Cloudy Day

Day 114
I was finally able to sleep in a bit because my train wasn't until 7:20. Still, it wasn't long before I had my act together and was on my way to Marseilles.

When I arrived in Marseilles I had no idea which way I should go to find the tourist office and a map. After some lucky wandering I stumbled upon it. I actually just picked the downhill direction.

After a short walk around the Vieux Port I came to a memorial dedicated to WWII and the concentration camps. The ground floor had quotes in French about I don't know what. The second floor had pictures of the camps and ghettos. The top floor had some earth and ash from each of the major camps. Overall it was small but still well done.

Nearby was a cathedral that the guy at the tourist office had recommended. It was alright, but nothing too special. I then tried to visit the Roman Dock Museum, but for some reason it was closed. Instead I took a stroll around the harbor as it began to rain. It was a nice change from the last few uber hot days.

Eventually I came to the St. Victor Abbey. The Abbey dated all the way back to the 5th century and sat on a much older Greek aqueduct foundation. Most of the current building was constructed in 1040. It was a nice church, but I was there for the crypts. I didn't know if there would be anything creepy down there, but it was worth a try.

I didn't find any dead bodies, but I did manage to find some interesting statues and architecture. I was even able to take pictures which is always good.


Afterwards I headed up, and I mean up to Notre Dame de la Garda. This cathedral is located on a 154 meter hill. It's rather new at only about 150 years old. The nautical theme was pretty interesting. I spent some time here just sitting and catching my breath. The view of Marseilles was simply amazing and I studied it from each angle.

At this point there wasn't anything left on my to do list in Marseilles so I headed to the train station and got the next train back. I was happy that it was still pretty early on in the day. I headed straight to the internet cafe and spent almost 5 hours getting the blog up to date and dealing with some credit card issues. By the time I had finished it was just about midnight. Back in the hostel I tried to fall asleep. There was another room that you could only get to by walking through my room. The door to this room didn't close the entire way. The couple in there was having very loud sex. Even with my ipod on high I couldn' t cover the noise. Eventually they finished and I was greatfull for the silence.