(delayed blog post re: easter weekend)
I decided that maybe it would be nice to stay in France for one weekend of my life so for the Easter Weekend I went to the Côte d'Azur with my friend Maddy. It was a beautiful sunny day so I was able to see the whole coast, the towns, and the ocean when we were descending; I knew right then and there that I had found the spot for my future vacation villa. We landed in Nice, took a bus to Cannes, found our hotel (cute and full of ye olds) and immediately went to the beach. I realized how much I've missed the ocean...I mean the Seine is great and all but if I went swimming in it, I would emerge with some sort of radioactive powers and probably be covered in rat feces. After the beach we grabbed lunch at a delicious Italian restaurant (eggplant pizza = amazing) then wandered around the town. Cannes is very small but all the buildings are gorgeous. The main stretch is la Croisette which is a palm tree lined boulevard with the beach on one sider and fancy hotels and designer stores on the other. The smaller streets and the buildings on them remind me of Italy; the streets are narrow and winding with cobblestones and the buildings are cream with colourful shutters and terracotta roofs. We wandered up to the main cathedral of Cannes that has a great view of the town. After we explored some more and eventually ended back at the beach with ice cream. That night we went for the most amazing french food of escargots, salmon, and duck.
The next day we took a 10 minute train to Antibes to meet up with a friend of mine who's on exchange there. It wasn't the nicest of days but it didn't really ruin our plans too much. We went to an incredible market where there was a huge selection of delicious food and great smelling soap. We picked up bread, cheese (the cheeseman described it as "atomic bomb" cheese and he was right), jambon cru, olive tapanade, and pastries and had a picnic lunch along the water. Then we went to the Picassco museum in the Chateau Grimaldi where he painted for six months in 1946. After we bussed to Cap d'Antibes and walked along the Sentier Tirepoil, an amazing path that runs along cliffs bordering the ocean.
Even though I've bought designer vintage, beautiful shoes, and more pastries than the Atkins diet would allow in one year, this still remains my favourite purchase from France.
Sentier Tirepoil
That night, we had more delicious Italian food in Cannes before taking the late night train into Monaco. Monaco is insane; not in the sense of actual insanity because the town that night was pretty quiet for the most point but insane in the sense that everything is so luxurious and opulent from the yachts to the cars to the buildings. The Monte Carlo, the ultimate example of luxury, is absolutely beautiful. We didn't gamble but we did buy not so cheap drinks. Yay.
The next day we went to the Ile St Marguerite, one of the Ile de Lerins that lie off of the coast of Cannes. There is a fortress on the island plus lush nature galore however it was raining so that kind of put a damper on things. For Easter dinner, we went to an apparently famous seafood restaurant and I had moules et frites. After dinner, we ate chocolate, drank champagne, and played scrabble. When we were heading back to our room for the night, we saw easter baskets outside of every door so we ran back to our room with excitement. Unfortunately, the baskets were gifts from the ye old convention staying at the hotel so we did not get an easter basket. Sad face.
The next day, the day we were leaving, the sun came back out so we ate our final breakfast on the beach. I was sad to return to old grey Paris (you know a place is beautiful when it makes Paris look dumpy) but like I said, I'll be back one day with a yacht and villa in tow.
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