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Continuing with the trip journal--it's now day 7 since we arrived in France, and our first day in Cannes. For the most part, we decided to relax during the day and go out for dinner at night.
By the time we got up, the day was in full swing. After a week long of rain in Paris, we were blessed with sunshine. We walked out of the house, and discovered the villa indeed got a fabulous view of Cannes (and Nice?) by the distant bays. The villa was situated in the Esterel mountains so it had a reddish rocky view as well. There was a nice pool directly overlooking Cannes in the distance. We spent most part of the day around the pool sunbathing and hung out.
Towards the evening time, we all got dressed to go out for dinner. Our friends (bless their heart) had hired an au pair to help taking care of the kids for the week. Our plan was to have the au pair take all the kids home after dinner so that the adults could hang out in Cannes 'till the wee hours.
Once we got to Cannes, instead of looking for a place to eat right away, we took some time to stroll around the waterfront of the famous La Croisette, where we saw luxury yachts lined up one after another. There were musics coming from many yachts, where private parties were in full swing. In front these yachts were little red carpets, and burly men guarding the entry, checking to see if the name of the person trying to come aboard was on the guest list. I overheard a pretty girl in a red top with jeans complaining to her companion how she was rejected from boarding a yacht because her name was not on the guest list. The man kept assuring her that "they" had screwed up, and "those people" were not going to get any business from him! {{heh}} In front of a particularly big yacht, we saw a "team" of Mercedes lined up, and many people carrying big professional cameras waiting around. We asked one of the cameraman who he was waiting for, he answered "Sharon Stone." It's amazing to me how these people got information on who's partying where!
Although the adults were having a good time ogling, the kids were getting really hungry. So we headed to the nearest restaurant we could find. It was around 20:30, and we discovered it was not that easy to find a place with seatings readily available for 10 people! We came to this place near La Croisette where there happened to be a big table with seatings for 10 available. We went in but thinking this may not be good news that the place had the seatings while everywhere else was full. Sure enough, they took us to a dinky table toward the back of the restaurant. The worst thing was the service was incredibly slow. It was like they seated us and forgot about us. The kids were very thirsty from all the walkings they did, but we sat there for almost 10 minutes without any waitperson came by to take our orders. Finally, Geoff had to get up and walk to a waiter to ask him bringing some water for the kids. We waited a bit longer, finally glasses of water arrived. After deposited the water, the waiter promised he would be right back. Another 5 minutes went by and no body showed up. It was at that time we finally had enough, and made a hasty retreat out of the restaurant!
We kept walking and looking for another place to eat. We finally found a charming little eatery on a little narrow street off La Croisette. As many other cafes, the place was full of patrons. But we managed to get two tables in the back. Although the service at this new place wasn't half as bad as the last, it still took a long time for our meals to arrive (they did feed the kids first though, which was nice). While we were there waiting, we noticed the bartender was drinking a greenish alcohol. I've never seen such a thing before except the green beer on St. Patrick's day, which spotted a much lighter shade of green. This particular shade reminded me very much of the Ambrosia that they "drink" on BSG, so I had to order one! The drink turned out to be mint flavored beer--not bad, but the mint flavor was very prominent. I snapped a picture of Geoff drinking the stuff! ::grin:: We took a long time eating our dinner. The food and wine were delicious. I can still remember the buttery taste of the homemade fois gras, and I enjoyed my entrée of Gambas (shrimp) cooked in Provençal style. Kids finished their pizzas first, and it was around 22:00 already, so we had the au pair took them back to the villa. About 20 minutes later, we got an instant message from the au pair telling us that they arrived villa safely, and near the villa, they had run into a wild boar! Needless to say the kids were excited.
After we finished our dinner and were getting ready to leave, our friends realized they had left their newly purchased video camera at the first restaurant in our haste to leave the place! We rushed back to that restaurant again, and of course to no avail--the camera was gone, and nobody admitted ever seeing it! A load of BS in my opinion--after we left the place, the waiter had to reset the table, and the camera was right there on the seat! Fortunately, our friends' credit card insurance will replace the camera, but they had to file a police report for the claim first. To our luck, we found out there was a police station nearby, so we headed there next.
