Later this week, Tuesday June 6, 2023, I took a train to Marseille to meet up with dear friends for a few hours. I have never explored this city and its ports.

Our first adventure was meeting up with each other. After the train I took the metro (in the wrong direction) while Rebecca and her family were holding on for dear life in a fast moving taxi on narrow streets.

The second adventure was using a public FREE porta-a-potty. Wish I had thought to take a picture! It was very spacious, contained a sink, locking door, and self cleaned after each use. Well Well Well…We individually were stuck locked inside at some point. Unfortunately when Rebecca was locked inside the self cleaning mode decided to start. She described the scene inside as water gushing out of a nozzle all over the floor and toilet. She leaped back to the wall standing on tiptoes to avoid getting her shoes soaked. The bathroom was speaking clearly in French about the process, which neither of us understood. She was yelling from inside. I was yelling from outside counting down the rinse cycle I found on the panel of the port-a-potty. Zero came, the door opened and Rebecca and I had the biggest laugh together.

Our third adventure was visiting La Major Cathedral. The temperature was cool on the inside. Mosaic floors with wooden benches beckoned us down the center aisle. 

Our fourth adventure came about as we saw a strike parade near the Old Port area. Sure enough it was Tuesday, which in France is the most common strike day. A highlight was us actually “breaking the picket line” to cross the street to get to ice cream. 

We sat and talked for a long time in the ice cream store, just like old times.

Finally our last adventure together in Marseille was walking through the city market a couple of blocks away from Old Port. We experienced bright colors of fruits and vegetables, huge amounts of fish and eel.

We said our goodbyes and each of us headed to our next destination. I had to catch a train to Geneva for dinner. With an hour plus before the next train I walked down to the water, found cars worthy of quick photographs and a burger from Five Guys. It has been so long since I have had Five Guys that I ordered a cheeseburger for 17 Francs. It came as a double burger not a single. Hmm, at least 17 Francs made a tad more sense now.

After dinner I took several more trains passing through the village of St. Niklaus. I eventually met up with Randy and the kids in Zermatt around midnight. They had stopped along the way, played disc golf, and enjoyed yummy food on their adventure to Zermatt.