Today I went to Marseille in the South of France and it was absolutely beautiful. Since Southern France is a pretty mountainous place- more so than it looks, as you will find if you climb to the tops of the "hills"- we saw some exceptional views of the Mediterranean and the city from pretty high up. Because of the hilly terrain, the shore in Marseille was nothing like the ones at home; the only actual beach I saw was about 100 yards long and maybe 60 feet wide, the rest of the shore was cliffs and rocks that dropped straight into the water. Really, it was fantastically beautiful. I have come to realize that being near the water always makes me happy; I could have sat by the Mediterranean watching sailboats all day and been entirely content. It is hard to explain, but I felt like I was completely removed from my normal self when I was there. I think it was the boats… I really should get one of those some day, they just exude a sense of peace. I'm sure it didn't hurt that the weather was perfect too.

After taking in the surroundings for a few hours, we made our way to a street along the marina and found a nice Irish pub where we could watch the current Rugby World Cup game and have a beer. All of the bars in Marseille had big-screen TV's set up outside with extra tables and supplementary bars- the World Cup is HUGE here right now, all the games this year are in France so it's been fun. I'm glad I played at Saint Joe's, I can actually understand what is going on. This afternoon's England/Australia game happened to be in Marseille, so the city was packed with fans and all the bars were filled with people from all over Europe. In just a few hours we had temporarily befriended a few Australians, South Africans, Brits, Irish and your standard French fans waiting for their game at 9. It was definitely a good time.

So, who wants to donate to my "Help Cait Buy a Summer Home/Boat in Marseille" fund?

P.S. I went to Paris last weekend and didn't write about it… sorry. Paris was a nice place, the first time I saw the Eiffel Tower was at night when it was sparkling and it was really cool, but I did find that the people are much ruder there than in Lyon and it started to get to me after a day or two. I do want to go back to do the Louvre and a few other things, but that probably won't be until December or so. By then I'll be better prepared to deal with the Parisians. I'll try to write a more detailed entry then.

Pictures are up of Marseille and Paris, so check them out! Use http://clipsnag.com/Caitness/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=31. It's much better for viewing pictures than the blog site.

Upcoming events: Oktoberfest next weekend, then some midterms, then Geneva for a day, followed by more midterms, then Rome, Florence and Venice, then my Mom comes and we meet in Paris and go to Normandy for a few days, then back to Lyon with Mom, followed by a weekend in Madrid… then a week off before Chris comes. Pretty standard .