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Le jour final sur Cote d'Azur
My day began with another trip to my favorite boulangerie just down the street from the hotel. The girl who works there in the morning now expects m
e and greeted me with a cheery “Hello!” when I walked in. She knows this is my last morning and made a sad face when I said “au revoir!” It was another beautiful sunny day in Cannes and I wanted to get as much out of it as I could. I walked along Le Croisette by the Palais de Festivals. I had planned to visit Antibes today, so I made my way to the train station to catch the short train ride over. The trains can be a little tricky and unpredictable here so I wanted to be there a little early just in case the schedule changed. Upon arriving in Antibes (once again following Rick Steves’ direction) I walked down the hill to Vieux Port. The port in Antibes is the among the oldest in Europe and is claimed to be the biggest with over 1600 slips. It appeared that all of them were full and there were yachts parked on the other side of the rampart as there was no room available for them inside the port. Across the water there was an island w
here Fort Carre stands. This protected Antibes from foreigners for more than 500 years. I walked along by the port until I reached the end and came upon a little shell shaped public beach named Plage de la Gravette. Here there were a few dozen people taking advantage of the sunny day and having picnics or just laying there on the beach soaking up the rays. There were several runners and a few bicyclers. I loved Antibes already! It’s character made it difficult not to fall in love immediately. To get back into the little center area I had to backtrack and go through an arch that led into old town. Here I wandered through the streets inhaling the smells of the restaurants and the sea. On my way to the marketplace I walked by a plaza where there was being held an antique flea market. Apparently on Sundays there are many flea markets that happen all up and down the coast. They had one in Cannes that I caught the tail end of later in the afternoon. There were many inviting littl
e shops that were fun to walk in and out of and one in particular that had an absinthe bar and museum underneath. Absinthe is outlawed in many places, but not France. The bar was like a cave underneath a little tourist shop. There was a party of four others who led the way down and it was fascinating listening to them talk about the history and involvement. They seemed to be intrigued by it as well. There were several tables all around and a bar you could walk up to. There was also a private area where you could sit with your friends, put on silly hats and scarves and have yourselves an absinthe party. I continued walking through the little town, past the marketplace and over to the beautiful pastel colored Church of Immaculate Conception. Next to the cathedral stood Chateau Grimaldi, which houses the Picasso museum. The museum is currently being remodeled so I was unable to go inside. From there I walked along the rampart letting the sun kiss my face and marveling at the beauty of the Cote d’Azur! Once I got to the end I turned and walked thr
ough the narrow streets until I once again reached the center square. Here there was another flea market in progress, a bigger one, so I perused the offerings. I couldn’t pass up the delicious looking gelato I passed by so I stopped and had a heaping scoop of mint-chocolate chip gelato! YUM! It was nearing time for me to catch my train back to Cannes so I leisurely wandered in the direction of the train station. Being early paid off! They canceled the train I had originally planned to take and instead we were to board another one headed to Marseille, which was coming 6 minutes earlier than the other one. It seemed as though no one knew what to make of this and even after asking three people I was still confused! The train came and I jumped on. There was a woman in front of me who was in quite a rush to board the train and then just as the train started to move she came barreling down the aisle screaming, “STOP!” (in french), opened the door and jumped out onto the platform. From a MOVING train!! As the train 
continued to pick up speed I began to pray that I hadn’t made the mistake of boarding the wrong train that would send me barreling past Cannes all the way to Marseille. Eventually we began to slow and finally stopped in Cannes. I jumped out with a prayer of thanks and was on my way to stroll the streets one last time before heading to the hotel to pack. The flea market was still going on in the plaza directly in front of our hotel, so I wandered through it and certainly couldn’t pass up the opportunity to get another hot, delicious crepe! YUM! I eventually headed back to the hotel to complete inevitable task of packing. But I had a far more exciting reason to be there. Today is my niece’s birthday!! Thanks to the marvels of modern technology I was able to chat with her and sing to her! Happy birthday! I love you so much!! After our video chat online , I got to have dinner with C at the Palais, which was quite a treat! He took me on the grand tour and showed me all the theater rooms where the movies are shown during the Cannes film festival. It is a beautiful building inside and fun to have 
the run of the place! After dinner we headed to a nearby Irish pub to watch England v. France in a rugby game. What a fun event! To be at an Irish pub with a bunch of Englishmen in France! Good times! Thankfully rugby fans aren’t like football (soccer) fans and can watch the games and root for different teams while maintaining (relative) peace! Having never watched a rugby game before, it was quite entertaining! The night ended with England winning, me saying “goodbye” to the London crew and heading back to the hotel to finish packing. I arrived home safe late Sunday night and hit the ground running on Monday. C is there until Friday and I am very anxious to have him home.