On the way to the police station, a particular store front caught my attention--I remembered reading some time ago that Jamie Bamber was nicknamed Bambino (I don't remember from where), so like a silly fangirl, I swiped out my camera and quickly took this snapshot:
Anyway, we got to the police station and found a very friendly English speaking policeman who was sent from Paris as the reinforcement for the film festival. He told us he was very lucky to be on duty to stand guard near the stage where U2 performed live the night before!
After our friends got their police report, we decided to stroll around the town to see what we could find. We came upon the red carpet where the stars were seen and photographed. Of course by then it was all empty. We took snapshots in front of it and promised ourselves that one of these days we would come here around 18:00 when the stars would walk the carpet. We then continued making our way on the La Croisette Blvd. Along the waterfront, tents were setup for many private parties. When we walked in front of a tent facing the Hilton hotel, we noticed the music from the tent was particularly lively, and there were a group of men with heavy duty cameras waiting nearby. We decided to take a break to rest our feet and see what would happen. Several minutes went by, and I noticed a slender girl exited the tent and walked up to a man in suit sitting not far from where I was standing. Immediately, I went and whispered to my girlfriend that this girl was a really good look-alike of Mini Driver! The girl ended up with her back toward me and was talking to the man she approached. I kept whispering to my friend how this girl had the same hair, eyes, nose and profile as Mini Driver. Before long, the paparazzi noticed the girl as well, and they shouted her name to get her autograph. It was when the flashes went off that I realized it was indeed Mini Driver herself! Anyway, after signing a few autographs, Mini Driver quickly walked across the street towards Hilton, inside which was another private party being held. I was a little embarrassed and hoped she never heard me whispering that she was a very good Mini Driver "impersonator!"
After our brief "encounter" with Mini Driver, we walked further down the La Croisette and came upon an open air theater. Just then, fireworks were shooting from some boats off the shore. We were just in time to enjoy the grand finale. Then we decided to walk back toward the other end of the La Croisette where our car was parked. When we passed the theater where the movies were screened, we noticed that people were leaving the place. We went to the side where we had a good view of the exit to see if we would catch sight of any famous people. As we were standing on the side, all of a sudden, Geoff and I noticed two familiar faces--they were the two pretty French girls we met on the train yesterday! They both saw us and came by to say hello. When the two girls saw me, they excitedly asked me if I remembered Erica on the train--they just saw her movie earlier--she was indeed a ladybug. One of the girl kept saying it was a pretty weird movie, but they were very thrilled to see their new friend on the big screen!
We lingered around the theater a little bit longer. Most people were gone by then. We saw a lady dressed in a red ball gown exiting the theater as one of the last ones to leave the place. As she walked by, many paparazzi surrounded her and snapped pictures of her. She was very cooperative, and made many poses for the cameras. My friend and I looked at each other--who was she?! Neither of us could recognize her. After the lady left, my friend approached one of the paparazzi to ask him who the woman was. The cameraman was friendly and spoke accented English. He shrugged and said he had no clue! "No clue?! Then why are you taking pictures of her?!" we asked. He laughed and said he'd taken TONS of pictures during the day--he would take pictures of anyone who were dressed up or appeared wearing expensive jeweleries hoping to catch at least one famous person! Ha! The life of a paparazzo!!!
We left the theater and decided to go to Jimy'z Club to try our luck at a gambling table. But we were stopped at the entrance--we didn't know that apparently they require passports to enter Casinos in Europe! Oh well, it was getting rather late for us anyway. We went and got our car and drove back to the villa to end the night...
By the time we got up, the day was in full swing. After a week long of rain in Paris, we were blessed with sunshine. We walked out of the house, and discovered the villa indeed got a fabulous view of Cannes (and Nice?) by the distant bays. The villa was situated in the Esterel mountains so it had a reddish rocky view as well. There was a nice pool directly overlooking Cannes in the distance. We spent most part of the day around the pool sunbathing and hung out.
Towards the evening time, we all got dressed to go out for dinner. Our friends (bless their heart) had hired an au pair to help taking care of the kids for the week. Our plan was to have the au pair take all the kids home after dinner so that the adults could hang out in Cannes 'till the wee hours.
