World Trip

Goodbye, St. Raphael - Hello Cannes

June 8, 2005

The morning was nice, but somewhat sad as we had to pack up, leave this place, and go our seperate ways. Our plans for the swim to the island of gold were ruined as the sea, instead of calming down as it was supposed to, got very choppy, excited by the strong winds. Since the coast was rocky we decided not to risk it. I will need to come back some time and do this.

Kimo was heading back to Marseille to try to catch the boat for Tunisia, while I was still dedicated to the idea of walking to Cannes. Maybe not the entire way, but most likely taking a bus half way to Le Trayes and walking the remainder. I set of on foot along the general direction of east along the road that follows the sea.

I did not get too far, and decided that potentially hitchhiking would be a fun idea. From what I gathered while talking to some people at the campsite, it was difficult along this road, but I had all day. Nonetheless, as soon as I got to Agay, about three kilometers down the road, I decided to bus it to Le Trayes.

The bus ride was amazing. We followed narrow windy roads along the red rock cliffs of this area. Eventually the road got too hazardous for a full sized bus, so the driver parked it and we transferred to a minibus. The sights along the way were fantastic.

When the bus got to Le Trayes, the bus for Cannes was already waiting to depart, so I decided to abandon my foolish walking plan. This was a good idea as it was still about 20 km to Cannes, my foot was surely not going to forgive me, and the road was really narrow with no room for pedestrians.

Cannes was impressive. Lots of well-dressed people and travelers running around through streets lined with pricey stores. I got the down low about hostels at the tourist information and headed off uphill to find a bed for the night. Along the way I found an SFR cell phone store and decided to try one more time to unlock Mike's SIM card. The people there were extremely helpful, but nothing came out of it because the number got disconnected after not being recharged for six months. I now have a new SFR SIM card for you Mike, and you can use it when you go to France the next time.

The first hostel on the list was closed. It looked good on the brochure, but the reception was only open at 10 am and 6 pm, and I was there at five. I decided to go find the other hostel, which was not too far away.

Finding the other hostel was hard. I had the street name, but no number. The street was long. I went the wrong way, far. Thankfully I got some help from an extremely nice girl who walked me all the way there once we found a way to call the hostel (phone ran out of juice).

This hostel was a little strange since it really did not have a reception. Just an Australian lady name Chris and an Irish girl named Iffa who shared management responsibilities. Got checked in and went to Lidl with Iffa and Alison to buy food and wine for later.

Iffa is a character. She was telling me a story of how her and Alison were drinking champagne on the beach, and they had quite a lot. A bum came along and was trying to convince them to give him some, and she told him that she's an Irish alcoholic and needs it all. That sums her up. She is really cool and actually does not drink as much as she says.

Once the hostel got filled up and everyone got settled we took a group of people, bought more wine at a pizza shop, and headed off to the beach to pre-party. We had a big group of about ten people, from all over the place. There was the crowd of five from West Virginia, Two girls from Finland (Aije-Riika and Heine), Frederick the Frenchman, Alison from California, and Iffa. Afterwards, we went to an Irish pub where an awesome band was playing tons off great covers and danced all night while drinking pints of Guinness.