Marseilles

Marseilles, France was our port of call on this cruise, but on the day we flew in, we took a cab straight to the port and didn't have a chance to experience anything in the city. We purposefully booked our return flight to England for later in the evening after we docked back in Marseilles so that we would have a chance to do some last-minute sightseeing. 

Marseille is the second largest city in France (Paris being number one of course). It is an incredibly beautiful place. I forgot how beautiful it was until I was going through these pictures and I kept gasping with delight at the wonderful blue water and all of the pretty white buildings.

We wandered around the town for a little bit and then decided that the one thing we had to do with our limited hours was take a cheesy little train/car (petit train) up to the very tippy top of the tallest point in Marseilles to see Notre-Dame de la Garde which is a basilica that was built on top of the remains of an ancient fort. You can see the church from basically anywhere in the city. It kind of taunts you to come visit.

Also, the price of the train was reasonable. They are on a constant rotation. They drop you off and pick you up and it's much more convenient than waiting in the hot sun for an even hotter and crowded bus. Especially if you happen to be on a time crunch.

The ride up was fun. We got a ton of gorgeous views of the Mediterranean. You can even see our cruise ship down there in the picture below! Although I couldn't tell you which one it actually is..

That view.

The basilica was very nice. It was free (which was very nice) and it had the best views of Marseilles.

After our little train adventure, we wandered around a little more and paid a million euro to eat at McDonald's because we spent all our money on a cruise. But they do have express lanes in McDonald's in France and they have kiosks where you can order your food electronically. Also, they are always in very old and fancy buildings. I think America should get on that. Not that I eat at McDonald's or anything.. 

We headed back to the lovely train station to catch a bus to the airport. 

Then we landed a couple of hours later in rainy England where it was at least 20 degrees colder and I froze and lost my tan a few weeks later.

And that is the (slightly anticlimactic?) end of our cruise! It only took me ten months to blog it all down.

Here are the other installments if you are so interested:

We get ready to cruise!

We visit Barcelona and I take too many pictures for one post

Next we cruise to Palma de Mallorca

Then we see the Holy Grail in Valencia

And we melt in Rome

And then cap it all off with Genoa

I will next be diving into the millions of pictures that I took in Scotland when we stayed in fancy old mansions and a castle and camped on the Isle of Skye and I am EXCITED. These pictures are all I have been thinking about for a long time!

Saltwater State Park + Jasper

In February, we had a really, really warm day one Friday or something so we decided to take the pup to his first ocean experience. We headed over to Saltwater State Park.

This was his reaction to the beach.

I know.

This whole post is mainly just pictures of Jasper because I am still obsessed with him.

He was so little!

I still cuddle him like this and he still has the same look on his face when I do.

It's hard to remember sometimes that we could easily lift Jasper only a couple of months ago. I think he weighed less than 30 pounds then. I would probably throw my back out if I tried to lift him now.

And a little bear cub picture to take us out!