Watching the sunset in Marseille (May 4th)

Grateful for morning, I caught the first train out of Geneva. Probably should've stayed for at least a day, but I had seen enough from my park bench to not feel bad about leaving.

I was looking to head down to Barcelona, but I knew I couldn't make it in a day, so I settled on Marseille, France and hopped on the train. I was going to Marseille...no poorly planned detours for me anymore:)

The train provided a much better bed then the park bench and I slept all the way to Lyon where I then caught the train down to Marseille.

After writing some blogs, I got to the hostel and I sat on my bed and instantly felt the exhaustion from the last few days. Every fiber of my being wanted to lay down and go to sleep, but it was 3 in the afternoon and it was gorgeous outside...time to head to the beach!

I got to the beach and noticed a few things were different from the American beaches I had been on before.

1. There was no sand...simply small pebbles covered the beach.

2. Man, I am WHITE! I almost felt embarassed to take off my shirt! Hold a piece of computer paper up next to me and you'll find no difference. I was easily the whitest person there.

3. It was legal for women to lay "sans top." Yes, I saw quite a few pairs of naked boobies...but not the good kind. Most pair belonged to women whose young days were far behind them. Not the best sites to see, to put it lightly.

Anyway, I foolishly brought my shower towel that had just been cleaned a few days ago and used it as a beach towel. Dumb.

I was so exhausted that I layed down and drifted off to sleep without putting on any sunscreen! Luckily, the sun wasn't so bad and I escaped unscathed. Hopefully I will be able to get a tan within the next few days in the sun....not a big red burn.

I showered the stank off of me from the two previous days and discovered that I hadn't eaten all day! Bringing back Vietnam-like war memories, I dreaded trying to find a good French restaurant. I actually found a couple right away, but they weren't open yet and I didn't have a small fortune to spend, so I sucked it up and ate at a crappy Quick Burger.

I swear, when I get home I'm going straight to McDonald's and I'm going to enjoy getting the crapload of ice they give you in your drink (making it about 95% water if they ice melts) and I'm going to get about 50 ketchup packets and lather it on my fries Mah style. So excited! (sorry Mah, it was more funny to say "Mah" style then "Brandon" style, even though he aced you out in the ketchup eating contest).

I could've gone to bed then, but it would've thrown off my sleep schedule for quite some time, so I went to the store, bought a cheap bottle of wine, and headed to the beach to watch the sunset.

Tip: Watching a sunset is a very romantic thing...bring a date if possible.

I found a spot well away from the couples making out and I sat down and finished my book. When I looked up I saw some of the most beautiful sights I'd ever seen in my life. The sun blazed the sky pink as it was lazily tucking itself behind a tiny mountain in the distance. It was amazing to see how quickly it truly sank below...a lot like watching sand trickle down the hourglass. Next thing I knew, it was gone.

I learned a pretty interesting thing as I sat there...one bottle of wine, sadly, gets me drunk. I popped in my headphones and staggered back to my hostel and came to the realization that I had just gotten drunk by myself. I'll be attending my first AA meeting when I get home. I made sure to pictorially (is that a word? welp, it is now) note this moment before I went to bed.

The hostel bar was full of people watching a soccor, eh football, game so I bought a beer and sat down. Soon I met a guy named Alex, who was from Canada...I'll talk more about him in tomorrow's blog, but we chatted for a good long while until I just couldn't stay up any longer.

My head it the pillow and I was out.