Oh belle France, comment je vous aime! I chose to spend the biggest block of vacation time in France: 4 nights in Cannes. It was the first time in a few months I felt almost at home; I could finally understand what people around me were saying! I stayed in a cheap hotel not far from the beach. It’s hard to be very far from the beach in Cannes!

Le Vieux port

Fancy people were all around. Check out the yachts above! They pull right up to the center city, right next to le Palais des Festivals et des Congrès, where the film festival is held.

One of my first excursions was au Musée de la Castre, which is at the top of a prominent hill in Cannes. This was built during the Middle Ages by the monks of Lérin. I crawled through a very cramped staircase to reach the top of the tower and take the photo shown at the top of this post and the one below. Cannes has these verdant rolling hills inland that nestle nicely with all the red roofs.

I had been to Nice before, but that was in the winter. Cannes in August was bliss. Things got a little muggy overnight, and I got many a mosquito bite in my hotel room, but otherwise it was perfect beach weather. Particularly a seaside heaven in the evening hours, the sun setting, and waves crashing on the rocks: