Friday afternoon we took off on another train. I have no clue as to how many trains I have been on this summer! Interestingly enough, a normal TGV reservation in second class with Eurail from Metz to Paris is a standard 9 euros; not bad. I have no idea how, but our tickets ended up being 12 euros all the way from Metz to Lyon in first class. For being the only thing available, I'd say not bad at all! It was one train all the way there, taking a little over 5 hours. We arrived around 9pm with just enough daylight to find our hotel. What should have been a 20 minute walk ended up taking almost 2 hours as we came to a confusing dilemma. We were on one side of a major highway (think spaghetti junction) and our hotel was on the other. We walked in circles for a bit wondering if our directions were right and after verifying with a man at a different hotel desk, they were. He showed us a way we could walk there: "Oh, it's easy! Just about 200m. You just go down to the intersection, turn right, and the first chance you can go left and up through the parking deck to get across." So we try that. All we see is a dark parking deck with no one around....not chancing it. So we look around some more and come up with nothing. We go back to the man, "Oh, well there is another way, yes. Much easier. You go down to the intersection, this time turn left. You see you can go under." Oh, we saw that way. That way was walking under a bunch of highway bridges in a sketchy park area, and it's 11pm by now and we have all of our luggage on us. Finally we get the man to just call us a taxi even though he thinks we are crazy for not just walking. I'd rather not risk getting mugged. He was very nice for all of his help though, and a very short taxi ride later, we made it. From what we were able to see of Lyon as we wandered around that night, it seemed very pretty. We walked along the waterway and there were a lot of nice bridges and people out late. We passed some cool art sculptures as well.
Saturday morning we woke up early and were able to figure out the metro system very easily to avoid another confusing walk back to the train station. We got Subway sandwiches (yep, they have Subway in Europe!) and hopped on the regional train to Marseilles. We ended up squeezing in to an 8-person car on the train because the other option was standing for four hours. We decided to try talking to the people in the car with us, and what started out as awkward conversation ended up being a pretty enjoyable ride. There were three people in the car around our age, so we had fun talking about what each of us are studying. I also got to practice a little bit of French this way because we switched back and forth between the two languages. It was around 1pm by the time we arrived, so we checked in first thing and then headed out to explore the city. Marseilles was gorgeous! We walked through a market and found our way to the Old Port which was close by. There we saw tons of boats and restaurants on the water. Our map we got had some walking paths marked and we decided to take the one that went by the coast line, through the Old town, and past the Cathedral. The Old town proved to be an enjoyable walk, but definitely not a walk I would take at night as it tended to be...well, older and slightly less populated. But overall it was nice and the Cathedral was pretty. When we returned to the port we searched for dinner and got giant individual pizzas and beer. It was delicious! Since it was getting dark and we were tired, we planned our next day and turned in early.
Sunday was our beach day! We woke up fairly early and went down to the market. We spent a good while there picking out fruits and nuts to be snacks for the beach. My favorite shop had every spice imaginable. When I walked in I couldn't figure out why there was such a strong smell and then I saw that further back there were tables with burlap sacks of every spice I have ever seen and more and you could just scoop what you wanted in to a bag to be weighed. If I lived there, that's where I would get all my spices. They also had dried fruits and nuts, so we got some dried apricots and almonds. We also picked up grapes, nectarines, and a mango from some of the other fruits stands. Something else I noticed in the market but did not get to try were a lot of stands selling what looked like pita bread and marinated olives. It looked so good! They also had this really weird candy(?) that looked like an orange pretzel made out of that bendy sugar ribbon candy you see at Christmas. After the market we got on a bus and drove along the coastline until a stop where most people were getting off. Since the majority of the people on the bus seemed to like that beach, we figured it must be a good place to stop. Surprisingly, the "sand" there is just small gravel rocks, which I assume was man-made. It was interesting, cause it doesn't get all up in everything like sand would, but it leaves everything very dusty. Either way, tanning works! So we tanned and swam around enjoyed the nice weather. In the distance down the coast we saw a Ferris wheel and tents, so after a while we headed down that way. The tents were in the process of being set up for some event in the evening, but the Ferris wheel was fully functional so we rode it and were able to get a really great view over Marseilles. Afterwards, we got dinner right on the water. I got a grilled lemon chicken with risotto and enjoyed every bite. That night instead of waiting for the late bus, we ended up walking the entire way back, and it really wasn't bad at all. All I had with me was 4 euros and a towel, so I didn't have to worry. Plus, the whole way back there was a sidewalk over the beaches along the coastline, so we got a really great view of all of the cliffs and water at night.
