It was very windy today in Marseille but according to the owner of the apartment I am staying in this is normal on a daily basis. In addition, it was cloudy all day with a few scattered sprinkles. Due to the high winds, I was unable to do the boat trip to Calanques with the stop at the Chateau d’Ilf but I was able to take the boat to Frioul which is a string of islands that you can see from Notre Dame de Gard.
I started my day with visiting Notre Dame, naturally I walked instead of taking the bus to the Cathedral. There must be some sort of special number associated with the steps to a Cathedral built high above a city in France. So far, every one that is built on a cliff has over 300 stairs to the top. Every time I make one of those climbs I think about the era in which the cathedral was built and how there were no cars, buses or trams.
I also went to the Museum and Fort Saint Jean. The museum had a special Picasso exhibition. The building itself was reached through Fort Saint Jean which had it own special set of stairs and high connecting bridges. The building was very modern in design and beautiful. On the way to the museum there was a commotion on the corner by the port. Several policemen, two ambulances and spectators. I noticed one young man on the ground, not sure if he was hit by a car or not. After I left the museum to walk back to the apartment, the policemen were still there and had been joined by what I assume was the special crimes unit. Two officers dressed in white from head to toe – even their faces were covered. They were taking pictures and asking questions of the other officers who I assumed were first on the scene.
I walked around Marseille looking for the post office and stopped at the Prefecture to ask a guard. Most of the people here do not speak English so it was a challenge to find the post office and then even more of a challenge to buy stamps. Although there are three Starbucks in Marseille which are within walking distance to the place I am staying, the nearest Federal Express office is 24 miles away. The post office has a standard rate to the US not to exceed 7 kilograms which is approximately 15 pounds and costs 55 euros. The post office also has special stamps depending on which country you are sending a letter to – for example if you are using the regular France stamp then two of them are required for the US; however they have a special stamp just for the US which obviously costs more.
Marseille has what I would equate to New York’s Fifth Avenue or London’s Bond Street – very high end specialty shops.
I checked my walking progress towards my goal of 400 miles today. So far I have walked 206.10 total miles. My chart showed 60 floors climbed today.
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