#francete18

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Backpack & purse for 12 day trip to France (underwear not pictured)

A backpack beats rolling luggage every time when it comes to cobblestone streets and stairs upon stairs (with no elevator/escalator in sight).

As I keep on traveling year after year, I pack less and less each time!

Packing cubes are my friends, and I like to roll all of my clothes up.

This was a pretty good packing job. I’d say that I only ended up reading 1 of these books, I bought more French books while I was in France, and I didn’t really need the secondary small notebook (if I was out and wanted to write something down, I’d use my phone or write on a receipt). Usually jeans are a big part of my wardrobe, but they’re also heavy and not easy to clean/keep smelling fresh. So I went without them (I wore just leggings, leggings with dresses or longer shirts, or harem pants) and I didn’t feel like I was missing them since it was summer.

In France, I can buy most things if I run out too (batteries, meds, sun screen, extra shampoo or contact solution, etc).

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Tips for taking a good self-portrait when solo traveling (not a selfie)

I do take the occasional selfie, and while it is easy, you don’t always get the whole background and often it really is too close to look like a flattering photo.

When I travel solo, I do certain things to get good photos of myself. Using the timer-mode on my phone or my camera (I have a little point & shoot Kodak camera), I can set it up on a ledge, bench, rock, or even on top of my shoe/purse/backpack to take the picture. I do have a tiny/flexible portable tripod, but I don’t always bring it with me on trips or out during the day. So I get creative!

I’ll also ask other tourists to take my photo. Generally they don’t mind- they’re sight-seeing just like me, they’re not in a hurry, and they’re okay with being approached. Sometimes locals don’t mind, but usually they’re going about their day in a hurry, and they don’t want to be bothered by me, the tourist. Bonus points: find another tourist with a really nice looking camera (think big Cannon or Nikon DSLR). Hopefully they know how to take pictures, and using my phone or my little camera will be easy for them! Double bonus: sometimes they also want their photo taken, so you can do an exchange and help each other out!

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France, Summer 2018.

I took a taxi from the Charles de Gaulle airport into the center of Paris. One of the driver’s first questions was about the United States president. What my opinion was, what the rest of the country’s opinion was, what I thought about what the taxi driver had seen about the US president on French news. He was surprised that I don’t like the current US president and that I strongly disagree with his decisions.

But then he immediately said that he didn’t like the French president, like it was a known fact and quite obvious, and that I shouldn’t be surprised about it!

I will say that when I get off the plane and hop into a taxi, that first conversation with the taxi driver is usually a great opportunity to speak French and hear about current news. I mean, you never know what kind of person is going to be driving the taxi (where they’re from, what their life is like), and usually I have a great conversation!

These trip posts are tagged as #francete18 if you want to follow along!

[languageloveaffair]

When you travel, make sure to look into any museum/attraction/city pass. It might be a good deal for you! I was in Arles for a whole week, so I had time to get to all of the cool museums & monuments. They have a pass that includes 4 monuments, 1 museum, and 1 monument/museum for 12E. I also went to two other museums not included on the pass, but it was such a good deal instead of paying 8E per museum or monument.

When I’ve been in Paris, sometimes I’m not there long enough to make the city pass worth it. But there are still lots of museums on my list to see, so the next time I’ll definitely be getting a city pass there.

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J’ai pris un cours de yoga à Arles en français! Je suis allée à “Arles Yoga, Café, Galerie” au 9 Rue du Palais. La propriétaire m’a gentiment accueilli et la prof de yoga a parlé avec moi un peu de vérifier qu’un cours en français ne sera trop difficile pour moi. Pas du tout! Avec le yoga, on peut simplement regarder l’enseignant si on l’a déjà pratiqué. Puis, la prof a utilisé les mots anglais comme “catcow” et “downward dog”. Pour la plupart, elle a dit des mots français pour des actions et des descriptions comme respirer, inspirer, s’étirer, allonger, etc.

Je voulais faire une activité que je fais d’habitude en anglais, mais en français cette fois! À la fin, ce cours de yoga m’a plu et ça m’a fait du bien pendant mes vacances :)

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In the morning, I went out into the city of Marseille. At Rue d’Aix and Cours Belsunce, there is a lovely little Tunisian bakery called “Pâtisserie d’Aix”. An employee gave me a taste-test tour of the shop, and I chose a couple sweets/baked goods to have for breakfast (miam!). I walked down toward the Vieux Port by following the tram line along Rue de la Canebière. There was an environmental protest “Plus de Bicyclettes = Moins de pollution!”, a fish market, and a flower market that I came across. I stood under the mirrored roof in the middle of the port, and found the group for the Marseille Free Walking Tour.

That day, it was being given by a Spaniard living in Marseille named Ezekiel, and he was very knowledgeable about the city. (I wish I’d found a tour in French, but this English one was free and the time worked for me) People from all around the world were taking this tour- Germany, Portugal, Brazil, US (me from my state in the middle of the East coast, 2 other ladies from Tennessee), Canada, the UK, and others I’m sure.

We visited Rue de la Bonneterie, l’Hôtel de la Ville/ La Mairie, Le Panier, la Vieille Charité, la Cathédrale de la Major, the Cultural Center (with underwater cinema?!), MuCEM (Le Musée de Civilisations de l’Europe et de la Méditerranée), Le Nouveau Port, and Fort St. Jean.

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I was wandering the streets around the apartment I was staying in Arles, and there was a lovely little bookstore. A bookstore attached to a yoga studio, leading to a bar, next to a small cinema! It is Les Actes Sud, and even though it looks like a small shop they have everything you might be looking for. I bought quite a number of books and somehow managed to drag them back home across the pond!

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I made it to Marseille! I had a lovely relaxing week by myself in Arles (and while relaxing, I did still see & do a lot of things), but now I was excited to be in a bigger city and meet up with some French friends. The first night, I stayed at a hostel (because of the scheduling of my two airbnb’s, I had a night in between both reservations), and I did manage to meet some interesting people! There was a Canadian girl who I hit it off with, and we wandered around the city at night and decided to get dinner together. Neither of us had really been to Marseille before (technically I’d been driven through it and had a quick look, but I hadn’t really experienced it), so we didn’t know much about the city. We had been hoping that there would be take-away stands down by the Vieux Port (Old Port, harbor). On avait tort...There were lots of expensive restaurants and bars around the Vieux Port, but no food stands. We ended up using google maps and finding a grocery store a few streets inland that had some cheap packaged food, some canned beer, and we took that as a picnic down to the Vieux Port where we could sit and eat and chat. Good start to the night!