Roanoke (CL 145) - Naval Cruise Book

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,qv -'Z -Af . gig-iz. ut, lei HE MARSEILLE for any incidents that might mar our stay, during the May Day parades and celebration downtown. Marseille, like Genoa, is not a glamorous city, but a city of industry and commerce, centering, of course, on its milesflong waterffront. We took a taxi up to the church of Notre Dame de la Garde, the mariners' church of Marseille, built high atop the highest peak in the city, and from it we got a breathtaking view of all the city there was to see and its tremendous harbor. Gur stay was not long enough to make it appear worthwhile taking the tours offered by our roving friend the American Express agent, but some of us did go off to Paris for the live days that the rest of us spent in Marseille. Cur sightseeing in Marseille was done by walking through the busy streets, shopping in the many small perfume shops, and sitting at sidewalk cafes to sample the French wines and watch the passing parade, an excellent vantage point for this latter pastime. We were interested in the French girls, Were they as voluptuous, beautiful, chic and passion' 55a ' - --siiiiwfw -A A-+'-ffffrffx' ate as Life Magazine has always hinted? Well, we looked at them, and they looked about like the girls in Ames, Iowa or Macon, Georgia. Those of us who went to Paris reported that the girls there were really French, meaning the ooooooflafla type. The ones we saw in Marseille were more like the ones at home, and, frankly, we were glad they were. The members of the France'United States Club, an organization founded for the purpose of bringing about better relationships between American and French people and fostered by our State Depart' ment, offered its facilities to the Roanoke during our stay in Marseille. Each night a sizeable group of us went there to meet the girls, to dance, to drink beer and Coke, and to eat the sandwiches which were generously passed out. It was our experience that the Club was doing an excellent job in May 1950 of cementing good relationships between some of the youth of France and America. Algiers, in French North Africa, was our next stop. The Casbah, famous stamping grounds of

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FRANCS TG ESCUDOS TO DOLLARS Three hundred and fortyfhve francs to the dollar made easy figuring, for anyone could figure that a lOOO'franc note was Worth about three dollars' With these instructions from the port information sheet that Was handed us before We arrived in Marseille, We were introduced to France. Though We Would have liked to have seen the Riviera, Mar' seille, the largest port in the Mediterranean, a city of a million people, Was a good second choice for our only stop in France. Unfortunately our visit carried over May l, Europels May Day, and liberty was curtailed in order that there would be no chance Marseille-the Brooklyn of France 1 AU 'tv-yi! anna

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if? Ac1miral's reception Marseille-with music Qin:- -55:56