Our week

It's hard to believe we have now been here in France for over a week. Time seems to fly by here.



This week, we spent time looking for an apartment. We viewed two nice places, and met with real estate agents. We are waiting to hear back from them. One of the apartments would be absolutely perfect....it had everything, fully equiped kitchen, balcony with a view of Notre Dame de la garde, living room, bathroom, bedroom with a view of the mountains, washing machine (which is a huge plus for me), and dishwasher (another plus).



We haven't done too much besides grocery shop, look for apartments, and explore a bit. We had lunch the other day at a pizzaria in the Prado...great neighborhood with a huge outdoor market. We had supion (fried cuttlefish) that were oh so yummy. The inside of the restaurant was very Provencal, with the colors and decorations. I thought it funny that two men came in for lunch and ordered whiskies.



The other night, Chris cooked a wonderful meal of duck breast, spinach balls (will have to take a picture of them so you know what I'm talking about), bread and wine. Duck is one of my favorite foods, and he did an excellent job of cooking it medium rare.



The other night, we went to a bar at the Vieux Port where we met Nell, who is a fullbright student here living with her husband. They are from New Jersey. The bar was very old...I can imagine sailors once frequented it. Nell chose a lovely table near the window where we had a beautiful view of Notre Dame up on the hill, and the port below. We had les aperos along with tappas (nice thing about ordering drinks here is that you get tappas as well). The tappas included mini shrimp, tomatoes with other veggies, endive with gorganzola, and olives.



Today, we walked over to the Cours Julien neighborhood. It was an uphill walk to the area, but well worth it. The neighborhood is very bohemian...or hippy. Lots of used bookstores and a market of used books. Lots of people sitting outside enjoying the air, and ruining it by smoking. It would be a nice area to live.



The weather here is lovely, so warm and sunny. It is quite a bit warmer than I had expected, and I really wish I had packed differently.



Oreo has taken up residence on the bathroom sink. He does not like it when we have the window open, as he can hear children and other people outside.



Something I have noticed here is that the people are very relaxed when walking around and riding the metro. It's not like in NYC, where people are rushing around, practically running into you, and waiting impatiently for the subway to come then pushing you out of the way to get on and get a seat. The French here in Marseille saunter down the street to their destinations. They wait for the metro, without constantly looking down the track for the train. They don't run past you on the steps or on the escalators. It's really refreshing coming from the fast paced city of New York.