Cafe de l'aimes

These are the young lovers. ( I wish the video would load) They were fascinating, he for his brovado and she for her coquetishness. Good cafe fare.

We're still in Marseille and are enjoying the typicality of the French scenery here. It isn't dressed up, as Paris was, it's just got that 'lived-in' look. We are still trying to work out the next step but we're thinking a train to Genoa is the best alternative. It doesn't matter because the weather is good and Marseille is vibrant.

The cafes are dominated by Muslim males and the streets are dominated by gypsy beggars. Both Jane and I think that the men send the women out to beg while they sit in the cafe/bars but this might be a presumption. It galls one though. We don't give to the beggars after being swindled by some young girls, with their mother hovering nearby, who pretended to be deaf/mute. They gave us separate petitions to sign and we thought that it was for a good cause. We balked when we got to the column with the amount one was going to 'donate'. We came out ten Euros poorer but they tried to double-shuffle us and it could have been twice as expensive. They were very clever and we felt stupid. So, no more.

The place we are staying is central and in the old style. It has been refurbished lately, so is a good standard. We ended up doing a search at the station for a place and just lucked this one. It's tricky sometimes. Signs and maps are rare and one it is tricky to know where one is, let alone where one has to go. The Hotels.com site gives us everything we need to get somewhere. And Uncle Ronald is the only free wi-fi. They charge a lot in the hotels and it, again, galls. Gauls?

So all is well on this French holiday. We fell in a hole about the car-hire because of some obscure French holiday (Ascension) and Marseille was an attractive alternative. Genoa awaits, a train trip we think. A ferry to Naples was on the cards but it is tricky to book and we just want to keep going along the coast. We'll see.

It is relaxing to be here but progress goes forward, they say, and so must we. Two nights in Marseille, a big sleep-in, getting up too late for breakfast and surrounded by French life. Not bad.