France .. .. From Taylorae DeWitt Bonjour from the port of Marseille, France! We are currently in route to Spain…. And we will be there TOMORROW… So I am really going to have to be on top of things for this e-mail. But first, FRANCE. An interesting country. I always say that I need to meet a person at least three times before I allow myself to make any judgments and I’ve developed that same philosophy with France- I needed to try it three times to be able to now say that I really did enjoy my three days in France. (Though it was not always this way..) Something I will say about France is that transportation is tough, stressful, confusing, etc. etc. etc. …. Definitely our biggest frustrations. Above all else, I do think I have figured out why this port was such a weird one at first- I believe, that after the hustle and bustle of the other ports we have traveled, France is the port that forced us to slow down. There was not much to do or see which forced us to get creative (I know, forced to be creative with my time while in France, such a hard life J). Above that, there is definitely a level of difficulty that comes with changing your language in each new country you travel to (as well as figuring out the completely different way each bathroom functioned, what it was called, when you cross streets, what the lanes mean if anything, if you should wait in a line or just jump up when there is an opening to ask a question…. The list could go on). We found ourselves tripping over the language we were using as well as deciphering the correct etiquette given the setting… so much to think about if you plan on making it out alive! Now I’m getting ahead of myself. Let’s start with day one…. The first day started out with…. Sleeping in! We have been going non-stop and in the midst of rigorous courses and attempting to plan for ports it has all been catching up… and by that I mean that I officially developed some annoying illness aboard this ship. I was sure that I was going to make it off without this being a part of the story, but on the first day in France I took this as a little friendly reminder to myself that I need to slow down a bit… and got a FULL night’s rest. Such a win! When I eventually pulled myself allllllllllllll the way down from my top bunk, we managed to miss the free shuttle out of the port resulting in a nice 25-minute walk to get out of the gigantic port alone! Then we jumped on the city bus to Joliette! A quick bus ride later, a few stops here and there, and there we were. You ask where? We had absolutely no idea. Wherever we managed to get off was a GHOST TOWN. I think I maybe saw five human beings in one hour… two of which were the two ladies I brought with me from the ship. So weird. This minor detour lead us to the Cathedrale of Marseille which I must say was gorgeous… with the most incredible red doors! Following the cathedral, we ventured through the town and were blown away by the incredible artwork on the brick walls of the city- doors, water pipes, corners, windows, borders, signs… everything in the Le Panier (historic quarter) was so artistic. The water pipe had a painted snack slithering up it with beautiful jewels as it’s scales. My favorite street corner was covered in vintage book pages… which was perfect because we ran into so many vintage shops around every corner with the most unique items. Le Panier, which lies a bit north of the port is truly known for its history woven sloping streets as much as it is for its artsy ambiance- the name itself actually means “the basket” because it used to by the site of the marketplace prior to WWII. Amongst the wandering… we continued asking ourselves “where is they city center?!” and “when is this going to make sense?!”. Ya know, that okay know I understand where all the people are kind of feeling. Instead of actually finding the city center, we did find banana gelato… and boy what a reminder that we were not in Italy anymore! It was subpar at best. We did attempt to visit La Vieille Charité which was historically the almshouse for the poor. Basically, an almshouse is charitable housing provided to enable people (typically elderly people who can no longer work to earn enough to pay rent) to live in a particular community often targeting the poor. As it began to rain, I was unsure the actual history behind this place until I actually am reading about it now because all you see when you visit is the museum that it has been turned into. As we continued to find our way, the map was not getting any easier to use nor understand and so we honestly just chose a street which led us to Vieux Port (the old port) and the actual city center with actual human beings! It was a frustrating morning to make it here, but we were here and were indeed looking for something to lift our spirits. Naturally, we turned to Starbucks with their wifi and took some time to contact our loved ones back home and attempted to research some things to do in Marseille. Our result you ask? Next to nothing… but we did plan our happenings for the next day revolving around not actually being in Marseille. This is because we really had a frustrating day and were not having much luck and so we wanted to see more.. find a new place.. experience something else that would leave us with a better impression of France. We could tell once we returned to the ship that perhaps the mediocre feeling of France that we were having extended to many SAS-ers. Day two, and our second try at France began with accompanying the religion professor aboard the ship to the Notre-Dame de la Garde (literally meaning Our Lady of the Guard)- a Catholic basilica located at the highest natural point in Marseille. We first went into the main area and participated in their church service. It was beautifully done, though difficult to understand due to the fact that the entire thing was in French, and that there were many tourists back behind us with their flashing cameras. Inside you will find colored marble murals that depict the safe passage of sailing vessels due to its proximity to the port as well as being the site that fisherman come to to get their boats blessed. It was definitely a cool experience, but my favorite part continued when we took some time afterwards to look at the amazing panoramic views above the city… you could see everything (including those beautiful terracotta roofs)! On the bus back down the mountain (hill?) I was put in the middle of the most hilarious (awkward?) situation. There were two very nice gentleman that I had met, one that knew English fairly well, and one