Fair warning: I won't have as much writing about my weekdays in the coming periods because I did work a fair amount, but I'll still have a few stories to tell, and I took lots of pictures so I'll still have a few stories.
Upon arriving in Marseille I grabbed some food from the local grocery near my Airbnb and decided I'd be a little more frugal this week in how I ate -- when I was traveling Europe on a rail pass after being a bartender, more than twenty years ago (click back through the archives if you like, this blog also covers those halcyon days of yore!), I managed to spend a very long time in Europe for very little money, in part because I simply purchased almost all of my nutrition in Grocery stores and my calories in Boulangeries (and from Ice cream and Gelato vendors).
I had been on the road long enough to start to feel like returning to my roots, but unlike 21-year-old me, who was staying in Hostels and therefore rarely had access to cooking tools or heating methods, I am now a Monied Individual and Airbnbs do have those resources, so the quality of my grocery store food experience has definitely gotten the opportunity to improve and expand.
(Did I take any pictures of the delicious Tortellini pasta dish I made my first night? Nope, can't say that I did. Sorry y'all.)
But the next morning, on my way to work, I stopped at a well-reviewed bakery along the route and was rewarded with an absolutely fantastic pastry (that I'm pretty sure was a roulle de canelle, but don't quote me on the spelling) and a very tasty Pain au Chocolate to go along with it.
En terrasse dining is one of those silver linings I was most excited to see come out of the pandemic in the states.
I feel like a lot more Americans got the chance to realize how great eating outside is, in the right weather, in a city, and I'm really hopeful that we continue to see people encouraging cities to cannibalize parking spaces into additional seating areas for their restaurants, as well as encouraging more wide sidewalks so there's enough space for both foot traffic and seating.
I feel like a lot more Americans got the chance to realize how great eating outside is, in the right weather, in a city, and I'm really hopeful that we continue to see people encouraging cities to cannibalize parking spaces into additional seating areas for their restaurants, as well as encouraging more wide sidewalks so there's enough space for both foot traffic and seating.
Less parking, more walking, transit, and outdoor dining, please thanks.
A picture from one of my commutes:
It seems that Marseille is working to combat fare-skipping on trams and busses with a PSA campaign. The sentiment here is "I Board, I Tap" -- encouraging people to take the moment to tap their transit card when they get into a form of transit. Literally it would translate as "I mount, I validate", which just makes my inner 14 year old giggle.
About that commute and where I was going: I have a membership in a coworking network via an organization called Spaces (spacesworks.com) that I'll rave about in another message later. Suffice it to say for now: they're great. As a result of my membership I have access to "Business lounges" (coworking spaces) across their network.
The basic pattern I've established is: pick a place to work, send an email to the office manager via the Spaces app's "Contact this location" option, and give them my information so that they can look me up in the system and get me added to any building security register that I might need to navigate to reach the office (often they'll be a high floor in an office building with security in the lobby that needs to know who you are/where you're going before they can let you into the elevators).
So, in Marseille, I looked through the pictures at the locations available to me in Marseille on Monday night and picked one based on it looking like it had some comfortable office furniture, basically.
The next morning I had a voicemail from the office manager, who encouraged me to give her a call to talk about which center I should use, which was very sweet of her, because she encouraged me to consider the other office across the street from the one I had chosen. The one I had picked was ground level, and the other center was on the 8th floor, and had a bit of a view.
and I'm glad she did, because what a view.
(This fisheye effect flattens the city tragically. It's a very 3 Dimensional place.)
So after a long day of working with a great view, I went home and had great dinner with a different great view (and kept working, because it was mid-afternoon for my co-workers and they could use my help).
Delicious for the senses.
That eye-catching building you see on the hill in the background on the right in both views is Notre Dame de la Garde -- we'll get to her later this week.
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