Chateau d'If

This was the first day for a while without setting the alarm to catch the Metro or a train. After breakfast, I spent an hour sorting out bus stops and bus and metro times, using the RTM app, in preparation for my first shift early tomorrow morning but, in the end, it proved unnecessary because the shift at the Golden Tulip Hotel was cancelled the previous evening, the first of three cancellations.
I took a tram for part of the journey to Viieux Port to catch a boat to the Chateau d'If. The sea was calm. At the Chateau, I went into some cells which either had factual occupants such as Mirabeau or fictional characters such as Edmund Dante, the Count of Monte Cristo, the hero of the novel written by Alexandre Dumas. Monte Cristo is near Elba in the Tuscan archipelago.
I had a good 3-course lunch in the courtyard after walking around the ramparts from where I saw boats practising near the Olympic Marina.
After returning to the Port with good views of the city from the boat, and taking the Metro to St Charles, I saw lots of passengers milling around the station due to the sabotage of the TGV track further north which had led to lots of cancellations.
Back at the hotel, I did some washing before watching the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics on TV.Read more