Marseille, France: Day 1

Well, it's been a pretty busy week. For starters, last I had some time off work so I spent the weekend in Marseille. It was just what I needed. It was the beginning of a heat wave here in Lyon and as much as I love this city, it just can't compare to one with tons of beaches and the Mediterranean sea. I got on the train at 8am and by 10am I had arrived at Gare St-Charles. I bought my train tickets really early and was able to get 1st class tickets for the same price as coach.
I arrived and made my way to the youth hostel with the directions I had gotten from the internet. After taking a metro I was to take the bus and then walk for a couple of hundred meters. While I was waiting for the bus, a young guy asked me if I spoke English and knew when the next bus was arriving. I answered yes to both of his questions, and we quickly realized that we were going to the same place. Seeing as we had about half an hour to kill while we waited for the bus, we chatted about jobs, movies and our respective home countries (he's from Germany). It wasn't until we were almost at the hostel before we learned each others names. His was Domenik; he's a graphic designer/model whose friends went back to Germany the day earlier (he stayed to visit his brother) and now had limited funds and no way to get home. He asked me if I thought he could hitchhike from here to Germany, and I explained to him that where I come from it's pretty dangerous, but I think it's pretty acceptable here. I told him that I think the main obstacle he'll run into is that, in this tourist filled beach town, not many people will be driving back to Germany. The people in Marseille are mostly just visiting from different regions of France.

After checking into the youth hostel, I ran into Domenik again. Seeing as how its been awhile since I've been near large masses of water, I decided to go to the beach. I asked Domenik which was the sea, and he said he was going that way and that I could follow him. I asked him if he was going to the beach and he said no and that there were too many people. He was still going to go to he sea, just at a different 'less touristy' part. He asked me if I wanted to join him and I said sure. We got on a bus and about a half hour later we had reached the end of the road. The bus dropped us of and we decided to walk along the coast to find a good place to hang out for the day. We met this guy named Abdel and asked him if he knew a good spot. He said he was going that way and that we could follow him. He led us to these rocks where people could jump into the sea from different levels.

From 1m to 10m you could plunge into the refreshing saltwater and then climb up and do it all over again. It was pretty awesome, not to mention the spectacular view and the fact that there was barely anyone around. After almost two hours of being astounded by the beauty of my surroundings, I called it a day and told Domenik that I would be heading back to town. He said he would stick around that spot awhile longer, but that he would see me back at the hostel.

Later that day, I walked around the town, went back to the beach (went for a quick dip) and had dinner at this lovely beach side restaurant while I watched the sunset. It was fantastic. I saw colours in the sky that I had never seen before.
After dinner and sunset, I returned to the hostel to grab a sweater. I had seen a poster announcing that there were going to be fireworks on the beach that night. When I got there I ran into Domenik and asked him if he wanted to come. He said 'ya' and after we grabbed our jackets we made our way down to the beach. The fireworks were amazing. They were put to music, and went on for almost 30 minutes. While sitting on the beach, Domenik and I discussed our home countries' different national holidays and annual celebrations. He explained Oktoberfest to me and invited me to Munich this fall to come and experience it first hand. I told him all about Canada day and the fireworks competitions at La Ronde and what poutine was like.
The fireworks ended and we stayed on the beach exchanging email addresses and talking until around midnight. We met for breakfast the next morning at the hostel where we said our goodbyes and I wished him good luck on his journey home.

Thus marked the beginning of my big fun filled touristy day in Marseille! To be continued.....