that really did not (this being the one that loved me…). The one who spoke English was trying to teach the one who didn’t know English how to say “what is your name?” and “you are beautiful”…. All the while I heard the entire English 101 lesson happening behind me. If anything, it did make me laugh a little bit as (much to his dismay) we got off at the next stop. A quick stop along the harbor to check out the many local fish markets and various stands and then we headed to Aix-en-Provence (via metro, and bus, and another bus)! Aix-en-Provence is a little city just about 19mi from Marseille that has long been a university town now home to many teaching and research institutes… and dare I forget to mention the fountains! This place had so many beautiful, beautiful fountains! As we walked down the Provencal market, we had a tough time communicating with the street vendors as we continually conversed with folks who came off a bit rude to us. They would tell us to sample their bread, their lotion, try on shoes, feel a certain fabric… and then suddenly you were buying it. They got very angry when you continued walking and didn’t actually buy said item. There was a bit of tension in the air and gave us kind of a weird feeling and so continued on to crepes. It was very strange to be in France on a Saturday and Sunday because sooo many things were closed, and aforementioned, there was nobody anywhere! So if you happen to be planning a weekend trip to France anytime soon… you may just have to rethink your preconceived notions of what it is that you may find, because hustle and bustle you won’t. But anyways, back to crepes. I finally had one, and it was probably the only delicious thing I ate in all of France. Portions were small, food was expensive, and a restaurant called La Caleche offered less than great pizza, but this crepe, this Nutella crepe, was soooo hot, but it was delicious! Crepe in hand we headed back to Marseille and found ourselves back to the ship by dinner time… still struggling with what we should think about this country. While some of my friends decided to stay on the ship this day, I wanted to push myself to discover more of France to make a better judgment, yet even after day two I still had no idea what that judgment would be. As the early evening came I was excited to return to my cabin and find that my good friends Kim and Francesca had returned from their field programs because I was in need of some uplifting! We had the genius idea of pushing the beds together and had a movie night/sleepover on our awesome big bed… and all was well in the world again. J The next morning Kim and I were excited to have a much needed roommate day and spend the entire day just her and I- already a wonderful way to start try #3 of France! With hiking in mind, we headed to France’s newest National Park- Pare National des Calanques established only in 2012 which stretches 20km high above the brilliant turquoise Mediterranean waters. Most gorgeous views of France EVER. We spent about seven hours here… just hiking and talking. We took the path to the right first which led us to an incredible lookout- even at the highest point the water is clear enough to see right through to the bottom (and you were able to see the amazing town of Cassis too!). Such AMAZING water. Then we took the path to the left and found ourselves a seriously EPIC rock climbing adventure. So, so cool! We kept thinking this path would turn into something even cooler, so we kept walking around the first bend, then the second, then the third, and after this pattern continued for about another hour we decided to head back and finally took the path that led down to the water. After scratching and scarping nearly every inch of our body because of our poor depth perception in regards to the rocks and reef in the water, we swam around for a bit in all of our hiking clothes (of course we forgot swimsuits…), jumped into a school of fish, then headed back up the long and treacherous path. Boy we were dehydrated, hungry, exhausted, a whole slew of things, but hey, we were in the Calanques of southern France hiking! After hiking, and a very deserved showering at the fountain at the bottom of the hike, we took the bus to the Stade Velodrome… AKA the famous soccer stadium of France home to the Olympique de Marseille football club and was even used as a venue for the 1998 FIFA World Cup and the 2007 Rugby World Cup. This place has a capacity of over 48,000 spectators, but with the construction that is currently happening, the stadium will hold 67,000 spectators when it is finished in 2014. That’s incredible! Jumping back on the Rond-Point du Prado metro station we headed back to the old port as our epic roommate day was coming to a close. But first, when speaking of metros, an exciting thing I have noticed about the various metros we have used is that it is very unique depending on the country you are in… the one in France may be one of my favorites. For starters, the station with the Velodrome had soccer players all throughout it. The station at the old port had actual tanks underground! The fancy lights made each station feel like a night club- I was so tempted to break out some moves. As we made it back to the old port we met the shuttle that would take us back to the ship around 4:30, and boy was everyone eager to get on that shuttle! No one was sure what side of the street it would pull over on and so there were students on either side just waiting in suspense with on ship time looming over our heads. As it pulled up, you just see nearly 60 SAS-ers slowly start with a jog and then reach full sprint by the time they got to the ship- everyone SERIOUSLY wanted on that shuttle. When we got back we pulled up to the little MV Explorer right next to the US Navy Ship. So freaking cool! That thing was massive with rows of airplanes on the top deck and all sorts of official people standing all around it. A very cool ending to France I must say! And finally, my opinion on France now you may ask? Three days, and three chances, I will say try #3 definitely left a good impression. Or perhaps that was just because I got to spend the whole day with my awesome roommate… J Who knows! I’m still not sure what to think to be honest, but now I have Barcelona in the morning to focus on! Until next time…. Love and miss you all so much! Best, Taylorae DeWitt Semester at Sea Colorado State University ‘15 “We travel not to escape life, but for life not to escape us.”
Posted on: Tue, 06 Aug 2013 13:01:44 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015