The French Navy

May 3, 2012

I hope I’m not required to turn in my French heritage membership card for this entry, but I’ll just have to take my chances. Today we arrived at port in Toulon, France. This is the jumping off point for some lovely French Riviera attractions. However, today I knew I would be doing no jumping off. After all, I had already met my port quota for the cruise and really needed to be far more ‘heads down’ on work today. So, my impressions of Toulon are merely from the harbor, and I must admit, the impressions weren’t favorable.

It started over my morning coffee. As I sat at my favorite table by the window in Café Al Bacio I was met by a most distressing site. It was an old, rusted ship at a terrible list which looked like it had run aground in the harbor. I was stunned that this was my first impression of this port. I had grown to expect little of the actual ports in Europe, but this took it to a new low. I commented to Karen as she brought my morning beverage that I didn’t realize that we were going to get an up close and personal look of the Concordia. Dark humor, yes, but I wasn’t sure how to respond to this initial sight.

As I continued my work day I was able to get above decks a few times to get other views, and they weren’t that inspiring. There appeared to be a significant ‘mothball’ fleet placed at various points in the harbor. Other areas were cordoned off, not allowing access by water, and there were the equivalent of French PT boats which occasionally cruised through the harbor looking like they meant business. While other crew members were able to get off the ship to view the south of France my ‘touring’ took on a far more depressing view.

Subsequent research told me that Toulon is where the French fleet was scuttled during WWII. It obviously has been a preferred graveyard site for military ships since that time. Was the wreckage next to which we berthed a part of that scuttled fleet? I never found out for sure and additional internet research has not provided a clear answer. All I know is that if I ever return to Toulon, France, I need to get ashore so I may develop a more positive memory.

Of course, as I was later to find out going ashore wasn’t always that great, either. Late in the afternoon a distraught crew member arrived at my office door. She had been robbed while out shopping. After having a wonderful day in port she lost focus on her purse for just a minute, long enough for a thief to remove her wallet. Here she was, thousands of miles away from home and needing to cancel and replace all her identification and credit cards. I let her use my office phone to begin that lengthy process and to call her dad for comfort.

Sadly, this did not add anything positive to the view of Toulon. Sorry, ancestors.

And the adventure continues . . .