Day trip to Marseilles

Today was the last day of the French National Watercolor Society Exhibit and I was bound and determined to see it.  It was being held at the Hotel de Ville (City Building) in Marseilles.  We found out the bus number to get us to town but we were uncertain as to the exact location.  Jeff showed a surprising spirit of adventure and went along with my half baked plans.  Upon arriving to the City we were left at the North African neighborhood. See picture on the left.

With no clear directions we started to ask people for directions.  At one point, we came upon some firemen who were "assisting" a drunk sprawled on the sidewalk.  We figured if anyone knew the city, it would be the firemen.  The 3 young firemen were eager to help and as they were discussing among themselves were the Hotel de Ville was, the drunk shouted out: "Straight ahead, not too far from here."  He was right.

The exhibit was very nice and the building was located near the old port area, so we decided to have lunch at a very pleasant outdoor cafe.  The waiter's dog kept barking at the customers and passersby.  The waiter would simply mildly reprimand him and go on serving customers.  That would never do in the USA.  I also felt so proud of Niko, he would have behaved better than that French mutt.

Jeff have been insisting, I speak to him in Spanish when in public.  He is fearful of coming across as a loud "ugly American."  Besides  the utter confusion he has thrown my aging brain in, I am now fearful of being perceived as an "ugly Spaniard."  Any one who knows Jeff, knows his whispers are loud enough to be heard in a different County.  There has been a new twist to his communication.  He is now good enough to speak to me in French.  Today, he was "whispering" to me in French about our fellow bus riders.   I had to stop that right away and I told him, I was NOT going to gossip in French about the French people.  He had the grace to laugh.