Gare St. Charles, the train station in Marseille. Altogether I wasn't to impressed with Marseille itself; it had a strange feeling about it and wasn't that pretty. I must add that the beach wasn't at its season when I came, nor did I see all of the city.

This is the best picture I could get of Marseille, from Gare St. Charles. This city sure doesn't compare to Paris.

My friend took this picture; I'm not sure what part of town it's in. Unfortunately, his pictures have the date they were taken printer into them.

Les Calanques de Cassis, located outside of Marseille were the best part about Marseille. Their white stone faces and scrubby plant life were beautiful and rustic. I felt refreshed as if from a long winter and they made the trip almost worth it themselves.

We actually ended up leaving the path and climbing up a random part of the mountain. I'm sure it was much better that way; we sure enjoyed it.

As you can see they're right along the Mediterranean Sea, and it actually looked much bluer than this in real life.

We decided to get out of Marseille and visit some other local towns, like Toulon. It was a nice little town, and I liked its feeling and atmosphere better than Marseille's. Unfortunately, it rained part of the one day we were there and the only movie theatre cost about 8.50.

Like everywhere I go I am always happy and excited to see palm trees. We were surprised that they could live in that climate, which certainly not very cold still seemed to get below freezing once in a while.

Another example of this beautiful city. Just look at those palms towards the distant mountains.

The Fountain.

In a neighborhood park.

The next day we headed to Aix-en-Provence, a 15 minute bus or train ride from Marseille (where we were still staying in a hostel). It was a beautiful town, but I don't have many photos of it yet because my traveling companion took most of the picturesque ones. I should get them up here in a week or so.

Another part of Aix; doesn't this just remind you of a Van Gogh painting? So much of the town was so beautiful and different than anything else I'd seen in real life, it felt like walking through paintings sometimes.

Nice was certainly the highlight of my trip, and the most beautiful, warm and sunny city I saw in the South. I recommend it to anyone traveling to that region. This is a view from the moutain where I was staying in the only hostel, slightly outside the city. You can see the famous Baie des Anges, the Port area of Nice in the foreground and la Colline du Château (the green spot).

This is the Old City (Vieux Nice) seen from la Colline du Château. La Colline (hill), the Port on the other side and the Old City make up the original parts of Nice. La Colline was actually a strong fortification against invasion for many centuries and was occupied by different peoples, including the Greeks.

"Typical" looking house .

La Baie des Anges (Bay of Angels).

Beach along the Bay of Angels.