Cannes and a pretty good party in Italy.

We were due to refresh the rental car so headed for the closest Eurocar to do the paperwork. Hilda got us lost ( she needs an update) so we toured the French countryside along the French Riviera for a while coming across some fabulous "off the beaten path places". I will say that some of Hilda's mistakes (combined with our commitment to a lack of planning) has lead to some excellent adventures. Bandol was the nicest little place you can imagine and not in any of the literature we have read. Spectacular scenery and the most beautiful beach's we have seen so far. We eventually made our way to Cannes where we were a little disappointed by the town's layout and reputation for "Hollywood/US magazine" appeal. Its nice but - not what as we had expected. Where is J-lo, Ashton Kutcher - the Kardashinans!!????

We did, however spend a couple hours swimming and enjoying the turquoise blue water and the ability to float in the water without doing a damn thing. Love that!

Back to our lack of commitment to planning - that in itself had lead to some tense but interesting adventures. At 6 pm we found ourselves at McCafe (McDonalds) in Cannes where they have free WIFI. We were desperately trying to find a place (any place) to sleep! Just so you know - rooms (if you can find one) can range as high as $6000 per night with the median being $500 or so. ( This is well out of our price range)Finally we found a room in a place called Gavi (?) about 2 hours away in Italy somewhere. Well - that's the direction we're generally.going so what the heck.
First - spectacular scenery on route (above)....
Then we drive through very sparsely populated countryside prayng that Hilda will not once again deliver us to the midle of a cornfeild in the middle of the night. We eventually arrived in a small village and everyone (the entire town ) was walking down the road. Naturally we parked the car and followed. We gathered with the townspeople and watched a spectacular fireworks display. It was cool to see that every person in the town had dressed up for the occasion (Please see my earlier and likely unpopular comments on exercise gear !)


Once the fireworks were over we tryed again to find this hotel in the middle of rural Italy. 11 pm and no idea where we are or if the hotel is even in this town. Finally success! And what a hotel - there was more marble in the room than a large Italian quarry and it was located right on the town square. Big windows open on 2 sides of the 3 room suite onto the square with Roman ruins spectacularly lit above the town. Amazing! And just our luck - there was a band playing and the town was partying! We joined in for the next hour or so very aware that there were few if any other tourists in this part of Italy. Perfecto!



Brigitte looking out  over the square from our beautiful and inexpensive suite



Sitting in a sidewalk cafe listening to cool jazz on a hot hot hot summer night - somewhere in Italy.