Marseille, France

Our next destination was Marseille, a large coastal city. As we glimpsed snatches of the blue, blue Mediterranean from the highway we grew increasingly excited about being by the sea. On the drive we also saw hilltop castles and cities. Much more to see in Provence some day.

In Marseille, we went by the old port and then walked around in the historic district, called Le Panier, during Eliot's nap. It was full of ambience and felt very old-France.

Then we headed up to a park on a big hill. Eliot rode a carousel there. The operator gave us and another mom and young childe two rides instead of one. Eliot rode this horse first, then a butterfly. (For butterfly photos, visit the album.)

Towards the end of the day, boats started streaming back into the old harbor.

We stayed in a B&B just on the edge of town. When we arrived, the owner asked me many questions about Eliot's sleep habits and said there was a small problem. I was feeling rather nervous when he said that the heater in our room was broken so he had another arrangement for us. He was especially keen to know if Eliot cried at night. Assured that Eliot sleeps soundly, the owner was pleased to install us in a nice apartment for the night. Other guests aparently could have heard Eliot crying from the apartment. I never found why the heater in the original room mattered at all since it was so hot, but given the agreeableness of the alternative arrangements, I did not bother with it. The final photo is the stairwell in the main house of the B&B that we climed to have breakfast on the balcony. Very nice. Marseille would be a very interesting place to spend more time in, but I was not anxious to spend more time in the busy city with Eliot. We were ready for the beach!