i feel like .. we should go this way

ah alas, after a just lovely friday evening of shenanigans per usual, some friends and i decided that we should most definitely spend all day saturday relaxing on the beach. but not just any beach, an island off the coast of marseille.

pause, i dont think ive mentioned my host dad and his extreme hatred for marseille. marseille is the 2nd most populated city in france, after, you guessed it, paris. located on the mediterranean it is just 25 minutes or so from Aix and 500 miles from Tunisia and the North African region. It is quite a large and overpopulated city with many of the same problems that face south coastal/border cities in the united states. . if youre slow on the uptake, this means that there is a large number of immigrants-both illegal and legal- and by geography and historical events- most of these immigrants are of arabic nature.  Now, if you know anything about France and its history or culture. you know that France once owned many of the North African nations and after colonization and years of wars, revolts and granted independence, the French are weee bit on the prejudiced/racist side. this of course is putting it both politely, politically correct and not to make any overall stereotypes. but in my family, despite their Moroccan heritage.. are not too fond of Arabs or their culture/people/history/business .. really anything. ESPECIALLY robert and his extreme right views.  so, anytime the word marseille is referenced, mentioned or even hinted at .. he immediately responds with "marseille-ville de merde" .. which translated means "city of shit" and he is not joking. there is not a single time he doesnt follow marseille with the standard ville de merde -- even if he isnt even in the conversation.  he doesnt like their soccer team, their port, their industry-- he really feels bad for us if we have to even go near it. which is funny because in all honesty- it is a crapass city. pardon my french.  graffiti, slums, trash, gypsies, apartment buildings and smog are all the makeup of this mediterranean gem. its sad because there are some nice parts and Notre Dame de la Garde is a beautiful church on a hill. also because it is our sole access to the rest of Europe really-travel wise-but we do heed his advice and try and avoid it at all costs.

anyways, i decided to take sharod along with my friends to marseille and isle de frioul. we went with my friend molly and margaret and clare who's friend was visiting from paris and morgan who's sister is visiting from the states. its just a short bus ride and then a nice ferry to the island.  we stopped by Chateau d'If .. which is an island prison, the french version of Alcatraz and is famous for the setting of Alexander Dumas' Count of Monte Cristo.

should be an ad campaign

 

my good friend Clare with Marseille behind u

the ferry continued to our final destination.. Frioul.. an archipelago really close to the coast of Marseille. We descended .. loaded down with 6kilos of water, 7 baguettes, cheese, Speculoos and of course.. champagne and wine.  It took us a while to figure out where to go .. as the beaches are near and far between on this rocky island but we finally made it to this little area of sand, already sparsely inhabited with sunbathers and snorklers. i feel like i would eventually get used to the amazing color of the water.. but no, it still gets me everytime. breathtaking. and my pictures dont do it justice. 

we found a place on the beach .. far enough away from the madly in love and intertwined couples and the topless grandmothers . welcome to france . there were a lot of students from our school that had the same idea so we all had a lovely picnic underneath the mediterranean sun. which brings me to my next tift. okay, its the south of france, they may not be as into health issues like we are (case in point: smoking) but id be sure they would have skin care products like sunscreen on mass scales. nope. they have like a small selection and every bottle is like 14 euros and theres not a lot there. thankfully the girls i was with had some and i actually lathered it on.. but of course.. i missed spots and totally forgot about my chest. OOOPS. i was embarrassingly red yesterday.. but i woke up today and im a bronze beauty :)

Molly, Me, Sharod, Morgan, her sister Kaylin

so after consuming our picnic accoutrements and soaking up the sun.. we decided to brave the water. it may be pretty and 90 degrees out.. but that water is STILL april cold.. but we were not gonna be pansies so we braved it and actually stayed in for quite sometime. which might explain the supreme level of yuck that i feel right now :(

but all in all we had a great time! i made friends with this sweet little boy named Felix who came up and just started talking to sharod.. well not really talking.. more like babbling. but it was SO CUTE. i played with him in the water and taught him how to high five!

my new friend Felix

we took the ferry back into marseille and jumped on a bus back to aix completely drained of energy. so we decided to have a chill evening. alex, sharod, clare, emily and i grabbed a beer at an outside cafe that was packed with frenchies smoking cigarettes and looking fabulous. it was very nice and relaxing! the perfect weekend!