South of France part 1- Marseille

Arriving in France at 10 on Friday morning, Joanne met me at the airport. We went back to her and Thomas's parents house who kindly put me up for the weekend. Joannes' cousin William came to say hello and we drank tea and smoked cigarettes all afternoon. That evening we went to one of there friends house for racket (not to sure of the spelling) but it is basically a little electric grill that you place on the dinner table were you grill cheese and pour it over a combination of potatoes, mushrooms, tomatoes, anything that takes you fancy really. Was delicious, but Im a huge fan of grilled cheese on everything. So after an evening of grilled cheese and wine I had the best nights sleep.

 

In the morning we headed off to Marseille for Joanne's brothers birthday. It is roughly 2 hours by car along the coast from Nice. It was quiet hard to rise for all of us especially as we needed to be there by around 12. But once we got there and hard a few aperitif's we were well on our way. The afternoon was cake and champagne as you would expect when your in France. I had to take a photo, this would be very rare in Australia. For a decent bottle of Champagne you would only have to pay around 12 - 15 euros. I even brought a bottle back to London with me. New Years Eve I think...

Throughout the day I needed to use the bathroom, of course. Joanne pointed me in the right direction, but I got confused as I thought there was only a male toilet. When I asked where the females were they showed me the same toilet. It was rather amusing to everyone that I had to be shown how to use the toilet. They are apparently Turkish style toilets and were quiet common in France at one stage.

Playing Petanque.

I had a fair idea of how the game worked. You have large metal bouls that you try and get as close to the little wooden ball as you can. I was half right, only I had no idea how to score or even the fact that we were playing in teams... If there was captains and they were going to pick there teams, Im pretty sure I would of been the last one to be picked :) You can see the concentration on my face.

I think its quiet a serious game in France, especially in Marseille were it originated. Lucky for me there was no grudges held.

After a long day everyone retreated home to have a nap and then venture on to Joanne's brothers house for drinks. I was exhausted, but so was everyone else thank god. So it was a rather chilled out party.

Marseille is a dirty city, but I really like it like that. A lot of the buildings are black from the pollution. Lots of graffiti, Chris would of loved it.
The only thing that I was sorry about was that I missed my good friend Remi. So if you read this Remi, I hope your exams went well and I will be sure to meet up with you in Africa around March some time.