France Day One

Last week we went to France to attend my cousin Mathieu's wedding. We brought Lilia with us, but Sophie stayed home with my mom. A two year old on an airplane did not sound fun. After 14 hours of travel (Lili was an ANGEL on the long voyage over - she was soooo excited), we finally arrived in France. We flew in to the Nice airport and my aunt Gisele picked us up. After a 2 hour drive past the rolling hills, vineyards, and small villages of Southern France we got to Marseille. Marseille is the second largest city in France, located on the Mediterranean Sea. It is were my mother was born and raised, and were I was born while my family was living there for two years. As a child, we traveled to France often to visit my mom's side of the family, who all still live there. Here is a picture I took of Marseille:

After a quick nap, we met up with my wonderful cousin Gaelle and went on a mini tour of Marseille. First stop, Notre Dame de la Gare, a beautiful old church overlooking the whole city. Gaelle amazed us with her stick shift driving through the narrow steep hills crowded with scooters, pedestrians, and crazy drivers. Gaelle and Lili quickly became friends. Here they are together, with Speckles the cat (who surprisingly made it back home to Utah without getting lost):

After Notre Dame we went down to the beach were Lili had her first taste of the yummiest drink in France...Orangina. Needless to say, she loved it. Don't mind her "I just traveled 8,000 miles" hair.

Yuummmmmy.

A wonderful first day in beautiful France. Stay tuned for the rest of the trip...