Cote d’Azur

Literally it means Coast of Blue but it is more commonly referred to as the French Riviera. We arrived on Saturday, which was one of our few rainy days. But even though it rained while we drove (5 1/2 hours) it seemed to stop every time we got out of the car.

We only made one stop on our way from Lyon at the Rhone American Cemetery in Draguignan (sorry….got nothing for pronunciation). It’s a small cemetery but very beautiful. The men buried here are the ones from the invasion of southern France in August 1944.

The names on the wall are of the men who are MIA.
Inside the chapel.
The banner on the flowers says “Forever Young”.

After a stop at the grocery store, we headed to our resort in Mougins (pronounced Moo-een; accent on 2nd syllable). We used Hilton Grand Vacation points to stay and it’s quite nice, about 20 minutes north of Cannes. We’re in a ground floor flat and we have a king bed. We haven’t had a large bed in forever so we’re loving the extra space.

Dessert from Friday night. Peter’s was the chocolate and mine was pistachio. They were so good you just wanted to cry with joy.

On Saturday night we transported back to the dark ages….the time before the internet! Our UK SIM cards expired (stores do not open until Monday morning) and the WiFi in the resort wasn’t working. Actually, it’s the entire area not just our resort. You don’t realize how much you use the internet until you don’t have it. Luckily, the SatNav in the car works so we’ve been able to get where we need to go in the car.

Yesterday (Sunday), we drove to Nice. Our plan was to visit a museum that has prehistoric stuff in it but we never found it. But, we did find the port so we spent an enjoyable 3 or so hours hanging out there.

One of the two beaches we saw. Should come as no surprise that we didn’t go down there.
Restaurant literally above the water.
The water is so blue.
Peter, can you buy me this one please.

At one time we planned to take the ferry from Nice to Corsica but changed our mind. If we had gone, this was the exact one we would have been on as it was the day we planned to go.

This sucker was gigantic. It was pretty cool to see it turn around and back into the dock.

After Nice, we headed into Cannes but not much was open and I parked in the only spot in the city that had outrageously expensive parking ($7/hour) so we didn’t stay long. Instead we came home and spent an hour or so at the pool.

Today (Monday) we went back to Cannes and found a better garage to park ($6.30 for 4 hours). Our first stop was the Orange store to get new SIM cards. So, we’re finally connected.

After that chore was done, we walked down to the beach for a leisurely stroll down the promenade.

This is the building where they hold the Cannes Film Festival every May. The red carpet is a permanent fixture.
They have their own walk of fame. Or maybe handprint of fame is better.
Feet in the Mediterranean Sea. It was pretty cold.
We stopped for very expensive coffee and Fanta orange here. It was a nice spot to rest for awhile while we enjoyed our $20 drinks.
Inside of the restaurant where we had our drinks. It was pretty cool.

After walking a little more, we stopped for lunch. It had been a whole week since I had pizza so this one was a Parma and Peter switched it up with Penne Bolognese.

Along our walk we saw lots of real estate offices. These places aren’t cheap.

This was just one…about 355 sq feet 2BR 1 BA for almost $400,000. Yesterday we saw one in Nice that was about 500 sq ft for $1,050,000 but it was on the top floor with a view of the sea and a large terrace.

After lunch we had a long walk back to the car so Peter was getting pretty tired. When we got home, I dropped him off at the pool while I did laundry at the paid machines at the resort. The washers are small but the dryer is huge so I was able to get both loads into one drying cycle.

A church in Cannes we saw but didn’t go into.

The resort internet is still out but I have my computer tethered to the phone. That means I can do the blog from the computer which is much easier than doing it from the phone.

Tomorrow we’re going to one of the beaches where the Allies landed in Aug 44 after which we’ll head to Antibes where Peter found a fort he wants to visit. Hope everyone had a great weekend and we’ll chat again soon.

4 thoughts on “Cote d’Azur”

  1. I was getting worried as you missed a day of blogging, so glad to see you back!
    You said that the desert was so good you wanted to cry with joy……well, we are crying that we aren’t getting to taste that gorgeous treat!!
    Sounds gorgeous there, but at those real estate prices, I’m thinking you will be returning to Arizona!
    Have fun, Cynthia

    1. Thanks for being such a faithful follower that you noticed I missed a couple of days. On the one hand it was so inconvenient to be without the internet but on it other it was quite freeing. It also gave me way more time late afternoon/evening when I usually do the blog. The resort is up and running now so I don’t have to use data to post today. It will be short. Talk soon.

  2. The presentations of the desserts are just wonderful. Just looking at them is a treat. I know eating them is a joy. How peaceful the water looks. The restaurant with the high ceilings was beautiful. There were even lemons on the tables. France / Italy is a feast for the eyes.

    1. It really was a gorgeous restaurant but we couldn’t afford to eat there. It was bad enough to pay $20 for a coffee and soda. The lunches were $40-50 each. It was no different, though, than the other restaurants on that side of the promenade, they were all crazy expensive. We crossed the street and found a place there. Still expensive (Cannes is certainly the high rent district) but not outrageous. And the food was delicious.

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