Chapter Eighty Six: 100 lives in Mine

It feels like if i have live 100 lives through mine.
By this, I mean, with all the traveling for the past 6 months and everything else, it seems that every few weeks a new life is starting.
I am smiling, because this is good for me.
And there is most definitely continuity, which is also what is good for me.
And so, I keep on going, doing what I believe I should be doing and going further and further.

Since I arrived in Canada, I reactivated my telephone, which is always a decisive step into settling down, I found a place for the boys and my love, in James Bay, not too shabby, not too bad either, just a small two bedrooms apartment in a building.
Thing is, it ill totally do and it is, for Victoria, relatively affordable.
Let's just take one step at the time. Plus, and in all honesty, I rarely care where I live. I do to a certain extend, but it does not make me happy or unhappy... It is a odd feeling, I must admit...
I got an interview for a job I would like to get, and will see next week if I made the second round of interviews, or not...
One step at the time as I said.

I still carry all my memories with me, and I think, of course, that those 6 last months changed me.
I am way more quiet.
I speak less.
I guess I listen more... But I am still myself, this also is odd.
But I do feel way better than when I left, on pretty much every level.

Next week, the family life will start again, exactly 1 year and 1 day after it stopped.
And so be it.
And, I am really really looking forward to it.
I need to live in a place, I can somehow call mine, with my wife and my kids.
Traveling is wonderful, but it is always necessary to take a break... For me at least.

Victoria is Victoria, no surprise there, not my fav place in the world, but here too, I have fantastic friends, ad I mean fantastic, not too many, but enough.
And the family and I will live in the same district than two of them, minutes away from each other!
YEA!!!!!!!!!

I absolutely need to get back to write on a daily basis here, it forces me to be creative, and I haven't been at all since I left France.
I miss france, by the way.
I have all those images, and memories, and sweet smells of things.
But it's the people I miss the most.
My family I miss greatly.
For a long long time, I missed my family, living away from them, but I was ok with it, I could balance all those feelings quite easily.
But I guess I grew older, and the roots that family is from are getting stronger and stronger.
There is no doubt that I could, now, live close to my family, probably in France, even though Italy would be my prime choice, and I am smiling again writing that.
It just seem quite challenging to start something in Europe, quite frankly... It doesn't seem like the easiest place to start something.
But I am now clearly ranting.

So, instead, I want to show you folks some pictures, places and people in Marseille.
I have about 140 pictures from Marseille to show, selection of the 1000 I took while I was there.
So, for a while, we will still enjoy the Phoceen City.
Oh, by the way, Marseille is 2600 years old, since the city was founded by local tribesmen and Greek merchants, just to give a good idea of what the past could have brought, and left...
The city has changed and will keep on changing.
I thought it looked better.

This is Marseille

But this also is Marseille

This, is the new Marseille, the city in the clouds

Yes, the city is changing, and is changing fast.
A kind of mix of everything, which often, turns out pretty good!

But most and foremost, this is Marseille, a huge blue, white and orange city.

And this is the surrounding, the Mediterranean Sea.

And sometimes, lonely & lovely.
The entrance of the Marseille port's

But Marseille is also about the details,
the amazing little things you can spot here and there,
like this angel at Notre Dame de la Garde.

Or that Griffon at Le Parc Borelli

Or again, that face sculpted in that white rock on the parvis at ND.

Or the detail of that column, again at ND

Then, you got the little town around Marseille,
Like here, the port of L'Estaque

Or a fantastic sunset on the chantiers naval still in L'Estaque

Or, some other place, Martigues where my friend Cyril Lives with his kids.

And here is Cyril, to whom I have known for decades

And his younger son Achille, with my brother Denis in the back.

And Ethan, on the very same day, pouting

At last, Ethan's great cousin Mathias at some giant park for kids.
I like that shot because of the expression captured,
while everything else seems to be in motion

Voila, that's all folks.

Sincerely,

Serge
March 26th 2011

Chapter Eighty Five: Back Into the Land of the Big Plains

In other words, back in Canada.

The trip to France has been amazing.
Eyes opening, emotional experience, and, above all, readjusting values, family values.
It has been absolutely wonderful, it made me realize what I really feel for my family, and how important they are to me.
So dear to my heart...
I just wished I could have Travel with my love, whom, I miss so much.
But in one week we will be together... Finally...

I will talk about Marseille for a while I guess, and show pictures I have not had the opportunity yet to show.
I have about 150 pictures to process and show, so we'll stay in the south for a while longer.

