Cannes Canned

Wednesday 29 June

Well its confession time again, here I am at another tourist holy grail, and I spent most of the day in and at the hotel pool, grappling with the possible reasons for my procrastination at getting down to the waterfront. I wondered if it was being shattered after the the day in the Alps.

Had the greatest days motorcycling I'd ever done, and the 2 fabulous days prior at Annecy, come at a price?

Discounted that in the finish, after all, I crashed for 9 hours sleep last night, and have now given myself a more valid reason for today's lack of appetite for things tourisme...

Sensory overload, to put it simply, partly I'm not ready to crowd more stuff on top of a couple of fantastic days memory, and partly, I doubt there's room. I have to answer myself the question, what have I really come here for, and its the riding primarily, on which, things have come together extraordinarily well, the bike's enjoyable, apart from the sore arse it gives me, and my thirst for the mountain terrain has been well sated, with yet more to come in the Pyrenees.

On top of that the pool here is fantastic, about 15x6 metres, 900 at the shallow end, 1.9 at the deep end, 28 deg water temp, loungers and umbrellas all round, and I had a good book to finish reading.

The competition to head down to Cannes didnt stack, hassle, crowds, jacked up tourist season prices, maybe being a walking Xmas tree for pick-pockets, you need a day or so to figure out how to slide in to the place.

By mid afternoon I'd mellowed somewhat so headed off down the street to the bus-stop, only 2 mins walk away, a moderate 1 euro to get down town. I leaned on the bus-stop post for 3/4 hour, I was at least 5 mins early for the next bus according to the timetable, but nothing came. Then I began to fret about how I'd get back home late evening with this sort of service.

Hey...,

couple of car yards along the street so mosey in, a BMW coupe and a CLK Merc, 2002 to 2005, 60k to 100k on the clocks, E12k and E14k, roughly double the numbers to convert to NZD, a Merc 4wd wagon E20k, and a Porsche Cayenne 2009 approx 110k NZD.

Still no bus, people watched for a bit, heaps of scooteratti and motorbikes, helmets are compulsory, but nobody in protective clothing, shorts, bare arms, girls in light summer dresses with thin straps, or no straps, frankly it looks great, and I'll defend these peoples right to do it till the cows come home, a freedom being whittled away by the call to safety, but is it really just a disguise for everybody else to drive their cars without consideration for others, or to justify dressing up to look tough like Robo-cop, or justify ones salary if employed by OSH.

I'm not so sure though, about bikers helping themselves to an unwritten right to lane-split right up to the front at traffic lights and other stops, but while its part of the furniture so to speak, it is a sort of an establishment of place, if a bit in your face.

Anyway...

besides the pool, this hotel, Les Liserons de Mougins is a little gem, moderate tariff, and as handy as you could get to Cannes itself, on a main thoroughfare, easy to find. My room's small, I chose a little motel type unit out back I thought would be close to where the bike would park, but on arriving was ushered to a detached function facility not booked for anything for the next 2 nights, where bikes can be padlocked away. Another top bed, and there's an AC unit in the room that goes about its business unobtrusively, but its only the afternoon and evening when things get too sticky hot. The proprietors are helpful, speak fair english, and the room was serviced unbeknown while I was up at the pool, fresh linen and my electronic clutter and strewn paperwork and clothes tidied up. I''m going to leave a tip for the service lady, a young afro girl.

That's another plus for travel in France, no pressure for a tip. 

To end the day, I found a patisserie, bought a coffee and a ham & tomato salad instead of a goodie, plus a couple of cans of Heinie to take home, all for less than a tenner, so no complaints. Another comely, tanned, mm'selle, but a bit guarded about the eye game, certainly read my mind around the shop, fourchette?.. pain?.. cafe?.. grand?.. en plus?..

like going oui oui oui, all the way home.

For tomorrow I'll look at riding down to Antibes, Juan le Pins, then follow the coast to St Tropez, before heading bee-line to the Rhone Valley.