Cannes and Monaco visited the past weekend.

Dear All,

This past weekend Keith and I headed in different directions.  Keith decided to visit an old school friend in London and Pavan and I headed for the South of France (Cannes, where the yearly film festival is held and Monte Carlo/Monaco).  Keith will elaborate in more detail about his journey.

Pavan and I boarded the TGV train at 7:45am Saturday morning.  The train travels at 320km/hr - an experience that can’t be described in words.  The luxury, comfort , reliability and efficiency of this service is simply out of this world.  It took us about 5 hrs to Cannes.  On our arrival we popped into our Motel (2 Star, in SA it would have struggled to secure a 1 star rating!).  Its’ saving grace was that it was well situated - about 50m from the station and 300m form the beach. We then headed for a stroll along the beach front, did some window shopping and grabbed something to eat and drink (of course).  Pavan then asked the waiter how far Monaco is from Cannes and he replied that it was only 45min by train.  We both looked at each other and jumped up and headed for the station.  On our arrival in Monaco we headed for the harbour area where all the action happens.  The scenery, architecture, boats, cars, and overall ‘jol’ is just mind blowing.  These people are just in another league all together. 

We then ended up at a local restaurant that turns into a night club at 12pm.  A live band was playing and the vibe was just fantastic.  We caught the last train out of Monaco at 9:40pm, and headed back to Cannes.  On our arrival back at Cannes at about 11pm, we grabbed something to eat and walked around checking out all the clubs.  Despite only getting into bed at at 1am, we were up at 8am the next morning  for a refreshing swim in the ocean - such good and responsible “manne”!!   The locals thought we were completely mad.  After a quick breakfast, we packed up and checked in for our ride back home.

All and all one of the highlights of my tour so far.  Please see pics below.