Marseille Weekend

The weekend after we returned from Crete we had yet another long weekend and decided to head down to Marseille for our first visit back in almost two years! We had planned trips back before, but they always seemed to fall through, or the weather was bad so we put it off. Okay, so here is one thing that we never really understood about France-the toll booth system. While other countries either charge you for a pass when you cross the border (Switzerland, Austria for example) to use the highways or have the toll booths conveniently located at the entrance and exit ramps (Italy), France prefers to simply put booths in high traffic areas forcing everyone on busy highways to both stop and pick up a ticket and then to pay after a certain stretch. So not surprisingly, this causes major backups, only exacerbated during long weekends when everyone wants to hit the beach in southern France. So we had lots of time to bond in the car, but we had a good time, blasting music and singing along.

Any time spent in the car quickly seemed well worth it when we got to Cassis and we were able to enjoy one again one of our very favorite places: the Calanques. We hiked down to Port Pin and spend the day at the beach.

Searching for crabs before Jonas's beach nap.

Not sure why we ever left...

We topped Saturday off in Cassis, wandering around the port and enjoying some delicious pizza au feu de bois.

The next day we headed to church and met up with old friends. We were even in luck as our good friends, the Monclins, who had previously moved to Bordeaux just happened to be in town as well for their first trip back! It is amazing how nothing seemed to have changed in the passed two year, except for a couple of new babies and a couple of inches on each kid.

This Sunday was Jaxon's real birthday. It was a great treat for him to be able to spend it will people he remembered and loved.

We spent our final morning at the beach in Cassis before meeting up with our friends before we left in the afternoon.

And of course I needed more pizza before I headed back to Switzerland.

It was a great weekend and I couldn't help but shed a couple of tears as we headed back home. Although we only spent two years of our lives here, Marseille will always be part of us.