e and greeted me with a cheery “Hello!” when I walked in. She knows this is my last morning and made a sad face when I said “au revoir!” It was another beautiful sunny day in Cannes and I wanted to get as much out of it as I could. I walked along Le Croisette by the Palais de Festivals. I had planned to visit Antibes today, so I made my way to the train station to catch the short train ride over. The trains can be a little tricky and unpredictable here so I wanted to be there a little early just in case the schedule changed. Upon arriving in Antibes (once again following Rick Steves’ direction) I walked down the hill to Vieux Port. The port in Antibes is the among the oldest in Europe and is claimed to be the biggest with over 1600 slips. It appeared that all of them were full and there were yachts parked on the other side of the rampart as there was no room available for them inside the port. Across the water there was an island w
here Fort Carre stands. This protected Antibes from foreigners for more than 500 years. I walked along by the port until I reached the end and came upon a little shell shaped public beach named Plage de la Gravette. Here there were a few dozen people taking advantage of the sunny day and having picnics or just laying there on the beach soaking up the rays. There were several runners and a few bicyclers. I loved Antibes already! It’s character made it difficult not to fall in love immediately. To get back into the little center area I had to backtrack and go through an arch that led into old town. Here I wandered through the streets inhaling the smells of the restaurants and the sea. On my way to the marketplace I walked by a plaza where there was being held an antique flea market. Apparently on Sundays there are many flea markets that happen all up and down the coast. They had one in Cannes that I caught the tail end of later in the afternoon. There were many inviting littl
e shops that were fun to walk in and out of and one in particular that had an absinthe bar and museum underneath. Absinthe is outlawed in many places, but not France. The bar was like a cave underneath a little tourist shop. There was a party of four others who led the way down and it was fascinating listening to them talk about the history and involvement. They seemed to be intrigued by it as well. There were several tables all around and a bar you could walk up to. There was also a private area where you could sit with your friends, put on silly hats and scarves and have yourselves an absinthe party. I continued walking through the little town, past the marketplace and over to the beautiful pastel colored Church of Immaculate Conception. Next to the cathedral stood Chateau Grimaldi, which houses the Picasso museum. The museum is currently being remodeled so I was unable to go inside. From there I walked along the rampart letting the sun kiss my face and marveling at the beauty of the Cote d’Azur! Once I got to the end I turned and walked thr
ough the narrow streets until I once again reached the center square. Here there was another flea market in progress, a bigger one, so I perused the offerings. I couldn’t pass up the delicious looking gelato I passed by so I stopped and had a heaping scoop of mint-chocolate chip gelato! YUM! It was nearing time for me to catch my train back to Cannes so I leisurely wandered in the direction of the train station. Being early paid off! They canceled the train I had originally planned to take and instead we were to board another one headed to Marseille, which was coming 6 minutes earlier than the other one. It seemed as though no one knew what to make of this and even after asking three people I was still confused! The train came and I jumped on. There was a woman in front of me who was in quite a rush to board the train and then just as the train started to move she came barreling down the aisle screaming, “STOP!” (in french), opened the door and jumped out onto the platform. From a MOVING train!! As the train 
continued to pick up speed I began to pray that I hadn’t made the mistake of boarding the wrong train that would send me barreling past Cannes all the way to Marseille. Eventually we began to slow and finally stopped in Cannes. I jumped out with a prayer of thanks and was on my way to stroll the streets one last time before heading to the hotel to pack. The flea market was still going on in the plaza directly in front of our hotel, so I wandered through it and certainly couldn’t pass up the opportunity to get another hot, delicious crepe! YUM! I eventually headed back to the hotel to complete inevitable task of packing. But I had a far more exciting reason to be there. Today is my niece’s birthday!! Thanks to the marvels of modern technology I was able to chat with her and sing to her! Happy birthday! I love you so much!! After our video chat online , I got to have dinner with C at the Palais, which was quite a treat! He took me on the grand tour and showed me all the theater rooms where the movies are shown during the Cannes film festival. It is a beautiful building inside and fun to have 
the run of the place! After dinner we headed to a nearby Irish pub to watch England v. France in a rugby game. What a fun event! To be at an Irish pub with a bunch of Englishmen in France! Good times! Thankfully rugby fans aren’t like football (soccer) fans and can watch the games and root for different teams while maintaining (relative) peace! Having never watched a rugby game before, it was quite entertaining! The night ended with England winning, me saying “goodbye” to the London crew and heading back to the hotel to finish packing. I arrived home safe late Sunday night and hit the ground running on Monday. C is there until Friday and I am very anxious to have him home.
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