Hello From The South of France (Again):
It’s Friday, February 7th. So, what goes on here in this foreign land? The kids are at school, which is going pretty well. We’ve added a tutor two hours per week, so we’re hoping their French improves and they keep up with math being taught in French. Marlene is off having a facial and her nails done. I’ve completed the better part of planning the Barcelona Trip, which begins on Monday, the 24th, so, today I’ve started work on the Southern Italy Trip, which starts April 19th. Just trying to get our hands around how the trip should be structured. It’s a 9-hour drive from our home to Rome and another 2-hours further south to Naples. So, if we drive there’s probably 4-days on the road. That’s not very appealing for a 15-day trip. They’re not giving away air plane tickets from Marseille-to-Rome, but it may be the best choice. The experts are saying using mass transportation in Southern Italy is better than driving, and from what I’ve read about the road along the Amalfi Coast south of Naples, I want no part of it. Sophia goes with her friend Stella (from San Francisco) to Hip Hop dancing this evening, while Keaka stays home and Marz and I go to a dinner of the local Anglo group, which is designed to welcome new members. Dinner choices? It’s either fish or duck leg. I’m going with the duck leg. I haven’t looked that closely at ducks (canard in French), but is there much meat on those legs? Tomorrow we have a noon departure for a hockey trip to Gap, 90-minutes towards the French Alps. Keaka’s team, coming off their first win and second tie of the season (the rest have been losses), has an evening game. We’re spending the night and will head back home on Sunday.
It’s been a fairly rainy week, but yesterday was sunny and 60-degrees, so we headed to Marseille. The main tasks were going to the Nespresso store to get refills for Marlene and to take Marlene to one of many soap factories in Marseille. I figured it would be a good day to go to Notre Dame de la Garde, which is a church built on a hilltop some 500 feet above the city. It’s a famous landmark (you can look it up). The day was top-notch and there are photos to share.
We parked in an underground lot in downtown Marseille (the Charles DeGaulle Lot), which is right in front of the Nespresso store. We then walked up the main drag, through an open-air market (very interesting, especially if you like looking at sheep heads). We were headed to the soap factory and you see Marz planted in front of the shop, which fronts the factory. Apparently, bars of Marseille soap are famous. The soap factory was in a most interesting neighborhood (see the kids park, the brasserie tables just before lunch, and the narrow street). We wandered the neighborhood and you can see the photo with Notre Dame de la Garde off in the distance. In the foreground of that photo, you see the very typical refuse containers. Most places (all of the countries we’ve been in) have communal garbage receptacles that residents bring their garbage to. We took the subway back to the center of town at the old port and caught the bus up the hill to the church. You’ve got three photos of Notre Dame de la Garde, which was constructed during the 1850s, so it is a very new church for Europe.
There were some terrific views of Marseille from the church and the photos are forthcoming.
Marlene is reading a 20-year-old book about the French culture. So, she’s reading and sharing with me exactly what we are experiencing. Oh, Marlene has frequently mentioned to French folks that we must have tons of “preservatives” in American food, accounting for the different flavors and the fact that more Americans are fat than French. Well, a couple we’re becoming better acquainted with mentioned to Marlene that the word “preservatives” in French is “condoms”. They suggested she talk about “conservatives” when she talks with French people about the “preservatives” in food. Live and learn.
We’ve mentioned how dedicated French women are to being skinny, and that French men are generally pretty thin, also. Well, Sophia tells us that her gym class will be going into swimming at a pool near her school. The swim classes begin in a couple of months and Sophia has learned that the 8th grade girls are “starving themselves” so they’ll look good in their swimsuits. The daughters are just like the moms.
The Wilsons
