Provence Lampoons Family Vacation: Part 1

A hot and sunny Marseille welcomed us last Friday. We brought my Aunt and Uncle to Notre-Dame de la Garde, because walking your 70 year old Irish Aunt and Uncle up a 154 meter hill with a bazillion steps in scorching south of France heat is always a good idea.

(It is like a bazillion steps, I counted).

But when you get there it's worth it...

{some of the bazillion steps}

 

 

You can see all of Marseille from the top...

{a whole bunch of buildings}

And where one of my favorite literary characters, Edmond Dantes, lived for awhile. The small island in the middle is Chateau d'If from Count of Monte Cristo, or as I called it when I was little, Count of Monte Crisco... 

And see this wall, it's got some big bullet holes in it...

And then you find out why...

An American tank is parked down down the hill from the Basilica. It is situated roughly where the Allied troops were shooting from. Apologies for not taking a photo, I was too busy taunting The Husband.

{Sidebar - whenever I see something like this, I like to look at The Husband and say, "You're welcome." He hates it when I do this. I love it.}

I grabbed this one from the Internet for you...

{photo credit}

After the Allied troops bombarded the Nazis, the Nazis then moved to Le Petit Village where they became Nazi Ghost Zombies. 

True Story.

bisou

 

P.S. Leaving Marseille we drove by a Starbucks! My beloved, allusive lover Starbucks! Starbucks moved to Marseille in May and nobody told me. 100km journey every morning, not that big of a deal.