That was when the funnest part of the trip really started I think. The next day I sat with one of my new friends from Australia named Anastasia. We spent the morning driving south east to get to a town called Nimes around noon. We visited an old roman stadium, which all of us just called the Coliseum out of convenience. It was cool from the outside, but the inside was all modernized and that was disappointing. After that we saw another old roman monument, it was basically just this huge square temple. After that we split up for lunch, and Anastasia and I headed out on our own. We got some maps and found out that there were some really great roman gardens in the town, so we went there and it was just amazing. There were big white statues everywhere, real canals with fountains and all kinds of things, a big old temple ruin, and paths leading all over. Roman gardens kick English gardens asses I must say. So we headed up to the very top of the garden, because it kind of covered this whole hill, and up there was this big ruined tower that still had one part of it left standing. So we went inside it was super cool because it was just this huge hollow stone tower that had a big spiral staircase winding straight up the middle. We decided to go up and when we got to the top the view was breathtaking. We climbed out onto the top of all the worn out stones past the viewing balcony and took pictures of us pretending to surf and just do stupid things, and then we just sat down in the sun and enjoyed the view while we let ourselves tan a little bit. We could see the whole city, including all the gardens, the square temple, and the "Coliseum" way in the distance. We marveled at how lame the others were for just sitting around in restaurants like McDonalds during our free lunch hours instead of visiting the city and seeing cool stuff. I got to see so many neat things that the other kids on my exchange missed out on just because I broke away from the big groups at times and poked my nose around. I said to myself that I paid a lot of money for this tour and I never know when the next time I'll be seeing France like this again would be so I had better see I all I can now you know, and I did. I saw so much. I profited from that tour better than almost anyone and I'm so happy with myself for that. Yeah. So. Anyway, after a while we headed back to the bus. Since it was Easter, our chaperones had put a little chocolate and a decorated hard boiled egg on all of our seats. It was cute. Anyway, after that we went down to Marseille, one of the coolest cities ever. On the way Anastasia shared some Easter chocolate with me, oddly enough it was molded not into the shape of a rabbit, but in the shape of a chicken. Anyway, though, on to Marseille.
Marseille is the biggest city in France after Paris. It�s right on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, and it�s just gorgeous. The land around it is very hilly and rocky and the whole place just looks very Greek. Anyway, when we got there everyone�s� noses were plastered to the windows because the Mediterranean was just so gorgeous and blue and shimmering in the sunlight. We got a guided tour of the city where we saw huge roman monuments and then went up to the highest point in the city, La Belle M�re, a cathedral that�s build overlooking the whole city. It looked very like the harbor at Rio, and I just loved it. It was so gorgeous to go up onto the balconies around the cathedral and look out over the whole colorful city and the Mediterranean sparkling blue out until the horizon. God, it was so gorgeous, and it was warm, and the air smelled like the sea. It was just amazingly cool, I took so many photos. Then after that we went down and walked around a wharf, also pretty cool, and then the tour was over. We went to a beach before dinner, but they wouldn't let us go swimming. We did get to go wading though, and so we all jumped in up to our knees. The water was a little colder than Lake Superior, but it didn't matter. I was in the Mediterranean!! (And as a side note, I'd really just like to say that I have no clue how Mediterranean is really spelled) It was just great. The sun was setting over the water and we all had our pictures taken. I just had fun! That night we ate dinner at another cafeteria, and it was pretty gross but I didn't even care. We stayed at a hotel that night with balconies overlooking the city. So cool. I was so mad we didn't get to spend more time in the city. Apparently there is one street where every store is full of African stuff and African vendors come to sell all kinds of things. I was so mad we didn't get to go! I would have loved that! But oh well, we still saw a lot.
The next morning we took a boat ride out onto the sea, it was so cool, we went over huge waves and everyone got splashed! We saw some really cool cliffs and rock formations and stuff because there are a lot of rock islands in the sea around Marseille. It was awesome, and the water was just so blue! Everyone was in good spirits by the end of the boat ride. I remember them trying to hurry us back onto the bus, but so many of us dived off into little tourist shops to buy postcards that we drove the chaperones crazy! But finally after a lot of pushing and shoving we were all back on the bus and sadly leaving Marseille, but all the same we were all excited too, because we were heading into the Alps!!
We ate lunch at a roadside place on the way and in the afternoon we were finally approaching the mountains. I have to say this about the Alps. They aren't as impressive as the Rockies. Here's why. With the Rocky Mountains you have a drastic change in the landscape in a very short amount of time. You have the great planes and then suddenly in the blink of an eye you have the Rockies shooting straight up from the ground, going in a straight line all the way from one horizon to another. It�s just gorgeous. With the Alps it�s more like slightly flat then hilly then mountainy, and they aren't in a straight line like the Rockies, they're more like in a big clustery circle around the bottom of France and the top of Italy. They are still magnificent and gorgeous, but I'd say if you want to see mountains, go to the Rockies, not the Alps. Anyway, we stayed in youth hostel for two nights in the Alps. It was nice because it was all log cabiny kind of style. The bus ride there was kind of fun because we were taking turns passing around the microphone to the bus speakers and singing cultural songs. The very best was the Beaver Song from Canada, but take me out to the ball game from America was also pretty sweet. Anyway, by the time we had to get there I was almost dying I had to pee so bad. That was one hard thing about the tour, everyone was always dehydrated because we were all worried that if we drank too much we would have to pee and the bus had a bathroom only for emergencies. So we hardly drank anything. Anyway, we ate dinner that night and then headed over to the rooms. We had free time to do whatever so we decided to just hang out. I ended up sitting outside and freezing for a while because I was talking to a group of people who wanted to "take in the fresh mountain air", but it was ok because Julie from Kentucky ended up sitting on my lap so we could use our collective body heat to stay warm. It was fun. The air does feel cleaner and fresh up in the mountains I must admit. Anyway, after that we went in and played a few disgruntled games of Jenga before calling it a night.
