Marseille and the great train adventure

Tuesday April 10th was the day to get Oscar's American passport and social security number so we got up bright and early to head off on the one and a half hour drive to Marseille where the American Consulate is located.

The appointment was set for 9:45 am. It was a beautiful day, a second day of summer like weather. Carpentras was going to get some wind but not Marseille! Yipee.

I like Marseille actually. It is not a sparkly clean city but it is lively and colorful and busy like Paris. When I was a student in Aix en Provence, my friend Madeleine and I would take the bus to Marseille at least twice a month to spend the day wandering along the Vieux Port and other areas.

Today the area there is very new...in one of my posts last year I talked about the new shopping area and the Mucem museum...we drove past this on our way to the consulate.

The ferris wheel was set up in the Vieux Port and this reflective structure was near the boats...looked very interesting!

The "Eiffel Tower"of Marseille is the Bonne Mère or Notre Dame de la Garde basilica up on the highest hill in the city... I took this photo from the terrace of the train station...the poster on the right is part of the same exhibit we saw in Paris Gare de Lyon about the new generation. They seem to go well together although the church is one for sailors and has many beautiful mosaics depicting sea themes. If you are at the Metropolitan Museum in New York you can see Paul Signac's painting of the church and the vieux port.

While Anton and Emmanuelle took Oscar to the consulate we waited outside with Maya and did some exploration. Maya is doing an "A" for American in front of the consulate...

can you see the American flag there in the distance? I always felt a sense of pride whenever I would see that in France but somehow this time I just felt rather sad. The consulate is located on this square

commemorating an American hero of the Résistance!!!

It is also across from the Prefecture of Marseille and since Maya was born in Marseille she was ready to strike a pose as usual!

We checked out some shop windows and the area around the prefecture...this colorful display was in Villeroy et Bosch

 This is a pedestrian and bike path going towards the Canebière the sort of Champs Elysées of Marseille which heads down to the Vieux Port. The name of the street comes from the fact that this was the area where hemp was grown which was one of the city's largest industries for making rope and baskets. Check out that blue sky up there!!

 JC had the idea for us to take the train along the coast to Miramas but we had to wait a few hours for the train so we took the metro over to Place St. Julien. The metro goes very deep into the ground....

Emmanuelle and I went to the Marché de la Plaine to look at fabric while everyone else went to the playground. Here are some shops we passed on the way. This area of Marseille is a bit like Hawthorne and Alberta Street combined. Lots more tagging but really quite artsy!

In the metro one of the posters:

It sounds out to: "I am the best!" (for those of you who do not read French)...they want you to learn English hmmm.

We got to the very lovely new St. Charles train station...it looks like an airport. It was very different when I arrived here in 1969!! There is even a Sephora shop here!

 People waiting for their train can play the piano and sing for all to enjoy!

The scenic train was leaving from quai "N" and we hopped on and it began to roll along the coast.

 The view out a rather dirty train window!!!

 The train goes along the Calanques with this gorgeous turquoise blue water.

We came through this station in Estaques (where Cézanne painted)...this structure comes from the days of the Eiffel tower and is still in very good shape.

Everyone was looking out the windows and oohing...well, maybe not Anton so much!!!

We could see very pretty little harbors down below and villages

and then suddenly after La Redonne Ensuès the tracks went more inland and we began to see oil refineries and that sort of not very attractive stuff. We decided to get off the train in Fos-sur-mer...

here's JC with his travel look

Not the most charming station!

We returned to La Redonne and got off the train to get coffee and some ice cream by the little harbor there.

 The train station is up on the hill to the left of the bridge by the way.....

By now the day was beginning to drag on a bit too much and we climbed up the hill back to the train station only to learn that our train was "en panne" (broken down) and we could not expect another one for 37 minutes. Zut alors!! It was a long day for sure but memorable! A bientôt!