It’s Jen again - I guess it’s my turn to blog so I’ll fill you in on our wonderful weekend. It all started with Vichy getting a big win on Friday night over Paris. They didn’t start the game very well but took over in the 2nd half and got the win. I was especially happy they won because that meant they got the weekend off! Jonté and I had tentatively planned to travel south to the French Riviera and the city of Cannes for the weekend – but our plans were contingent upon him actually having a full weekend off.
Our drive was around 6 hours so we thought it would be best to get some of it out of the way Friday night. So as soon as he got out of the locker room we ran home, grabbed our stuff and hit the road! I was really excited but feeling bad because Jonté was going to have to do all of the driving. This was definitely one of the times that I wished I had learned to drive the stupid car! We made it to our halfway point of Valence and found a room to get some sleep. However, the room that we were given was not exactly what we were expecting. It had a double bed with a single bed bunked above it and also a loft with another bed. But the room wasn’t big enough for all of those beds! It felt like we were in a bathroom filled with beds. We both busted out laughing when we got in the room. To make matters worse – we didn’t feel as though the bed was clean. So……we slept in our clothes on top of the bed and used his jacket as our blanket! We both had on hooded sweatshirts so we put our hoods up and tried to keep our skin off of any part of that bed. Sound ridiculous I know – but thankfully we were so tired that it didn’t keep us from getting some sleep.
We set out Saturday morning for Cannes. It was a beautiful drive and the closer we got to the coast the more excited we got. The roadways in France are very, very nice. The “interstate” roads that is. We paid a LOT of Euros to drive on those nice roads but we did notice how well kept everything was. We were also thankful to have a GPS with us. Those things are so amazing – one of the best wedding presents we got! The drive actually went really well and we got into Cannes early in the afternoon. We found a hotel that was just a short walk from the water and downtown so we took it. It was a Best Western so we thought it had to be better than where we stayed the night before. We were right – it was nice – but still small! We laugh all the time about how small everything is over here: small cars, small beds, small rooms. It’s like they design things for one person – certainly not for a 6’5” man and his 6’0 wife!
We spent Saturday wandering around Cannes. It’s located on the Mediterranean Sea and is famous for the Cannes Film Festival that they have every May. We could see preparations already going on for this year’s festival. The waterfront was lined with beautiful hotels and some upscale shopping. Gucci, Prada, Dolce & Gabbana, Chanel – you name it, they had it. Since those aren’t our “typical” stops when shopping we thought we’d check them out. We went into Gucci first – and felt a little out of place. I was looking at sunglasses – all of which were well over $300. I accidentally dropped one pair and completely panicked! I was so worried that I had broken them and would have to buy them. Luckily they were fine – but the whole thing made me start laughing. I decided that window shopping would be our best option for the rest of the “high roller” stores!
The weather was wonderful – around 65 and sunny. It was a bit windy by the shore but we loved every minute of it. It was just a nice change of pace from Vichy. We spent more time by the water on Sunday before decided to driving up the coast just a bit further to the town of Antibes. Antibes was so much more low key than Cannes but it was just as beautiful. Once we got there I took off my shoes and put on my sandals because I really wanted to put my feet in the water! Jonté wasn’t nearly as interested in that as I was but he was a good sport. We walked for a while until we found a public beach. I rolled up the bottoms of my jeans and wandered out feel the water. It was cold but not terrible and now I can say I was in the water of the Mediterranean Sea! Speaking of public beaches – that was one the interesting things we noticed both in Cannes and Antibes. Much of the shoreline was actually private. Restaurants or hotels own a good portion of the land so public beaches were a little harder to come by. I can only imagine how crowded those public beaches are during the busy seasons.
We made it back to Vichy late on Sunday night. It was a really quick trip but so worth it. It was cool to see the changing climates and countryside in France. We only went 6 hours but it felt like we were worlds away. I posted several pictures from our trip (with captions below) – we hope you enjoy them.
As for things here, our weather has been getting very nice – it’s going to be about 65 today and the sun is shining bright. The team has its furthest road trip of the season this weekend – they are going all the way up to the northern coast of France, just near Belgium. They are playing Friday night against Gravelines who I think is 3rd or 4th in the league right now so it’ll be a big game. I will be joining some of the other wives/girlfriends for dinner and then we’ll be watching the game on TV. I’m looking forward to that – some girl time :)
Jonté and I have both made our picks for the upcoming NCAA tournament. This is by far my favorite time of year – I love the excitement! We’ve got a couple of pools going on over here too – so I’m hoping to win some Euros! Go ‘Cuse!
Before I go I want to wish a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my older brother Andy and to my nephew Jack. Andy is celebrating his St. Patty’s birthday today. Jack turned 4 yesterday and from talking to him last night he had a great day at the Bounce House and the Science Museum. He will be having a “super hero” themed party on Saturday which he is very much looking forward to. It makes his Aunt Jennifer pretty sad that she won’t be there to celebrate with him but she’ll be thinking about him.
That’s it for now. Jonté will post once he returns from his road trip. In the meantime enjoy March Madness!
Au revoir!
I am standing in the doorway trying to get a picture of our SMALL room Friday night and then that's me climbing the ladder to the loft.
Jonté enjoying the view; walking along the major walkway in Cannes with the Sea to our right and the shops to the left.
Sailboats enjoying the day; the one good picture of us by the water!
I had to take one picture that actually said "Cannes" on it in case I forgot where we were :) The downtown Cannes area has a huge port where there were many, many boats.
I decided the guy that owned this boat probably thought he was a real ladies man - it gave us a good laugh; the other pic is the hotel we stayed at.
A couple more pictures from Cannes
Our "portraits" for each other; I think I am the better photographer - I even got the guy swimming in the background in the pic I took!
A view of Antibes; me enjoying my walk along the beach!
The last picture I took - this is from the passenger seat as we drove home. Not too bad huh?
No comments:
Post a Comment