In late May I went to France with my friend Sebastian, but getting to Paris is not as easy as one would think…

 

Toronto Pearson Airport, out flight supposed to leave at 15:30. We get to the airport at 12 to have enough time to check in. The ticket lady informs us they do not have a gate number yet, and that we should come back in hour. The ticket lady says “La revedere”.

A coffee and an hour later, still no gate. By now it is beginning to look funny. By 15:00 it turns out that our plane is actually broken down in London, England. No problem, we are to be taken to a different terminal and flown to Montreal on an Air Canada flight, then taken to a hotel until the next day.

 

 At 17:30 we are on the first of the Air Canada flights to Montreal. We get there by 18:30, but our bags do not make it. An hour and a bit later, they arrive on the next flight. We finally make it to the hotel by 20:00. After a quick shower, we manage to be one of the first people at the restaurant to have dinner. By the time we were done, the line-up was going out the door, and up the stairs.

We get a taxi, and we head to Rue Sherbrooke and St Laurent, just in time for the nightlife. Our first stop was a freestyle dance competition at the Just for Laughs theatre to meet up with some friends. Time for drinks, so we head over to Buonanotte. After a quick 2 minutes in line, we are in. A few hours later, our 6 hour stop-over has to come to an end.

Our taxi driver has women trouble, so we have to grab a different car. On the way back, one of the ramps for the highway to the airport is closed for construction, so our driver has to find an alternate route. Soon after his tire blows so he pulls into the closest gas station to change it. It just so happens that there were three other cars there with flats.

We manage to get back to the hotel by 2:30, just in tine to catch the shuttle back to the airport. After 1 hour to check in, a quick breakfast, and some more waiting, we finally take-off for Paris at 7:00.

 

 I slept for most of the flight to Paris. We got there around 20:30, and hour later than scheduled. This family friend picked us up from the airport in an ML (that’s the SUV from Benz). We later noticed it was the only one of two SUV’s in Paris, everyone drives small cars. We got set-up in two residence apartments in the business district, and then we set-off for a tour of Paris.

Drove round the Arc De Triumph, down the Champ Challises, through the Ritz, through the tunnel where Princess Diana died (actually an underpass), and to the Eiffel Tower. Then it was time for dinner. We went to experience French cuisine (across the street from a Romanian restaurant). We had the “Admiral” seafood platter (4 types of clams, crab, snails, etc), a nice mixture of grilled beef and duck, some delicious dessert and two bottles of wine. Some 200 euro later we were ready to sleep. One thing to note was that around one, a group of elderly people came for a quick dinner…

 

 The plan was to wake up at 8:30, and go visit Paris. The reality was that we woke up at 11:30. The drive to the airport took about an hour and a half. Check-in took 5 min, and we were ready for boarding. What we didn’t know was that we should have eaten before going through security, as there were no stores or anything passed it…

After a 45 min flight we got to Marseille airport. Another 8.50 euro (per person) and a 20 min bus ride, we got into town where the bus left us at the train station. The metro to Vieux-Port (location of the hotel) was 4 euro per person, so we decided to take a taxi, since we weren’t exactly sure where the hotel was. Our 6.50 euro taxi ride turned out to be 13 euro, go figure… We got a tax receipt for it… Doesn’t really help

After leaving our luggage in the room, we set-off to look for the conference center; we did not have the address printed… After circling some buildings we finally found the place. They had croissants and lots of wine.

Later in the night, around 22:00 or so, we barely found a place at a nice Italian pizzeria right by the water with a nice view of the boats; all the places were packed.

 

W went to a very nice reception at a huge mansion up on a hill that had an amazing view of the sea, port and town. There was tons of food, wine, and this local drink “51” that is similar to Cinzano. After we went for dinner, about 21 of us, and took over an entire patio at this small restaurant where we had “bouillabaisse”, which simply put is a fish soup. It is actually a local specialty; the waiters pretty much prepare it in front of you.

I tried to rent a scooter, but everything was closed, I went at 12:30… After lunch we took the bus and went to the beach in the next town. It was really wicked, hot, girls, only the water was somewhat cold.

Some things to note: ever since we got here, I only wore t-shirts, even late at night, it’s really warm. A six-pack of Heineken is 4 euro (250ml bottles), and a six-pack of Kronenbourg is 2.39 euro (250ml bottles). Water has pretty much the same price as wine… On the other hand, one bottle of beer at a restaurant is 4 euro and up… Price for petrol is 1.13 euro for the 98 octane grade, 1.12 euro for the 95 octane grade, and 0.98 euro for diesel.