Day 1: In which our holiday begins
Today was our first port day! We had ordered breakfast for 7:30-8:00…and we were woken up got it at 7:15. I had a croissant that was really nice, but the orange juice? It wasn’t amazing orange juice, and they only gave a tiny little glass of it…I wasn’t a happy camper. Then it was a bit of a rush to get ready but we made it on time. Even now, my skin is aglow with over-applied sunblock. (I know it seems like I complain a lot, but I’m actually having a lot of fun! It’s just more fun to write about the bad/weird/scary things (and the food!) so I do).
It was about 9 am when we met downstairs to go on tour. They gave us all stickers and told us to sit until our group was called, at which point we got on a bus and drove off through the port city of Marseille towards Arles. It was rather a long drive, in which we passed little of interest. There were some windmills, some bulls, some goats…uh…yeah, not much.
So when we stepped off the bus we were in a public square with a beautiful fountain in the middle. Through the gate of the old city wall, we walked through the streets passing by a church, and ended up at the arena of Arles where they still have bullfights today (but not today, today it was empty). Our tour guide told us all about the history of this arena, from when they had gladiator fights, to when they made it into a fortress, to when they restored it. Which was all well and good, but there was no shade. It was really hot.
From there we continued down the street to a theatre which was being set up for some kind of show. At least that’s what seemed to be happening. By this time I wasn’t paying attention to the guide because…I was tired and it was hot. I just wanted to take some pictures and get a drink. They stressed so much to us to stay hydrated throughout the day, but we couldn’t find any water! Eventually Dad bought a bottle of water from a cafe or something, but we spent most of the morning with no water.
Then we came to another public square where there was a large obelisk, the city hall, a museum or something, and another church. France is a Catholic country from way back, so of course there are huge churches everywhere. The legend is that Mary Magdeline fled the Middle East to escape persecution and landed near what is now Marseille, and was eventually martyred there. So she’s their patron saint…
When we got to the market, the guide gave us “free time” if we wanted, or we could follow her to the hospital. This is the hospital where van Gough stayed in Arles, and where he “discovered the light”. Most of his early paintings are quite dark, but the ones in Arles show the beginnings of his experimentation with expressing light. It wasn’t until later that he did his more famous paintings, such as the sunflower series, and the Arles paintings were less abstract than his later works became.
/art lecture
So we saw the garden in the middle of the hospital, which has been reproduced to be as close as possible to how it was portrayed in his paintings. The hospital itself has been turned into a university. I wonder what they study there? That would be a great place to go to school ^_^ It seems so quiet and peaceful...
After that, we went for what remained of our free time in the market. I didn’t see anything much for souvenirs. It was the everyday kind of market where people can get all their food and clothing and whatever else they need to live. The only really noteworthy thing we saw was the fish. The fish section of the market reeked of, well, fish. But the best thing was these ugly red fish that were just staring out at you. I just had to take a picture of them!!
So from the market we walked (we did a lot of walking) to the restaurant which was in a Best Western hotel. >.> It wasn’t very impressive. Buffet style...I don’t much care for buffets…The two couples we sat with were very interesting though. They had been travelling together for decades and had been on lots of cruises. They came from a small town in England. There were also two sisters at our table from the States…So we had a pretty good time with all of them. And they all knew Yellowknife from the ice road series…
When we finished lunch, we headed outside where we had to wait around for our bus to arrive. During this time, I was looking at the trees next to us and I thought the flowers looked rather familiar…When I looked closer there were small green fruits on the tree…then the sudden realization: this is an almond tree! I had never seen one, or at least never been standing next to one like this. So I did what anyone in my place would have done (right?): I stole an almond.
After that we got on the bus again to head out to Les Baux. The scenery was fantastic. Les Baux is situated around a castle on top of a hill. Our guide said that the nobles used to throw the prisoners off the hill and watch them fall to the bottom: that was their entertainment >:O Now it’s mostly a tourist attraction, but they’ve preserved it basically as it was hundreds of years ago. Just, you know…souvenirs and stuff…I don’t think they had that way back when.
Oh, there was the greatest sweet shop there! Candied fruits, chocolate covered almonds (I got a free sample <3), hard candies, and almond-paste sweets which Provence is famous for. I picked up a box of the almond-paste sweets with some caramels. Mmmm….I haven’t tasted them yet though…
I also picked up some postcards, an oversized pencil, and a patch. I’m going to collect a patch from every stop and sew them on to my bag when I have time.
Finally, we got on the bus and started the long drive back to the port at Marseille. It was a long day, but it was worth it. I love France! And everyone has the stereotype that all French people are rude and smoke, but other than not liking tourists, they weren’t like that at all. At least, not from what I saw.
Once we got back to the ship, we changed and went for dinner in the da Vinci dining room. The entire meal is included with the cost of the cruise, so we got to have four courses. To start, I had a crab quiche, followed by chicken green tea wonton soup (that’s a mouthful o.O). For the main course, filets mignon (which is weird for me; I usually have seafood or something vegetarian). But they came with croquettes…I’ve never had those…and, you know…Honey&Clover…=D And for dessert, a chocolate-hazelnut soufflé. I’d never had soufflé before either, so that was another first for me ^_^ It was delicious! Light and with a perfect blend of the two flavours and balanced out with crème anglaise *sigh* it was such a good dinner!
And we had to go to bed pretty well right after that because the tour the next morning started really early.