Marseille - Magnifique!

We both sleep brilliantly. Vicks (unsurprisingly) a little more brilliantly than I - but I'm not complaining. We spend the morning mooching around our apartment. It's a fab, if slightly strange, place. The building (I think) is from the Belle Epoque era (late Victorian to UKers...) and is decorated in a fitting style. 12 foot high ceilings, and lots of tall windows. V cool. Oh, but the smallest toilet I think I've ever seen.

We head out for a wander and to find some lunch shortly after midday. Rugby fans are a lot more evident on the streets of Marseille today - mainly Welsh, but a smattering of England, Ireland and Scotland fans in between. We even spot an Argentina fan at one point, but I suspect they'll be heavily outnumbered by Welsh fans for their Saturday quarter final. We park ourselves at an incredibly French bistro with an outdoor terrace on a square, and pass the time with a bottle of Rosé and some typical Provencale cuisine. We realise we're sat next to Welsh rugby legend, Scott Quinnell. Such is the way of things.

We have a wander around the Old Port neighbourhood, passing by a few pubs that are clearly engineered towards rugby fans and/or Brits/Celts. The 'Queen Victoria' pub is heaving at 2pm. The 'Temple Bar' similarly packed. There are 4 quarter finals taking place in the Rugby World Cup this weekend. We have tickets for the two games in Marseille on Saturday and Sunday at 5pm. There are then 2 games each day in Paris at 9pm. We'll head back to these pubs to watch the evening games amongst like-minded rugby fans.

We head back to our apartment, which is a short 15 min walk from the harbour, to clean up, rest etc etc. I manage to squeeze in a short nap. We head out for our dinner reservation down by the harbour. The food is sensational, and I have one of the best octopus dishes I can ever remember having. We amble around town, attempting to walk off our dinner, before finding (yet) another bistro with terrace to enjoy a couple of glasses of Provencale Rosé. These street-side terraces are amazing for people watching, and we while away an hour watching the world go by...Read more