En Panne

"En panne" in French means broken down, like a car on the side of the road, "Ma voiture est en panne." Or my ferry that I am supposed to be on right now. We went down to the port this morning, ready to embark on our adventure across the Mediterranean on the ferry "Carthage". But it was not meant to be, for she was "en panne" and had to turn around back to Tunis. Which meant that all of us waiting to board her and head to Tunis (from Marseille) were reimbursed 100 Euros (yay!) and now have to wait until Saturday morning to depart. Inconvenient but at least we weren't on the boat went she decided to "en panne".

So since we were downtown anyway, we sent out stuff back with our driver and decided to stay and Christmas shop. We stopped along the way and took pictures of some old churches, the vieux port (the old port) and the Sea. The Christmas markets were starting but we went straight to the Santons section. Santons are clay figurines of many designs and sizes that are famous for this region. They are handmade in small workshops in and around Marseille. Most of these shops have been in the same family for centuries. You can buy the regular nativity scene or go more for a traditional French look and buy an old woman with lavendar or a fisherman. They can be as tiny as a thumbnail or bigger than a Barbie doll. You can also buy houses, wells, barns, trees, etc to make your own little village. The Santons markets start the end of November and go through until the end of January. I bought some Christmas gifts and then a small nativity set for myself. You can buy them plain (to paint at home yourself) or painted. They vary in quality and detail. It was overwhelming to walk up and down the 50 or so stands and finally have to decide on the set I wanted. But now that I know where they are I can go back!

The weather was freezing cold today. Sorry, fellow Canadians, I'm not wimping out here, but it was COLD. My legs hurt it was so cold today. The wind cut right through us. It was still about plus 8 C, but I was so chilled at the end of the day.

And good news...most of the buses in my neighbourhood are running normally so I can start "getting out more". Yay! Just in time for Christmas shopping. I noticed that they're starting to put lights up downtown and Christmas trees.

So we leave on Saturday morning for Tunis and arrive after 22 hours on the Sea in Tunis. May the adventure continue. And may our new boat "Casanova" not "en panne".