Sunshine and the coast makes for wonderful memories

On to Friday folks, yet another beautiful day in Marseille! So for the past few days I have been a fabulous wife and have allowed Lyle to sleep in a few hours later than I have (having internet makes this possible). We finally headed out of the apartment for beach day, I was a happy girl. Hungry as always we stopped at a local place for burgers and fries before making our way out of town. Odd situation for our fast food lunch, he gave us our meals and we came to pay after we ate… very different.

After our meal we headed out to catch the bus heading to the eastern parts of the city, essentially to get to where Lyle wanted to go we had to take 3 buses. While riding our first bus into the newer section of Marseille I spotted a large Ferris wheel on the beach, which I insisted must be explored later in the evening. We switched to our second bus and got off part way up the beach to an area Lyle thought we could rent snorkel gear. Lyle managed to find a dive expedition place from memory, however they were crazy busy with divers and didn’t have any snorkel gear for rent. The man directed us toward the harbor to try and find a shop. We wandered the harbor without any luck before crossing the street to a small shop which sold swimwear and fishing supplies to see if they could help us. They didn’t rent equipment but they did sell it, so we decided to outfit ourselves since Lyle really wanted me to try this. Purchases in hand we headed out to catch the bus again, back on our second bus we rode it to the end of the line.

We were pretty close to the edge of the city at this point; after figuring out what time it was we realized the “short” bus which takes you out to the coves would be another 43 minutes so we decided to hike up the coast and find a cove for our adventure. It ended up being a decently short walk to the first cove and Lyle decided this was one worth stopping at. After making my way down the crazy stairs I discover a very rocky little cove (Lyle and I are stilling having a hard time agreeing on the definition of a good beach; he thinks rocks are a good sunbathing surface and I am definitely a sand girl).

We rested for a few moments and then I begin getting a lesson on how to assemble and fit my gear. With my gear fit to the right size we head out to the water, which I still think is a little cold but am willing to give this a shot. I managed to get my flippers on with some balance assistance from Lyle, learned how to spit in my mask and finally was all suited up. We were in knee deep water and Lyle wanted suggested that I just fall to my knees and begin swimming… um, ya probably not. I am one of those people who like to take my time acclimatizing to cold water, not so much the shock factor girl. So we carefully wade our way out (not an easy task with uneven rock and flippers), Lyle takes the plunge while I am still being a pansy, but eventually I get the nerve to put my face in. I am completely amazed by the visibility and what I can see! I have worn glasses since I was 9 and contacts since I was 14, I have never been able to see underwater (I have also never tried a mask). Once I realized how well I could see I made the transition to horizontal, and after my first panic moment of not being able to breathe (I am a nose breather) everything was alright.

If you have never snorkeled and can swim I highly suggest finding somewhere cool to explore, I am really excited about being able to do this in a few different places while we are over here. This first adventure I only last about 20-25 minutes in the water because I got really cold as we got out deeper, but we were able to see a number of fish species ranging from really little to a decent sized fish, we also saw sea urchins, cool rocks and plant life, and a rusted bicycle. It was such a fun adventure.

Once I was freezing we headed back to “the beach” for some tanning time. Again rocks are not the most comfortable tanning surface but I made do. Lyle spent some time in the sun beside me and then some time covered up in the shade relaxing while protecting his fair skin that burn pretty easily. It was a really enjoyable afternoon in the sun. Eventually hunger got the best of me and we packed up and began trekking back to catch a bus. We just barely missed the short bus so had to complete the journey to the small terminal, also just missing the bus we wanted. Luckily that bus comes regularly so we waited a few minutes for the next one and managed to make our way back to the Ferris wheel area.

  After scouting out a number of restaurants that were pretty pricey we settled on the fast food place in the area. Mmm it was mediocre at best; Quality burger will not be a repeat while we are here in Europe, nor would I suggest you eat there. Next stop was an ice cream shop for dessert, ice cream in Europe is mainly gelato style and it is amazing. The number of flavors is astounding and I have tried many flavors since being here; I may also never be able to enjoy North American ice cream again. We ended up with 3 balls each and headed for the Ferris wheel.

I have this strange obsession with always wanting to ride the Ferris wheel even though they mostly terrify me. I was happy to see that this one was the hanging compartment style rather than your typical bench. We climbed aboard as the sun was starting to set and enjoyed our 5 or 6 times around the wheel we me only scared for part of the time. I was also wrapped in my trusty Air Transat blanket since I was freezing. We had an amazing view of Marseille and the coast line and enjoyed our little ride.

Upon exiting the wheel Lyle spotted a same fair style area with games that he wanted to check out. We both love the game played with tokens or coins where your goal is to have it push stuff over the edge. We found two booths with the game and scoped them out. We decided on the second one and struck up a conversation with the man who owned the place, he was really friendly and we purchased some tokens and picked our machines. We ended up with 7500 points and the man’s mother let us pick a prize from the 10000 point page… and we now own a fishing rod… ya we are going to have fun making sure everything fits in our bags by the end of this journey.

All in all Friday was an amazing day and probably one of my favorites so far!

Saturday morning I woke up and amused myself with Facebook as usual, until at 9:45 the phone rang (I didn’t answer it) and I panicked and asked Lyle what time check out was for our apartment. He groggily replied 10:00 and we set into panic mode. He answered the next phone call and said we could be ready by 10:30 and the landlord was ok with that so we quickly packed and cleaned up the apartment so we would be ready. When the landlord showed up he was kind enough to drive us to the train station so that we didn’t have to take the bus.

We ate and just hung out while we waited for our train. Eventually we were able to board and settled in for our next train ride. Lyle worked on his blog for the first part and I stared out the window as usual, when he was done he wanted me to work on my blog but this train was much less smooth and typing made me sick so he napped and I continued to enjoy southern France. Our train cut across the peninsula and came out at Ste. Raphael and then followed the coast which was absolutely stunning. I really love the coastal towns; we came through Cannes and Antibes at the end before arriving in Nice.

After consulting a map we realized it should be easy to find our apartment, which is located on the beach. The walk was a nice one and when we hit the end of the road the view was stunning. Our apartment was just next to the corner and we managed to get the keys and find the correct apartment with only a little bit of confusion. After unpacking and meeting with the landlord we set out on a hunt for food. We found a little pasta place around the corner that was quite cheap and decided to try it out. I had fusilli with green pesto and Lyle had a 4 cheese penne, and we chose brownies for dessert. It was a wonderful meal and minus the smoke at the table next to us we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We spent the evening wandering through little shops before picking up some groceries and calling it a night. Oh and of course we are having wifi issues… is anyone surprised?

Love to all,

H&L