Cannes
A movie festival, absinthe and on a boat–again
Saturday, May 21st, 2011 at 20:25 | categories: Antibes, Beer, Cannes, Juan-les-Pins, People
This time it was one of my hometown friend’s time to visit me in the Riviera, and the timing couldn’t have been much better. The weather was great and with the Cannes film festival going on, all the other towns close by weren’t so packed with tourists–just how I like it.
We strolled around Antibes and Juan-les-Pins as well as visited Cannes to see what the fuzz was all about. We also went to one of my favorite places here, Villefranche, to chillax and see the sun go down. The days have been pretty warm here for a couple of months now, but the nights are turning pretty warm as well and you can see couples and groups hanging out on the beach well after sunset.
I finally got to visit the famous absinthe bar in Antibes, where they have a wide selection of different kinds of the traditional artsy people’s liquor. The owner is happy to tell you everything about the drink in question, but he’ll require you to wear a silly hat.
We also rented a boat for 4 hours and drove around the coast. This time I knew better and left my valuables at home instead of dipping them in the ocean. Our oceanic picnic consisted of some champagne, foie gras and baguettes. Not a bad way to spend the last weeks here, eh?
The red carpet. No celebs at that point.
So you buy a yacht for 20M euros and choose Comic Sans for the logo? My soul is crying.
Absinthe bar. Apparently my silly hat is in the background.
Crêpes
Monday, January 24th, 2011 at 23:47 | categories: Antibes, Cannes, General mumbling
A really common snack food over here in France are crêpes, which are thin pancakes filled with things both sweet and savory. I took a stroll in the old parts of Antibes today and decided to try one with bacon, cheese and mushrooms. I’m fairly certain it won’t be my last!
It was a warm day again and elderly folks seemed to be enjoying their free time outside. There are loads of places where men in their sixties are playing pétanque in big groups. It’s fun to watch.
Crêpe (phone cam)
Pétanque (phone cam)
Cannes Saturday night, I forgot to post it before
Ex tempore trip to Cannes
Sunday, January 23rd, 2011 at 13:57 | categories: Cannes
I was going to pick up my camera from the American’s apartment where I left it on Thursday during the party, and I ended up in Cannes. Seems like only a couple of people were originally planning to go, but everyone just tagged along. We wandered around the city, some people went shopping, some just did sightseeing.
There were a lot of people trying to get a glimpse of celebrities around the convention center and the hotels, because of the music convention MIDEM going on that day. They’d even set up chairs and ladders to see them better. People are strange!
This time we went there by train, which is a lot faster than the bus. You can get a return ticket from Juan-les-Pins for 3,40€. I’m not sure if that’s including student discounts or not since I didn’t get the ticket myself.
The convention center. People are setting up the red carpet for me just in time.
Jumping NYC style
In Cannes
Sunday, January 16th, 2011 at 16:00 | categories: Cannes
On this sunny afternoon I made a little trip to Cannes, which is only 10km away. The bus 200 goes from Nice to Cannes and vice versa in every 15 minutes or so, and there’s a bus stop ~200m from the apartment. The trip takes around 40-50min from Antibes. If you don’t happen to have a bus card, a one-way ticket costs only a euro, which is really cheap!
On the way to Cannes you can spot huge houses that look like castles up on the hill. A funny thing, though, is that the coastline reminds me of Florida–first there’s sea, then there’s a railroad, then a highway. Only after that you can see something that looks sort of nice.
The weather has been really warm all day. Google’s weather service tells me it’s only 14C, but in the sun it must have been close to, if not above 20C. There were people in t-shirts and even shorts strolling down la Croisette, which is the famous promenade full of expensive stores, restaurants and hotels. One courageous older lady was even in her bikinis swimming, which is an image I’ll struggle to get out of my mind today. And not in the good way.
A view from the harbor
The market at Cannes
A view from the old parts of Le Suquet. The highest tower + museum combo was closed during the lunch hours, I didn't bother to wait
A mask above an entrance in Le Suquet
Beach art
Shopping streets of Cannes. Everything is closed during the lunch hours.
