First Impressions of Marseille

I forgot a story about the train ride to Marseille…okay so this train was “hi speed” and turned out to be almost silent. Many people were sleeping and eating but that was it. I was getting ready for a little nap and the lady sitting across from me (we were at a table) took out a nectarine, peach or plum. Anyway, listening to someone eat something juicy like that in near silence, is disgusting!! You should totally do it sometime!

I made it to Marseille and decided to buy my train ticket to Aix. Since I did it by myself, without assistance, I did not get my young person discount (my ticket was 7,00 instead of 5,30). I am not sweating it though.



I got off of the metro and immediately smelled the sea. It was a salty, not bay or ocean smell. There were sailboats lined up and huge buildings. I took some pictures and was off to find my room. When I arrived, the room was not ready so I needed to explore. There were dozens of restaurants and I was off to enjoy one. I found one that was a bit more pricy than I wanted, but I could not refuse. There were four guys, who looked Italian, eating spaghetti and ginormous shrimp. I sat next to the mob and ordered the same.



The waiter took my order in broken French/Italian/English, he was the only one working and running around like crazy, I felt bad for him in the heat. When I got my meal I decided it deserved a picture, so after a bite voila. It was delicious and the shrimp tasted like they were cooked in salt water, still salty all over.

I went back to the hostel and my room was still not ready. I went to a bunch of shops and tried to get a phone. I did not have everything I need, so I will try again tomorrow, although I may try to do Skype as a phone and see how that works. I went back a third time and the room was still not clean. I went wandering and found a bank and a beautiful fountain. After being approached by the same homeless guy twice I left.

Connections that will sound random to you: For such a city, there are very few benches and places to sit. There are a large number of cops and people walking dogs with leashes…well the dogs have leashes but are dragging them. I think that European (maybe just French for now) guys are always hitting on girls because they don’t care if they are knocked down. I think in the US guys want to hit on girls more often and say stuff under their breath and to their friends, but the rejection is just too much.