The French Riviera - Cannes

We checked into Beverly Hotel at 21:30 and did not have difficulty finding the place as it was super near to the train station. For 17.50 euros per person per night, I think this hotel was a real steal, mainly due to the fact that we had a private shower and its proximity to all the attractions.

We were lucky to wake up and find that the sun was shining brightly, contrary to the weather prediction that it would be raining in almost all the southern cities of France. The first thing we did was to head to the port to take a Trans Cote d'Azur boat trip to Ile Saint Marguerite. This island was famous for the prison cell of The Man in the Iron Mask. Up till now, nobody has managed to solve the mystery and the identity of this prisoner. Too bad we reached there too early (it was already 10 am btw) and the prison was still closed to public. We then spent the remaining hours strolling by the beach, occasionally taking quick breaks. The best thing about this island is that it was sparsely inhabited, meaning that u can enjoy nature near its most virgin and tranquil state. The part I liked was that I could just sit on the rocks by the sea and the only two sounds I heard were those of the waves and seagulls.

L-R: top deck of the boat, posing with French flag

On the boat

L-R: Fort Royal, the cell of the Man in the Iron Mask

L-R: relaxing by the beach of Ile St. Marguerite

L-R: my yacht (yeah rite!), Sinhui munching away her lunch

L-R: seagull, me and my lunch

By 1 pm, we were already back at Cannes port and we immediately headed to the Forville Marché, one of the rare wet market in the region. Nothing much here as the merchants were already packing up to end the day. We then went to Notre Dame d'Esperance located on top of Suquet Hill; another church, so I was not really interested in this. Luckily there was Place de la Castre where u can just sit down and enjoy a panoramic view of Cannes from the top.

L-R: Marché Forville, Notre Dame d'Esperance

Next stop was the Palais des Festivals where the famous Cannes Film Festival is held every year. We were not allowed in but we managed to find the handprints of some famous actors and actresses at the courtyard.

L-R: the steps of Palais des Festivals, feeling famous on the red carpet

L-R: leaving my handprint along the other stars, handprint of Sharon Stone

Then we just strolled along Boulevard de la Croisette. This is arguably one of the most expensive street in France, boasting 5-star hotels on one side and luxurious restaurants by the beach on the other side. Each hotel owns the restaurant and technically a block of the beach right across it. If you want to enter this block, you have to pay a fee ranging from 10-20 euros depending on how long u wanna stay there.

L-R: walking along Boulevard de la Croisette

5-star hotels: Hilton and Carlton International

Of course you cannot forget casinos if you happened to be in the French Riviera. We entered Casino Barrière de Cannes and witnessed the rich throw their money in the jackpot machines. I could only dream that it was me hitting the jackpot and I shall travel the whole of Europe and quit NUS. =P

over 550k euros up for grab in the jackpot machines

We spent the late afternoon lying down at the free beach. It was just..SHIOK! especially since we haven't had so much sun for so long. Too bad there was no naked women. HAHA.

relaxing and sunbathing

Sinhui and I on the beach

We had dinner at a restaurant called Le Grand Café. I ordered Salad Niçoise and a Paulaner while Sinhui had mussels with cream sauce. The portion was humungous!! And it was reasonably priced!!

Boulevard de la Croisette at night

L-R: Salad Niçoise, Sinhui's mussels

On our way back, we stopped by outside another restaurant to watch a rugby World Cup match between France and the All Blacks. We left after half time as France was already trailing 3-13 then. Damn, they won in the end, but they never looked like winning when I left. I could imagine what the atmosphere would be like!! Dommage!

Cannes is a very expensive city. It makes you feel quite poor walking the streets bustling with Ferraris. People here are not very nice either. They just drove their porsch cars past pedestrians who were standing by the zebra cross. The lady at the Office du Tourisme was a real bitch too. She did not have any eye contact with us when we asked her questions. She was looking at her computer screen all the time, giving short answers every now and then. Her face was that of "Hey, you poor Chinese students, why are you at Cannes?". Anw, we filled up a feedback form after that. Hope you get fired, bitch! muahaha. Apart from that, our stay at Cannes was quite enjoyable although it is not as pretty as Saint Raphael.

The French Riviera - Saint Raphael

Our first destination for the weekend was Saint Raphael, a small town in the south of France along the long coastal line of the famous French Riviera. It is a "cheaper" version of Saint Tropez. The latter one is famous as the perfect holiday destination for the rich where they bought expensive houses (read: villas) and luxurious yachts. Well, Saint Raphael is exactly the same thing except that it is less heard-of than Saint Tropez.

When we reached there at noon, we headed to the Office du Tourisme but it was closed. The French really know how to enjoy life man. Offices and shops have to close for at least 2 hours for lunch. In Singapore, however, we will call this inefficiency! So we walked around the Vieux Port (old port) where the older and smaller yachts were parked.

At the Vieux Port

The Office du Tourisme then recommended us to take this hiking trail by the sea called Sentier du Littoral, which was supposedly the highlight of the town.

So let pictures do the talking....

L-R: Casino Barrière de St. Raphael, Palm-lined streets

L-R: On the beach, The elders passing their time playing traditional game of Pétanque

Santa Lucia Port, where all the glamorous yachts were parked, and where all u can do is to stare and dream that you have one.

L-R: Start point of Sentier du Littoral, monkeying around

Views by the sea

L-R: testing my water-proof shoes (again), Sinhui carefully climbing down

L-R: another view, Sinhui and I resting

L-R: more view, classic food photowhoring

L-R: beach at night, can u see the rainbow?

L-R: testing shoes again, but failed cos the waves came angrily; had to change to slippers.

We found the residents of Saint Raphael very warm as well as accomodating. The lady in the Office du Tourisme was especially friendly and attended to all our queries very patiently. The cars will stop whenever we wanted to cross the roads, in complete contrast to that of Grenoble. We took an 20:30 train to Cannes to end our long day under the sun.

racism in france

Case study no. 1: A chinese girl in my hall wanted to collect a letter from my hostel reception. She saw nobody but the door to the reception room was opened. She walked in, found her letter and happily walked out. That was when this African guy (who was on duty at the reception that day) shouted at her: "La Chinoise! Arrête!" (Chinese! Stop!). All along he had been standing not far from the reception and chatting away with a group of people. I admit that the Chinese girl was at the wrong for entering the room without permission. However, I worry for the fact that he had to call her by her race. What followed was a loud and heated verbal reprimand.

Case study no. 2: The same African guy was on duty again another day. He made his rounds at about 8 pm and saw a plastic bag of rubbish outside my room that I wanted to throw the next morning. According to my friend on the same floor, he banged my door, wanting to ask me to keep it in my room, but unfortunately I was not around. At 00:45 am, when I was already sound asleep, he had to return and banged my door, not once, but at least ten times; not softly, but VERY loudly. I dragged myself out of my bed, opened the door and he told me that putting the rubbish bag outside my door is prohibited. I told him I was planning to throw it at the big bin the next morning. He replied "No. I can smell it from the end of the corridor." My ASS. My rubbish bag did not even contain any wet food.

I would say that so far I have not encountered any extreme racist gestures. In class, sometimes I do get this feeling that the prof dislikes Asians. Everytime we wanted to ask a question, he would give this "oh no you again" face. Hopefully things will get better as my French proficiency level picks up.

For now, I am just happy looking forward to my weekend trip to Saint Raphael, Cannes and Marseille!