Most of the time I feel really anti-social on social media. It’s like the lazy person’s way of keeping in touch with folks instead of emailing, messaging, calling, or meeting up with friends. But every now and then social media does what it’s supposed to do.

I shared a photo of the Eiffel Tower on Instagram and an old housemate from Melbourne commented to ask if I was in France. I wasn't at the time we messaged but I told him I was in Paris, and would be back in France but in Marseille and Nice next. Teeny, tiny world - he was visiting his hometown of Marseille at the time and we arranged a meet-up!

Marseille, the city, I didn't get to experience in full because we'd only planned to stay a night in a proper hotel (not an airbnb apartment) with nice air conditioning and roomy bathroom (all the luxuries we take for granted at home). We didn't do any of the tourist things, just went to the city docks, had food then met up with my old housemate for drinks. And then to make our small world even smaller, turns out 2 other French guys I'd lived with were both living in Marseille now. One was in the city so came to meet us, the other was heading out of town for a festival.


I loved seeing them, and remembering the wild old days back when I lived with 9 boys in a party warehouse space. Two were little boys when I knew them - it was their first time being away from home and they were living large in a different country on the other side of the world. I remember going on late night adventures together with the one I was closest to - lying on a little grassy mound in a park watching clouds pass over the stars, and sharing a kiss at a warehouse party. Now they're grown men, and lovely humans to boot.

I wish I'd known they were in Marseille and spent more time there, but that's what happens when you've only got 4.5 weeks to explore part of a dense continent and have no idea where any of your friends are. My impression of the city is it’s a bit dirty (so much dog poop) and super aggressive drivers that made it scary crossing roads. It had a strangely agro vibe considering it’s a picturesque seaside town, but it could just be the area we were staying in - we didn’t explore Marseille so I don’t know what it’s like elsewhere. If you have to choose between more time in Nice and more time in Marseille, I’d definitely go more time in Nice. Which is where we went next.

Stopover in a 'lil place called Marseille.

A post shared by Jade (@thephamly) on Aug 17, 2017 at 1:11pm PDT