On The Edge: Marseille Day 2

My second day in Marseille was less fraught with danger and rain than my first. After a lovely job along la Corniche John F. Kennedy which runs along the Mediterranean Sea, I went to the Musée des Arts Africains, Océaniens, et Amérindiens. Like all municipal museums in the city, it was 2 euros for entry (and the clerk gave me the student discount with no prompting!). An overarching theme to my visit was the reliance of museums on the generosity of individual donors. How else to explain how an ethnographic museum had devoted three rooms to shrunken heads from around the world?! The exhibits made it seem like every South American has been occupied since time immemorial with the collection of têtes réduites. I did, however, appreciate the statement in the African Arts room about how important it is to guard against primitive essentialism. The museum had a small, yet varied collection that demonstrated its donor’s preference for Côte d’Ivoire. I saw a rare female mask-helmet and sculpture designed to evoke les esprits de la brousse (bush spirits). Stepping into the Mexican exhibition room made me feel like I had just gotten off a plane in Las Vegas after having taken a powerful cocktail of hallucinogenic drugs. The fluorescent colors of the masks, trees of life, and other sculptures filled the room with their Day-Glo Hi-Lighter bright reflections. Due to space constraints, the curator had been forced to jam many obras de arte into a few display cases. While this choice certainly permitted the museum to display the most art possible, it also led to the erasure of the identities of the individual artists.

Later, I went to a large church located right near the coast. On the way, I stumbled by the charming Place des Moulins and heard elementary school children singing in their courtyard. The place was a site of urban renewal intended to promote both historical restoration and community pride in a neighborhood (and city) often characterized by the rest of France as a den of foreign criminals and thieves. While the church’s exterior was stunning, the inside was quite plain and didn’t differ too much from the other cathedrals I’ve seen in Europe. After a quick kebab lunch (when the waiter tried to ask me things in broken English before realizing that I was more bilingual than he was), I set off for the ferry dock. Les îles du Frioul are located right off the coast and can be reached by a 15 minute, 10 euro round-trip ferry ride. Due to weather conditions, we weren’t allowed to go to the Château d’If on a neighboring island. The chateau is famous as the inspiration behind Alexandre Dumas, père’s masterpiece “The Count of Monte Cristo.” The islands were primarily a nesting ground for seagulls and served as the anchors for a large marine wildlife preserve in the harbor. On their peaceful boulevards, I sat down and read some more Salammbô and reveled in the beauty of nature. While waiting for my ferry back, I peered into the water neared the dock and spotted several shoals of small fish hiding amongst the boats.

Before turning in for the night, I went to Notre Dame de la Garde, a magnificent church located high above the city. You can walk 30 minutes up a glorious path, or take a bus straight to the top. Tired from hiking, I chose the latter option. Unfortunately, I arrived 20 minutes after the special seasonal closing time went into effect and wasn’t allowed in. Still, I took some amazing photos and walked along the rocky hillside, gazing down at the city. Waiting in the metro station, I noticed a small dark fish tank built into one of the pillars. The few fish inside wanly swam back and forth and I wondered how a city so proud of its maritime heritage could be so careless about some of its installations.