Destination : Cannes!

Destination : Cannes!

Wednesday (19th September) rolled around and we packed our bags and said Goodbye to Paris for a few days and jumped on a fancy French Fast train - Trains à Grande Vitesse. These guys travel up to speeds of 300km/h which is pretty cool. They are such comfortable trains and have a split level double story almost that can fit heaps of passengers and is roomy and comfortable at the same time. We need those trains back home in Australia I think! I am not so sure Steve is so keen on train travel, me on the other hand love them.

For a couple of reasons, one because I grew up on them practically and travelled on the trains with my DAD! The second is that they are the only form of transport involving motion that doesn't make me ill... Cars are OKAY only if I am driving. LOL I know, shocking isn't it? With the idea of future travelling presents the problem of HOW we are going to travel. After our horrendous flight over here (with Steve having not only to nurse me, but throw away my air sick bags), I am not keen to get on a plane... AND I can't imagine him wanting to have to go through the horror that he did on the way here. *chuckles*.. What a man though! He took care of his girl like a trooper, and I will always be grateful and I think I seriously have an I.O.U!

Anyway, where were we.?? Oh yeah, these trains are awesome and our trip to Cannes was very comfortable. Crossing the country itself wasn't THAT exciting, it was when we hit the coast at Marseille that the train ride got more interesting. In Australia we have some pretty spectacular coastline and beaches... but what we saw next was simply exquisite. We had hit the French Riviera and for an hour and half, the train weaved its way down the French coast, SO CLOSE to the ocean I could see the drop down the cliff out through my window. Then suddenly the train would disappear into a mountain tunnel and return to the outdoors to the spectacular view. I think Steve and I both wished we could have grabbed some good shots, but even with the good digital camera we had, the train was still travelling a little too quickly to get anything worth looking at.

The entire train ride was approximately 5 hours from Paris to Cannes. When we left Paris the weather was cool. On arrival in Cannes, we were greeted by SUMMER WEATHER! Yay! The sun was out shining and it was a glorious 25C or so.. Steve and I thought to ourselves "Finally a taste of a European Summer". Summer in England has just forgotten to arrive, in fact I think Mother Nature just cancelled it altogether this year. So we were both aching to catch the tail end of the summer in France and Cannes made our secret wish come true. We promptly checked into our hotel (it certainly had character, let's put it THAT way!) got changed into our shorts and stuff and headed out to have a look around town like we normally did after arriving at a new destination.

Steve and I set out for a little walk to have a look around the explore the place. We headed straight down towards the beach and the ocean. Cannes is beautiful, the sun was going down slowly and it was at that point Steve and I truly realised we were looking upon the Mediterranean Ocean - and sitting on the French Riviera! We took in the coastline for a while and watched the sun go down and had a good look around town to find something to eat! Finding dinner seemed to be a bit of a challenge. It seems the French like to eat fairly late and most restaurants were just opening up for evening trading. I was darn hungry... at 6pm and wanted to bed fed NOW.. not later ;oP! After wandering around for what seemed like forever, Steve and I found a restaurant for dinner and as always I enjoyed a traditional PASTA CARBONARA! I know, I see the irony of eating Italian food in France... but I know I will always be happy and satisfied eating my favourites! LOL

With our bellies full, Steve and I eventually returned back to our hotel room with character and retired for an early night. I did enjoy our rustic looking room. It had a mini balcony facing out onto the street and those BIG wooden shutters for privacy which you could close and still keep the glass balcony doors open. It was quite warm in Cannes so it was a lovely to keep them open overnight and have the ocean air creeping in through the cracks in the wooden shutters. Our street was particularly noisy with it being close to the main train station and a number of restaurants below us at ground level. Still, there was something novel about it...

Eventually, when the noise stopped Steve and I could relax and sleep to recharge and get ready for our first full day on the sunny French Riviera! Stay tuned!

For photo's from our Cannes experience : http://picasaweb.google.com/hillsj/Cannes

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