Bonjour!! Currently writing to you from our flat in Cannes, France. It is wonderful here! Cannes is in Southern France and is known for the film festival that happens here for two weeks in the summer. It is a big touristy area and that is fun because a) people speak english and b) there is a lot of stuff to do. We are lucky because our apartment is located in the old part of town, though, surrounded by charming restaurants and far away from the high rise hotels and beach bars.
Today we spent the day hiking at Massif de l'Esterel, a forested area near Cannes. We took the train to a small town called Theoule sur Mer about 10 miles away and then headed out of the town and up into the mountains. The cliffs were bright red and looked beautiful against the turquoise water. We spent the day checking out the forest and cliffs and then walking down along the coast, and then came back and made a delicious dinner - pasta, (a wee bit expensive) olives and red sauce, spinach, sautéed green beans, red wine, bread, cheese. Yum! Just like they said it would be, wine here is cheaper than water and the bread and cheese are incredible, even on cheap sandwiches bought at the supermarket. Here are some pictures from the day. Note: No, our snail friend was not eaten even though we are in france:
Another piece of good news is that Jamee and Angie made it here safely! We spent last night gorging on Easter chocolate that Jamee managed to squeeze in her suitcase, reading magazines, talking, and (sadly) facebooking, probably much to Eric's dismay. It was the epitome of a girls night. Tomorrow I think that we are going to spend the whole day on the beach because the weather is supposed to be really nice (today was sort of cloudy and rained in the afternoon.)
Not sure what the best way is to recap the trip so far, but I'll start with the first day:
Tuesday we got into Marseille and spent the night in a cute hostel named "hotel relax." The owners definitely did not speak any english, nor did anyone at the restaurant we ate dinner at, but we managed to make it okay.
Everyone here has been so sweet and willing to help us, the (admittedly ignorant) Americans. For example, when we were searching for the start of the hike today a cute old lady walked right up to us on the street started speaking to us in french, probably since we looked completely lost. We pointed to the map and told her where we wanted to go, and she just kept on talking to us in french and pulled us off in the other direction. To be honest, I sort of thought that she had no idea where she was going and was a little hesitant to follow her. But she just kept walking along and making sure we were still following her, singing to herself the whole time. She took us straight to the beginning of the hike and without her help we definitely would not have found it - you had to turn down a poorly labeled path and then go into some tunnel under the train tracks to get there.
Anyway, on Wednesday morning we got to check out Marseille a little bit before taking a train to Cannes. We saw a fort (there has been a fort in every town we've been to so far!) and then looked around the harbor there for a little while. When we got to Cannes we found the apartment agency, went to the supermarket to stock up, settled in and looked around the city. Here is a pic of me & marseille from the fort:
Thursday we went to Antibes, a super cute town near Cannes. The old part of the town is one of those sickeningly adorable areas where there is just a huge maze of cobblestone paths, old apartment buildings with flowers cascading down from the windows, and little cafes with candles and plenty of outdoor seating. Antibes (pronounced an-teeb) is also known for the Picasso museum there. We saw a bunch of paintings around the town which were done by Picasso and inspired by the area, but decided to skip the museum. Instead, we took a hike up to a big hill/park nearby to get a view. We walked back down from the hill through a seriously expensive neighborhood and gawked at all the luxurious homes. (please note me and eric's model shot - so many emotions)
Friday was my favorite day so far. We went to Ventimiglia, a town in Italy that is an hour and a half away by train. Every friday they have a huge outdoor market there. The train ride itself was gorgeous - tree splotched cliffs juxtaposed with clear blue water, sun shining, snow-capped Alps in the background. The weather was incredible and we spent the whole day browsing the market. I got some cheap sunglasses and a new scarf, and even got to take a nap on the beach. Add in ice cream and a cheap bread/fruit lunch from the food market and you have a perfect day.
As Byron has already noted, this blog would not be complete without me tributing bunny rabbits in some way on each post. Small dogs are extremely popular here, and just about everyone is seen walking some little fuzz ball around. But at the market we saw a woman walking a bunny around on a leash. Proof: Here they are scoping out a pile of jeans..
Okay bed time here. Bonne nuit!!