The light in Marseille is white.
It's quite something, it turns everything into something shiny, it eats the details and make you focus on what matters, as far as shapes are concerned.
It also forces one self to readjust the way pictures should be taken.

The architecture is stunning.
All those little things that we build as humans, the details, the beautiful details, the attention that was put into building a shelter, a house, the way architecture was seen in the days those buildings were built.
Mind you, you need to keep in mind that, especially compared to North America, Europe is old, and has had the time to develop a specific and beautiful culture.
it is more complex than that, but in the end, that's what comes out of it, for me at least.
For instance, Marseille is 2600 years old.
Two thousands & six hundred years old...
It's mind blowing.
It's even hard to fully process the thought, but when you're there, you feel it.
And that, is called magic.

So, here we go, for few more pictures of Marseille and it's inhabitants:

On the way up to Notre Dame de la Garde, a Neo Byzantine church from
1864, an child made of stone reminds you to keep quiet.
Chut...

One of my favorite building in Marseille

The Port of Marseille taken from Le Pharo

Dry plant and sea

Marseille by night

My niece Ambre, or Amber in english

My little boy Ethan had a great time, obviously...

Ambre portrait's

My brother Denis with his God Son Thimoté, son of Cyril, an incredibly good
friend. When friends become family.

Ambre with my Dad Sauveur, her GrandPa

And then, of course, comes the time to go back home.
The concept of home is such a tricky one, where and why is home.
For the time being, that is where my sons live and where my wife is coming to meet us in a week from now.
Traveling from Europe to the west of Canada is hell, you take a plane in the middle of the night in Marignane, a town about 45 minutes drive from Marseille, then you go to Frankfurt/Germany where you got to wait for 5 hours, even though you make some cool people, refugees from iran moving to Canada, then you wait for 10 hours or so in a giant tin can thousands of feet above the ground, then you take a bus in Vancouver, after having to go through hell with the customs (Vancouver has the worst customs in the world, I swear) you get into a ferry and finally, you are, I guess, home...
Here is a resume of the trip with pictures:

Separated by two glass walls, at the airport in Marseille, the last view of My brother Denis and My Mom

Ethan, patiently waiting and playing with his DS in Frankfurt/Germany

We are home, in the PCL bus from Vancouver to Victoria

And poor Ethan, passing out on the Ferry

Today, I am going for brunch with both of my boys.
That's the good news.
And then, I am looking for a place to stay, applying for work, and all that stuff.
We need a place ASAP!
I need to take my stuff of from storage, it's been 1 year already!
I am blessed to have good friends in Canada, and France, and Brazil.
And soon, my darling will be with us too.
I can hardly wait.

One more picture of Marseille before I go:

Marseille and the surrounding areas

Voila, that's all for today folks.
I should come back to my routine of writing daily.
Have a good Sunday.

Sincerely,

Serge
March 20th 2011

Chapter Eighty Four: More About Marseille

This, really is, an amazing city.
First of, it has changed so much since I left, that from place to place I actually don't recognize the city, and, it is the first time I don't feel I am back in my home town, I am a foreigner in this city, a visitor, which I am comfortable with, but beside all of that, the city is gorgeous.

The light here is magical, so white, I had forgotten.
There is literally thousands of old buildings, with tricky and beautiful architecture, which absolutely fascinates me, the way people live and move, the presence of the ocean, or the sea how they say here, the chaos of the thousands of vehicles, it is such a chock after Brazil and Canada.
I spend my time looking everywhere.

On another side of things, there is my family here and I am obligated, in a certain way, to go do all those family stuff, which is exhausting, and not really my cup of tea, with exceptions of course.
But hey, there is a price to pay...
There is always a price to pay...

And, french people eat awesome food, and drink a lots of alcohol.
My liver does not always agree with the last statement.

And this said, let me show you some pics from yesterday, at la plage, and some other places and things, and people in no particular order:

Renovated Buildings

Crane and Sky

Gorgeous Balcony

Narrow Building

Foam on a pole in a parkade cause someone doesn't know how to park his car: absurd 

Trees and Building

Forbidden to Pedestrians

The Big Ocean and the Small Kids

Throwing Rocks

My Dear Mother

La Plage

Dominos

My Dear Sister in Law

Ocean and Hills

The Future: The Foglios Next Generation

My Dear Son

Running on Rocks

My Dear Nephew

Attempted but Failed: The Broken Window

Building & Sky

Rue Paradis #1

Rue Paradis #2

Voila, that's all for now folks.

Sincerely,

Serge
Le 10 Mars 2011