Marseilles
Thursday, August 18, 2005
Today was basically a day of travel, we got up nice and early – about 10, and made our way to the train station. We were on our way to the platform when we decided to miss the first direct train and go back to the internet café to look into accommodation and make a quick phone call, catching a regional train an hour later. We didn’t find any accommodation but felt at least we had tried, to be honest we haven’t had much luck with the internet especially now that we won’t put in our credit card details on the net it’s practically impossible. The train journey was very comfortable, the French trains seem to be nice offering more open cabins rather than the closed compartments of six seats which is a weird way to travel as most people are in groups of twos so the compartments feel a little to cramped even with four and you have to look at a stranger for the whole journey, where the open compartments seats all face the same way until a group of four seats with a table. Anyway getting to the station we promptly started looking for the last minute accommodation office but there wasn’t one so we went to the tourist information and asked there. This turned out to be a complete success with getting a hotel right by the wharf which was basically the centre of the city, and only a ten minute walk. We were a little worried about what we were going to find as the last hotel was pretty dodgy including a toilet that was piped into the same drainage as the sink…This hotel however is lovely, although we’re not to sure on the theme as they have aromatherapy fountain, and Sarah kinda thought it seemed a little hippy but I think its quite nice really. We had a look around the city and did a bit of food shopping before heading back to our comfy little hotel room and read for the afternoon as I’m in the middle of a really good book and it’s nice to just relax! Leaving all the main exploring for tomorrow.
So far we have found the French to be very accommodating and to be honest we haven’t had a problem. Sarah is just loving being able to speak the language sometimes even being mistaken for actually being fluent. It’s also rubbing off on me as well I love to be able to say a few things - so far I’ve got: My name is Maarty, Do you speak English, I don’t understand, How much and can I please have a white coffee… We’ll see how long it sticks!
posted by Maarty @ 12:00 pm,
