Day 5 Monday
10:30 PM Cannes Time
After being on the computer till 4:30AM, I had to wake up at 7:30 to go to the Avis office in town that opened at 8:00 AM. Believe it or not, stores open at 9:00AM the earliest. So I, along with Rosalin and her dad, went to office so all our names will be on the drivers’ list.
They don’t ave a parking lot, so they park the cars wherever they can find space. Ours just happened to be 3 Km down the road. After the three of us made it there, we saw the car had extensive damage. All along one side it is heavily scratched, Apparently the people before us had a little too much of a good time.
So I went around the car and found a lot of dents and scratches and had to ask the rep if this was really their car. I have never seen a rental car quite in that condition. Then it dawned on me, I got her to write down all the damages, I took the van and figured if we scratch it, it will not be apparent. Also, I can go back to the states and complain about the condition of the car, maybe I can get some of the money back (I took a lot of pictures). And a third point to keep in mind, the locals might not realize it’s a tourist’s car.
Oh, I forgot, this thing is huge, and it looks even bigger from the inside. It takes 9 people (3-3-3) plus a huge covered cargo area for the suitcases. This can easily be converted to a mobile home. Of course this is going to be a challenge driving it in Europe with all the tiny lanes and scarce parking spaces, but we’ll manage. Oh yeah, it takes diesel and sound like an 18 wheeler! Imagine the possibilities.
So we all piled in and went to Monaco. This independent country is so charming. It is small, but very vertical. A lot of buildings, sort of like Beirut. It has a couple of beautiful beaches (tine smooth pebbles instead of sand) and azure seas. I guess that’s why they call it Cote D’Azure.
Actually before Monaco, or I should say on the way to Monaco, we went through Nice, and Nice was nice, (Pardon the punnnn!, don’t you love this language?) The beaches have larg pebbles, Cannes has sand and Monaco has tiny pebbles. But all these pebbles are really smooth and feel great. But within a 50 Km raduis, there are 3 types of texture for the beach.
Back to Monaco, the city resembles the mecca of exotic cars. Anto was getting confused which car he should take pictures with. The 2007 Ferrari Scallietti or the 2009 one, the Porsche with the $200,000 paint job (Matte Black) or the Mcllaren Mercedes convertible or the numerous Bentleys. It’s a beautiful place, wish we could share it with others. I took a lot of pictures and video, I want to put them online, uploading took all night yesterday and it was only 75% uploaded.
The roads are nice, a lot of traffic, a lot of Arabs and of course a lot of Americans. I guess the French boycott is over, they are here in droves and eating the French Fries (Yummm). There is no recession here. I feel like I am in Beirut, or more like Jounieh or Kaslik. Delicious Sorbet & Gelatos on the beach. What can I say, it’s nice.
The way back a lot of traffic, it was rush hour. It was sort of like the traffic we have around 10-11 in the morning, yeah, it’s that bad, how can they take it? We will swim in the Mediterranean tomorrow, God Willing. It sprinkled a bit today, although it was hot and humid. But Cannes, amazingly, is not as humid as Monaco and definitely not as humid as Paris. Drink a lot of fluids and enjoy.
Went to dinner, Chinese#@&!? In France and we’re eating Chinese, well there is always tomorrow for my Coq au Vin. During dinner Rosalin received an SMS from Didi, Garinn’s eyes lit up, She wanted to read the text message and replied to it. She was very happy to get a message from her cousin.
Well, again, enough for the day. Signing off.