Category: Uncategorized

Exploring the Diverse Charms of Marseille: A 2-Day Experience

October 15, 2023

My impressions of the city developed over two days in Marseille. We took a flight from Ottawa to Paris and then to Marseille with Air France, left Ottawa at five p.m., and arrived in Marseille the following day at 9 a.m. After spending a day in Marseille, we left for Corsica for ten days before returning for another day in Marseille.

I found some information about Marseille on the internet interesting. Did you know that Marseille is one of the oldest cities in Europe? (It was established by Greek traders in 600 BC.) That 85% of the heroin shipped to the US was produced by Corsican gangs in the La Panier district of Marseille in the 1930s? That Marseille has the third largest Jewish population in Europe after London and Paris? That 20% of the population is Muslim? According to Wikipedia, Marseille, a port city, is probably the most multicultural city in Europe.

The diversity of Marseille surprised me; a native of Marseille explained that many North Africans came to Marseille from Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, and, in general, the Maghreb region of Africa since they were French-speaking and felt at home in the city. The people in the restaurants and the service industries were mostly from North Africa but I never felt they were immigrants; they were French people.

I thought that the French approach to immigrants in Marseille was more casual and probably much better in the long run, call it the melting pot idea, than the focus on differences among ethnic groups in Canada.

The city has a population of close to two million in the metropolitan area with a transportation system including metro and buses. We used both, since they were convenient, came frequently, and cost two euros a ticket, or C$3, relatively cheap.

Our apartment on rue Vacon in the Old Town area of Marseille was not ready for occupancy on arrival and the receptionist suggested we walk around in the neighborhood. Richly rewarded on our walk with musicians playing on the street, small markets to investigate, and getting used to one-lane streets crowded with people and motorcycles speeding by, we settled down for lunch at a table outdoors at one of the ethnic restaurants, that happened to be Tunisian. I had a wonderful lamb Tagine with apricots. Arabic talk surrounded us. It was a very pleasant atmosphere and I recommend a walk around the Old Town with your camera in your hands to take pictures of the diversity of people and street scenes.

Once we came back to our accommodation, a porter took us to our apartment, two blocks away from where we checked in, in an old, renovated building. We opened the huge front door with a fob leading to a hall where we faced a long and steep staircase to our apartment. There was no elevator in the building, but the apartment was spacious, very clean, and furnished with IKEA furniture.

Returning to reception to ask for maps and directions in the area, we chatted with the receptionist who said that he and his brother bought and renovated twenty-seven apartments in the Old Town in numerous buildings: is this a new model for an apartment hotel? A local we chatted with suggested the brothers renovated these units to make a killing during the Olympics next year; water sports will be in Marseille.

Using the maps, we got on a bus to take us along the Corniche Kennedy, also called the “balcony of the Mediterranean”, which runs along the Mediterranean coast.  The views were stunning, I had my cell phone camera clicking all the time. One of the pictures I took on the way was of the monument for Aux Heros de L’Armee D’Orient et des Terres Lointaines, a monument in memory of the victims of the 1914-1918 war.

I also saw Chateau d’If from our bus. This famous fortress, standing on a rocky island off the coast of Marseille, was immortalized by Alexandre Dumas in The Count of Monte Cristo as the prison where the novel’s hero was incarcerated before ultimately escaping. The castle was built by Francois I in 1524. One can visit the Chateau by taking a boat out to the rock.

Getting off the bus at a beach on the outskirts of the city, Kathy immersed herself in the Mediterranean Sea for the first time. In the evening, we meandered up to the Arab market with its bustling and amazing aromas. Searching for an interesting place to eat, there were many choices: Tunisian, Moroccan, French, and others. We ended up having a Turkish shawarma, attracted by the culinary smells. We were not disappointed – the food was delicious.

During the second full day in Marseille, we visited the Musee d’Histoire de Marseille. To enter the museum, we walked across a large square with panels explaining the archaeological finds when a guard from the museum came out and told us to go inside first to get a ticket. This was strange since the museum was free. Why go in first and then come back to read the plaques? But we followed the instructions and went inside where there was a detailed history of Marseille.

