My Family Visiting Me

WOW - fitting 8 of us into my 3 bed "Rez de chausse" (ground floor apartment) would have been tricky - if the weather had not played its part.

In fact it was superb, able to eat outside every mealtime (for which I am eternally thankful to God for controlling the weather as I had nowhere else to seat 8!) and using the garden like an extra room most days.

A chilled out holiday for my brother and his family, and us really.. we did all the tourist stuff around Marseille -

I guess the highlights were:

Visiting the Portail d'aix (the mini arc-de-triomphe), the Old Port, taking the little train up to the Mont de... (the church on the hill), walking back through the little streets from La Pleine.. fuzzing our way around on the metro/bus/tram system - great stuff..

Another day at Grimpozarbes - for anyone who has not experienced this delight of Marseille its a must.. a climbing park - great for kids and certainly an adrenaline high for adults too (so I hear from my brother, as I carefully chose a summer dress and summer shoes and was not able to partake (PHEW - im not that into heights - even when clipped on and harnessed!!!)) A great picnic area in the shade of the trees left us well fed and ready to continue after lunch.

And.. Borely Park and plage. While my sister in law and I took a leisurely stroll towards the Botanica Gardens, which were unfortanely closed until later, we saw the filming of La Plus Belle La Vie (the equivalent of French Eastenders) - that was interesting... We left my brother in charge of a pedal bike for 4 or 5 and all the children.. later, we found my brother alone on a bench, like they done away with him... I began to be somewhat concerned at where my 6 year old was and her two just teen cousins were, but it was all fine, we re-grouped, had a picnic by Chateau Borely and headed to the beach for the afternoon!

Many happy times chilling at home with the view of the vineyards, a glass of wine, good company and the children entertained on the wii or the trampoline.

A happy summer visit.