‘Behind me now I have the monotonous song of the water, in front the colourful sound of the city, and over my head a great cloud of noise.
I love the noise of Marseilles, first the outriders, the heavy church bells, the hoarse whistles of steamers, the melody of birdsong dripping from blue heights. Then follows the main body – the infantry – of everyday sounds, the shouts of people, the tooting of vehicles, the jingling of harnesses, the echo of footsteps, the tapping of hooves, the barking of dogs. It’s a procession of noise.’
Joseph Roth, Marseilles published in Frankfurter Zeitung, October 15th 1925. From The White Cities, translated by Michael Hoffmann.
likeahammerinthesink 
I wrote a review of Joseph Roth here:
http://tomhannah.wordpress.com/2013/08/12/joseph-roth-the-radetsky-march-and-the-emperors-tomb/
Beautiful words evocative – timeless scenes – J’adore Marseilles et Toulon la cote puis et maintenant – the time machine – never change