Around Cannes (May 13|14)

The next couple days were cloudy and cooler with scattered showers which made us very glad we made it to the beach the first day. Since the weather was so grey we figured it would be a good time to do a little laundry. We tracked down a near by laundromat and, after deciphering the bizarre photograph instructions, spent an hour doing some of the essentials. We ran out of coins before everything was completely dry, so we went back and hung the laundry around the room to finish drying.

With the room now covered in laundry we decided to just wander the streets of Cannes doing some sight seeing and restaurant tourism. We made our way from the hotel to the primary shopping and restaurant area (Rue d'Antibes and Rue Félix Faure) and did some walking and window shopping (most of the items in the displays started around 300 Euros or more so we didn't bother going in). We made a stop for a couple baguette sandwiches and a drink before heading up the hill to the old town, for a great panoramic view of the city. We walked down along the quay for a while before heading back to the hotel for happy hour and to clean up for supper.

We ended the night with a nice meal of oyster and escargot starters and grilled shrimp and a mixed grill mains.

With the next day being cloudy as well, we decided to sleep in for a while before heading out for a pizza and beer lunch, and the walking the Boulevard de la Croisette checking out the red carpet and setup for the film festival.

We picked up a giant meringue on the way back to the hotel, making our traditional stop in the lounge for cocktail hour before heading out for our last supper in France. Being our last meal we decided to seek out some traditional French food - fois gras and frogs legs. We found a cool little alley with a bunch of little restaurants (Miséricorde Antoine), one of which had both the items we were looking for. (Unfortunately, we forgot the camera - too much at happy hour maybe - so no pictures...) The restaurant also specialized in mussels, so we started with a fantastic and giant pot of orange curry mussels before our main courses. The fois gras was good, but the frogs legs were terribly undercooked and it was next to impossible to get the attention of a waitress. We ate what we could of them, but weren't very hungry anyways after the giant pot of mussels and the fois gras. We did get a free drink out of it though.

On to Cannes (May 11|12)

We took a cab from the hotel to the train station to hop on the train to Cannes. Cab fairs are a little interesting... There is the basic pickup fair and the mileage charges, but at pick up, there are also subsidise for pretty much everything - bags, extra passengers, etc. - to the point where we were at 6 euros by the time we got in the cab. We spent the majority of the ride chatting with Brad, a nice Canadian guy from Halifax who is currently living in Nimes playing NFL style football. Upon arrival in Cannes we headed for the ticket office to buy our next set of tickets to Nice (near the airport), then made our way to our way to our next hotel -le Cavendish. The front receptionist was great and spoke flawless English which is helpful, although not necessary as Alaina has been doing fantastically well with her French, and Jeff is muddling through. While not quite on the level of the previous hotel, the rooms are quite nice and spacious, although the AC doesn't work overly well so the room is warm at night. Probably our favorite thing about the hotel (in addition to the staff and the great location) is that from 6-9 there is an open, serve yourself bar at which the staff bring by a selection of olives, cheeses, and cured meats.

We did a little Googling and found a highly rated Sushi restaurant near by so we walked down for some great sushi on a quiet little patio. Alaina is still craving more of their gyoza 2 days later. After supper we walked along the main road by the beach for a while before making our way back to the hotel.

We got up the next day to another beautiful clear and warm day. After checking the weather forecast and discovering rain in the next couple days, we decided to make the most of the great weather (29 degrees and sunny) and booked a couple lounge chairs on one of the private beaches. We spent the day there, eating at the beach's restaurant (a fisherman's salad, and grilled prawns with a bottle of rosè), and soaking up the sun. (The most impressive part of the day probably has to be that Alaina was chasing off the few pigeons that kept wandering next to her chair with out any screaming or flailing at all!)

We made our way back to the hotel around 7 for a shower and to grab a drink before heading back out to find somewhere to eat. We picked one of the smaller places just outside of the main restaurant area at random and ended up having a great tomato and mozza salad and a great rabbit and sea food paella along with a bottle of rosè. Lured by the sounds of drumming, we stumbled across a group of acrobatic street performers. Alaina even became an assistant when she went up to tip the performers. We picked up couple macaroons for the walk before heading back to the hotel.

Goodbye Ireland, bon jour France (May 9|10)

After leaving our B&B at 5am,we dropped our rental car off and caught our first flight to Brussels, Belgium. We had about a 5 hour layover and used the time to get lunch and play some cribbage. Jeff won like he always does! Our second flight took us to Nimes, France. When we arrived in Nimes we realized we were leaving spring and entering summer weather. So warm and sunny! Our room at the Imperator was SO nice. We felt very fancy to be staying there. It even had its own espresso machine! We gazed around for a bit then found a lovely outdoor cafe right beside the Arene for our supper. We went to bed early, tired from the early start and all the traveling.

We had a great sleep in thanks to awesome blackout curtains and went down for breakfast around 9:30. We headed out around noon to get our train tickets for the next day. We wandered around the gorgeous city of Nimes, grabbing baguette sandwiches and Heinekens for lunch and eating it on a park bench. Jeff only had to defend Alaina from a few nosy pigeons. We then did a tour of the Arene, an ancient Roman amphitheater where we learned about its history involving first gladiators, then bullfights.

We then wandered over to Jardin des Fontaines and climbed up to the top of Tour Magne, a Roman tower for a great view of the city. Last we visited La Maison Caree, a temple built in the first century. We went back to our hotel for a couple of nibbles, then found another outdoor cafe for supper and a terrific bottle of French wine. Most of the cafes feature set menus that are either two or three courses and these are usually the best value. So we got a starter: mussels Catalan; then our mains were a mixed grill and a huge pizza for Jeff; last we had two great desserts but I can't remember what they were other than that mine had something to do with tiramisu and nutella. We ended the evening with a glass of wine in the hotel's beautiful inner courtyard.

Cork, Kilkenny, and Dublin once more. (May 7|8)

We got up the next morning and did a small portion of the Ring of Kerry, stopping at a waterfall and driving through Moll's Gap up to the Ladies' View.

We then drove to Blarney Castle where we both kissed the Blarney Stone which is said to bestow the gift of the gab! We found our B&B in Cork City and headed out in search of a microbrewery called the Franciscan Well. We ended up staying there all night visiting with a couple from Toronto as well as the bartender,whose name was Aaron. Great beer and conversation and we were even able to order in pizza to the pub with Aaron's help. We had a great night but too many pints meant we got a little lost on the way home!

We left Cork by 9 and headed to Kilkenny where we visited the castle which has been beautifully restored to its 19th century decor. We got back on the road and headed to Dublin where we checked in at the B&B and then caught a bus downtown. The closest we could get to the Guinness Storehouse was about an hour's walk away, but it was well worth the trek. We did the tour, which was a fascinating overview of the history, the brewing process and the cultural phenomenon that is Guinness beer. It even ended with a pint in a bar at the top of the building that boasts panoramic views of Dublin. We ate our last pub supper and went home to get in bed early sine we had to wake up at 4:30 am to catch our flight.