Once we got to Cannes, instead of looking for a place to eat right away, we took some time to stroll around the waterfront of the famous La Croisette, where we saw luxury yachts lined up one after another. There were musics coming from many yachts, where private parties were in full swing. In front these yachts were little red carpets, and burly men guarding the entry, checking to see if the name of the person trying to come aboard was on the guest list. I overheard a pretty girl in a red top with jeans complaining to her companion how she was rejected from boarding a yacht because her name was not on the guest list. The man kept assuring her that "they" had screwed up, and "those people" were not going to get any business from him! {{heh}} In front of a particularly big yacht, we saw a "team" of Mercedes lined up, and many people carrying big professional cameras waiting around. We asked one of the cameraman who he was waiting for, he answered "Sharon Stone." It's amazing to me how these people got information on who's partying where!
Although the adults were having a good time ogling, the kids were getting really hungry. So we headed to the nearest restaurant we could find. It was around 20:30, and we discovered it was not that easy to find a place with seatings readily available for 10 people! We came to this place near La Croisette where there happened to be a big table with seatings for 10 available. We went in but thinking this may not be good news that the place had the seatings while everywhere else was full. Sure enough, they took us to a dinky table toward the back of the restaurant. The worst thing was the service was incredibly slow. It was like they seated us and forgot about us. The kids were very thirsty from all the walkings they did, but we sat there for almost 10 minutes without any waitperson came by to take our orders. Finally, Geoff had to get up and walk to a waiter to ask him bringing some water for the kids. We waited a bit longer, finally glasses of water arrived. After deposited the water, the waiter promised he would be right back. Another 5 minutes went by and no body showed up. It was at that time we finally had enough, and made a hasty retreat out of the restaurant!
We kept walking and looking for another place to eat. We finally found a charming little eatery on a little narrow street off La Croisette. As many other cafes, the place was full of patrons. But we managed to get two tables in the back. Although the service at this new place wasn't half as bad as the last, it still took a long time for our meals to arrive (they did feed the kids first though, which was nice). While we were there waiting, we noticed the bartender was drinking a greenish alcohol. I've never seen such a thing before except the green beer on St. Patrick's day, which spotted a much lighter shade of green. This particular shade reminded me very much of the Ambrosia that they "drink" on BSG, so I had to order one! The drink turned out to be mint flavored beer--not bad, but the mint flavor was very prominent. I snapped a picture of Geoff drinking the stuff! ::grin:: We took a long time eating our dinner. The food and wine were delicious. I can still remember the buttery taste of the homemade fois gras, and I enjoyed my entrée of Gambas (shrimp) cooked in Provençal style. Kids finished their pizzas first, and it was around 22:00 already, so we had the au pair took them back to the villa. About 20 minutes later, we got an instant message from the au pair telling us that they arrived villa safely, and near the villa, they had run into a wild boar! Needless to say the kids were excited.
After we finished our dinner and were getting ready to leave, our friends realized they had left their newly purchased video camera at the first restaurant in our haste to leave the place! We rushed back to that restaurant again, and of course to no avail--the camera was gone, and nobody admitted ever seeing it! A load of BS in my opinion--after we left the place, the waiter had to reset the table, and the camera was right there on the seat! Fortunately, our friends' credit card insurance will replace the camera, but they had to file a police report for the claim first. To our luck, we found out there was a police station nearby, so we headed there next.
On the way to the police station, a particular store front caught my attention--I remembered reading some time ago that Jamie Bamber was nicknamed Bambino (I don't remember from where), so like a silly fangirl, I swiped out my camera and quickly took this snapshot:
Anyway, we got to the police station and found a very friendly English speaking policeman who was sent from Paris as the reinforcement for the film festival. He told us he was very lucky to be on duty to stand guard near the stage where U2 performed live the night before!
After our friends got their police report, we decided to stroll around the town to see what we could find. We came upon the red carpet where the stars were seen and photographed. Of course by then it was all empty. We took snapshots in front of it and promised ourselves that one of these days we would come here around 18:00 when the stars would walk the carpet. We then continued making our way on the La Croisette Blvd. Along the waterfront, tents were setup for many private parties. When we walked in front of a tent facing the Hilton hotel, we noticed the music from the tent was particularly lively, and there were a group of men with heavy duty cameras waiting nearby. We decided to take a break to rest our feet and see what would happen. Several minutes went by, and I noticed a slender girl exited the tent and walked up to a man in suit sitting not far from where I was standing. Immediately, I went and whispered to my girlfriend that this girl was a really good look-alike of Mini Driver! The girl ended up with her back toward me and was talking to the man she approached. I kept whispering to my friend how this girl had the same hair, eyes, nose and profile as Mini Driver. Before long, the paparazzi noticed the girl as well, and they shouted her name to get her autograph. It was when the flashes went off that I realized it was indeed Mini Driver herself! Anyway, after signing a few autographs, Mini Driver quickly walked across the street towards Hilton, inside which was another private party being held. I was a little embarrassed and hoped she never heard me whispering that she was a very good Mini Driver "impersonator!"
