Marseille

The first thing I have to tell you is a funny story about my French usage. I went running this morning with Dan, our team leader, and when I got back I went to the front desk to ask for some bottled water. They had several brands of water including the sparkling type, so instead of using the word for "water", I specifically asked if I could have an "Evian". I have a cold right now so my voice sounds funny, and when the word came out, it sounded more like "avion"... which is unfortunately the word for "airplane". Oops. So the lady gave me a confused look and repeated "Avion?" Embarrased, I just pointed to the bottle of water, and she realized that I was in fact not requesting an airplane. Oh well, I tried.

So then our team went over to Istres Air Base to check out our equipment and learn how to use it. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but this facility looks like something from another decade. Old computers, old equipment, in the middle of nowhere. Makes me curious about how normal weather ops are carried out for aircraft that use the base regularly. The US does not have any assets or personnel here, but it is an active base for the French Air Force (and yes, I realize I am leaving that wide open for jokes about the French military). I didn't ask yet if I was allowed to take pictures, but I will in the next couple days if I can. Point is, if the US Space Shuttle ever really did have to land here, I have a feeling there would be a LOT of shortfalls identified in facilities, communication, security, etc.

We begin round-the-clock operations at about 8pm local time tomorrow (Saturday), which is 48 hours prior to the scheduled shuttle launch. Weather at Cape Canaveral on Monday looks good for the moment, but there is precip forecasted on Tuesday, so I hope that system doesn't move in early or that the launch isn't delayed for other reasons, because then it would get pushed until at least Wed. Weather here also looks good for Monday, though it it supposed to be cloudy and rainy the next 2 days. I will be trading 12-hour shifts with the other observer, and we agreed on a schedule today. To allow both of us free time in the daylight and night time, he is going to work noon to midnight and I will work midnight to noon. So he will start taking obs tomorrow at 8pm, I'll take over at midnight, then on the last day he will work the last 8 hours from noon until launch. Good news is that the work center has wifi, so I can take my laptop over there to keep me entertained in the middle of the night, plus our weather balloon operator brought her external hard drive with a ton of movies on it. It hadn't really occurred to me that taking one ob an hour for 12 hours leaves a lot of time to be bored...

Wow, I hadn't thought this was going to be a long post, but I haven't even gotten to Marseille yet. From the base, we went to a French supermarket to buy food for our rooms, so we don't have to eat out all the time, and for while we are on shift. That was an adventure in itself... even with some knowledge of French, it was hard to find things and read labels and really know what you were buying. I had the same feeling I had in the train station in Germany... I'm really lucky to be living in England and experiencing the European culture without a language barrier. So after a more or less successful shopping trip, we took the stuff back to our hotel, ate lunch, and then left to sightsee in Marseille.

As the most motivated explorer in the group, I looked up a few tourist attractions online and the others agreed on them. Marseille is just under an hour from Istres, and parts of the drive are really pretty as you pass a big lake on one side and then come out along the coast on the other. The landscape is mostly rocky hills, and lots and lots of houses and buildings in city-ish layouts. The contrast to England is as striking as it is from the air, and I must admit I prefer England's rural setting and small towns. The architecture here is not what I expected either - the buildings are all yellowish beige with orangeish tiled roofs. As ignorant as this may sound, picture an Olive Garden restaurant, and that's what they look like. The guy on the team from Vicenza (Army post in Italy) told me that this is a Mediterranean style, and that northern parts of France look more like English architecture.

When we got to Marseille, it definitely felt like a city. Tall buildings and apartment complexes line the streets, giving them the canyon-ish look. Lots of traffic, and no parking to be found anywhere. We found the first site we were looking for, the Palais Longchamps, but after circling the block three times and not finding a place to park, we ended up parking at a train station over half a mile away and then trying to find our way back to it walking through the city streets. Along the way, we did find a gorgeous church on one corner, pictured below.

Of course, I was up the steps and inside before anyone could stop me, where I was greeted by a sign in French requesting that visitors be silent while inside the sanctuary. I quickly stepped back outside to mention this to my teammates, as well as the fact that we probably weren't supposed to take pictures inside either. That is common in a lot of religious buildings in England, and considering the silence request, I assumed it was the same here. The inside looked a lot like an English church or cathedral, the layout in the shape of a cross with cavernous arched ceilings and massive stained glass windows. There were several displays along the side walls, but as all the placards were in French, I was the only one in the group who took any time to look at them. One of them stopped me in my tracks as I read it: a framed verse of Scripture in French, from the book of John about how Jesus is the resurrection and the life, and whoever believes in Him has eternal life. As I stood there in the darkened church, flickering candlelight reflected on the glass over this familiar verse in another language, it struck me as a beautiful example of how God trancends language and culture and geography. God is so much bigger than the American institutionalized church or any denomination, and so is His love for people and His power. Very cool thought, and I really wanted to record the moment for myself... I hadn't actually seen a sign forbidding photography, so I quickly looked around, didn't see anyone, pulled out my camera and snapped a quick shot with no flash. That picture is in my photo album linked at the end.

We left the church and finally found the original destination, the Palais du Longchamps, which houses the Museum of Fine Arts and the Museum of Natural History. Some more beautiful architecture and fountains, check out the photo album for those. From the top of the stairs, you have a great view across the city to another site I had looked up - the Notre Dame de Garde, a beautiful church perched on the highest point in Marseille. I was hoping to visit it after we were done looking around the Palais grounds, but when we got back to the car, the other three team members said they wanted to go back to the hotel. Seriously? It was just past 3pm, and we had only left the hotel at noon. I was irritated, but couldn't trump a 3-to-1 vote. This is one reason I enjoy exploring by myself so much... no one tells me when I have to leave. Plus, I have been lucky in the travel buddies I have had in the past - Greg in Germany and Cassie in Ely were very agreeable to my pace.

So I consoled myself by planning to go somewhere else tomorrow. I have the keys to one of our two rental cars, so I'm going exploring whether the others want to go with me or sit in their hotel rooms all day until we have to work tomorrow night. I have not decided where yet, I need to do a little more searching on Google maps. I just don't understand people who can sit still when there is so much to see in the world. I should probably end this marathon post now with the link to my photo album: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=340666&id=701905001&l=85a94bdf20 Enjoy!