Hi Ho! Hi Ho! It's off to France we go!

Today we headed out for adventure – 10 days in Spain, followed by 3 days in Switzerland! To begin our trip we headed to Marseille, France. We passed through a different part of the Alps than those we’ve seen before, and they seemed a little softer – although still formidable! The terraces are so narrow that it looks like a lush, green accordion folding down the mountain. Much of it was covered with what looked like grapes.

Our first view of the Mediterranean brought squeals of delight from everyone but The Linguist. I think it was especially exciting because we were reading about the expansion of the Roman empire and the Punic Wars, during which they were crossing back and forth on the Mediterranean Sea. Crazy to be right next to it!

We also saw 6 (no, that's not a typo!) Ferraris on our drive today. It was about that time that The Linguist pointed out how close we were to Monaco. It made me think of The Net when he was little. At about the age of 2, he'd point out all of the sports cars on the road and say they were his. Then one day, he took it a step further and pointed out an old beater. "That's dad's," he said. I had a good chuckle over that one! 

I’ve decided that the U.S. can dig itself out of debt by charging tolls on all the roads the way they in Europe. We paid a 40 euro toll when we left Italy and then stopped 3 or 4 times in France for tolls that were about 3 euro each. We wrapped up the last leg with a 14 euro toll. That’s a lot in tolls, especially when you consider that it’s in addition to the $9/gallon gas!

The French countryside was absolutely breathtaking. I was trying to decide how to describe it in words. The part we drove through was a valley with mountains that were not as high as those in Utah, but they were rugged and rocky like those. There were some really interesting formations where the mountain looked like someone had carved the top off. The valley was so beautiful that it looked like a painting.

We entered Marseille on a long road that led down from a gentle rise. I can’t think of another city I’ve been in that has that same kind of entrance. It reminded me of the tree-lined roads in Louisiana, but it was lined with building instead of trees and was much, much longer.

Our hotel is right across from the Metro station where we went to scavenge dinner since it was really late when we got in and we didn’t want to be up until midnight eating dinner! For entertainment while The Linguist got us checked in, we watched a rat run up and down the road across from where our van was parked. The Metro station had a different feel than the one in Rome. Someone was playing classical music on a piano there and a bunch of young men were break dancing in a different area. It wasn’t particularly crowded and there seemed to be a lot of people strolling.

Our hotel view of half of Marseille Train Station