And so we hit…….. MARSEILLES, another town in the South of France!

When in France, it’s simply not much fun to stay in a regular hotel; I just reckon it’s really unimaginative 😛 Instead, Chris hunted down little apartments (you’ll see the one we stayed at, Le Chateau, in Paris in a previous post) and bed & breakfasts. The latter is actually what I was specifically after, because THEY ARE SO DAMN CUTE!!! The concept is simple – a French local has a lovely house that they lease out rooms, and provide a traditional breakfast in the morning. Why do I love it? It’s the closest I’ll get to squatting in a French person’s home in France 😉 I particularly love how you feel “at home”, and it’s so much warmer in terms of atmosphere to a standard hotel.

The bed & breakfast Chris selected was a lovely gem called La Petite Maison, run by an effervescent and charming French lady named Alix. She welcomed us with open arms and we felt right at home. Located in the center of the Périer area and with easy access to the scenic beaches, it made our stay very convenient. We were shocked at how large our room was – our room alone was as big as the apartment we had in Paris! Her house is pretty massive, with 3 large rooms that she rents out, and I assume at least 1 other room for her to stay in. It has expansive dining and sitting rooms and a pretty balcony as well as a HUGE outdoor yard.

Our room was themed Frambroise and was coloured in its namesake. So pretty, quaint, and comfortable! It was like being in your own home – except a lot nicer 😉 The only downside was that there was a giant bath tub…. but no shower. We always have showers and never baths, so we had to get used to taking quasi-baths every morning and night, LOL. Other than that, it was a perfect little nook in Marseilles.

The pretty front door (which is hidden behind all those leaves) of La Petite Maison

It’s a bed & breakfast, a lady’s big house that she rents 3 bedrooms out. This is the living room!

Staircase up to the bedrooms

Our spacious room. So fun to stay in a little French house 😛

Other side of the room

Tiffany & Co coloured bathroom, hehe

Our own lil balcony

Chris found this and thought it was funny; the French watching Chinese movies 😛

Here’s a funny little story about the French. They love their breads. And boy, do they know how to appreciate good pastries and croissants! To us, we buy croissants and chuck ’em in the fridge, and eat them over a few days (microwave’d back up). That’s normal, right? Apparently NOT!

See, we were to leave at 7AM (!) after a few days at the bed & breakfast. Thinking it’d be too early for Alix, our host, to make us breakfast, we asked “Do you have any leftover croissants and we can just keep it in our room, and eat it in the morning before we leave?” Alix looked at us, confuddled. I repeated the question. It then dawned on her what we were asking and – QUEL HORRORS – the look on her face was priceless!!!!! She was in complete disbelief and repeated, “you want a croissant and you eat it tomorrow?? NON NON NON!”

It was then that we learned that the French have their croissants FRESH daily… and not left over from the night before. Hahahaha! So she refused to give us day-old croissants, and went out to the bakery at 6AM(!!!) on the day we left to get us proper fresh croissants. What a lovely lady 🙂 But so funny! It was an interesting lesson we learned that day, and certainly very memorable 🙂

In the breakfast room having a traditional French breakfast

Check out the spread! There were 5-6 different types of jams.. mmmm….

Going down to the Port harbour area

Monument #1

Monument #2

View towards the port