May Day

Geri and Vicki vegged in Aix while I jumped on a train and headed to Marseille for the May Day manif.  Fun, but a lot less organized than I am used to.  Less formal than Toronto's and much more mixing.  Little of the 'we're here, you folks are there' stuff.  Lots of kids, music and dancing.  And a giant white elephant I never really figured out.

Wore my CUPE hat and got some looks, some comradely conversations here and there.

The location for the manif would normally have been spectacular, it being in the park around a triumphal arch built in the 1830's as a memorial to the Marseillaise (of French national anthem fame) who marched from there to Paris in 1792 to save the revolution.  But right now, like much of central Marseille, it is a construction site.  So the crowd was forced to form a wide circle around the arch in a roadway instead of flowing around it.  Even so I would say about 10,000 people.  Perhaps a bit more. 

I got in some walking around before and after though.  I liked the city.  Nice and gritty, not too gentrified even down by the old port, despite having been last year's European City of Culture.  Huge North African population, I really should have made more of an effort with my Arabic lesson podcasts.

I'm already looking forward to going back at some point.

Photos HERE.