And NOW For The First Installment of 2014 SarCorsiParis PHOTOS!


When I last wrote, Natalie and I were enjoying the end of our SarCorsiParis European odyssey strolling along the boulevards of Paris. It was all blue sky and song birds, baguettes and barrettes! Oh snap! No, it was cool, cloudy and rainy… but we thoroughly enjoyed the City of Lights.

Our trip was coming to an end, but not before we high-tailed it back to Marseille on the Train à Grande Vitesse. We had one more day to have a walkabout before hitching the big bird home. So off we went from our now familiar IBIS hotel in the port area, only this time we steered right toward the Marseille Cathedral.

The Marseille Cathedral
The Cathedral was très cool ! But what surprised us was just beyond the cathedral: an area of modern architecture featuring the Villa Méditerrannée and the MuCEM (the Museum of Civilizations of Europe and the Mediterranean).

The Villa Méditerrannée
 
The MuCEM (the Museum of Civilizations of Europe and the Mediterranean)



Our stroll ended with a seafood dinner at an outdoor restaurant in the Vieux Port. Funny thing is, they had a wee tiny sign saying “No credit cards” which we did not see. We now had a wee tiny problem… we didn’t have enough cash and the banks were long closed. And the hilarity ensued… The restaurateur said “No problem. There’s a cash machine right over there!” The restaurateur had apparently not been reading the TourAlongWithTodd Blog and was therefore not aware of our difficulty in using non-chip credit cards during the trip. Luckily for all concerned, the cash machine accepted our card and gave us cash. However, the restaurateur had NO IDEA how close he came to having a dine-and-dash incident as we were in no mood to wash his dishes and the cash machine was at least 200 feet from the restaurant.

Early morning May 30th we took the metro to the train station (we don’t need no stinking taxis!) and then the bus to the airport for the flight to Munich.

Now here’s the thing about leaving Sardinia, Corsica and France and entering Germany… in Germany we were greeted with the Holy Trinity. The Holy Trinity is a bathroom with toilet paper, hand soap AND a way to dry your hands! Thank you, Germany!

Our flight to LAX was essentially a movie marathon. I have no idea how many I watched. Upon arrival at LAX, we were assaulted by three things:


  1. An immigration area that was so loud, chaotic, confusing and out of control one would think it was their first day on the job, EVER!
  2. Restaurants blasting music so loud one would think they doubled as clubs at night. 
  3. Electric assistant carts beeping continually while in motion so one would think… well, I don’t know what one would think except they are SO annoying!
Maybe Americans really are loud…

Well, we had a great time on this 39-day adventure, and boy-o-boy do I have the pictures to prove it!

Over the coming weeks I’ll be posting a series of photo albums… no more narrative, just photos. I hope you enjoy them.

The first photo album begins with brief passes through Marseille and Corsica and then on to Sardinia, the first destination of our trip.

Without further ado…

2014 SarCorsiParis PHOTOS Album A!... CLICK HERE to view it. When the photo album opens, click on the first picture and then click on "Slideshow" at the top or manually advance the photos at the bottom using the arrow!

https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/114361142091385282899/albums/6075839903552998945?sort=1