Monday we had a half day left to explore and we wanted to make it count. We got breakfast and then headed to Old Port to find the tourist office that was listed on the map. We circled the buildings once unable to find it, and then went straight to the water where the icon was on the map. I noticed some blue umbrellas that said "office tourisme" and headed that way. Turns out they were selling some really strong smelling fish under those umbrellas, and whatever tourist office was supposed to be there was nowhere to be found. No worries though, because along the port were a few ticket offices for different boat tours. We were able to catch the next boat out to the islands. We went to Ile Ratonneau, which also had a good view of Ile d'If and the cool old Chateau on it. We climbed the rocks and trails on the island and were able to see tiny alcoves and small secluded beaches along the island, as well as some old ruins of what looked similar to the chateau across the way on the other island. Overall, it was really beautiful. It kind of felt like we were trekking through the dessert though with all the heat and rocks, and I kid you not there were a few cacti. Too soon, we had to head back down and take the boat back in to Old Port. The boat ride there and back were nice because it was about 30 minutes each way on the water, allowing for some good sight-seeing and pictures. When we got back, we got ice cream to cool us off and then ate kabobs for lunch. Finally, we grabbed our stuff from the baggage room and got on the metro back to the train station. Once more, we were on a TGV back "home". There was one change-over in Lyon, and then it was a 6 hour ride straight to Metz. I have to say, I'm not sure how it worked out, but first class was nice. Nothing super fancy, but there is a lot more leg room and no wary people to look out for. I probably slept over half the way.
And now, I am back in Metz. Back to the reality of finals and packing up my room soon and preparing for resuming normal life back in the States. I am glad that I got the chance to spend a relaxing weekend at the beach before this last push to come home. Marseilles was a gorgeous city and I hope to one day return to southern France.
Monday we had a half day left to explore and we wanted to make it count. We got breakfast and then headed to Old Port to find the tourist office that was listed on the map. We circled the buildings once unable to find it, and then went straight to the water where the icon was on the map. I noticed some blue umbrellas that said "office tourisme" and headed that way. Turns out they were selling some really strong smelling fish under those umbrellas, and whatever tourist office was supposed to be there was nowhere to be found. No worries though, because along the port were a few ticket offices for different boat tours. We were able to catch the next boat out to the islands. We went to Ile Ratonneau, which also had a good view of Ile d'If and the cool old Chateau on it. We climbed the rocks and trails on the island and were able to see tiny alcoves and small secluded beaches along the island, as well as some old ruins of what looked similar to the chateau across the way on the other island. Overall, it was really beautiful. It kind of felt like we were trekking through the dessert though with all the heat and rocks, and I kid you not there were a few cacti. Too soon, we had to head back down and take the boat back in to Old Port. The boat ride there and back were nice because it was about 30 minutes each way on the water, allowing for some good sight-seeing and pictures. When we got back, we got ice cream to cool us off and then ate kabobs for lunch. Finally, we grabbed our stuff from the baggage room and got on the metro back to the train station. Once more, we were on a TGV back "home". There was one change-over in Lyon, and then it was a 6 hour ride straight to Metz. I have to say, I'm not sure how it worked out, but first class was nice. Nothing super fancy, but there is a lot more leg room and no wary people to look out for. I probably slept over half the way.
And now, I am back in Metz. Back to the reality of finals and packing up my room soon and preparing for resuming normal life back in the States. I am glad that I got the chance to spend a relaxing weekend at the beach before this last push to come home. Marseilles was a gorgeous city and I hope to one day return to southern France.
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