The Château d'If, or, a fun day in France

Yesterday morning I went back to the bank to receive the money that remained in my account after closing it. I thought I had about €2 left, but they gave me €11.11! Better still, I got back my paper from France et l'Europe and saw I'd gotten an excellent grade.

In the afternoon, I went to Marseille with a friend where we took a boat toward the Frioul archipelago. It's a collection of five islands about three miles away from Marseille that wouldn't be interesting if it weren't for the Château d'If located on one of them.

Built in the 16th century to defend Marseille, the castle never really came under attack and was later converted to a prison. If became famous, of course, when Alexandre Dumas used it as the setting for The Count of Monte Cristo. Today there's plenty of historical learning to be had inside—the life of Dumas, the list of famous prisoners who were held in the prison, and so on. Among the prisoners was Henri Riqueti Mirabeau, the same Mirabeau for whom Aix's Cours Mirabeau is named. The prison also held many Huguenots, the French reformists from the wars of religion.

After taking the boat back to mainland France, we went to the Quarter du Panier, a neighborhood in Marseille marked as "old town" on the map. There we found narrow, winding streets that don't resemble the big-developed-city that is most of Marseille, as well as numerous winding stairways that cut between buildings to climb hills. We also found a café called "Wild Style" which uses a Starbucks-esque logo and also rents mopeds and sells moped parts.

In the evening Mme G and I went out to eat because she didn't want to cook and, before I leave, wanted to take me to her favorite restaurant in Aix. It's called Auberge d'Aillane and is run by two sisters who inherited the house and thus restaurant from their father. It was a really sympa restaurant and our food was delicious, too.

I had melon with ham as my entrée; it was half a juicy melon and thin, delicious strips of ham. My main course was duck with olives in a Provençal sauce and it was also fantastic. When she found out I was from the U.S., the waitress (one of the sisters) asked if I'd send her a postcard from Ann Arbor for her guestbook.

To top off that excellent day, Mme G gave me a book called "Recipes from Provence" that has literally every recipe ever cooked in Provence, including many favorite that she cooked for me. It was a fantastic day and made me realize how lucky I am to have spent six months traveling and living in the south of France. Today I started packing again, which is going to be a serious challenge—how did I ever fit all this stuff in my suitcase?