skitch. canadians?

oh yeah, i promised a story in another post. this the quest for the chateau d'if.

the chateau d'if is a fortress set upon a small island in the mediterranean. the weather is clear, the ferry is quick from the marseille harbor and the view stuns. how did it get to look so dark and gloomy in the count of monte cristo?

eric and i bought a bottle of vin de rouge (red wine), and were kicking our feet over the water of the marseille harbor. the crowd attracted beside the pier is what drew us. they were tourists, clearly, and we didn't want to miss out on our right to tourism. so hey, why not hop a boat to the chateau d'if for only 7 euro? improvisation oiled the gears, and i ditched an empty bottle of wine. any of you guys remember my water bottle from nashville? one of those reusable, re-ethical, resave-world-able type of bottle? well, it was our new wine skin.

we elbowed to a front seat in the ferry, perched and content, and drank wine. well, it just so happened that we missed the port for the chateau d'if.

we got off on the next island, found some random deserted ruins on a mountain, and watched the sun over the mediterranean.

we hopped the 7 o'clock ferry back to the harbor, chagrinned for having missed the chateau. you hear so many stories of escape, or at least attempted escape... and all we wanted to do was get inside.

no worries... i was pretty content once we arrived at the harbor. the wine was not the cause of my smile (though it undoubtedly helped). The harbor was filled with hundred of palestinians chanting, yelling, and standing on cars. i slipped my bandana on, and eric flipped his hat backwards.

i gathered from the little french i knew, and mostly from eric's perfect proficiency, that the palestinians were denouncing france, the USA, the UK, and germany for doing nothing about the hundreds of palestinians being killed by israelis. i mentioned to eric,"good thing we are canadian, right?" it was an old joke, but i thought it fit the moment. eric, with a grin, replied, "yeah... oh! did you hear that? i guess they also got canada on their list." 

i mean, who has got a problem with canadians? apparently the palestinian flag kid who is hanging, yelling, and pointing from the top of a lamp post (that is 25 feet up) does...