Day 11- A very soggy Cannes

It was a dark and stormy day in Cannes. We have been sleeping with our patio door open at night and, about 4:30 am, we had to get up and close it. The seas were so rough in the wind that the door was rolling open and closed on its tracks as the ship pitched from side to side. Happily, I have not yet been seasick, despite the fact that you have to walk "uphill" if you go from one side of the ship to the other. Along with the wind was a heavy rain, and temperatures in the low 50F/10C range. Not the best day we've had thus far.

Despite the weather, we decided to get off the ship as planned and try to see a little of the city. We had initially wanted to go to Nice, which is the next city over from Cannes (about 35km/20 miles away). Unfortunately, this region has been having routine transit strikes, and we were cautioned not to take public transportation out of the port city should a strike happen during the day and leave us stranded. For this reason we decided to stick to the transportation we were born with.

Cannes is a tender port, so we were up early to get in to the first group of passengers to board the tender boats at 7:30 am. Initially, we were told that the tenders were open-topped, but when we boarded we found ours to be the lifeboat-style that we are used to, which have a roof and kept us nice and dry on the 15-minute, somewhat bouncy, ride to shore. The perk of being dry during the tender was promptly negated the instant we stepped foot on the French shore. The rain turned our umbrellas inside-out within seconds, so we turned up our collars and shouldered on. We ducked out of the rain under the portico of a nearby hotel to look at the map and get our bearings. Good thing the map we had was laminated!

Within a few minutes, we had located ourselves and our first destination, and were ready to set out again. As we were folding the map, a small group of passengers from the ship approached us and asked us if we spoke English. "Oui" - I said with a big grin. Sadly, my French humor was lost on them. They asked us for directions and then spent the next 5 minutes arguing with us about the area on the map that represented the location where we were standing. Really? Why ask us if you think we more lost than you are? Finally, we suggested that they head off in the direction they thought "town" was (which was wrong), and we set off in the right direction.

Within 10 minutes we had sloshed along our per-determined path directly to the Forville Market - my "must do" for Cannes. The Forville Market is a large, covered area that houses a daily "farmer's" market. Amongst the vast tables of some of the most beautiful produce I had ever seen were also flowers, cases of cheeses, fresh and cured meats, charcuteries (terrines, pates, etc.) in lovely aged crocks, eggs, fish so fresh they were still wiggling, shellfish, vats of olives and oily tapenades, sun-dried tomatoes and cloves of garlic bathed in olive oil, anchovies, loose teas, spices, and lavender honey. It was exactly what I picture heaven must look like. I assure you all that, if I lived in Cannes, I would only leave there to run home and cook before promptly returning. Here are some photos, but they will not do the display justice for you can't touch or smell the items through the blog...

Mushrooms - a dozen or more different types!

Flowers

Teas & spices

Charcuterie (inside the crocks and also inside the pig's head)

Cured sausages


Produce


Olives, tapenades and pastes (anchovie, garlic and tomato)

After purchasing the woefully small number of items that will endure the trip back home, we left the market. I may have cried a little when we stepped out the door. Fortunately, my spirits were quickly revived for, across the street from the Market, were numerous boulangeries, or bakeries. Hooray - heaven added on a wing! Large round crusty loaves of breads, baguettes, croissant, tarts, and other pastries were a feast for they eyes. AND for the tummy as we each enjoyed a treat. A buttery, flaky, melt-in-your-mouth croissant for me (because you can't come to France and not eat croissant), and a chocolate "twist" for Andrew, which was croissant dough wrapped around dark chocolate pieces. Totally worth the hours in the gym we'll suffer later!

Us with our pastries - note the rain gear!

Completely drenched and having fulfilled our primary missions for France (namely, find the Market and eat bread), we headed a back in the direction of the ship. On the way, we passed the marina, so decided to walk along the rows of yachts. There is some serious money in this town! Private yachts with 4 or 5 levels were the norm, all of them sleek and modern with gleaming teak decks. We did see one for sale, but couldn't find anyone to make an offer on it. Guess we'll have to save that purchase for another trip.

We slogged our way back to the tender area, and were back on the ship about 20 minutes later; drenched, but pleased with our short time on shore. Since we needed a second shower anyway, we opted to hit the gym first. It was good to get in a nice long run after several days without any exercise other than walking around ports. I think I managed to burn off about 1/2 of my croissant in my almost 6-mile run!

After the gym and showers, we did a load of laundry and then grabbed a bite of lunch. We then spent the afternoon relaxing in the cabin - me, reading; Andrew, napping. While wandering around the ship, we noticed a wine bar that does sampling flights, so we went there for a drink before dinner. We tried to have dinner in the dining room (French theme tonight, appropriately). Unfortunately, by the time we finished at the wine bar we had missed the first round of seating. We waited about an hour for a table, but finally had to go up to the buffet about 7:45 pm, so that we could make the 8:30 show.

Us at the wine bar. Don't tell Andrew his eyes are closed. He doesn't look at the blog so won't ever know!

As for the show, we have basically stopped going to the performances on the cruise ships because we find they are not to our taste. The primarily consist of musical Vegas-style shows, which we don't love. Tonight, however, they had a hypnotist on board so we went and found it to be entertaining. Now it's time to hit the hay. We have another port tomorrow, Barcelona. We have scheduled a 5-hour tour with a guide on a WWII German motorcycle with side car. Stay tuned for photos!