A Beautiful Day in Cannes

Our first port of call after we departed Barcelona was Cannes, France and what a glorious day it was – a picture perfect 80 degrees. I just couldn’t wait to get off the Celebrity Century and start practicing my French. After Steve spent some obligatory time drooling in the harbor, we decided to hop a ride on a city bus that traveled down the Boulevard de la Croisette, one of the most famous and I daresay expensive promenades in the world.

Given that it was a beautiful sunny Sunday in Cannes, we decided to have lunch at the Long Beach restaurant which was located on a private Mediterranean beach. After all, you only live once. We thought we ordered a light lunch of pizza and Caesar salad but the portions were much more generous than we expected.

After lunch, Sharon Assis and Sandy Velikonja invited us to join them on a tour of Cannes. Our local tour guide was Sylvie Di Cristo, who works extensively on the French Riviera and Paris. I was very impressed that she spoke four languages fluently – French, English, Italian and Spanish -- and was happy when she agreed to converse with me in French. After all, I can use all the practice I can get and Cannes was the only French port on my seven-day Western Mediterranean cruise. Sylvie took us up to Le Suquet where we all admired the breathtaking panoramic view of the whole city below.

After the climb up to Le Suquet, it was time to explore the quaint old town and do some shopping. Unfortunately, since it was Sunday most of the stores were closed and the only thing we could do was window shop. Sylvie reminded me that the French word for window shopping is “lèche-vitrine,” which literally means window-licking.

After a busy afternoon of window-licking we stopped for a beer at the outdoor restaurant of the majestic Intercontinental Carlton Cannes. It turns out that the Intercontinental Carlton Cannes was closing its outdoor restaurant for the season and we were fortunate to be their last clients of the year. I guess our waiter was in a celebratory mood because he brought us some appetizers gratis to enjoy with our beers. He even indulged Sandy, who has a craving for French macaroons.

More photos of Cannes