south o' france

Frenchie was kind enough to invite us home with him this past weekend- home for his is near Marseilles, in the south of France. Obviously, just a wee bit better than one of us inviting him to Cumming or Albany, Georgia although we promised a return favor if he ever got the inclination to tour either.

Our flight arrived that evening and we went into Marseilles to walk around the beautiful harbor and eventually have dinner. I can say without a doubt our French dining experience was improved tremendously with the addition of a local.




His family was gracious enough to host us at their home which is just about a half hour or so from Marseilles proper, although we arrived too late that evening to actually meet them.

We had breakfast and coffee the next morning and then took a little tour of the land, got to see the future site of our summer vacations otherwise known as the house Frenchie is building, and got to officially meet the family. Who, by the way, are incredibly lovely people. Like the kind of lovely that translates even when you actually need a translator to talk to one another.

Afterwards we set off for a drive along the coast, stopping in different little villages/towns I don’t know what they call them, but they were small little towns by the sea- disgustingly charming little towns by the sea and eventually went up to the cathedral high above Marseilles…










We then headed back for a delicious meal cooked by Frenchie’s mom. It was a great meal and even though our poor friend had his brain ping-ponging between French and English all night I think it was a successful dinner.

Sunday morning we visited a weekly market in a neighboring town. Wow, all I can say is it made we want to weep to think of coming back to American grocery stores and shops. Urgh, I don’t even want to think of it. I want to somehow transplant all that wonderfulness into Grant Park every Sunday. The bread, pastries, seafood, sausages, cheese- God, all the glorious cheese, the pottery, the fresh produce, the flowers, the fabrics, the crafts…





Can someone please make this happen before we move back?? I’ll even be happy for it to be a monthly thing instead of weekly. Where did America go so wrong? Why would we rather go to these huge cold faceless stores to get our food? Why do we want food from God knows where instead of from our neighbors? Okay, so maybe that’s a blog for another day.

Anyway…

Sunday was Mother’s Day in France and in conjunction with the recent birthday of Frenchie’s nephew his sister-in-law had prepared a family lunch and was sweet enough to invite us. Another incredible meal- I am talking incredible. As in: in-cred-i-ble.

We had time to meet another branch of Frenchie’s family tree and a short walk down to the sea before having to head to the airport.

We can’t thank Frenchie and his family enough for having us. They might be rethinking how kind they were to us when we show up on their doorsteps every year.