Cannes

Saturday began with a very early morning. Waking up at 5:30am to catch the bus to Avignon, we were on our train to Cannes by 9:30. The train ride through the Riveria was beautiful to say the least, with constant stunning views of the coastline passing by the windowsill. With our arrival in Cannes at noon, we settled into our "hostel"* room, grabbed some lunch and headed to the beach.

View from the balcony of the hotel room

Although the wind was a bit chilly (those who know me know that this is a bit of an understatement), it was an absolutely beautiful day to just lie on the beach and relax in the sunlight. Then we met up with Amy's friend, Claire, who is from Cannes and she showed us around the harbor, old town and walked us up to the highest point in Cannes for some great views of the city. We also made a stop at a wonderful patisserie named Jean Luc Pelé and devoured some sweet delicacies.

Harbor

View over Cannes

Intense - chocolate mousse with a chocolate ganache shell and creme anglaise.

After relaxing on the beach for a bit more, we bid adieu to Claire and went back to the hotel once again. It was so nice to have such a great place to stay, in a central location, with FREE WIFI and for such a small price! Then, Amy's friend Georgia joined us and we went out to a nice dinner to celebrate Amy's 21st birthday, the occasion of this weekend trip to Cannes. We ate at this lovely place called Chez Vincent, which I may have indulged in some canard (translation: duck) and creme brulée. As I have barely eaten any meat since I have been here, it was the best dinner I have had in France thus far - I felt so happily full!

Canard! With vegetables and fries, so good

The rest of the night, Amy, Alison, Georgia and I spent time talking and getting to know each other all more. One thing living abroad and doing this program has given me is the ability to meet so many different people from different places. I am truly blessed to be able to jet off to a new city, or country, for the weekend and spend it with some amazing new friends.

Sunday morning we all woke up and had a nice breakfast at Paul, my favorite chain patisserie in France. And since we don't have one in Apt, I was more than excited to be able to enjoy it in Cannes! Then we went down to the coast for the last time, enjoying the relaxing view of the Mediterranean on a Sunday morning. Oh, and we made one last trip to Jean Luc Pelé for more pastries - couldn't help ourselves!

One more time! Bagatelle - basically like a strawberry shortcake pastry

After the train and bus back to Apt, and our weekend sadly finished, we all realized how well it was spent. Although a little cold for a weekend at the beach, it was a beautiful way to spend such a great birthday. And now, to start another workweek... and then after, a 2 WEEK VACATION! Thats right, work for 2 weeks, get a 2 week paid vacation. Vive la France!


*When I say hostel, it is because we booked the room with hostelworld.com. So when we came in, we expected it to not be the best quality. Seriously, it was one of the nicest hotels I have stayed in Europe thus far - I would highly recommend.