week of travel

Well! A lot has happened in the past 10 days or so. Last Wednesday, my dad and step mom came to visit. On Wednesday we took a tour around Marseille and thus started our week of walking a lot! On Thursday we went to Aix en provence, with one of the English teachers at my school. We also met up with Natacha and had a good time. We walked all around and went to the outdoor market, sat at a café all afternoon, had an aperitif, talked a lot and then went back to Marseille.

We decided to go to Avignon on Friday and so we went for the day. Took the train and got there in the morning. We visited so many places- an archeological museum, the pope’s palace, a big broken bridge, a tower, fortress and gardens. It’s a big walled city and it was a lot of fun, but a ton of walking!!!!! Then that night I went bowling with one of my friends Aurelien, and all of his friends. It was a lot of fun. I am usually a horrible bowler, but to my surprise, I came in second place out of 10…not too shabby. Got home late, read awhile and went to bed

Saturday morning, we got up and packed and left around 11 for Monaco. We get into Monaco’s train station, and try to make it to our hotel. Monaco can be a confusing country. We made it to the Marriott, and the women welcomes us in English and leads us aside, asks us if we came from the helipad, and where our luggage was (we only had a book bag and carry on suitcase-hey it was only a weekend) and she was kind of shocked when we said it was all we had… she proceeded to sit us down, tell us we are Gold members and we get the minibar free and breakfast for free. She gives us maps, tells us about the city, gives us free VIP passes to a fancy car show and the works…we are feeling pretty 1^st class. Hhaah. So the evening we went to the car show, the Japanese garden and then dinner right across from the sea.

Sunday morning we got up and went to our free breakfast….and this is when we found out that we aren’t Gold members. They told us breakfast isn’t free, but 21 euros. Hahah we go tell the people at the counter to try to figure this out. They told us we only got 2 nights at the hotel, not 3 and nothing is free, we are silver members, etc…. but they let us eat breakfast for free because of the confusion. Then we started out day. We took the shuttle to a part near the prince’s palace and walked through the garden, saw the chapel, went to an awesome aquarium, then we went and saw the changing of the guards. It was really hot, so we decided to go to the beach for the afternoon. We changed into our swimsuits and walked along this really nice pathway along the beach and we found a nice spot on a rock and just laid out for a few hours. Then dad and I decided to get in. it was COLD. FREEZING COLD…. My fingers were tingling I was so cold. But we went under and coming out was much better. The air was much warmer than the water. We laid there for awhile and then walked a little further on the path and then came back. That night we went to an Italian restaurant and I had gnocchi. It was so good.

Monday we got up and went to Nice. We toured around the city, walked along the beach, went to the chateau, walked around old town, visited a friend for coffee and then went to a Russian church. Then we got back on the train and headed back to Monaco. once back in monaco, we hiked up a bazillion and thirty stairs. we wanted to go to the exotic garden, and it was 5:05...we thought it closed at 6, and it didnt look too far on the map. well, it wasnt too far...just a lot of steps. so we booked it up the steps and turns out its open till 6:30. we get inside and i think its actually one of my favorite places in the world. it is a CACTUS GARDEN! so i think youll see all my pics of that. i took like 30. it was so great and paths weaving in and out around the cactuses! after that we went back to our hotel and got ready and we went downstairs to ask the guy for advice on which restaurant we should go to, he called, made us a reservation, and he even drove us there. This was a nice nice restaurant. We had a ton of food. I ate salmon, and the dessert was the best dessert of my life. We had tiramisu and crème brulee. YUM YUM YUM. Then we took the path along the sea on the way back and got back around midnight. Good times.

Tuesday we got up and got ready. We took the train back to Marseille. Then I spent the evening packing stuff so dad and diane could take a suitcase back for me. It was frustrating. We ate Chinese food.

Wednesday morning I was stressed out. The airlines changed the weight limit rule for baggage. Since I came with exactly 140 lbs, I already had 40 lbs too much to take home, not to mention I accumulated more this past year. So it was a little moody and stressed out about that. But we went to notre dame de la garde and saw the view of the city. Then we met up with Raquel and tried to go to the island to hike around…but there ferry was full so we went back to the house so we could change shoes and we went to the calanques. We were a little unsure of where we were going, but it turned out to be a great hike and then we came back tired. We got ready and dad and Diane took me, Raquel and Rachel out for dinner. That was an adventure in itself. Dad got bouillabaisse….fish soup. It’s a Marseille specialty. It was pretty good. Raquel, rach and I ordered salmon. That was good. The funniest thing was that Diane ordered sea bass…. And sea bass she got. The head was still on it. Everything was still on it. Hahaha. Her face was hilarious. Then on our way walking home, we saw a RAT! Hahahah I had never seen one yet in Marseille, and we saw one last night. See the picture.

This morning dad and Diane left and then I met up with one of my students and we went to my favorite store in Marseille. Then she came back to the apartment (which is in desperate need of a cleaning) and we ate and hung out. Nice times. Then the roommates and I took a 3 and a half hour nap. That’s right. We wont be going to bed tonight. Hahhaa oh well.

I cant believe ill be back in the states so soon. In less than 1 week, ill be in the US. Wow. I am so not ready to go back. I like it here. Oh well. It’ll be good to see everyone. Ok this blog is long enough. Have fun looking at the pics.