It's Me, Sara Louise

“You like running? You should come back in October and run from Marseille to Cassis with Honey Jr.“

This was The Husband talking to my friend Sarah’s husband, The Canadian, back in July when they were visiting.

And you know what, The Canadian did. 

Last Saturday, we drove down to Marseille, checked into the super cool Mama Shelter hotel, and met Sarah and The Canadian on the Vieux-Port for bouillabaisse.

We settled into our booth, ordered a bottle of white wine from Cassis (it’s mighty delicious with seafood) and poured over the menu… too many choices to choose from. Eventually Sarah and I both chose a creamy garlic seafood soup.

{eat me}

Oh my heavens… so delicious… so garlicky. But that was OK, The Husband ordered Le Grand Aïoli, which I’m pretty sure was the only thing on the menu that’s more garlicky than garlic soup, so he couldn’t judge.

Stuffed full of seafood and garlic, we waddled over to my favorite address in Marseille, 17 Rue de la République, where this happiness happened…

Don’t I look happy? That’s because I was. Starbucks is certainly not the best coffee in the world, but it is a little slice of home. That vanilla latte is like sunshine in a cup, and bonus… I picked up the Marseille Starbucks mug to add to my collection.

You know what else makes me happy? Wandering up to my second favorite spot in Marseille, Notre Dame de la Garde (OK, we didn’t wander exactly… we took a taxi, it’s was a little nippy out), and having Le Mistral throw us around.

NOTE TO SELF: do not hang out on top of the highest spot in Marseille when Le Mistral is in full effect because your friend may not always be there to grab you when you are almost blown over the side of a staircase. 

It might have been a tad perilous, but it sure was fun. I haven’t laughed so hard in ages. Notice The Canadian’s hair in that photo… it normally doesn’t stand straight up like that.

Now if I wasn’t already happy enough what with the Cassis wine, bouillabaisse, Starbucks, and insane wind blown laughter, we met up with Honey Jr and Honey’s Honey at the Mama Shelter Bar…

{Mama’s Bar & Restaurant}

Where I was able to order and actual martini… like in a martini glass, martini, with olives and everything (trust me, this is not an easy task in Provence, and if you don’t believe me, read this). Plus the bar has a pink foosball table (they call it baby-foot in France) which unfortunately is for decorative purposes only which is about the dumbest thing ever.

Luckily, Mama Shelter’s wall mounted Macs and cartoon masks meant we could take these photos which kind of made up for the whole not being able to play baby-foot on a pink foosball table…

{I’m Tweety Bird} bisou

P.S. stay tuned for the marathon, more Starbucks, and an angry, angry mistral.