Week 2 and 3 in France

With our first normal and free weekend in Marseille, Gentry and I did a little bit of City exploring.  A short metro ride down town got us back to Vieux Port where we would go to Notre Dame De La Garde. Its at the highest point in Marseille and there has been something built there since 1200 something. Some people choose to walk but since it is the highest point in the city, Gentry and I chose to take the bus.

 

 

 

The church end up being the only real touristy thing Gentry and I could handle in a day. Pretty lucky Gentry isn't a go go go tourist that has to see it all.  Instead, she was ok with walking around down town and getting some food. My type of site seeing. Before heading back we stopped by an art store and got some supplies which gentry immediately used to make this master piece:

 

 

 

 

The next day was our 1 year anniversary. We were going to do our anniversary in two parts. Nice dinner outting today and try for some kind of short trip next weekend. Since we are on the coast, we wanted to try and get some good sea food. We ended up at this place that made us feel like we were in Uptown in Dallas. Luckily the food was pretty awesome. First time to eat octopus. Pretty close texture to gummy worms so I loved it.

 

 

 

After dinner, a quick walk around the "Prado" which is the main touristy beach in Marseille. For some reason, the people of Marseille have decided they are ok with leaving their trash everywhere. The city is really pretty dirty everywhere we go. It was pertty unfortunate when walking around the water and seeing all the trash. Living my entire life far from the ocean though, I will always like looking out at the water from just about anyway....trash or no trash.

 

 







During the week, I got to participate in my first of, hopefully many, soccer games. The church has a team that is in a league kind of like FCA. Each team is from some church and before the game, the two teams circled up for a quick message and a prayer. Made me realize I was going to have to make sure and not get too rough on the field as I have a tendency to do in soccer. I ended the game with no fouls called against me, no goals, and no stamina.  The team had only one 1 game in the past 2 years so I felt no pressure. We ended up losing 3-2 which I think is a win for this team.

Saturday 6/14 Gentry and I went to the train station and hopped on a bus for a 45 min ride to Aix En Provence. The town felt very touristy but not in a bad way.

Gentry and I had a great sushi lunch that ended up being pretty expensive so we decided we would assemble our own dinner. We foudn the grocery story and got the essentials to take back to the roof top patio at our hotel.
The essentials included:

-Baguette
-Brie
-Mix of olives
-Bottle of local Rose wine
-Some salami like meat (Cecina)
-Some fresh cherrys
-Bar of dark chocolate

The hotel hooked it up with a food tray with dishes that helped out. My body was not very happy with me about an hour after the meal but during was pretty fantastic.

We finished off our anniversary trip night with what we did so often in Dallas.....we went to a movie.  Luckily Aix had a movie theater that liked to keep the artistic integrity of the movie by showing it in its original language.  We didn't have a lot of options but the new Tom Crews movie did the trick.  As you know, I have great movie taste.

Next day we walked around the city and happened on a market where I was lucky to be out of Euros otherwise i'm not sure how much i would have bought. Especially from the table below filled with every time of salted cured meat imaginable. Instead of buying it, the next best thing was to snapchat it.

 

After lunch we were picked up for a wine tour that took us to two local wineries.  Knowing nothing about how wine is made, it was actually interesting. Don't worry, I am not going to explain any of the process on here. I still have no palete of wine.  France had their first world cup game that day so I made sure to show my support.

 

 

 

The past week also brought a couple changes to our apartment setup.  I'm not sure I've ever been so excited about a furniture purchase.  Before this week, we had about a 1x3 foot counter space in the kitchen. That counter space was also about a foot too short for people the height of gentry and I (which is not far from average).  Gentry spotted the perfect item to bring us back to a more spoiled level of counter space and height while also supplying me with my work desk. 

What is now my work desk was a part of the counter.  Really wish we had a before and after picture in the kitchen for this but we didn't think of it.  I'll let you guys try to imagine the improvements.

The piece of art on the wall is a new addition as well. Gentry just finished it this morning and got it up just in time for the picture.

Like I said, never been too excited about furniture (other than comfortable couches) or counters but something about this gets be happen every time I walk in our kitchen.  I think I just really pined for more space to prep my cheese and meat.

Lastly, I need to mention that Gentry had no part in the layout/design of this blog.  She wouldn't want anyone to think she would be ok with any part of how this blog looks. I'm perfectly ok with it. 

This blog felt long but you know.....its all about the memories.....so I gotta capture it and make sure we remember it.

Mike