Marseille, France (10/21/15-10/22/15)

We arrived in Mareille, which is in the south of France, late on the 20th, and took a taxi to the hotel we stayed in near the airport.  I hadn't showered since I was in Venice, so it was so nice to finally feel clean again and sleep in a bed!  We got up the next morning and took a bus into the city centre, and then took the metro to the Vieux Port (Old Port) of Marseille, which is where out airbnb was.  Vieux Port is such a pretty area; it is right on a marina and there are lots of restaurants and shops nearby.  Our airbnb was so nice, the nicest place we stayed during the whole trip.

Vieux Port

We relaxed for a little bit (we were so tired) and then shopped around for a while.  I had my first macaron (chocolate, of course), which was delicious.  We then tried to find a place to eat, but we soon realized a very annoying fact: almost every restaurant is closed from about 2 pm to 8 pm.
So we decided to eat at a pho place instead, which was really yummy.


The next day we went to a bakery for breakfast, where I got a beignet au nutella (amazing pastry filled with nutella- so freaking good) and then made our way to Notre Dame de la Garde, which is a basilica in Marseille that sits on top of a hill, allowing you to see the whole city.  The views were amazing- on one side I saw a huge mountain range, and on the other I saw the sea.  The basilica itself was also so gorgeous, and as a bonus was free to enter!

Notre Dame de la Garde

Incredible views

Some of the mountains in the distance

After that, we tried to find a place to eat, but again, most places were closed, so we went to a bakery.  I got a quiche and a pain au chocolat (chocolate bread).  We then sat in McDonalds so we could have wifi and plan our days in Paris.  We then took an overnight train (the last one, thankfully) to Paris.  We had one stopover, and the total trip was 12 hours.  It wasn't as bad as the train from Venice to Rome because there were no cabins and the seats reclined a little.  I really enjoyed Marseille, and would definitely go back to see more of the city (it's the second largest in France).  We arrived in Paris the next morning, tired, but eager to see the city.