I am in Marseille. Mr. Bombomsky is supposed to meet us here on Thursday.
We (of course, my family and I, for vacation) came here on Sunday, on an eight hour Lufthansa flight. A baby was crying the whole time, so I barely got any sleep. I got some great ideas for my book from the airport. Once we got to Frankfurt, we had to wait two hours before my next flight. During that time, we sat at a restaraunt. My brother had a cold, so my mom asked for some hot water and honey. When Roman, my brother, got the milk, it was standing on a little plate with one of thoses packets of honey you get get for free at any deli in America. The milk was four Euros, (for every 1 American dollar, it is worth 1.2 Euros), and the packet of honey was 1 Euro. I have never been charged for honey before.
On Tuesday, our first real full day, we went to two different beaches. The first one, in Niolin, north if Marseille, was on a rocky platform, with some sand, and most people were not swimming because it was also a dock, but we went in. I did, my mom did, and my dad did, but my brother didn't. He gets sensitive when it comes to Freezing Cold water.
At the same beach, we went to a restaraunt that was above the rocks. They were just closing, but they let us have a salad and a crepe anyway. The food was not worth it, but the setting and feeling of the restaraunt was very good.
After that, we took the train back to the main station in Marseille. From there we took the metro, spent a while searching for the right bus, got on, got off, got on a shuttle, and Voila (It took much longer than a Voila). At the second beach, in Les Goudes, a calanque, it was extremely windy. At first, we didn't think there was even a beach, because it was partially hidden. But out of the corner of his eye, my dad saw people swimming and lying on a beach, so we found away to get there. On the way there, we saw a man who helped us navigate, and when we said thank you, I said Merci in a very good French accent. I am taking French next year in middle school, and it is good I'm traveling in France this summer.
At that beach, it was so windy that I didn't know if I should swim or not. I did, and so did my dad, but my mom and brother waited and got towels ready for us for when we came out (it was that cold). Then we rushed into this bar/cafe, which had the best apperance because it had a gigantic statue of a spaceman out front, and a pool table, very comfy chairs, and good ice cream inside. We walked a little, and then took the bus back. For dinner, we went to a good restaraunt called Chez Noel, near our apartment, and we had a mussle dish, grean beans, and ravioli. My mom got this very weird and bad, bad, bad, specialty of the house dish (it was some sort of animals legs; :( ) and it tasted and smelled horrid.
The next day, we went to Arles, a small town just out of Marseille. No one wanted to go, because we had to wake up to early, but my dad insisted. I am making it seem bad, but I am glad my dad did that because it was really fun. We explored the weekly market outside, (for basically breakfast and lunch) and got some real french cheeses, meats, bread, and fruit. I don't know if there is "French fruit", but the fruit was good and ripe anyway. Through the market, we walked into the town through the main gate. We bought a pass that was valid for 2 museums and 4 monuments. The first museum we went to was a contemporary art museum, were we saw Pablo Picasso's works, and we saw lots of paintings of people, there faces shown in all different points of view just in the one face, something we looked at during the school year. There were also very cool rooms that explored sound, and again, great setting. We walked around a lot more, and I mainly forgot what we did next. But after, of course I do remember this, we went to a Bull Fight. It was in one of the monuments, an ancient Roman ampitheater, a stadium built a long time ago in stone. They are building a stadium in my neighborhood, near a mall, (a "perfect match"), whinch does not belong there. Most people voted no, because they wanted to keep Park Slope residential, but they one because it was of "Jobs! Jobs! Jobs!". Anyway, all I am saying is that it would of been really awesome if they made the stadium like the one in Arles. It is quite a dream.
Anyway: the bull fight: for the main part, men in white suits started to chase the bull, then once it was after them, tried to run away out of the mane circle. That, was fun to watch, but once a man made a very close jump, and the bull fell over, it got interesting. The bull had fallen over the gate, and had almost hurt itself. His mouth was all bloody. I felt bad for the bull. You would think that he would just get back up and go back in the main ring and chase another person, but no. The bull just layed there, trying to figure these people out. When he did get up, he wouldn't go back in. I think he had had enough of these "fools", so he was going to revolt. It was also kind of scary, but you could feel a sense of pride in the bull. He started running around the outer inner edge, and people who were standing there had to duck. He ran, and whenever he came to the door to go back in, he ran the other way. He broke some of the walls, to. Finally, they had to make another bull come, and he chased the first bull back inside the stall. Then we had to leave.
That was not taken to another level because our dinner was in a very touristy restaraunt, but the bull fight left a lot to think about. Here is a photo of it.
The bull fight:

Some Picasso Works:




These are Picasso+: I designed the last one for my dad.