Keeping Up

Just a quick word today, because struggling to keep up with demanding visitor now in residence.  Well, not that bad actually.  He is currently cooking me breakfast.

This week I am revisiting some places I have seen before, because they are new to Johan.  The usual markets and tour of the Centre Ville goes without saying, although with a real photographer in tow progress is pretty slow.  I stopped pointing out the photo opportunities after a while, because he was already going crazy with the wonderful late afternoon light falling on the old buildings.  It was getting so cold as the sun went down that every time we stopped my nose got a little bluer.  He was oblivious to that, as people are when carried away by an enthusiasm.

We have also been back to the beautiful Hôtel de Caumont, so that now I have seen the wonderful Picasso and Boterro exhibition twice.  It was just as much fun the second time, and of course you pick up more and more detail each time.  Then we also went back to a place I did not like so much, the gigantic Carrefours at Les Milles.  This time we spent over two hours just wandering around a supermarket.  If you imagine Noel Leeming and K-mart combined with Countdown plus Farros, and three times as big, you would have some idea of the sort of place it is.  I simply get overwhelmed, and cannot shop at all except for the few specific things I have come out for.  Naturally Johan loved it.

I have now handed over driving duties to the one who claims native European status, but both of us remain reliant on the satnav in the car.  It does not matter how many times I explain that the satnav does not necessarily make life easy, and that you have to really concentrate and obey instructions.   ALL of my visitors have made mistakes in navigation.  Johan was no exception.  When we left Carrefour it was dark and rush hour, which is comprised of commuters between Aix, the surrounding smaller towns, and Marseille.  Quite a busy area here.  Of course we took a wrong turn.  When this happens you just wait for the satnav to recalibrate, then follow the instructions to get back on track.

But in this case there were queues everywhere, and then the driver decided the satnav lady was mistaken and that he would take the 2nd exit from the roundabout instead of the 3rd.  Cue 20 minutes more driving down narrow unlit country roads before we finally got back on the motorway.  There was a degree of tension on my side of the car, but the driver thought it was an adventure.  Naturally he wanted more, so took the wrong off ramp coming back, which lead to a cross-town trip through more unfamiliar territory.

We are about to go out and test the driving scenario again.  Wish me luck.