The French Riviera is one of those locations in the world where the name equates to images of beautiful beaches (and I guess of people too), pristine blue Mediterranean water, and really big boats. Every year when I see images of the Cannes Film festival I have wondered what it would be like to actually be there. I guess that's the beauty of travel - the ability to see for yourself what you have always wondered about.
We arrived after a long day of travel that took us from a 4:00 am wake-up in Madrid to a brief stop in Brussels to a landing in Nice and a bus ride to Cannes. Its always a bit challenging to arrive in a new place and try to figure out where you need to get to and how to get there. We got into a habit of just grabbing a cab (perhaps an acknowledgment of being 40something travellers), but now we are trying to embrace local transit (and our own legs) a bit more.
After finding our cozy apartment (with the nice big balcony) we set off to see what Cannes was all about. The Palais des Festivals is certainly the focal point in town. Home to the annual film festival and other famous events like the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity (which was just starting when we were leaving), it rolls out the red carpet for celebrities and those who are a little less than famous.
That's not to say we didn't come across some famous faces while we were there:
We even got a chance to see how we would comparatively measure up with some of Hollywood's biggest names.
We also got the chance for some unexpected horse fun. Cannes was hosting the Global Champions Tour horse jumping event. A quick look online gave us some even better news - tickets were free! We love free tickets. We will (almost) check out anything if the tickets are free.
One of the things we have noticed in Europe is the creativity of the local street artists. In Madrid I was lucky enough to have tea with the Mad Hatter. Here in Cannes we came across perhaps the most iconic literary figure of all time
Now we (for the most part) take the position that these are people out there trying to entertain and make a living. So if we take a picture or hang out for awhile and watch what they are doing, we chip in. My new pet peeve are the people who would walk past Jesus here, take his picture and not throw down any coin. It's like they are asking for bad karma. You really shouldn't stiff Jesus - regardless of your personal religious beliefs.
Oh ya, there were some beaches too....
We arrived after a long day of travel that took us from a 4:00 am wake-up in Madrid to a brief stop in Brussels to a landing in Nice and a bus ride to Cannes. Its always a bit challenging to arrive in a new place and try to figure out where you need to get to and how to get there. We got into a habit of just grabbing a cab (perhaps an acknowledgment of being 40something travellers), but now we are trying to embrace local transit (and our own legs) a bit more.
After finding our cozy apartment (with the nice big balcony) we set off to see what Cannes was all about. The Palais des Festivals is certainly the focal point in town. Home to the annual film festival and other famous events like the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity (which was just starting when we were leaving), it rolls out the red carpet for celebrities and those who are a little less than famous.
That's not to say we didn't come across some famous faces while we were there:
We even got a chance to see how we would comparatively measure up with some of Hollywood's biggest names.
We also got the chance for some unexpected horse fun. Cannes was hosting the Global Champions Tour horse jumping event. A quick look online gave us some even better news - tickets were free! We love free tickets. We will (almost) check out anything if the tickets are free.
One of the things we have noticed in Europe is the creativity of the local street artists. In Madrid I was lucky enough to have tea with the Mad Hatter. Here in Cannes we came across perhaps the most iconic literary figure of all time
Now we (for the most part) take the position that these are people out there trying to entertain and make a living. So if we take a picture or hang out for awhile and watch what they are doing, we chip in. My new pet peeve are the people who would walk past Jesus here, take his picture and not throw down any coin. It's like they are asking for bad karma. You really shouldn't stiff Jesus - regardless of your personal religious beliefs.
Oh ya, there were some beaches too....
I didn't realize until this moment how uncannily Chloe resembles Samuel L. Jackson. Kind of eerie!
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