423: Marseille

I gave myself the weekend off and went to Marseille for a couple of days. I flew from Barcelona on Friday (the flight was just over one hour) and came back by flix bus yesterday (which took 7 hours!). I found it to be a bustling city, especially on Saturday evening, when the streets were full of people. I was told it was a 'manifestation', but of what I don't know. There are several different shades of meaning to that word when translated into English, ranging from event to demonstration to march. There were scores of police vehicles on the street racing hither and thither with their 'blues and twos' almost deafening the eardrums. I even saw little gatherings of riot police ready to do their kettling or whatever French riot police do to contain situations. It may well have been a continuation of the 'yellow vest' protest movement that has such a hold in France at the moment. On Sunday I saw a smaller demonstration, all men, with their banners shouting for the release of Abdullah Öcalan, a Kurdish leader. Apart from all that 'excitement' I had an enjoyable few days in the city. I managed to work out how to release an electric scooter from its electronic 'padlock' (by logging onto their website and paying 'pennies') and enjoyed a whizz along the harbour esplanade, darting between the myriad of tourists who were out and about even this early in the year. Time to let the pictures speak louder than words.

Linguistically my brain became fried and several times I found myself saying Gracias in France and Merci in Spain.   

	I couldn't not have a picture of them selling fish on the harbour
	This is the 'grand escalier' up to the train/bus station.
	sleeping it off.

 And now, a link to the 1971 film "The French Connection", filmed largely on location in Marseille.It is the full-length film so may not be available for long before it is removed.