Flowers, mountains, sea, and sunshine.

Now for a bit more cheery post. Éowyn and I travelled to Marseille and Aix-en-Provence the weekend after Normandie. We had been thinking Strasbourg for about three days, but then in about an hour's time we changed our minds completely, decided to head South, bought our tickets, and emailed her friend Hannah to see if we could crash her place for a few nights. It was such a whirlwind, but it was so much better than the usual stress that comes with planning travel. And it was an even better weekend.

We flew RyanAir and landed at MP2 airport, which is in between Aix and Marseille, so we decided to go to Marseille for the day before heading to Hannah's for the night. Marseille was awesome, a huge city completely different from the west of France, mountains in the background, Mediterranean in the foreground, and a whole bunch of diversity in the middleground (this sentence makes sense in my head, I hope in yours too). It was wonderful to shed our sweaters and admire the view from the top of Notre Dame de la Garde, a church set on top of a hill right in the middle of the city. We even got a bit of coup de soleil--sunburn. Uh oh. It's true that Marseille doesn't really feel like France, but it is France no matter what people say--a France that has lots of immigrants, lots of cultural diversity, and it can be cool to observe, despite all the controversy and problems that surround it.

Then we took a 45 minute shuttle ride to Aix-en-Provence, an absolutely charming little village that makes a grand contrast its metropolitan neighbor. The cute little buildings seemed to glow with their warm southern colors, and the tiny little streets make your head spin with all the unique shops and restaurants. Other than getting to know Éowyn's lovely friend Hannah, who was a fantastic hostess, the highlight was the big open-air market on Saturday. It was huge! The flower section was beautiful to see, and I found some super cute gifts for my peeps back home :) Oh, and there was also a woman singing Edith Piaf in the street. Semester made.


I absolutely loved the south of France; it was beautiful. But every time I travel, I become more and more thankful for Nantes. I am convinced that it's the best. More on that later, I could talk all day on that subject.

                                                                                                                           À tout à l'heure!