South of France

I just returned for the beautiful South of France today for Fall Break. I decided that if I'm going to say that I lived in France for four months, I might as well see more of France than just Paris. We were given Thursday-Sunday off for break, so four of us decided to travel down to Nimes, Marseille, and Nice. They are all pretty close together in the lower east portion of France, with Marseille and Nice both being on the ocean front. We started the trip in Nimes. Nimes is a very small city, but is known for its Roman ruins. As soon as we got there, we threw our bags in the hotel and headed out to see the aquaducts. It was a bus ride away, but when we arrived we were in the middle of a forest. It was gorgeous, and really reminded me of the Upper Penninsula, Michigan. There were trails that lead you through the aquaduct, with the main portion off the large trail. The view of this Roman masterpiece was amazing. It was massive and one of the best kept Roman pieces I've seen (however Rome is next week...). It was built around 80AD, so close to 2000 years ago, and it looked like it could have been built a few hundred years ago. We were able to walk down, underneath the bridge, and here you could notice that it was actually built in two parts. The first and older half was comprised of the actual aquaduct to transport water. The other half was a pedestrian bridge to walk along side. As I stood underneath, I started to feel rain drops, and soon enough, it was pouring. I didn't get to see any more of the pieces of the bridge, but I must say, this itself was a sight to see. By the time I got back to the hotel, I was wet, cold, and ready to see the rest of Nimes the next day.

Before I took a train to Marseille, I saw the most complete Roman Colosseum in Europe today. It has been sitting in Nimes for just about as long as the aquaduct, and one of the first few to be built in the world. The exterior was almost in perfect condition; it was complete and stood out in the little town. It is still used for performances today, including bull fights. I didn't realize that bull fighting occurred in other countries outside Spain and Latin America, but because Nimes is so close to the Spanish border, the Spanish tradition has weaved itself into France. Luckily, there was no fight when we were there, but it was interesting to think that this colosseum, which once held gladiator fights thousands of years ago, still stands for a very similar purpose, but with bull fighting instead.

On the train ride to Marseille, I sat next to a window that had been spray painted on the exterior. Unfortunately, it blocked my view for an hour and a half, but looking at it from another angle than distruction, it made a very interesting picture...

Immediately when I arrived in Marseille, I could tell this was nothing like Nimes. The city is set up very similarly to Paris, with arrondisements and metro, however there are only two lines in Marseille and sixteen in Paris. The hotel was slightly outside the city center, and this area felt very modern. Most of the building were built between the 60s and 90s and gave a very odd feeling to the town. It was trying to be Paris, but the architecture made it just look awkward. At first glance, I wasn't impressed. The main building for an architect to see in Marseille is Corbusier's Unite d'Habitation. This building was built back in 1956 and for its time, was extremely modern. The entire building sits on pilotes, or columns, which was one of Corbusier's five themes of archtiecture. These columns, however, had a purpose, in that back in the day it was the system of disposing of garbage. All of the rooms had disposals that ran through one of these columns, and then underground they were all connected to make a sufficient system. The building has about 160 residences, ranging from studios for five bedrooms, a hotel, restaurant, gym, day care, and roof top terrace (another one of Corbusier's 5 ideas). The residences were also set up very unique for its time. Most of the units are two stories high. One floor will connect to the main corrider to enter into the room, and the other will take up the entire width of the floor either above or below. This allowed you to have windows on both sides of your unit and created a way of cross ventilation and also an amazing living room space with double height celings. The corridor is very dark and meant to keep people quiet as the walk through. Each door is painted a different color and has a light shining above, the only source of light in the entire corridor. The roof terrace was under construction, but we were still able to see some of it. There are some amazing views of the city from the top. The building is only 9 stories tall, but it felt like the tallest building in the city. And on the bottom exterior of the facade, Corbusier indented his "ideal man"- an image he made famous by using it for proportions of the human body. It was definitely an interesting building to see, and probably the most interesting in the city.

I didn't have too much time the following day before the train left, but I was able to walk along the beautiful coastline. There are a couple small islands off of Marseille, and on one sits the famous Chataue D'if- from Monte Carlo. This part of the city felt much more quaint than where Corbusier's building sat. It almost felt like two completely different cities, but nonetheless, it made my feeling of Marseille a little better. The port was just gorgeous and gave a completely new outlook to Marseille before I left.

Two and a half hours later, I ended up in Nice. I arrived in the early evening, before the sun set and was able to tour the city slightly before dark. Instantly, this city made my trip. It was one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. Nice is located in the French Riviera, and I could tell why so many people want to be here. The city was full of energy and life, but at the same time it was small and quaint. Most of the streets are closed off to vehicular traffic, so it gave the town a homely feel. Even the main street was blocked off to cars, however, the city tram ran right down the center. The main street was filled with stores and people and had beautiful strands of blue lights hanging from one building to the next, over the street. At the end of the street was a large plaza with these meditating men sitting on poles (don't ask why). And as soon as it became dark, they started lighting up and continuously changed colors throughout the night.

At the end of this street you were given two options, one was to turn east into the old city or go straight to the ocean. We started off with the ocean. There is a promonade that runs the entire length of the city with natural beaches along the shore. The beach was made of stones, not sand, but was still surprisingly comfortable to walk and sit it. We stayed here for a while and watched the sunset. After sunset, we ate dinner (Ratatoulli- it was invented in Nice) and headed into old town. This part of the city was way different than both the main street and the ocean. It, again, had no cars and was set up with several different plazas intermixed within the streets. There were restaurants that poured out into the sidewalk, street performers, and a ton of ice cream shops. They had every single ice cream flavor you could think of, from avacado to Ferrero Rocher to tiramasu. I'm excited to see how this compares to Italy!

The following day was a busy day! We started off by seeing the Russian Orthodox Church. It was built around 1900 and completely stood out in the town. It kind of reminded me of the Bahai Temple in Evanston- where its architecture has nothing to do with its surroundings, but it makes it even that much more special.

We walked for a while in the new part of the city- which reminded me of parts of Paris, and ended up at the Marc Chagall Museum. I have never seen this many of his painting before- some here and there at modern art museums, but it was amazing to see his vast variety of work. He had everything from painting, to tapestries, to mosaics. I was truly impressed. My favorite part was the mosaic that hung above a pool of water in between the two wings of the building. The reflection of the mosaic in the water was like something I have never seen before.

We took a long walk from the museum down through old town and decided to go to the top of the hill to see the view of the city from above. We took an elevator to the top, and as soon as the doors opened, it just made this city even more of a jem in my eyes. From the ocean to the beaches to the rooftops to the mountains- this city was different from everything I have seen. It was such a spectacular view, I just didn't want to leave. You could see the airport from the top- which sat directly in the water. We sat and watched the planes take off- can you imagine what that view must be like from inside the plane! It was just amazing.

Before we left to head back to Paris, we saw one more sunset in Nice. This night- all of the planes were landing at the airport, and I caught some amazing views of the planes in the sunset. We were also lucky enough to see a rainbow that night- a perfect ending to the trip!

We did a lot in the past four days, I saw a lot of cities, buildings, cultures, and skies. It was a perfect way to spend Fall Break before midterms kick in again. I hope you all enjoyed, I miss you tons- and thank you for reading!