Day Two – Marseille, France

Today we got up and off the ship by 11. The shuttle bus took us the 7 km to the Vieux-Port for 10 E each. After a little wandering, we found the tourist information center and asked what are the best things to see in 2 hours, and by the way, where are the closest WC – Water Closets (bathrooms!). Off we went to check out City Hall, the Cathedrale De La Neouvelle Major, and Vielle Charite. City Hall had the bathrooms, but also a very interesting exhibit on a famous aviator and author whose name escapes me now. The exhibit was small, with a few displays of items such as the gloves he wore while flying, and pieces of wrecked airplanes, but the most interesting part of the exhibit was learning about this aviator/author’s adventures and the true story of how he and a friend survived 4 days in the dessert after his planed crashed during a long distance record attempt. The story is so compelling, that I decided I’m going to have to read his book, The Wind, The Sand and the Stars. Winding our way up the streets and trying to follow the signs for the Cathedral, we found instead the Vielle Charite, a series of buildings originally built as an orphanage and hospital for the poor, designed by architect Pierre Puget. (Can you tell I’m reading the tourist brochure now…?). The many doorway arches three stories high reminded me of a smaller and refurbished Coliseum.

In our continued search for the Cathedral, we happened upon an adorable soap shop. It was filled with lovely hand made soaps, some cut in big cubes of 3x3 inches, and stamped with the percentage of ….not sure, fat? We bought one on a rope in the shape of a fish for our “Cape Cod” bathroom. Searching for the Cathedral still, we came across a tiny grocery store where Mike purchased limes, a 1.5 liter diet Coke, a few cans of tonic water, and two Monster drinks for the kids. The fresh fruits and veggie were set up outside, and the inside was absolutely packed to the ceiling with other food stuffs (and not good smells, I might add). STILL searching for the Cathedral but figuring we were closer because we could hear the bells ringing noon, I found the internet café, and for a measly .50 E per 15 min, me and the kids hopped onto the net; I had some blogging to catch up with, while they played some app on Face Book. It didn’t take them long to figure out the keyboard, as it’s not a QWERTY. Luckily for me, I had lappy and just plugged in the Ethernet cable – although the browser still came up in French. Oui! In our last attempt at finding the Cathedral, as it was really heating up outside and breakfast was wearing off, we finally found it. How we didn’t find it sooner escapes me, as we passed it on our bus ride in. It’s a ginormous building, striped with dark and light colored stone, the huge front doors painted red with black ornate hinges. The foundation stone was laid by Napoleon Bonaparte himself in 1852 – thusly why it’s considered and called “The New Major Cathedral”. The inside was gorgeous, with 3 different domes, stained glass, inlaid tile flooring and marble galore. You can’t help but be awed by the presence of such a building, regardless of your religious background. We caught the bus back to the ship in time for the lunch buffet and for some hanging in the sun. Laura would be so ashamed to hear that Austin and Mike tried but lost in the very first round the foosball tournament (see Laura, you and Amanda really did need to be here!). However, later on in the day, Austin won first place in Wii bowling, while Mike placed third. Way to go team Baxendell!