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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 18, 2021 18:01:17 GMT
I think I have at least 2 more reports to make about my recent trip to Marseille, but it is also important to have a random thread to put miscellanous photos. Last time it was my Marseille kaleidoscope thread, which has been vandalised a bit by the powers at Photobucket, so there is no guarantee that this one will fare any better over time, but at least it is here for the moment. The vast majority of my trips begin by leaving Paris. This used to mean watching the clickety-clack departure signboards, but now there are the huge video displays to inform us.
Gare de Lyon in Paris is perhaps my least favourite station, but it remains #1 for going south.
After 3h15 I found myself at Gare Saint Charles in Marseille.
It has to be one of the stations with the most spectacular views from the front terrace.
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 18, 2021 18:10:51 GMT
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 18, 2021 18:16:41 GMT
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 18, 2021 18:20:56 GMT
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 18, 2021 18:26:31 GMT
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Post by bjd on Aug 18, 2021 19:17:19 GMT
It looks great. I haven't been to Marseille in years. It looks like a cross between France and North Africa.
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 18, 2021 20:50:49 GMT
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Post by lagatta on Aug 18, 2021 20:59:10 GMT
With a bit of Italy and Turkey...
Did you eat a kebab or something else?
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 18, 2021 22:02:10 GMT
I wanted a kebab but I didn't have one, just as I want the kebabs on the street where I live, since there are more than 10 places. The next photo brought back a huge flood of buried memories. About 45 years ago, I was working for a language school in Paris, teaching English of course, but the school sent me to Marseille for two weeks in an emergency -- to teach French. They had a contract with Comex, a deep sea diving company founded by Jacques-Yves Cousteau. My mission was to give intensive French lessions to a Scottish diver, all day every day for those two weeks. Memories can be so selective -- I absolutely do not remember why he had to learn French so fast, and I don't remember at all the teaching method that I had to use, since obviously teaching methods in a case like that are not improvised. I do remember that after two weeks, he could actually speak enough French to get by. We worked for eight hours a day and also had lunch together, when were allowed to talk about other things (in English). Luckily we got on just fine. I pretty much hated my job, and his sounded totally fascinating. He invited me to dinner at his home one evening because he said his wife was going crazy from isolation. She was English and had absolutely no one to talk to -- no internet or cable TV back in those days! Anyway, I asked him about any employment possibilities with Comex and he gave me the coordinates to contact. I already knew that it was a tough job, because he was on an oil platform between Scotland and Norway. The schedule was to work 28 days in a row, and then you had 28 days off with an air ticket to go anywhere in Europe during that time. But at my age (perhaps 23), that didn't bother me at all, even the idea of working 28 days in a row. After all, what would you do on an oil platform if you had a weekend off? Back in Paris, I contacted them immediately, and they were actually interested. I received an appointment for a day of testing and a round trip 1st class train ticket from Paris to Marseille for the day. There were no high speed trains yet, so this was something like 5 hours in each direction. My mind is a complete blank on whether I spent a night there, but I can't imagine not having done so. There were a couple hours of normal tests like in school and then there were psychological tests to see if we were capable of working/living in isolation. I think there were 5 or 6 people being tested at the same time. I was told that I would not be needed on an oil platform but that I might be perfect on an oil field in Dubai. I returned to Paris full of confidence but about two weeks later they contacted me with regret -- Total was the oil company with which they had a contract, and Total had just told them that they had decided to do their own recruiting rather than subcontracting it. And that ended a moment of my life that could have taken me in a completely different direction, but it just didn't happen. So seeing this diving bell in front of the Chamber of Commerce sent it all flooding back to me. |
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 19, 2021 4:37:41 GMT
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 19, 2021 4:47:49 GMT
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 19, 2021 10:29:50 GMT
I stayed in an Ibis Styles again. One thing I like about the chain is that you never know what the hotel is going to look like, but they always have a definite quirky style. In most cities they take over a crappy old hotel and change everything. This one was put together from three old buildings, something which became apparent inside since there were often steps up or down to get from one section to the next. |
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Post by fumobici on Aug 19, 2021 20:40:43 GMT
Fantastic! You are making me want to visit the city even more than I already did, I must go. Doubt I'd ever try in August though as roasting heat isn't really my thing and I live where summers are cool.
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Post by bjd on Aug 20, 2021 8:28:31 GMT
Maybe you didn't get a job on an oil platform, but you could work for the Marseille tourist office!
When seen for above, it's certainly not a very green city, even though in those shots of Le Panier, it's wonderful what a few plants on buildings will do.
As for families with veiled women going to bake at the beach -- the veiled woman is just there to hand out drinks and food. That she is baking dressed in dark colours while the guy has shorts and a t-shirt doesn't matter.
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 20, 2021 20:37:14 GMT
you could work for the Marseille tourist office! I really feel extremely ignorant about Marseille, but I like a lot of what I have seen in the city. And one of the reasons is that it is so completely different from Paris. As has often been pointed out by many people, you often feel as though you are on the other side of the Mediterranean. |
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