After our brief "encounter" with Mini Driver, we walked further down the La Croisette and came upon an open air theater. Just then, fireworks were shooting from some boats off the shore. We were just in time to enjoy the grand finale. Then we decided to walk back toward the other end of the La Croisette where our car was parked. When we passed the theater where the movies were screened, we noticed that people were leaving the place. We went to the side where we had a good view of the exit to see if we would catch sight of any famous people. As we were standing on the side, all of a sudden, Geoff and I noticed two familiar faces--they were the two pretty French girls we met on the train yesterday! They both saw us and came by to say hello. When the two girls saw me, they excitedly asked me if I remembered Erica on the train--they just saw her movie earlier--she was indeed a ladybug. One of the girl kept saying it was a pretty weird movie, but they were very thrilled to see their new friend on the big screen!
We lingered around the theater a little bit longer. Most people were gone by then. We saw a lady dressed in a red ball gown exiting the theater as one of the last ones to leave the place. As she walked by, many paparazzi surrounded her and snapped pictures of her. She was very cooperative, and made many poses for the cameras. My friend and I looked at each other--who was she?! Neither of us could recognize her. After the lady left, my friend approached one of the paparazzi to ask him who the woman was. The cameraman was friendly and spoke accented English. He shrugged and said he had no clue! "No clue?! Then why are you taking pictures of her?!" we asked. He laughed and said he'd taken TONS of pictures during the day--he would take pictures of anyone who were dressed up or appeared wearing expensive jeweleries hoping to catch at least one famous person! Ha! The life of a paparazzo!!!
We left the theater and decided to go to Jimy'z Club to try our luck at a gambling table. But we were stopped at the entrance--we didn't know that apparently they require passports to enter Casinos in Europe! Oh well, it was getting rather late for us anyway. We went and got our car and drove back to the villa to end the night...
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From: (Anonymous)
no subject
Oh, the paparazzi--I don't know how they do it (the pay checks must be great!). Your story about Minnie Driver is funny.
Hey, did you see George Clooney while you were there (sorry--I had to ask)?
mick
From: (Anonymous)
no subject
mick
From:
no subject
Thanks for the comments! Yeah, I felt pretty bad for our friends too that they lost their camera. I knew exactly how they felt because I had done the same thing during one of my trip to China--with ALL the pictures I had taken during the trip still on it!
The paparazzi--most cameramen we've encountered on the street seemed pleasant and easy going. They also seemed to be waiting around a lot. I also think most people whose pictures were taken seemed happy to pose for the camera.
No, I didn't see George Clooney at all, nor did I see Brad Pitt and Matt Damon. The story I heard was they appeared together on Ocean's 13 premier on the opening night only for 20 minutes, then "disappeared." Truth be told though, at this point, the only stars I'd be agog to meet are Jamie Bamber, Mary McDonnell, Katee Sachoff, and EJO! ::sigh:: Unfortunately, none of them were in Cannes this time (I'm guessing so because presumably they are back in Vancouver to resume the shooting for BSG already.)
From:
no subject
I'm glad you finally got some good weather, and Andy got some playmates! I'm sure that made things even more fun for him.
Huge bummer about the bad service and BIG HUGE bummer about the camera. Ugh.
Too funny about the papparazzi taking pictures of someone they didn't recognize, and that's really cool that you ran into the people you met on the train!
Love Geoff with his glass of "ambrosia" - that's great! :)
From:
no subject
It was great that Andy got his playmates. He had such a great time on this vacation. I think he's ready to go back there again! LOL
Yeah, it was such a bummer about my friends' camera. They had just gone to London, and they took many fabulous videos while they were there for their kids' school project.
I was very excited to see those two French girls--much more so than seeing Mini Driver.
I think whenever I see the ambrosia on the show, I'd associate it with the minty beer taste! LOL