What I found most interesting was that the many podcasts in the Museum lectured about the damage looters had done finding and selling ancient coins and artifacts. I picked up a brochure that listed substantial penalties for looting, like thousands of euros and prison sentences. I gathered that looting was profitable and widespread until the government reined it in.

After the Museum we walked to the Old Port, a must for all tourists just to see its vibrancy, which was teeming with people and activities. The Old Port is renovated and is used by private yachts today. The world rugby championship happening at the same time, contributed to the wall-to-wall people along the Quai du Fort, the promenade along the north side of the Old Port.

One activity I enjoyed was sitting in one of the cafes watching the people on the Quai. Once you ordered your coffee, beer, or whatever, the waiters did not bother you, you could sit there all day. I usually ordered café allongé; an espresso coffee larger in volume than a standard espresso.

Cafes also allow you to meet people and find out what the purpose of their trip was. I met a fellow at one of the coffee shops from South Africa, who brought his college-age son to watch a rugby game and then travel to England to watch a professional soccer game.

At the end of the Quai, we entered Fort St. Jean. The ancient commandery (a district under the control of a commander of an order of knights) of the Hospitaliers de Saint-Jean, served as the departure point for the troops to Jerusalem during the Crusades of the 12th century. A chapel, church, hospital, and palace made up the commandery, which was completed in 1365. The numerous steps going up in the fort I found tiring. Besides, it was unpleasantly windy on top of the fort. But the view of the Old Port and the city was spectacular from the top of the Fort. The Fort is fully renovated and was worthwhile seeing.

Fighting the wind coming down from the Fort, we searched for a seafood restaurant. And we found the Au Bout du Quai Mediterranean restaurant where I had bouillabaisse and Kathy had scallops. The presentation of the seafood was picture-worthy and the taste was delicious.

Our rest after the full lunch was to sit on the tourist train that took us around the key sites of the city, some we had already seen.  Tooting along the Corniche Kennedy, we came to an abrupt halt and were ordered to get off by the police; the Pope was coming along on his way to the stadium to give a mass! That was the 21st of September.

Surprisingly, I did not see the Popemobile, I took a picture of the Pope coming along in a small, white Fiat, surrounded by police before and after the little car. After the entourage had passed by, on the tourist train passed by the Basilica Notre-Dame de la Garde, a famous landmark, sitting on top of a hill not too far from the Old Port.

We finished the day meeting our daughter and son-in-law and walking through a food court; Les Halles do la Major Restaurant a Marseille, with a large choice of restaurants, near the south side of the Old Port. We chose the one offering tapas. One will not go hungry in Marseille.

Why should you visit Marseille? For learning about its history, for enjoying its diversity of people, for taking photogenic pictures, and for satisfying your culinary desires. Although one could visit Marseille for one day and see the key tourist sites, two days would provide a more leisurely visit. I would certainly go back for a second visit.

Lessons Learned from Renting a Car in Corsica

October 9, 2023

Although tired from jetlag flying from Ottawa to Marseille the day before, we decided to take the early flight from Marseille to Figari airport in Corsica so that we could drive to our rental accommodation by the early afternoon.

I watched the airplane taxi to the airport from my window seat. Some people were already dragging their suitcases down from the bulkhead storage when the captain’s voice came on the loudspeaker telling the passengers to stay put until all the engines were shut down. We disembarked from the Air Corsica flight at the tail end of the small turboprop.

We hustled to the terminal walking across the tarmac – there were no mini-buses – to pick up our suitcases and rental car looking forward to the drive into the mountains where Jerome and Megan, our son-in-law and daughter planned to climb, hike, and canyon (the formal definition of canyoning is exploring a canyon via all techniques: including rappelling, sliding, hiking, etc.). They rented a huge house with space for us.

It was a short wait to pick up our suitcases and exit this small and informal terminal. The Hertz rent-a-car place was visible across the parking lot, and we walked down to their office. I entered the office with one client in front of me to be told to leave, they could have only one party in the office, the agent told me. I went outside, where another agent approached me and asked for my name. The agent searched and searched unsuccessfully until he discovered the reservation was made in Kathy’s name. So what? Well, the agent explained that she had to drive! That did not please Kathy at all! Corsica has a reputation for serpentine roads and blind curves.

