The Ascent (Directly followed by The Descent)

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The night before our flight, we were assured by the staff at our hostel that buses start early in the morning and run regularly to the airport. Apparently for the Irish, early in the morning is near 7 am, and with an 8:30 flight to catch, this was naturally a bit of a problem for us. Unfortunately, we didn't actually find out about this problem until five minutes before the bus showed up. Well, once at Dublin airport we hauled our little asses to the gate only to find that boarding was delayed 30 minutes or so. We sat, drank water, rested, I panted for air... and then we hopped on our little discount RyanAir jet for our 1 1/2 hour flight to Marseille!

The view from Notre Dame de la Garde
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I have to admit that Marseille is a rather intimidating city. It isn't exactly tourist friendly, nor is it English friendly, which is a good thing, but can make me pout sometimes. From the airport in Marseille, we managed to take a bus to the main train station in the city. From there, we had little to no idea. Our hostel (Hotel Stars) was a ways out of town, in sort of a small suburb of Marseille. It was super easy to get to aside from the fact that trains stop running there at 7 pm. Other than that, though, it was your basic cheap hotel, complete with bathroom and junk food available for purchase. And going to the hotel was pretty much all we managed to do after our arrival, because once we got there, there was no way in hell we were going out again. Eric had hurt his foot at the Dublin airport while we were rushing, and we had gotten up at 5 am, so more walking wasn't exactly in our itinerary for that night.

The Palais de Longchamps
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The next morning, though, we set out to explore the city on our own, a daunting task when you have no idea what there is to do or where you are supposed to go to do it. We took the bus into town that morning, which was a big mistake, seeing as it dropped us off in the middle of nowhere and we had to use Notre Dame de la Garde to navigate. The cathedral is beautiful, and one of the few big tourist sites in the city, so naturally I wanted to go. It was also the highest point in the city, and the only place we could locate from where we were, so we decided to walk. Later that day, I remember taking a picture illustrating just how far we had walked that day. It was insane. Marseille is an incredibly hilly place, as well, and navigating our way to the top of the peak where ND de la Garde sits was one of the most exhausting things I've ever done in my life. Eric can attest to that. I almost died. Really. Coronary breakdown. But we made it, and the view was absolutely amazing.

The cathedral is really interesting because it looks down on Vieux Port and guards the boats and the fishermen. Inside, there are little boats hanging from the ceiling; the whole place has a very bright feel, both inside and outside. I had read a review once saying that it wasn't particularly impressive, and whoever wrote it must have been on drugs, because it was on the more beautiful side of all the cathedrals I've seen. The location can't hurt, though, and also made it easier for us to figure out where we were going next.

I had seen a postcard a little earlier of this beautiful building, and said "I want to go there!" not quite realizing what it was. It was Palais de Longchamps, and it was our next destination after descending from the heights to the delightfully dirty streets. It was across the city centre, and we of course had a few detours, one to a little park in the middle of nowhere, where there was a doggie who jumped in the pond and made me really quite happy (I miss my puppy), the other to a patisserie that made me feel warm and happy inside. Why, might you ask, was this bakery any different than the others? It was pink! It looked like a little girl's dream, the perfect place for a tea party. It was magically pretty. The walls were painted pink with a little cherub over one of the doorways, and victorian-esque moulding. And the yummies... oh the yummies! They were the prettiest little cakes and pastries and candies I had ever seen. So I was, needless to say, quite giddy already by the time we left this place and headed towards Longchamps.

The way to the palace is unremarkable, just normal city streets. Then you turn a corner, and there before you is the most beautiful structure you have ever seen in your entire life. Honestly. Eric and I agreed that, though we have seen all of the wonders in Italy and Greece, this is perhaps the most impressive. And I don't even know how to describe it, except to say that it isn't incredibly massive in size, or ridiculously intricate. It's just simply and utterly beautiful. The building apparently houses a couple of the city's museums, though they were closed when we were there, and there is a large and beautiful park behind it. The funny thing was that there didn't seem to be any tourists around when we were there. It seemed to be mostly locals with their kids at the park. How wonderful must that be, to grow up playing in a beautiful park behind a beautiful palace, just fifteen minutes away from the port and the beach... And I think that's why I chose to go to Marseille over Nice, because it somehow seems like a more "real" city, as silly as that sounds. It's nice to be the only person with a camera someplace. It makes you feel a little special...