Thinking I would get up at 8a was wishful at best. Jet lag won out and I finally rolled out of bed around 1p.Ok, so breakfast didn't happen...lunch was a cup of coffee and a quick check of my city map to make sure I could get back down to the city center.
Gather the cameras, keys, passport, euros and I'm off.
One thing that is going to take some getting used to is the difference in placement of street signs. I can read just enough French to get the gist of the signs, but it wasn't until this afternoon that I was able to get a handle on placement...small and on the buildings...not on a post.
That makes for a challenging drive. Finding my way back to the city center was easy enough...parking was different story. My first thought was to drive around a bit and try to find a place to park and walk back down to the sea side. After many twists, turns, and roundabouts I figured it was probably best to head back down to the Tourism Center since I knew there was parking there and walk back up the boardwalk to find a place to eat.
Well, instead of walking back up the boulevard I decided to hang out around the docks and take some pictures.
One thing that hit me while wandering around was how isolated you feel when you don't speak the native language. I suppose to some this would be unsettling at best. I like the challenge. Between listening to my colleagues speak French on a daily basis and google translate I speak enough French (combined with crude sign language) to not be completely lost.Anyway, I've only managed to explore a small portion of La Ciotat so far...and I completely lost track of time while I was busy hitting the shutter release...oops!
La Ciotat is a small town and like most small towns it starts to shutdown around 5p. Guess that's why the waiters...uh, servuers that is...are starting to take in the chairs and clear their tables...crap.
Must. Find. Food. NOW!
Luckily, not all the restaurants...brasseries...glaciers...were closing. I found a really cool place near the waters edge. And what else would you get for le dîner in a seaside town???
1 comment:
Is that really a fish with eyeballs? Nice take on the "French" fries. We are SO ready to send dad over, but that would be so cruel to you! We've had too much togetherness since Monday. Our only relief is he has been running our errands. But so far today, he's called home 20 times & this is not an exhaggeration. Mom is keeping count. He either forgets, doesn't understand, or listen. Mom asked dad to get a sweet, nice generic birthday card for Francisco and it was quite an ordeal. On the front it had a push lawn mower on it and it was cutting grass. Well the message said happy birthday and inside it said "and mower". That's dad for you! I'm glad you got your food! The Super Bowl is starting so signing off!
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