The agent explained that I could add myself as a driver for 18 euros a day! That seemed outrageous, the euro has a fifty percent override on the Canadian dollar so we would be paying C27 per day for ten days, an amount equal to the total car rental cost. So, I asked, if could I cancel the original agreement and rent the car in my name. The agent said it would be excessive. So, Kathy decided to drive the serpentine roads of Corsica.

I used to plan our travel day by day in the old days and made all reservations for air, hotels, and cars. This time I decided to go on strike and have someone else do it for us based on a rough itinerary we provided. When it came to renting a car, we should have specified who would be the driver, but the travel agent never asked. For some reason, she identified Kathy as the driver. Lesson learned, always check out your final itinerary in detail.

The rental car agent handed the keys over and directed us to walk to the left in front of the office to find our car in a dirt lot. With no help where our car may be, we used the fob to see which headlights would come on to identify our car. The lights on an Alfa Romeo Tenali came on and the doors unlocked by the clicking noise I heard. An Alfa Romeo! Wow! That perked me up, I have never been in such a brand with its global reputation.

After putting our suitcases and backpacks into the car, I thought we were ready to roll but my daughter reminded me to check out the car for damages. I took numerous pictures of the bent back bumper to make sure that when we came back, they would not blame us for the damage and charge us. Then I thought why don’t we just go back to the office and ask for another car without damage? Well, back at the office the agent just said to take pictures and they would accept that as evidence. (We returned the car with no problem at all; the company had the damaged back bumper in their record).

Starting the car was another challenge; we could not find the starter button or a keyhole. A mechanic from the Hertz team came along to assist us. And never forget to ask where the filler cap opener is. We found there were two filler caps on this car: one for gas and another one for electrical charging – and we found a cable on the back seat – this was a hybrid.

The Alfa was appointed with plush seats and with the GPS speaking to us in French, Kathy enjoyed driving it, and I enjoyed watching the scenery. I am sure we could have switched the GPS to English, but we understood French and it was a good exercise listening to French driving in Corsica. It took us no time to figure out that “rond point” is a roundabout. Because of the serpentine road leading up into the mountains, the drive was slow, especially watching out for all the cyclists, motorcyclists, and car traffic.

It was unexpected that Kathy ended up driving for ten days in Corsica, but the Alfa was a bonus, it was a fun car to drive. I wanted to try it too, and as long as we did not get into an accident, I thought I would be safe, but decided not to take the chance. And a good thing, as it turned out, I carried an expired driver’s license! But that is another story.

A Taste of Canada: Getting Tick-ed

August 29, 2023

I contracted Lyme disease and take anti-biotics to get rid of it, doxycycline tablets for twenty-eight day. Not sure when a tick, those nasty tiny little bugs, gorged on my blood but suspect that when I cycled on a rail-to-trail over a month ago and stopped in the tall grass to relieve myself, a tick may have found me. That night my foot began to hurt, swelled up and was hot to touch, and the next day I could not put any weight on it.

The pain went away in a few days when I decided to see a nurse practitioner to find out what it could have been. She examined the foot but came up with no conclusions, so I ignored it. In retrospect, that was a mistake.

A month later, I had the worst shakes of my life, my teeth were chattering. The following days I had become extremely tired, moved like molasses, and lost my appetite to such an extent that I lost six pounds in a few days, symptoms of Lyme disease. On the positive side, if you can call it positive, I had no headache and fever. And then a rash appeared on my belly, another symptom of Lyme disease, that I was not aware of that time.

The symptoms convinced me to go back to my clinic and this time I saw another nurse practitioner who gave me a thorough examination and sent me for blood tests, including Lyme disease. But impatient to wait for the test results which would take numerous days in the labs, I admitted myself to emergency at the local hospital knowing that it could be a long wait, hours, to see an emergency doctor. But I would have the results immediately at the hospital emergency department.

