Saturday, May 8
May 8th started off with a visit to the rade, or harbor in Toulon where we had previously had Bouillubaisse. This time we took a boat ride to see the military ships from afar. France’s aircraft carrier, the Charles De Gaulle is based in Toulon so we saw some massive tug boats that are used to bring it into the docks. There were also some transport ships and other military convoy support vessels.
The below picture shows the fort that was Napoleon’s first leadership post when he was moving up the ranks in the French military. Per Dace, part of the reason Napoleon was such a successful leader and the eventual emperor was that he rode in front with his men going into batlle. At the time, it was common for leadership to stay in back and direct their forces during a battle. By riding in front he engendered a sense of commradery and friendship from his men. The canons pictured in the photo are not close to the water but most that we saw were because you could double the distance of a cannon by bouncing it off the water.
Our next visit was to the Musee national de la Marine (The National Marine Museum) which we were able to see on our first visit to downtown Toulon (the day we had Bouillubaisse). For this visit, Bertrand got us the English audio tapes so we went off on our own to learn about the rich history of the French navy. I’ll focus on just a few of my pictures… The first shows the port of Toulon in 1756 and you can see the port in the background and I noticed that most of the land was used for farming. Another painting depicted Toulon about 100 years later and much of the right hand side along the water had buildings on it so there must have been a large expansion over those 100 years.
This next piece is carved from wood and depicts the different cultures and countries paying tribute to Minerva. At one point there is an elephant laughing at a sailor who is carrying a too heavy load.
Lastly, here is a depiction of Careening. I believe they said this was a depiction of a hull repair done on a ship that was damaged off North Africa. They would tip the boat on it’s side while still in the water to conduct the repairs because the dry dock had not yet been invented.
Time to eat! Well almost at least, what is a good day without some candid shots while we’re in the car…
We went back to Alain and Dani’s home with the group for a picnic with some of the Rotarians we had met during the week. Jerome, who you may recall brought us to the military hospital brought us to a church dating back to the 11th century situated in Orielles as well as Sanary. We then went to Sanary, a beautiful sea side town with local artists, sail boats, artisean shopping (Artisean is a specific word which means the products are locally hand made) and café’s.
Below is a picture of our group with Jerome. He was a great tour guide and he is a wonderful man. It was a delight to meet him and his four children. They were very much the typical French family.
While the day was fantastic the night made the largest impression upon me. We visited a male only and female only homeless shelter run by Alain.
About 11 years ago he formed SAMU (service d’aide médicale urgente) Sociale in Toulon. SAMU is a national organization but he formed the homeless shelter portion in Toulon. SAMU also delivers approximately 130 meals each day and every day. They circulate to twelve different stops in Toulon each night like clock work.
The whole visit has felt more like a vacation than anything else. We have seen parts of the South of France that only the locals get to see and have been treated to wonderful meals. It’s like being in New York City and se3eing the tourists eat at the olive garden when right around the corner is the place where all the locals go because they have the best food in the area. Not to mention the fact that the locals know the best dishes.
This night was truly shocking as we visted the shelters and saw another face to France. The individuals in these facilities suffer from a number of issues including alcoholism, mental issues, not being able to find work, and others have moved to France but do not have identification papers. The men in the facility varied widely in age from younger men in their teens to older men in wheel chairs. Most appeared to suffer from addictions to alcohol and it was a rowdy bunch. This is by far, the harder of the facilities to work in and I have tremendous respect for Sebastian (a member of the French team visiting the US) because he works in this facility. The facility has 2 staffers starting at 3 pm and one at night until it closes at 8 am. They have a total of 24 beds in the mens facilities and the men are not allowed to leave after nine because of the limited staffing and if they do, they could run out for alcohol. The women’s facility was more relaxed and we met Christina, a woman who suffered from alcoholism but has now turned herself around and will be moving into her first apartment. She cooked our dinner. We asked how she learned to cook and she told us how she started at the age of 2 because her mother needed additional help cooking for the family. We also met two young couples in the womens house. The house is all female except for two couples they allow to stay. One couple had moved in five days earlier and they had come from the North of France to find work. The gentleman was a carpenter but he said he was having trouble getting work because he does not have a car to travel to work sites with. The other couple was a young man from Tunisia and a women who was born in France. She was carrying his child and after the baby is born they will not be able to stay in SAMU sociale. They will move onto the next facility which provides assistance to mothers and their children.
