[A] Marseilles: July 2

About half of us left on the 8:30 bus for our excursion to Marseilles, about 35 minutes away by bus. We walked down from the bus station to the port, where we found the sailing company that was going to take us out in two groups of seven. After about 30 minutes of lounge time, we were ready to go sail around the bay. Our actual workload was minimal, but if consequential would have consisted of pulling ropes at certain times and releasing others in unison. In reality our skipper gave us very little creative license, which made for a nice relaxing time. I was wearing my boat shirt, that is to say my white button down, so I felt nonetheless official. The heat hadn't quite come to bless the air yet, so it was comfortable, breezy, and full of spectacle. We sailed up towards the Chateau d'If,

a fortified prison that housed many real criminals (sort of a French Alcatraz) and one important fictional misconvict, Alexandre Dumas' Count of Monte Cristo, purported to have escaped by feigning death. No real escapes were ever recorded. We sailed around the chateau, and towards a small cove of Marseilles where we parked and went for a swim for about 30 minutes. On the way back we simply motored.

Back at the dock we met up briefly with the rest of the group before finding lunch, and I had a notably good sandwich with notably bad service. We met or half of the group again and walked to the tram station, which we would take up the mountain to Notre Dame de la Garde, visible as the peak of Marseilles in all pictures of the coastline.

The church is very representative of the culture of Marseilles, not only as its icon, its title of "la bonne mère," or its placement, but also of its interior decorating. From the ceiling hang strings of boats, put in place as blessings on the sailors of the port. The same can be done for members of any profession there. After a brief rest in the shade, we took the tram back down the mountain and met the group who had just finished sailing. We went then to le Bar de la Marine, the oldest of the port, for a drink, a coke for me, on Vanderbilt. We watched the second half of the Bresil - Pays Bas game. Afterwards we took the metro back up the hill to the bus station and returned home. Marseilles treated me well.

Alex