After the endless walking days in Roma came the journey to Marseille. I missed Freccia Rossa badly. The regional trains cross the border are pieces of crap. The dirt on the windows showed how much they cared about the train. Luckily, I didn't pay for neither, since none ever came to check me up. And even if I had to pay, only 1.5 or something like that each.
I was checking the TGV in France. The French is more difficult. They not only restrict Eurail pass holders to a specific place. If the place gets sold out, the Eurail pass holders will be required to buy a full fair. Seriously? And from the Eurail pass website, there are booking sites for Italy, Switzerland, Germany, but no France. Indeed, the French is extra special.
It was war when I was trying to get on three trains to get to Marseille. The trains are old, and the seating set up is funny. My coach has two restroom but one is not working. At some point, one passenger was shouting like someone is stuck on the door. Later on, by other passengers' translation from languages to languages. Finally, I learned that the man was shouting because he realized that his wallet got stolen right before the door closed. I heard of the pick-pockets so often, but that was the first time I experienced it.
Because of the delay, I was three minutes late when I arrived Nice. I had to wait for another hour. It was not good because Alice was gonna come pick me up at Marseille St. Charles. I went to the public phones but I couldn't figure out how to use it at all. Finally, I turned off the data running on my iPad and sent an email to Alice. Ah! Verizon is gonna cash me bad.
An hour later, I hopped on the train. And a few hours after, we got in Marseille. I recognized Alice right away. It must have been two years since the last time I saw her in New York. The hyper super shuttle driver thought we were sisters. (really?) She took me to her Volkswagen, and I started to experience the beauty of Marseille. Right after I got in the car, I sensed the promptness in traffic. I was very impressed by people driving so close to each other and to react so fast. Wait until you see how they park on the pedestrian walkway. It's hell for Jared indeed. Amen to rental cars, I suppose!
Right after my arrival, Alice took me to the church with a golden statue on top of the roof. The view was great. The entire Marseille was under our feet. It was very windy and eventually we had to leave because it started to get chill.
A beach known of very few people was led by Alice. It wasn't big and there she was, a topless woman getting sun tan. Woohoo to Marseille! Alice told me that people go topless in France very often. We then, went to les goudes, a very cute fisherman's village. Alice pointed out some very expensive restaurants on the way. Maybe one day, we will go visit them together!
Another drive on the narrow streets, we reached Alice's. It was a house full of modern technology. They have light switches with brightness control, a bread machine, a vacuum machine with a tube connecting to the wall sucking dirt and stuff right through the wall, a Nespresso coffee maker, wifi(pronounced in French, please), and so on. Everything is neatly stacked. My room has the shades with an electrical switch. Everything feels very convenient to access. I'm in Marseille? What a pleasant surprise! Alice's mom, Nicole, is a very independent woman. The two of them took great care of me. I can never thank them enough. Nicole's english is definitely better than my French. I wrote in my thank you card saying that next time, I will speak more French.
Later, Alice decided to take me to her favorite Thai restaurant. It was unfortunately now open. She was puzzled but soon we went to another street to search for dinner. It is common for French to have dinner starting around 9pm. I slowly got used to it by waking up late. Ha! Eventually, we found a Lebanese restaurant. We ordered the 22EU menu including many different kinds of appetizers, an entree, choices of dessert, and tea. It was heaven. BTW, we parked in the parking lot, and the parking lot didn't have the pedestrian door open. Alice was all dressed up, and we had to walk out from the entrance of the cars.
