1 janvier 2010 (Day 123)
Whitney and I were up and going early to start the New Year right. We got up and moving around nine am. We changed and checked out and went to find a bakery that was open. We found one with some amazing almond pain au chocolat. It was quite divine with the clementines and the drinkable yogurt that we bought. We had a nice conversation with the lady and we then decided to eat by the dock, regardless of the rain. The popular burger joint, Quick, was closed so we sat out on their chairs. So many people tried to walk into Quick, it was fantastic. We found it quite entertaining (especially to see what kind of people want to go to a burger place at 10am). By the time we finished there was some angry middle-aged lady yelling at us from inside Quick. I have no idea what she was saying, but we left.
It was windy and rainy throughout the morning but we still went around Marseille. We walked up to this old fortress to see the view and from their went to Pharoh’s Palace, which is under construction. We saw the waves crashing against the rocks and then had to find a beach so Whitney could say that she went in the Mediterranean.
We still had some time before we were supposed to meet everyone else at the church, so we decided to go up to the “temple.” The ‘temple’ is really the Notre Dame of Marseille, but it is on top of a hill with a golden statue, so for LDS people it looks like a temple. We got a little lost trying to find it (all we knew was up) so we did some back tracking, but we finally got there. We went into the first floor and it was okay. We went up a floor even though we were pressed for time and it was incredible. That is the most amazing church I have been in. It was in a neo-byzantine style so the marble was in red and white stripes and there were ship paintings, ships, and mosaics everywhere. I was awed because it was so beautiful. I took loads of pictures and some mad wearing a headdress got mad at me for not doing the catholic cross thing. We went back down over 300 stairs (we went down the other side) and found the church. We got a little lost so by the time we found our way (we walked across a large part of Marseille) we were both hungry, tired, and with feet that hurt immensely. Luckily, we had perfect timing and were there, at the church, for a late lunch. The lunch came in a cute bag and included a sandwich, Pringles, a drink, donut, fruit, and candy. There was a spiritual thought but we couldn’t really hear it all that well.
After the spiritual thought we went on a treasure hunt through Marseille even though our feet really hurt. I thought I had missed out going with my team, but we were just the last ones to leave. My feet really really hurt, so it would have been more fun (and less painful) without my feet. We took the bus down to the Marseille stadium, having to sing on the bus along the way, take a picture in front of the stadium, and then walk back past the church to the beach, taking pictures of random things/people and proposing along the way. At the beach we wrote in the sand and some of the boys decided to get wet. The beach was gorgeous because there were lots of waves crashing against the rocks splashing everything. I tried talking to this boy named Eric from Switzerland who I thought was cute, but he was not interested. We walked passed the hippodrome to a park where we made a human pyramid and then headed back to the church because it was getting cold and dark.
We were all freezing, but luckily we had hot chocolate and free time. I tried to spend my free time writing in my journal, but sadly, this awkward little 18-year-old, Stephene was interested and following me and trying to strike up conversations at rather inconvenient times. We talked about how old he was, I told him to go on a mission, and he told me that I had pretty blue eyes.
Whilst awaiting dinner and avoiding Stephene I found some kids playing this Jungle card game that was a lot of fun. We had burritos and clementines for dinner. Whitney and I were some of the first in line so we got done eating quite quickly. After Whitney and I finished eating we went into the meeting room to talk. She had never heard my favorite French hymn, so we went over to the piano and asked the boys playing it if they could. Naturally one of them was a genius piano major so he played it. Benjamin, a crazy kid I played ping pong with the first day pretended to play, but it was nothing compared to the genius. The genius could listen to a song on someone’s ipod and then play it on the piano. Needless to say we had a lot of fun abusing his gift and singing along to our favorite contemporary songs with a small group of kids until it was dessert time.
Dessert was delicious…vanilla (and chocolate) éclairs! We had an 80s activity night which was enjoyable. We split into groups and had to guess the name and artist of popular 80s songs as well as the titles of popular 80s movies from clips. I knew a lot of the ‘foreign’ ones, but with the French ones, I was lost. I found some great songs though. We all had fun singing and dancing along. Some of the YSA performed some of the songs, either singing, dancing, or playing instruments. They did a great job. My favorite two songs from the French 80s era are: Laissez-moi Danser, and Si Tu Danse Avec Lui.
Brooke and I had to wait around until 2 am to get a ride home do to complications (a girl got sick, etc. etc.) We did make it to our super chic hotel though. It was a really nice hotel although we didn’t spend much time in it.
