Cannes

Cannes may possibly be the most mispronounce city in Europe or at least in France.  You don’t say the ‘s’ it’s just Can as in singular, not plural according to some self appointed ‘experts’ on the ship.  And so it was for the 4th day in a row, we were up early and arrived in the glamorous city of Cannes without the ‘s’.

It was originally called Cane Harbour by the Romans due to the abundance of reeds in the nearby marshes, go figure.  Lord Brougham was responsible for making Cannes a trendy place to go to, back in 1834 when he couldn’t get into Nice due to the cholera epidemic, now every man & his dog wants to be seen here.

It is a nice little resort town with some very swanky hotels, The Carlton being one of them so of course we had to have another photo of that.  It was lucky we got there on a Sunday as most of the shops were closed.  If they hadn’t been who knows how much money we could have spent.  We looked into the windows and there were some very expensive clothing like a nice looking T Shirt was 240 euros or a basic pair of sandals was over 140 euros.

Trying to figure out just what it is

Only three of us, Jon, myself & Maureen wanted to go to Monaco & Monte Carlo for the day so we figured out where the station was, how to buy a ticket and which train to catch, no mean feat I can assure you.  The 1 hour train ride from Cannes to Monaco is very picturesque as the tracks wind around the cliffs of the French Riviera giving great views of the beaches & Mediterranean below and the mansions & houses clinging onto the hills above.  Unfortunately it was a bit cloudy this day, our first cloudy day in over 3 weeks since starting the cruise but as the day went on the sun finally came out.  I had almost forgotten what a cloudy day looked like and we were pleased with the slightly cooler temps of around 27, makes sight seeing so much easier.

We got off the train at Monte Carlo and emerged from the very flash marble lined train station into the heart of Glamour Ville. The cars that were charging down the road almost running us over were Bentleys, Rolls Royce’s, Ferraris, Porches and some completely unidentifiable but looking pretty flash.  Across the road were the mega yachts bobbing in the small harbour and all around were grand buildings & hotels, some reportedly over 15,000 euro per night!  For the guy who has everything we saw in one shop window the perfect present.  It was a leather covered wheelbarrow with the matching leather spade, trowel & bucket.  No idea of the price but definitely something I have never thought existed, let alone buying. 

We were surprised they let us into the Monte Carlo casino as we were not properly attired but it turns out it was closed until that afternoon but we did get to see inside the grand entrance with sweeping staircases and high ceilings decorated in gold.  We also got to visit the toilet which was something in itself.  Maureen went down the stairs and afterwards insisted I came down too to have a look.  As we went down the stairs we passed the gents loo’s which had no doors and you looked straight inside to the row of urinals and to the men standing there having a leak.  Oh well, she said, we are in France after all and into the ladies she lead me.  She particularly wanted to show me the hand drier which was one of these flash jobs like a dyson fan where you insert your hands down into a slot and a whirlwind of warm air dries your hands in an instance.  The interesting thing about it was on the top it had the words “check willy willy”. What the hell that was about we had no idea but the images it conjured up almost sent us into hysterics, especially when we passed the men’s loo again with all the wily willys lining up. 

Jon picking out his next boat

At last, the perfect boat!

We sat and ate our lunch overlooking the marina with all the posh boats and the dramatic backdrop of the steep cliffs behind, high rises clinging on for dear life and the castle at the top of one of the hills.  There was a shroud of mist covering the top of the tallest mountain and ominous looking black clouds & occasional spot of rain but humidity was up and it was lovely & balmy.  I didn’t realise how steep the hills and streets were here and how they have built the town right on the side of it.  They also have beautiful gardens & parks with fountains & waterfalls in amongst the shops, casinos and hotels giving a lovely green & peaceful look to the city. There were pictures of Grace & Prince Rainier everywhere obviously still revered and the occasional one of Prince Albert.  It’s a shame we didn’t have time to see the palace or the tombs of Grace & Prince Rainier or even Jacques Cousteau’s Oceanographic museum which was just down the road.  Being very conscious of the time we didn’t want to miss the 1pm train back as the next train would get us back too late.  The ship was anchored in the harbour so we had to catch the tender ashore and the last one back to the boat left at 4pm.  Miss that boat and we would miss the ship, something we were a bit reluctant to do but at least we had seen what the fuss was about in Monte Carlo even tho we didn’t break the bank.

After strolling down the glitzy palm tree-lined boulevard of La Croisette back at Cannes & having a paddle in the sea on the public beach (there were heaps of private beaches with their umbrellas & deck chairs lining up) so we could say we swam in the French Riviera and had our photos taken on the red steps of the Cannes film festival theatre (an extremely ordinary looking building), we raced back to the wharf just in time to catch the 4pm boat and back to the ship, safe for another day.  

Doggone it, where is that train?