Cannes
I did not plan on going to the film festival originally, but I found out that the festival was going on
after I had booked my flight, so I thought it would be fun. Cannes is a small town for such an event.
This is one of the doors that celebrities may exit by the groups of paparazzi. Arriving a Cannes was a feat
in itself, first of all it was a Sunday and all of the buses were over-packed. May 2012
And the red carpet were they enter. I didn't recognize anyone famous, but I saw some wannabes. May 2012
The paparazzi have their ladders to climb on, all lined up 3 rows deep, just waiting... May 2012
The Front of the landmark Carlton Hotel was transformed into the "Dictators" palace. May 2012
This guy with the old car was promoting some movie. But I didn't get the movie's name. May 2012
This long line of Audi 8s are the courtesy cars for the celebrities attending the Film Festival. 2012
There were a lot of giant posters on buildings for the festival. Mr Hitchcock was so COOL! May 2012
I took a walk up the hill to see the old part of town, even though it was not all that, it was
a great view of the town and the event. May 2012
Looking from above into the square below. May 2012
Looking down onto the Film Festival from the Castle. The white tents are the press events and
the big black and white building is the film festival event. May 2012
This Renault 2 seater electric car was parked at the castle. The car is only one person wide and
the passenger sits behind the driver. I saw a few of these running around. Very Cool! May 2012
Famous Carlton Hotel, Cannes, France. This is Cannes without the Film Festival. 2008
When your in Cannes, you have to eat on the beach at least once. 2008
The old town above and convention center where the Cannes Film Festival is held. 2008
I ordered one of the Famous French Crepes in Cannes. Mine was dark chocolate and bananas.
It's paper thin, soft, yet crispy and melts in your mouth. 2005
Antibes
Antibes (pronounced "onteeb") is a old town on the Riviera that is famous for being the home of Picasso and now the Picasso museum. But it has been around long before him, there are Roman ruins under the city. The Antibes fort at the harbor entrance was too far to get to, so this is my only good picture of it. May 2012
The old town center is down near the port and is very walkable but cars were having a very hard time
getting around or parking. Bicycling is common here, next time I'll rent a bike. May 2012
I'm on my way to Picasso's House and I pass this church tucked into the stairways and narrow streets. May 2012
This is the Picasso Museum and was once his home. I took this picture leaning against the sea wall,
so he had an incredible view of the Mediterranean. May 2012
This house was across the street from Picasso's house. May 2012
This place was busy, for today was a French National holiday, and some tourist businesses were closed
and morning traffic was light, except near the beaches. May 2012
As I was walking, I saw this covered market in the tight area and I thought it must be a flea market.
But I was wrong, It was food under the covered area, This is France and it was gourmet food.
See pictures below. 2012
The olive guy had many kinds of olives, garlic and fresh made olive pastes and free samples.
Wow the smell under this tent makes your mouth water. May 2012
Next its the aged cheese guy and the wedges on the left are over a foot tall, and I think
these are portioned for restaurants, I guess. May 2012
Next its the spices girls (ok, spice ladys) and I smelled this, long before I saw it. May 2012
The fish store is right next to the market, the shoppers were stopping here last, before heading home. May 2012
They even have these fancy sardine stores with too many varieties to count. May 2012
There are bakery shops, pastry shops and there are dessert shops and they are NOT the same. To the silly American this is confusing. But to the French you specialize in what you do best and thats why they dislike the supermarkets so much. I visited another pastry shop this morning and the owner knows most of the customers by name. I bought a quiche lorraine, a cheese/apple tart and a raisin danish. 2012
I spent about 3 hours here in Antibes including lunch and it was time well spent. May 2012
Cagnes Sur Mer
Here's my little Hotel in Cagnes Sur Mer for my first night in France. The very friendly elderly couple who ran it did not speak english, but it was the nicest hotel I have had on the trip so far. It was full of quality old furniture and was very French. May 2012
Just north of the town of Cagnes Sur Mer I decided I was going to walk to the medieval town of Haut-De-Cagnes and on the map it was less than a mile. As I walked toward the town I ran into an older French lady who told me in French that they had a free bus, and that I should not try to walk it. She then walked we about 5 blocks out of her way to the correct bus stop. She was wonderful. May 2012
This is the Castle. It was ok, but the area around it was very cool and not full of tourists. May 2012
The walk down was steep, but a lot easier than the walk up I'm sure. May 2012
There was a lot of little nooks and crannies on the walk down. May 2012
I regret not taking a picture of one of the cats sitting on the window ledges.
The french love cats (and cute little dogs for that matter). May 2012
This medieval village was almost all locals. The tourists were down at the Cannes Film Festival. May 2012
The was a good quite morning and I go from this serenity to the Cannes Film Festival in a few hours. May 2012
After the walk back to Cagnes I notice about 3 pastry shops in a row but one had a long line of locals, so that was my cue to join them. They had about 50+ choices and I picked 3. Wow the French are food artists, on this trip I had one really great pastry in Holland, 3 mediocre ones in Spain, and now these were master pieces. May 2012
I held up my apple tart to take a photo and a cute little white dog ran up, because he thought I was
offering him some. He was well mannered and adorable (his owner was not far behind). May 2012
Juan-Les-Pins
My next stop is to head to my 2nd hotel in France and drop my suitcase at Juan-Les-Pins (next to Cannes).
This is your typical French beach town full of hotels and tourists on vacation. May 2012
The Juan-Les-Pins Beach gets crowded when the weathers right. May 2012
I bought a bottle of the local Provence Rose Wine, I like the cool shaped bottles they use for this regional wine and it tastes great too. The cute front desk girl saw me bring in the wine and got a wine glass from the bar for me. May 2012