Enterng the emergency room, a large sign welcomed me announcing that the waiting time to see a doctor is five hours, measuring at least four feet by four feet,. OK. Then I looked around and absorbed the cacophony generated by dozens of people in the room when a middle-aged and heavy person in a tennis outfit rolled around a wheelchair with, I think, his wife in it, who moaned loudly about the pain that she could not bear any more and wished to be dead. The scene reminded me of a lunatic asylum. Across from where I sat was a youngish fellow with a neck brace. Some people stood and shifted their feet back and forth; there were not enough chairs. The loudspeaker called my name and nurses triaged me asking about the reason for my presence here. I explained that I thought I had Lyme desease. The nurses took copious notes while measuring my blood pressure and pulse rate. And then I returned to the waiting room.

I observed the people around me and was struck by the diversity, i.e., including all shades of brown to black. Is this the composition of Ottawa today? Or are these the people who have no family doctors and forced to attend the hospital emergency room for health care? But then the loudspeaker called my name again for registration; I had to provide my address and other information, information that the hospital already possessed. During this time a little girl, perhaps three years old, held by her father, was crying constantly, adding to the loud buzz in the emergency room. This whole experience was emotionally taxing on me and imagined that there were people here who have had much more serious problems than I had. But Lyme disease can be very serious in the long run if not treated.

But after five hours, as announced on the large bulletin board entering the emergency room, my name was called again, and I entered a large room with a dozen or so examining rooms around a central area where the emergency doctors and nurses worked and consulted with each other. A nurse directed me to a small waiting room that I shared with a young teenager. He moaned about how hungry he was, having been here for eight hours with no food. I asked him if he would be picked up by his parents, when finished. Or were his parents waiting in the outer room and could get him some food at the food outlet next door? No, he said, his parents were not there, he will take the bus home after his stay at the emergency room experience. That surprised me and felt sorry for him.

It was close to midnight when an examining room had become available, and I was invited to enter it. I did not have to wait long, an emergency doctor came to see me and in ten minutes, prescribed an antibiotic for the blood test that showed a high count of white blood cells and another drug for the rash. And that was it; he said he did not know about Lyme disease.

Leaving after midnight after a seven hour stay tired me out. And I found it emotionally taxing observing all the people in the emergency room suffering from some ailment. But the simple recommendations of the emergency doc soothed me somewhat even though he did not confirm I had Lyme disease or even identify my illness. 

The bombshell came the next week when the the blood test the nurse practitioner ordered showed I had Lyme disease. I had been tick-ed. And I received the typical treatment: twenty-eight days of taking doxycycline.

I learned a few lessons from this experience. A conscientious nurse practitioner may provide excellent service. An emergency doctor treats obvious symptoms and may not search for root causes. And although I find emergency rooms interesting, I prefer to avoid them in the future.  When I go for a walk in the country now, I wear long pants and long-sleeve shirts and tuck my pant legs into my socks to make sure no nasty ticks can access my body for a blood-sucking treat.

Monetizing Past Grievances

August 8, 2023

I attended a concert, with fifty people in the audience, in Collingwood, ON, as part of the porch festival on July 26, in 2023. The concert triggered my thoughts on monetizing past grievances.

The porch festival evolved in response to Covid when artists could not perform in closed venues. Instead, people with a porch on their houses and a backyard welcomed artists to play on their porch to an audience in their yard, sitting on camp chairs.

Quammie Williams gave the concert, with Tiki Mercury-Clarke and a local bass player. Quammie, an accomplished drummer, singer, actor and consultant on culture – he was Director of Culture in Barrie, ON – sang and drummed African “resistance songs” with Tiki, who played the piano and ssng in an impressive tonal range.

As usual today at these venues, the MC started out by thanking the Ashininaabi (indigenous) people for letting use of their land for this concert. I am not sure what the homeowner thought about that.

Quammie and Tiki included history talks about slavery in between songs during the concert. Although I heard many of these stories before, I came to listen to jazz and began to get restless as the performance went on with lengthy stories. Quammie’s stories about the emotional toll of slavery on Black people were draining and should have been told with more anger and shouting. But no. Quammie quietly explained the stories behind the “resistance songs”, making his message of slavery even more powerful.

I looked around and beyond the three black artists on the porch, there was not one black person in the audience. But the audience lapped up the talk and the music and gave the performers a standing ovation. Whether the performers meant it or not, the underlying message was unmistakable: white folks were the slave owners creating hardship for Blacks. In my offbeat way of thinking, I thought the enthusiastic clapping was almost an exorcism for the well-heeled senior crowd, consciously or unconsciously, cleansing their souls of having embraced slavery in the past.  

