Day 3_Marseille

The TGV train from Paris is a quick three hours to Marseille.  You can watch the landscape drastically change from a lush green (Seattle-like) to the dry landscape this far south (San Luis Obispo-like).  Marseille is a wonderful mix of old and new and feels far less hectic than Paris.  While on the Metro in Paris I counted that you have about 13 seconds from when the doors open to when they close to get off and on the train.  No wonder there is much pushing and "Pardons" to hurry off and on.  In Marseille the quickest thing is the motorscooter rushing along the narrow streets.

I am reading Alexandre Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo which I have to say is sublime when I can see the character's prison, Chateau d'If, outside my window (see castle structure on the island).  I brought this book because I love reading novels in situ as they make the story more real in my imagination.  This one, written in 1844 - 1845, includes other settings from Paris which are just as meaningful when I was just walking in those neighborhoods yesterday.  By the way, the water here is turquoise and crystal clear.  The water reminds me of Hawaii or the Caribbean and is so different from our dark sea in California.

Today's excitement was no one told me that the clocks had been set forward this weekend.  I stupidly could not understand why the train station's clock was wrong from my watch.  Happened to meander up to the train area to look for my students and realized I had only 10 minutes before the train was going to leave.  How embarrassing would that have been?....Guess that's what happens when you are neither watching TV nor read the paper.

Some neighborhood pictures: