France14

IDEAS Homes for Vacation & Long-Term Rentals

Made With

I woke up 9:30 and 10:00 and got up at 10:20 and repeated my same run to the beach and then past the port to downtown Cannes. While crossing the trestle across the railroad tracks I got these shots which created a beautiful panorama.

The port yacht basin is quite nice also. The fancy part of town is toward the right.

At 11:10 I stopped for a cappuccino at O'tchan on rue Felix Faure. It was Marcia's idea that we take the day off and lie on the beach. So I called her and we met at 12:30 at the same restaurant Madeleine and while waiting for her I had another cappuccino. We then walked across the street to one of the beach properties with chairs and a cafe. Here's looking to the left and the right of where we were situated.

We laid there for a while but finally had to get in the water for a swim. Even Marcia went in three times. She's the one with the hat. The kids will get a kick out of this photo because they can never get Mom in the pool at home.

When the sun got too much for me and I had swam enough to get prickly, I sat in the cafe for a while and had my third cappuccino while chatting with the lady that runs the place. It cost us almost $24 to spend the afternoon there but it seemed well worth it.

Then at 4:30, Marcia thought we had enough sun and it was time to go back to the room for a while. Later I went down to the bar area and was able to get the hotel's free WiFi Internet and do email and upload the website. This place is great. Niccola had booked us dinner reservations at another place he had recommended. At 9:00 we drove the car down the main drag called Blvd Croisette and arrived at the grand Hotel Gray d'Albion and found the Restaurant Le Royal Gray [38 rue de Serbes,

+33-(0)4-92-99-7979].

The menus are very difficult to interpret and get any idea of what the dish is. This so far is the hardest thing for me. I know the words for chicken (poulet), veal (veau), lamb (agneau) and beef (boeuf) but how they are prepared in any one entree is a mystery to me (even after they explain it to you. Also, here the word entr�e means appetizer or starter, not the main dish. We ordered a bottle of Eau Ferrarelle (water) and a bottle of vin blancs Labotti�r Bordeaux and they brought us a starter of something with fish and toast.

Marcia had "3 variations on asparagus" followed by pikeperch and coconut meringue with berry sauce for dessert.

I had a starter of scallops but it came raw which was a surprise. When I told the waiter I don't eat sushi he taught me the French word for raw (cru) and then had the scallops cooked.

I then had chicken and a apricot tart for dessert. It wasn't bad but couldn't beat what we had last night. A nice couple from England were leaving and he asked if we wanted our picture taken. People have been very nice to us.

We finished dinner at 11:00 and decided to take a walk along rue Notre Dame and finally found rue du Suquet (the restaurant street Christian had first recommended to me but we never found on our first night.) It is really amazing all the nightlife going on and all the wonderful restaurants available all along the street as it winds like a snake up the steep hill. Without a recommendation from someone who knows, it is impossible to decide which one of the fifty places is the best.

It was almost 11:00 and all the places were busy and filled with people. At 11:30 we settled for one of the few places that would seat us for just an after-dinner drink. We had a beer and wine at Le P'tit Zinc vin bar on rue Meynadier and with it you get a free plate of gummy worms - is that strange or what? Marcia refused to even try one.

After that we walked all the way back to the Gray Hotel and got the car from the valet and drove back to the hotel where I worked on the website and downloaded Rush Limbaugh programs. It is amazing since he started "Podcasting" on June 3rd, I can download each hour of the show if I can get on line. I then transfer it to my PoGo unit and I get all the news about what is going on back home while I am running. I heard about Sandra Day O'Conner retiring from the Supreme Court. That wasn't in any of the English or French paper. I finally went to bed at 3 AM.