Ports, Ruins, and Cafes

Well, I didn't end up going to bed when I thought I would. Right as I was about to get ready for bed, I got a text from a few friends who said, "We're on our way to come get you. Come downstairs in 2 minutes." I had no idea what we were going to do, but I walked downstairs to find out. Turns out, Florian, who has a car, wanted to drive us down to the Vieux Port. Driving here is absolutely nuts. It doesn't seem like there are any real rules on the road here, but everyone still seems to understand and know how it works. At least Florian is a good driver, and he took us to the downtown area about 20 minutes away where all the water is. I had hoped that the place where I lived would be closer to the beach, but our neighborhood is about 15 minutes by car from the coast, so I was excited to finally see the water. And it was so worth it. I loved seeing all the boats in the water, the city lights, walking around with everyone, and getting to joke around. I hope we get to go back to that area of town more often because our neighborhood isn't very nice, and that part of the city is what Marseille looks like when you Google Image the city. Very beautiful.

The next morning, at 8 we left to go on our field trip. We drove outside of Marseille for about an hour in the beautiful French countryside to arrive at some ancient Roman ruins. Our first stop was a huge bridge that was built before Jesus was even alive. It is apparently the only one of its kind still standing in the world. Um wow! Our tour guide was a woman from the church named Prisca, but since she just spoke in French for all the other students, Esther translated for me again. She grew up bilingual, so she is just incredible at giving me great translations and making sure I'm not too confused. She's a gem.

My roomies at the ruins

Beautiful French countryside

Ancient Roman mausoleum 

The bridge older than Jesus

My amazing translator

After we left the bridge, we arrived at the ruins of an ancient Gaulish city that was taken over by the Romans before it was eventually destroyed. Only a few decades ago, someone uncovered a huge mausoleum, then a gate, and then finally the ruins of an entire huge city. We got to walk around through all the old houses, temples, kitchens, baths, you name it. Something I've noticed about French historical sites and museums since I've been here, you can touch everything. If this same sit had been in America, most of it would be roped off and you would have to look from a distance, but we were walking and climbing all over, and in the museum we went to afterwards, everyone was touching the exhibits and statues. I've never seen that done before, but I guess there is just a lot of trust that people will respect the artifacts and not be intentionally damaging. We don't seem to have that same trust in the U.S. Anyway, the site was very cool. Learned a lot, my friend Florian and I crashed in the car on the way back home. Long day walking around.

Since Florian and I were so tired, we decided to go "take a coffee" as he would say. We needed a little pick me up before the evening activities began, so he, Benjamin, and I all drove downtown to a park  where the good coffee is. This park is called Longchamps, and it is one of the most beautiful parks I've ever been in. It was packed with people outside enjoying the great weather. In this park there is also a HUGE water castle (a mansion that is surrounded by giant fountains). Again, beautiful. The downtown and beach area is just eye candy. Everything just looks like a painting.

When we got to the cafe, I had my very first cup of real French coffee. I'm not usually a huge coffee drinker, but, man, if I could drink this stuff all the time, you could make a convert out of me. The way it's made, it's the perfect balance of sweet and bitter. Two thumbs up.

After we were nicely caffeinated, we went back to the church where we had rehearsal for the musical that the church is putting on. It's a musical comedy based on the story of Esther, and all the kids and many of the adults in the congregation participate in it. I was expecting for this to be like the LTC skits we put on at church, but this is a really high quality production that they put on, and everyone from the neighborhood is invited to come. Since I just got here, and they've been rehearsing for a while, I joined up with the chorus of about 8 other people. It's all in French, of course, so I'm trying to do my best with pronunciation, and it's a lot of fun. Performing the show for lots of people will be one of those pretty unforgettable experiences.

Great day. Long day. Sleepy girl.