Yesterday wasn't too exciting...Michelle (Marjorie's mom) left in the morning which was a bummer...but Olivier came back and pretty much did my work for me! See, Olivier works for the French navy and has to stay at the naval base from Monday through Friday. Needless to say, Gabriele wanted nothing to do with me once she saw her papa. Anyways, for dinner we had steaks with a cheese sauce that is illegal in the US! Rebel cheese! Not really, it's just not pasteurized. Olivier also made us a plum tarte for dessert that was delicious.
This morning was exciting!! Olivier took me to the Centre Ville, which is like the Old Town of Toulon. It was BEAUTIFUL! As we were driving in, Olivier told me "It's not very pretty because ...something something... World War II" (language barrier). I thought "are you kidding me??". This was the "France" I've been waiting for. Anything with a visible history is pretty damn amazing if you ask me. I took some nifty pictures on my iPhone and not my regular camera because...well...I spent $200 on it and feel it needs to be used all the time.
The Centre Ville also has an incredible "marché en plein air" - open air market. It was like a farmer's market on crack. So many amazing smells, foods, fruits...EVERYTHING. Sadly, I don't think the french have the same concept of "free samples"...We only walked through so I'll have to go back and spend a few hours trying everything. I snapped a quick picture, but it doesn't do it justice. I'll take better ones next time!
We walked through the rest of the town and I was fascinated. Olivier got a kick out of me stopping every 5 minutes to take pictures of all the streets, sidewalks, people, street lamps, pigeons, etc. "You do not have this in Los Angeles??" Pigeons? Yes. Tiny French side streets? No.
Eventually I had to stop taking pictures because I was holding up traffic and people kept bumping into me. I don't think Toulon is used to having any tourists...
I did manage to get a few of the Opera House and the Marine Arsenal where Olivier works as well as the port. It truly is a harbor city.
Funny things I've noticed:
1) So we parked downtown and had to walk through the mall to get to the outside. EVERYONE in the mall has these rolly bag things that they carry with them. It was like I was back in elementary school when rolly backpacks were super cool. I guess it's because they walk everywhere and need a way to carry their groceries and such back on the bus or walk home. Oh ya, the supermarket is also a part of the mall. I sneakily (or perhaps not so sneakily) took a picture of this lady's:
2) The escalators are flat! Ok...maybe this exists somewhere in the states but I've never seen it and I thought it was SUPER cool:
3) Not sure if I mentioned this before, but "westerns" are really cool in France. I actually learned that in my French class. This proves to be true since there are several of these floating around the house:
Well, that's it for now. I can't believe it's already been a week! OH...tonight my neighbor might be taking me dancing! Not Magali, but her older brother haha and since I'm in no position to turn away friends (plus I LOVE dancing), I think I might just join him. More pictures to come!
For now, please enjoy the slideshow of my trip to the "Centre Ville".
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