, and school (all with the help of the phrase book we bought in Avignon). They have offered for us to come and stay in their apartment for a holiday around September J
Today is a day full of travels. From Lyon we go to Dijon and from Dijon it’s the overnight train to Florence! I am so sad to be leaving beautiful France, but so excited to spend four glorious nights in Firenze! The most amazing man in all of France helped us book all of the trains for the rest of the trip a couple of days ago… and somehow got us in a first class car for our overnight to Florence for the same price we paid for a second class car for our overnight to Paris. How? We didn’t ask. This means that Tommy and I get to be together in our own car with only two beds Instead of in a four-person car with four tiny beds.
ALL
OF
THE
GOOD
THINGS
Love and miss you all,
Alyson