Last weekend, my first weekend here, IAU had two trips planned for us – Nice on Saturday and Marseille on Sunday. Both cities are right on the Mediterranean and were absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately, it was a little rainy in Nice and was pretty windy and cold when we were in Marseille, but that just gives me a reason to return in the spring!
Nice was my favorite of the two cities. It was more calm than Marseille (which makes sense because Marseille is France's second largest city, after Paris) and we were able to walk along the Mediterranean in Nice. The view was stunning.
There's a path you can take from the beach up to a hill that overlooks the city and the sea, which afforded an equally as gorgeous view. You can even see the alps in the distance.
One of the professors from IAU took some of us on a tour of the old port and to a confiserie (candy store). One of the specialties of the store was flower-infused candies, like these – I tried a lavender flavored one, which was delicious.
The next day we headed to Marseille and we visited Notre Dame de la Garde, a beautiful cathedral situated on top of a hill over looking the Mediterranean.
I was very much impressed by our bus driver's ability to maneuver up the incredibly narrow, spiraling road while simultaneously dodging motorcyclists. Anyway, after Notre Dame de la Garde, we explored Marseille. In the port they have a free ferry boat to take you from one side of the harbor to the other, so you could technically say I've sailed on the Mediterranean. Although the ride lasted all of 3 minutes, maybe.
The coolest thing that happened while we were in Marseille was just after we got off the ferry. As we were getting on the ferry, there was an older French couple who asked us how much it cost. We told them "C'est gratuit!" (It's free!) so they got on the boat with us. After we got off the ferry, my friends and I climbed up some stairs to look out over the sea. The French couple evidently had the same idea, and we saw them up on the platform taking in the view.
My friend Emily and I were looking at the couple, saying how cute they were when all of a sudden a strong gust of wind came along and swept the man's newsboy cap off his head like a frisbee and it sailed down and landed in the middle of a fairly busy road before it was further pushed into the median. Two of my friends decided they were going to run all the way down the stairs, across the pavement and retrieve the man's hat. Emily and I went over to the man and his wife to explain, as best we could, in French that our friends were going to get his hat. "Nos amis… ils vont attraper votre chapeau!" The man looked at us incredulously. We then pointed to the boys running down the zigzagging stairs. When he saw them hustling to retrieve his hat before it was run over or carried off by the wind again his face completely lit up. He told us that the boys were "comme des anges" and he made a halo shape over his bald head. The man was so happy to get his hat back and asked us where we were from. We told him America and he then proceeded to thank us sincerely in both French and English, his hands clasped tight. When the guys came back with his hat he hugged both of them – a seemingly un-French thing to do – and his wife took the hat. I had a feeling she wouldn't let him wear it for the rest of the day… It felt so good to see the man get his hat back because he told us "je suis vieux" (I am old) and that he wouldn't have been able to run after his hat, it simply would have been gone.
We later got on the bus and left Marseille that evening feeling good about our improving American/French relations, one hat at a time.
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