Gone to the Dogs...and Marseille

Every year in March, Monaco hosts dog agility trials.  The dogs and their humans take over the main quay, and it's impossible to pass by without stopping to look and laugh.  There's always at least one dog who decides, about halfway through the course, to stop and visit with some dog on the sidelines.  This year, a poodle was the laugh winner when she got to the top of the walk-over bridge, stopped, sat down, and surveyed the area.  No amount of coaxing was going to get that dog off that bridge until she was good and ready.  Some dogs, however, were in better form:

The guy having the most fun of all was the judge! 

Last year, we got talking about going to Marseille to see what it's like.  This year, we went.  Took the train over, stayed at a nice hotel that was in the middle of the city's attractions.  We have to say it's the first time that we could hear the "call to prayers" from our hotel window at morning and evening.  And it wasn't coming from a mosque, it was coming from a rented storefront behind the hotel.  Let's just say that Marseille is more of an Algerian and Tunisian experience than a French one.

So, the first thing you do when in Marseille is climb up the hill to Notre Dame de la Garde.

 
It's worth the climb to see the interior of the church:

Not to mention the view outside.  We caught our breath just in time to see MSC Cruises arrive.

After Notre Dame, we walked all over town, visiting the two forts that guard the harbor and a number of other churches, each of which had something unique to offer.  Here are a couple of our favorites:

At the end of the day, we'd say that Marseille was interesting and we're glad we went.  We won't knock ourselves out to go back again, though.

So now we're finishing up another year in Nice and it's time to face the pack-up and the plane ride home.  It's been another great year and once again, we've eaten so much duck that we're growing feathers.