I really enjoyed the music and my negative reaction towards being told to be grateful to the Anishinaabi and being responsible for slavery were fading, when I read that the Black Class Action Secretariat (BCAS in Toronto) sued the Government of Canada for past discrimination of black civil servants for C$2.5 billion in the court system.  I do not question that discrimination has occurred against Blacks in the Canadian federal civil service and wish it had not happened. The government should have solved this issue in the past. What concerned me was that past grievances have become issues for restitution, always resulting in monetary awards.

The mother of all these restitutions is the “reconciliation” process with Indigenous people in Canada. It started out with “reparations” for the Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement, that ended up with a C$5 billion settlement. Other claims followed. To date, over C$60 billion have been awarded to indigenous people by the government (there were circa 1.2 million Indigenous people in Canada in 2021). And other claims are in the pipeline. Compare this number to the Canadian defense budget that was C$26 billion in 2021.

I am afraid this trend to sue the government for past grievances will continue and the grievances will become weirder and weirder. Any minority group, ethnic, religious, or other, could organize a class action claim and sue the government for damages. Many may be legitimate, but I wonder if we should consider whether grievances to historical events should be compensated. How far back in history should we go to fix past wrongs made by previous generations?

Monetization of past grievances is a dangerous and costly trend and should be stopped. Why should the current taxpayers pay for injustices committed by previous generations?

Seniors’ Agonizing Dilemma

July 10, 2023

The children are gone, and we knock around in the large family home. The question arises: should we downsize? And, if so, should we buy or rent? This is an agonizing decision for seniors living in single-family homes.

If you are an empty nester, what thoughts percolate through your mind pondering these questions? Assuming that you do not have to move for financial reasons, health reasons, or because the neighborhood has changed for the worse, why should you abandon the family home, why should you downsize?

Well, one reason is that you use only half the available space. By downsizing, you would pay half the heating and air-conditioning costs and would have half the space to clean and dust. Property taxes would be less. A condo would have no grass to cut and landscape to maintain; the management company would do all of those, including snow removal. These are the advantages of downsizing to a condo. And since the management company would do all interior maintenance in a rental unit, you would also be spared that activity.

So, downsizing is a solution if house maintenance becomes too onerous, or if you do not want to do it anymore. But wait! How about hiring people to clean and work in the garden? So why downsize? Let’s do some more pondering.

What do we lose when we move into a condo or apartment? Without question, we lose privacy and space and are obliged to follow the rules and regulations of the condo and apartment unit.

We are going to lose the use of the front and back yards, the long double driveway, and the wide street in front of the house. And we have less living space. Much less space, and our friends, who downsized, confided in us that they ended up buying new furniture to fit into their new living space.

Other disadvantages could be noisy neighbors above and below, the smell from their cooking penetrating your unit, especially when windows are open, and access to the unit would be via parking in the garage and then an elevator and finally a hallway instead of just entering the current family house directly from the garage, a huge advantage when carrying groceries and stuff. Should I go any further?

I can see seniors agonizing over whether or not to downsize and then whether or not to buy a condo or rent an apartment.

All these ideas were racing through my mind when I heard good friends just sold their house and rented an apartment. But something was bothering me. My reflections concerned space, privacy, and freedom of action. But what about my lifestyle in the family home that I occupied for decades? Am I going to miss the BBQs on the deck I built in the backyard? Or, sitting on the front porch with a cup of coffee in my hand watching the traffic on the street? Or my big office in the basement where I wrote a couple of books? And the other large recreation room where I practiced yoga watching the big screen TV? All these activities have acquired a familiar aura that I would throw away if moving to another place. Would I pay too high a price for moving out of our family home?

If you have lived in your home for a few decades, you have almost certainly changed your home to your taste, to your liking. The paintings, furniture, and objects in your home are expressive of your personality. The physical house becomes part of your identity, regardless of how much of it is embedded in your memory.

We are still in our family house. If we moved, I would certainly retain the knowledge of how I lived but it will not be the same as experiencing the real thing, for example, enjoying an outdoor BBQ with friends on a deck I built. I would lose part of my identity.