Marseille

Ok well here's the deal, I went to Marseille last Wednesday (the 13th). I know what you're all thinking and yes, school was on that day but I wasn't really missing out on much. They were doing some big exam thing for half the day anyway, and my friends seemed pretty impressed I was taking a day off to go to Marseille (something I'm not sure I should worry about or not).
There were supposed to be other Australians going (the same ones from the culture camp) and we'd all organised to meet there and hang out for the day but unfortunately none of them could make it. So, I ended up going to Marseille and hanging around for an entire day by myself. (It sounds like a good deal, but I found out the following day that Marseille has a really high crime-rate - and I'd just wandered around there for an entire day wearing my incredibly noticeable Doctor Who scarf!)
Well you'll be pleased to know that I didn't let this stop me from having fun. When I got off the bus in Nimes (I had to catch a bus to Nimes to catch a train to Marseille) I walked around and tool some touristy photos (they have their own Colosseum-y thing - this whole area used to be under Roman rule). Then I went on a walking tour of Marseille. I quickly bought a map of place (I got lost quite fast as the walking tour was self-guided and I know nothing about Marseille). During the morning I was just wandering around the streets and I saw this market on the side of the road. They were selling all sorts of things, unfortunately nothing I liked. It wasn't a small market either, it just kept on going and going following this road. But eventually it stopped and so had all the little cafés and restaurants so I had to walk all the way back into town. By the time I'd walked back to (what I assumed was) the centre of town I was hungry so I went to a little restaurant ordered today's plat du jour (which was a lasagne made with a special kind of cheese - and was delish, by the way) and tried to read the map I'd bought. It was freakin' huge. It took me 10 minutes just to find where I was on it. When I did I decided that I'd walk down to the Old Port, then take the Métro back up to the big train station (I couldn't resist taking another train).
So I finished my meal, tipped the waiter 20 euro cents (I didn't really tip him, he just never came back with the change) and headed on down to the Old Port.
When I got there I was totally blown away by how many boats they could fit in that place! Lots. Anyway, then I took the Métro. Buying a ticket was frustrating, to say the least. The ticket vending machine had a wheel you're supposed to spin, I felt like I was playing Wheel of Fortune! (They've also got a French version of Wheel on TV, it seems pretty popular but I'm rubbish at solving the things. And there's a dog too, on the show, he's got a big black spot on his eye. It looks like he's wearing an eye-patch. I call him Patches.) Using the tickets is even harder, they've got the same ticket gates as the ones in Melbourne (those ones that snap shut and eat little children) but the gates shoot your ticket out. It's nuts, I nearly fell over trying to catch mine. It was fun just watching people's tickets fly away though and them chasing after it.
So after taking the Métro and getting back to the big train station I still had some time up my sleeve so I went for a little walk (not too far because I didn't want to lose the station again) and found that there's an arc in Marseille. A great big arc, like the one in Paris but probably not as well respected (I saw 2 dead birds at the arc and the thing smelt of urine). After taking a few photos and doing the whole tourist thing it was time to get back to the train station and go home.
And that is the end of my Marseille adventure.