Du Grand Duc Cannes

ok, it was more "collecting a new country" than being really interested in Monaco. Strange, when you go there from Nice airport by bus it costs you 18 € one way, when you go from Nice bus terminal it costs 1 € one way. Monaco is a very clean city. I have never seen so many big and expensive cars. I saw the casino and the castle. Nice, but not spectacular.

... have an amazing view from Colline du Chateau. On saturday (November 28) we had sunshine and 19 degrees (end of November) and I was even swimming in the sea (15 gegrees), on sunday, November 29 we had rain and thunderstorms so that caused a delay of the plane of three hours. Best breakfast in town you find in "Les pains a tables" close to the market. Nice is a city IŽd love to visit once a year minimum.....

It is Sunday and very wet and miserable here in Antibes. Quite a change from the glorious day we had yesterday. Ideal for computer work in fact... (Except that then things didn't pan out as planned and it is now Monday)

It wasn't my intention to have an entry before my departure but the response to my initial circular has been so overwhelming that I feel it merited an ...

... to Nice to our hotel.

The next day we had a full free day of wandering and sight-seeing. We walked along the Promenade des Anglais and climbed to the top of a cliffside to take in the breathtaking views of the promenade, the azure blue ocean and its beachfront and the old town from Parc du Chateau. We took heaps of photos then spent most of the afternoon chillaxing. In the evening we had a really nice dinner ...

... towels...ahhh it was wonderful. We even had a towel warmer in the bathroom and a separate toilet!!!! Also a mini fridge and a tv which had a whopping two english speaking channels, so we were finally able to watch the news...

Our hotel also had a day spa section. We decided to cap off our extravagant weekend with some more splurge, a 1hr massage each! It also included half an hour to use the jacuzzi and steam room. It hurt the bank account, but it was worth every penny! By ...

... Table wine....

But first, a little commentary on our observations. As I mentioned from Germany, the European people love station wagons. We have all seen them at times in the states but they are everywhere in Europe. We saw the German versions right off, but through the rest of the countries we visited it is also clear that the wagon is the car of choice. All sizes, all makes. In Italy, Fiat, Lancia, and ...

... much about the poor man. It was probably because his paintings were just so basic and ugly...of course, this is just my opinion (I had to listen to a lot of nonsense from the "educated" art major on our trip about how wrong and ignorant I am.) Oooh well. The studio was in a pretty setting and we got to walk to the top of the hill where he painted from way back in the day. We took the bus back to Cannes, freshened up, ate a quick dinner at the college and then met at ...

... the semi-truck nearly ran into us. I think the photo says it all, so I will spare you the details, except to tell you that there was a big rock on the left of the road, and a river on the right of the road. Eventually, we saw the ocean, and we knew that Cannes was near. We passed a huge prison, and groaned as we realized that we would have to continue to drive up and down twisting and turning through the narrow streets to find our hotel. By this point it was nearing evening, and ...

... English to French kids for the year, and they had some time to come visit over the All Saints' Day vacation the schools get here. It was fun to play tour guide for Cannes. I am constantly amazed when I discover things I've never seen before even though I've walked the same streets for over two months now. Just the other day I walked down a new street and found a little shop with a popcorn maker out front, so I bought some for a treat ...

... from Star Wars. That was the movie coming out that day. We decided to wait around a bit before we had to take the bus to see if we could find anyone famous. They were setting up the red carpet and vacuuming it and everything and the crowd around us kept getting bigger and bigger. The security guards started clearing everybody off the street. The orchestra cleared out and came back a little later all dressed up in suits. Policeman came down and began marching around on the ...