At 5am on Saturday morning we were up and getting ready to walk to the train station in Antibes. By about 9:30am we were arriving in Arles, just in time for the Saturday Market and to see a few Roman sights. The market was truly impressive completely with giant fruit and vegetables, handcrafts and clothing items that were most likely stolen. I bought a small gift for Leigh and 5 pain chocolat for our hostess for the weekend. The pain chocolat was only 1.60 euros for all 5! This is unheard of in Cote d'Azur, where a single pastry is typically 0.80 euros or more.
I was in love with Arles from the start, then we went to the Roman ruins and it only got better. We visited the old amphitheater and the arenas, both of which were interesting and impressive. I got a wicked discount on the dual ticket with my Carte Professionelle too! Damian and I spent a few hours snapping pictures to our hearts' contents and enjoying the fantastic sunny weather. Around 16:00 we started toward Marseille by train to call it a day and to finally meet our enigmatic hostess, a fellow English assistant I met via Facebook. Our hostess, Becky, is a nice girl from London who was kind enough to show us around and even took me to an "Irish Pub" in Vieux Port with her friends while poor Damian was passed out finally from jetlag. It was fun to meet a few of her friends and see the city at night.
Sunday was lovely and lazy after such a long Saturday. Since nothing much is open in all of France on a Sunday we all alternated between sleeping, listening to ipods, reading, and chatting. Around noonish Damian and I were just too hungry to stay indoors any longer, so we went for a walk around the city with Becky in search of food and fun. We wound up at a really nice Boulangerie near Vieux Port with indoor seating and a great selection of pastry type things and yummy coffee. Damian and I ordered enough food to get us through the day (i.e. make us feel fat for the next two days), then we walked back to the apartment for more alternating between sleeping and other lazy activities.
Around 18:00 I got dolled up and headed toward Le Dome for my concert, The Cranberries reunion tour! I have loved The Cranberries since I was 13 years old and my life turned upside down. This band had put out a fantastic, soulful album that gave words and music to my feelings. I have never stopped loving them since then. This reunion tour was my second show with them. I saw them once before when I was 14 and it was epic. The concert last night was no less wonderful, as I was transported back to how liberated I felt the first time I heard many of their songs and felt like my attendance of the concert was my way of paying homage to the album that gave me so much comfort and the young girl who was so lost once upon a time.
Aside from my sappy feelings, it was a great show. Dolores O'Riordan spoke a good deal of French with an adorably thick Irish accent, which the audience seemed to appreciate, and danced quite badly as she always does. When the band played their harder pieces her dancing made a bit more sense based on the music played, but otherwise it was just strange and served as a reminder that her great talent is singing and songwriting, but not so much with the dancing :-)
Monday was supposed to be the day we went to Avignon to see the Pope's Palace, but the train tickets were just too steep and we were pretty tired from all the traveling, so we decided to hang out in Marseille instead. Our lovely hostess also had the day off from teaching due to a greve (ah, la vie en France!) at her school, so we decided to play tourist for the day. We took a tourist trolley up the hill to Notre Dame de la Garde, complete with French and English commentary (some of which was extremely comical due to poor translations). After visiting the beautiful cathedral and taking tons of pictures of the city from above, we went back down to Vieux Port for a chocolat chaud and people watching, a la francais. Around 14:30 Becky headed home while Damian and I hit the shops. Well, Damian hit the shops while I gave a running commentary on which shops had good prices, nice clothes, etc and watched him spend his "grownup" money, consoling myself with reminders that (a) I have no space in my luggage for more stuff to take home and (b) I am going to Paris next weekend, so more clothes from H&M are NOT what the doctor ordered.
After shopping we got a little lost and had to haul ass to the St. Charles train station to get back to Antibes. Now we're back in my apartment, resting up after a long fun weekend and I am mentally preparing myself for my work day tomorrow. I think the rest of my time in France will be like this- hectic, fun, and full of moments where I must remind myself that I do, in fact, have a job to get to on Tuesday mornings!
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