Marvelous Marseille

It was Brewster's idea to go to Marseille.  His suggestion surprised me.  Of all the places on my radar to spend time near Aix-en-Provence, Marseille was not in my top ten.  However, since I asked, I had to say yes.   Brewster's one condition was that we didn't leave Aix until after 12noon on Saturday.  My teen boy loves to sleep!

Saturday morning I woke up, made my coffee and went on a run.  We live across the street from Parc Jordan.  It is a sweet park enclosed by a black rod iron gate.  There are   fountains and benches in the park, but it is not very big. I thought maybe I'd run around the park a few times, but when I ran from one side to the other side in less than 5 minutes, I realized I needed a larger loop.  I left the park,  ran a mile down the street past the kid's school and up through Parc de la Torse.  I ended up at the end of Cours Mirabeau which is the pedestrian street in the old city.  Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays are the high market days.  The street is lined with vendors selling clothes, purses, tablecloths....all the usual market items.  I enjoyed the people watching as I walked through the stalls and  home to our apartment.

At 11:30am, I woke up Brewster and the three of us had lunch and walked to our local train station. Marseille is only about 45 minutes away.  Within an hour, we were in the beautiful St Charles Rail Station downtown Marseille.  We searched for the Metro outside the station for a few minutes until we realized we were going the wrong way.  No big deal.   We turned around  and walked back into the station.

We followed signs for the Metro and went down the escalator.   I had an "aha" moment.  I realized a key to staying happy while traveling to resisting the feeling of  being in a rush.    There is nothing quick about  new situations in foreign places.  The metro is an example.  It takes time to figure our metro station.  Then we have to confirm which train we take. Then we have to stand in line to buy a ticket.   Then we have to figure out HOW to buy the ticket and hope it takes our credit card!   Then we need to get through the turnstile.  The ticket could go in the turnstile or it could be an electronic reader, or something else.  Every turnstile is different. Once we are through, we have to make sure we know which direction we are going on the train and that we are on the right platform.  And then the train comes.  I have to check to make sure we all get on the train.  And then Brewster and I study the subway map while we ride on the train. We look at each other to confirm our stop.  And just like that,  a few minutes later we are there and then we just need to figure out how to exit the station.

The desire to rush makes me anxious and miserable.  It's impossible.  

After my "aha"  I was relaxed when we arrived at the Vieux-Port stop.  We walked out of the station and were stunned by magnificent Marseille.  A metal canopy, called the Vieux Port Pavilion welcomed us.  This structure stretched nearly a block along harbor.  The art piece was similar to Chicago's “Bean" providing shade and photo opportunities. 

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The Vieux-Port is shaped like the letter U around the harbor. 

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The subway stop was at the bottom of the U and our hotel at the top. It was 25 hot minutes to our hotel.  After checking in we were ready for a dip in the pool which was the bonus feature of my hotel selection.

The kids swam and I talked to Matty over WhatsApp.  The weekends are the best for us to connect.  An eight hour time difference between France and Park City is not ideal for phone talking.  During the week we connect at both dawns and then I say goodnight to him during the middle of his work day. 

When the kids exhausted themselves, we changed our clothes and headed out to the garden (Palais de Pharo) next to our hotel.  It was a beautiful vista of the Vieux-Port.  We chilled on a bench and watched the boats come in.   Brewster had his camera and enjoyed shooting the picturesque views. 

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Feeling snacky, we went in search for a crêpe.  Being in France, that’s not too hard to find.  We sat on the corner of a pretty busy intersection.  It turned out that the kids proclaimed these crêpes the best yet. Our happy hour entertainment was watching the European sports cars drive by.  Brewster is certainly his father’s son.  He knows all the cars and when a black Lamborghini drove by our little table, Brewster stood up and exclaimed “OH MY GOD.” He’d only seen two before in his life.  One in Las Vegas and one on the Champs-Élysées and both of them were parked.  Who knew Marseille was so fancy?

The three of us walked back to our hotel and chilled out until dinner.  Brewster watched a show, Sadie WhatsApp’d with her bestie, Cayenne and I found a dinner spot and read my book, Circe.   I chose a restaurant based on yelp review that was less than a half mile from our hotel and I made a reservation.  I didn’t realize until later that there was a car tunnel below the harbor that connected the two quays at the top of the U.  So we took a taxi and caught a gorgeous sunset before arriving at our Italian restaurant. 

After dinner, I asked the kids if they wanted to walk home which would involve walking all the way down one quay and up the other.   “Now?” Brewster asked?  “It’s after 9pm.  I don’t think so”.   “OK” I said. “Let’s walk in that direction and when we get tired we’ll hop in a taxi” I proposed.  The kids agreed and we started our Saturday night stroll.

That walk was the highlight of my weekend! People were everywhere.  Seaside restaurants were full as were the sidewalks.  The temperature was perfect and the harbor was lit up.   Lampposts lined the streets.  We walked and talked all the way home feeling the Saturday night city vibe.  The kids surprised themselves when we arrived and it was nearly 10pm. “Mom, that we really fun” they both commented.  I agreed.

The next morning we treated ourselves to the Sunday morning brunch buffet. It was nearly perfect except the fact that the European espresso machine confused me.  Pre-caffinated, I studied guests in front of me so I knew what to do when it was my turn.  It was all smooth until I pressed “Lait chaud” (hot milk) after my coffee filled my cup.  At it reached the brim, the Frenchie behind me reached around and pressed the "Lait Chaud" button off.  Embarrassed, I grabbed my coffee quickly to move on.  However, I had to tilt my coffee cup in order to release  it from the machine so I spilled some coffee.  Trying to be discreet, I grabbed a napkin to wipe my spill.  “Sloppy American” I thought to myself. So awkward.  I took a sip of the delicious coffee and moved on to cook myself an egg at the egg station in  the smallest omelette pan I’ve even seen. I put my coffee down. After my egg was cooked, I looked for my coffee.  It was gone.  One of the many waitstaff cleared it.  Argh.  Back to the espresso machine to make cup number two without issue.

We checked out of our hotel and walked up to the oldest church in Marseille, which Brewster astutely pointed out was the oldest church in France.   Marseille is the oldest city in France!  Abbaye de St-Victor was built in the 5th century.  We walked in and Brewster whispered, “I think this is Mass”.  “No, I don’t think so”.  Nope.  It was Mass.  Brewster was right.  We slipped in a pew and said our prayers.  We took Communion and a photo much to Brewster’s dismay!  After Mass, we walked across the street to a notable ancient bakery called Le Four des Navettes which was founded in 1781!

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We wanted to cross the quay and I read that there was a 50 cent ferry which we tried.

It was super convenient and fun!  On the other side of the quay, we walked around and found an outside art installation by a photographer using drones to capture the Calanques which are the cliffs that stretch from Marseille down to Cassis.  There was a quote that said, “If you have been to Paris but not Cassis, you have not been to France.”

With that said, we are taking a train to Cassis tonight for the weekend.  Our memorable moment as we left Marseille was when we reached the Vieux-Port metro station there was a crowd underneath the metal pavilion.  All of a sudden, hundreds of people shouted, clapped and started singing in unison the Marseille fight song.  Jumping up and down their energy was felt all along the harbor.  Brewster said, “I bet Marseille just won a football match.” Again, he was right.  Google confirmed that Marseille had just scored a winning goal against Monaco for their win.  Brewster proclaimed himself a Marseille football fan starting that moment.