想飛 I WANT TO FLY

我去的地方，就在地圖右下角之處
(Source: www.sitesatlas.com)
Calanque in Marseille
Beautiful, isn't it.

Gap是我這次拜訪的城市中唯一不是在普羅旺斯的城市。Gap座落於Hautes-Alps地區，所以整個城市均被阿爾卑斯山所環繞。雖然Gap的網站稱其為法國少數sunny的城市，但不知是否是該網站言過其實還是我們太過倒楣，我們去的那一天雲層相當厚，雖然還是隱約看得到阿爾卑斯山，但還是很可惜。
Gap is the only city that I visited which doesn't belong to Provence. It is located in Hautes-Alps region, and so the whole city is surrounded by Alps. Gap's website called it "takes pride in its reputation as one of the sunniest regions in France", and that "fog is non-existant", but I guess that we were just not lucky enough to see the clear Alps, and during our whole trip the top of Alps was always covered by clouds.

既然我在馬賽住了很多天，就來貼張馬賽舊港的照片吧。
很美吧。碼頭另一邊早上固定有魚市，出海捕魚的人家在港口邊賣新鮮魚貨，吸引了很多當地人（還有觀光客）。我也興奮地探頭去湊熱鬧，卻發現魚販們在剖開魚身拿出器官後頭也不回把髒東西往身後水裡丟，害我看傻眼....真是豐富又天然的魚飼料。一堆小魚大魚果然很快包圍上來。

I was suprised to find out that I am the only few Asian in South France. When I shopped in Marseille, there were always people yelling "Kong-Ni-Chi-Wa" at me. I thought that in those people's small world they probably only know Japanese. Well, the funny thing is, my flight going back home was transferred in Seoul, so a lot of passengers on that plane were Korean. The stewardess spoke Korean to me. I chatted with a Korean woman in the back of the plane when I was waiting for the toilet. I asked if she could tell that I am not Korean, she said, "no, you have a Korean face". WOW. Now I am surprised.
So here is a test for all of you who think that you are good at distinguishing Chinese from Japanese or Korean: www.alllooksame.com
I got only 8 correct on that game. Shame on me. I missed several points when the people are actually Chinese!

I am talking about dog poop, contrary to the usual impression of the grace and elegance of France. Dog poop is literally everywhere. I was kept reminding of watching every step so I wouldn't step in it, although sometimes I wasn't lucky. There was one time when I was sitting on the bus, the driver waiting outside on the street for other passengers tried to kick away a piece of newspaper lying on the street but dog poop was found to be under the newspaper, and so he kicked right at the target. How hilarious. Maybe the French government should impose a fine for the dog owners to clean up after their dogs!

We heard that the city Gap is surrounded by Alps and is quite beautiful, so we drove there during lunch time. Since we didn't know where to go or what to do there, we stopped by the Information Office and figured that we can still get some useful information there.
Well, we forgot to take consideration of French's habit....the office is closed between 12pm-2pm. I am becoming very envious for their casual life in France....the working hour starts from not too early in the morning, close for 2 hours for lunch, and close again when it gets dark. Also, people get 6 weeks of paid vacation in a year (8 weeks in Netherlands). As for us Taiwanese, everyone is forced to be a workaholic. We don't get ANY vacation during our first year in a new job, and only 7 days for the second year. I don't see we have more productivity under this policy, yet the quality of life keeps us from being as happy.
Anyway....enough for complaining about the job. We called a friend for restaurant suggestions, and he directed us to this restaurant where it offers traditional food "tourtons".

I think it is a must visit place without doubt....it is just like a place only exists in a fairy tale. Although I already saw the pictures of Gordes in the travel book, really being there and looking at its beauty is totally different---it is just too breathtaking!

So I guess a lot of you have seen this background scenery from the travel book (both my Chinese and English travel book used this picture as the cover page). The building is Abbaye de Senanque, which is surrounded by lavender. Well, the picture I took is somewhat different....you don't see the beautiful purple color of lavender, because the lavender grows only in July and August. Just imagine that I am standing in front of a tranquil sea of beautiful purple lavender!

I don't remember the name of the restaurant, but we found this restaurant from the travel book Routard. We ordered fish (the whole fish again, which surprised me a lot) with couscous and chicken with banana. The reason that I am writing this is, I think this restaurant offers really great food and the food is not expensive. The African restaurant owner was so excited that his restaurant is recommended by Routard, and he took our book and showed it around to his wife (the big chef) and other African customers and only returned it to us after 10 minutes. With food and drink only cost 25 Euro. And the fish was not fishy at all and tasted really like Taiwanese style. I was wondering if millions of years ago maybe China and Africa continents were connected. This is definitely a restaurant that I will recommend!

So this is how you eat it....everything in the fish soup.
How did I like it? Well, if you must know, the first several bites were quite good. But then after the soup got cold, I started to feel a bit sick of it....imagine there were 4-5 different fish in it! And the whole thing tasted kind of fishy....I just ended up finishing all the bread! It was kind of fun to do some "work" on the bread and let it flow in the soup tho.