Our last week in Marseillan

On Saturday, 3/26, I stayed in all day suffering with my cold. Easter Sunday, time change, I just made it to mass. The church was packed so I stood thru the mass. There was a baptism during the service. In the afternoon, Maddy and I took our friend Mike Worsham, from the tourist office, to lunch at Le Boulevard in the village. Unfortunately my taste buds were not in good shape, the food looked good and seemed to taste good...... Maddy went to the Easter Parade in the village while I stayed home and nursed my cold. Maddy's report: Scary floats, bands, confetti, lots of people and of course Maddy met a nice French gentleman, Albert. To our surprise, Priscilla and I heard the door bell and who was at the door but Maddy and her new friend. Albert lives in Marseillan Plage with his sister. He has traveled a lot and told us that life in France is hard, better in the USA he thinks. Seems it is hard to earn a good living in France for him. We had a nice visit and afterwards a lot of ribbing Maddy for bringing a boyfriend to the apartment!

On Monday, 3/28, we tried to go to Sete to extend our car rental. We were stopped about half way there by the police who told us that the road to Sete was closed and would reopen the next day. We tried an alternate route and sat in a traffic jam. We decided it to turn and visit Carcassone, the medieval hilltop citadel, an hour drive from Marseillan. Quite a few people were visiting the magical, fairy tale like city. It is the Easter break for many of the French. The ancient walled city began with the Romans and Visigoths but later flourished in the 12th century by the Trencavel family. It would be fun to stay at one of the hotels in the old city. On Tuesday we visited Sete, extended our car rental, walked around the old town area of Sete and had lunch. Two cokes were 6.80 Euros and wine was 2 Euros, makes sense why the French drink wine all the time! On Wednesday we said goodbye to Priscilla and drove her to the Sete train station, heading for Marseilles to join her husband on a river cruise. Later that day Maddy and I visited the cemetary in Marseillan overlooking the Etang de Thau. The oldest marker I saw was 1832. Mike told us that there is an older cemetary but it is not open for visitors. There are discussions about moving the graves from the old cemetary and developing the area. We bid Mike farewell and promised to keep in touch via email. We drove to Marseillan Plage for lunch where we tried mussels and a local fish. The mussels were served in their shells, and also on our salad with a tasty dressing. I would pass up the opportunity to have mussels again, but I am glad I tried them because Marseillan is full of farms on the Etang. We spent the afternoon walking the promenade and relaxing by the beach listening to the waves, a great way to bid Au Revoir Marseillan. This was such a wonderful trip, we traveled over 8,000 miles thru France, Spain, Portugal, Andorra, Italy, Slovakia and Slovenia! A memorable experience! Tomorrow we take the train from Sete to The Charles De Gualle airport where we will spend the night and leave for home in Saturday, April 2nd. Au Revoir France!