I’m walking along the rive gauche around 8 o’clock, having been awake now for about 24 hours, I reckon, and I’ve eaten virtually nothing, just the two vinegary poached eggs from the Sheraton..i can’t get over eating my first meal in France at the Sheraton, but the chairs were comfortable.
Yup that’s Notre Dame from the other side Takes me ten minutes to get from my hotel to the Sofitel Hotel and Les Trois Forts restaurant which has a sensational view of the harbour seen from the heavily fortified entrance to the harbour. I can’t do it justice with my camera and through glass but this is what the view is like in the day…. 
The restaurant itself is international plush just the place to enrage Occupy Wall Street protesters but I don’t see any around.A glass of champagne appears immediately. Now I feel I’m in France. A little amuse bouche.baby veg, mustardy dip and toasts…
I must eat a sardine, sardine escabeche to be precise, fried, pickled, pungent with tomato, olives, parsley… 
Now I’m waking up….this food is so good, now better than good with the arrival of sea bass with the skin, fish that tastes fresher than I think I’ve ever had, crowned with diced courgettes,tomatoes, olives. Two baby artichokes on stalks looking like a couple of stingrays surround the fish lapped by carrot,orange, cumin jus, so subtly scented. The chef’s name is Dominique Frerard .A classic French dinner
A little fig tart with fig syrup granita nestled under a brittle hoop. Then little green mint marshmallows and a tiny cube of opera cake. Like L’Il Orphan Annie when she stepped inside Daddy Warbucks’ mansion”I think I’m gonna like it here.”
When I leave the Sofitel I look upwards to see the most menacing building in the city. St Nicholas Fort, like its twin, St. Jean Fort, across the harbour was built by Louis XIV not as you might think to defend the city from invaders. No, the guns were all turned toward the disaffected Marseillais. 
And then almost right beside it, the 5th century dedicated to St. Victor. Some history, some city.
