The Riviera

or those of you who know me, you know that a I drive what is officially an "old man" car - a 1995 Buick Riviera that was, in fact, previously owned by an old man (my grandfather).   I refer to it the same way Pop always referred to it, as "The Riviera" (not to be confused with the Pop-dubbed "The Park Avenue" or "The Lucerne," his other recent Buick models; my old Subaru Legacy aka "The Subaru;" or my mom's minivan, which my grandparents still call "The Truck").   Since I'm so used to driving The Riviera, it was odd for me to start talking about how I was going to visit The Real Riviera: the French Riviera.  

During my trip to Cannes (see the post here for details of GBE Cannes 2010), several of my friends and I took day trips to explore other Rivieria attractions beyond the annual Film Festival.  Those trips included taking a ferry to the Ile St. Honorat, which is one of two (along with Ile Ste. Marguerite) cute little islands about a 20-minute board ride from Cannes.  We took the bus from Cannes la Bocca, walked down the pier, bought our tickets, and voila!  We were ready to sail! 

After a 20 minute ferry ride on which we saw "pirate ships"...

...and fancy carbon-masted racing sail boats... 

...we made it to St. Honorat, which is the site of the Abbey des Lerins, an actual abbey inhabited by monks.  You're supposed to be quiet on the island, so we took a lovely peaceful walk around the place.  We saw their fancy vineyards (they do make their own wines and liquors, available for sale in the abbey gift shop)... 

 ....and we saw some cute little chapels on the shoreline....

...we found a little pirate cove...

...and a big fort that looked straight out of Robin Hood...

...and then we visited the actual abbey before grabbing lunch and heading home....

It was a lovely day!

The next day, the same group of lovely ladies decided to take the train from Cannes to Monaco.  We did our own tour of basically the whole principality, starting with the beautiful church outside the train station...

...then we walked up the hill to the royal palace....

...saw the royal guard....

...and some other beautiful scenery and gorgeous parks in Monaco Ville. 

Then we trekked down the mountain, hopped on a bus, and went to see the Montecarlo casino before heading back to Cannes.

And thus ended my trip to the Riviera.  Now all I have is some photos...and the Buick. 

Winter Break

When I was in college, I never really had the chance to "enjoy" breaks from school.  I worked at a law firm in Delaware during each summer and winter break, starting pretty much the day I got home after exams up until the day right before I had to go back to Providence for classes (or mock trial tournament preparation or sorority planning retreats or whatever).  When I worked at the Consulting Firm That Shall Not Be Named, I never really took vacation.  Even if I did travel somewhere for "vacation," I inevitably worked at least an hour or two each day doing the parts of my job that nobody else either wanted to do or fully understood how to do.  This is honestly the first time in my entire life that I have had nothing that I truly needed or was obligated to do for a period longer than a weekend. 

Let's just say that I'm truly loving it, more than I ever thought I would or could.