First stop in France for this journey. We docked at 8am and shortly afterward we were out planning to walk into town. I had info for the city which we docked in front of that it was close and easily accessed, MSC gave us vouchers to use to catch a bus into town for 17 euro (expensive!) and we couldn't understand why that cost. We walked down the dock, with many others, and shortly came upon a free shuttle bus provided by the city which we caught. Amazingly it took 20 minutes of travel on the bus to get us to Piazza Joillette which was the dropping off point. Much further than I had figured and definitely not walkable quickly.
Right by the Piazza was a big Mall where old dock buildings have been joined together which we wondered through which had signboards promising a museum at the other end of it but we never found it. We did find the tram though and bought a day ticket for 5 euro each and jumped on and off it throughout the day.
First we found a local street market selling fresh fruit, vege and fish etc. Many of the actual shops (in buildings) have windows to sell things to you as you stand on the street, at one of these I bought the nearest description of what we would call in NZ a spring roll but it had mashed sweet potatoe and other delightful tastes in it and was deep fried (so bad but so good) it was DELICIOUS!
Next we travelled to the end of the line and found there was nothing much to see there. We hunted for a loo (toilet) without any luck and a local said to us that we would be lucky to find one anywhere in the city :(
We had passed a big old palace/fountain as we rode the tram and we headed back to see it. It is called Longchamps and it's a huge wonderful old building with a huge fountain or perhaps a spring in it's middle but up high as it's built on a hill with the fountain half way up and the building coming rignt down to the road below. The fountain which appears to be built on a natural grotto, is surrounded by huge statues of bulls leaping out of it. Inside the building we found it housed the Museum of Natural History - so interesting. We walked all over the Museum and the building and up behind it on top of the hill was a large and very peaceful park.
Back on the tram again and looking out for a place to have lunch. We found a cafe with 3 areas, outside but all the smokers were there, a covered area that wasn't that pleasant, and inside which we chose. I had their plat de jour - pork, potatoe and vege a hearty meal, Kent orderd the local Bouillabaise dish which is a fish soup and he really enjoyed it along with his usual local beer.
A wander around and back to Joillette and just in time to catch the shuttle, this time we were in plenty of time and it was a relaxed walk from the free shuttle back to the ship.
Onboard Kent went to bed for a nana nap while I packed my suitcase then headed up to the buffet for dinner, surprisingly it was quite empty, being still full from lunch I didn't eat much. I went to the 8pm show which was a type of finale as tomorrow we leave the ship. It was a good show, very enjoyable. Back to our cabin to find Kent packing. We had to place our suitcases in the corridor by midnight keeping back some clothes and things we need for our day tomorrow.
