French Riviera - Cannes

I did a day trip to Cannes from Nice. The train from Nice took about 45 mins to reach Cannes. The  entire train ride pretty much goes by the coast, so the journey itself is as much a part of experience. The Cannes train station is  chaotic and walking out of the station through the  main shopping district  and onto the waterfront was really quite uneventful. We all know then that through the years this place has become famous for its film festivals, which in turn has given the town the 'glamour' tag. I would say that only a tiny part of the town lives up to that expectation, but most of cannes doesn't. 


The main waterfront promenade, Le Croisette is lined with palm trees and surrounded by grand Belle Epoque buildings on one side and sandy beach on the other. These building were loaded with designer stores that makes no apologies for their flamboyance . The promenade is one of the most touristy and liveliest places in Cannes.  

I walked towards the harbor passing Palais de Festival which hosts the Cannes Film Festival.   You can see the hand prints of the movie stars near the entrance of the tourist office. Again, the auditorium itself is  hardly glamorous.

The harbor is lined with restaurants and cafes and the port was filled with yachts. 

After walking around the port for sometime, I headed up the hill to the Old City "Le Suquet" overlooking the west end of the port. The Le Suquet area has narrow streets climbing up and around the hill, with 12th-16th-century church Notre-Dame  giving a touch of medieval flavor to the city.  And you get a 360 degree view  of Cannes from the top .

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French Riviera - Monaco

Monte Carlo is not far from Nice as it took less than an hour on the bus from Nice. We just walked up to the bus in Nice and purchased the tickets from the driver. I think they were about 1.50 Euro per person.  The view getting there along the mediterranean coastline was beautiful.You pass  lots of nice looking homes, two or three stories high usually on sides of mountains overlooking the ocean. 

Monaco definitely lives up to the hype. When we first got off the bus this was immediately apparent with the incredibly clean streets, and all types of expensive cars around. It was uber posh and aesthetically beautiful. Monaco itself is a pretty weird-to-navigate place with all kinds of fancy underground walkways, stairs and elevators. Monaco is built up the very steep mountains surrounding it. Monaco has 35 public lifts and travelators to help with the hills, so its not challenging to stroll around Monaco, if you do your homework. 

View from the Palace

Harbour

We strolled around the old town. The old town doesn’t seem that old but  the palace is grand  and the garden has some pretty views of the Blue ocean and green hills. We  strolled  down around the bay to the harbor and walked around the streets which is part of  the Monaco Grand Prix circuit. The harbor had great views of  the expensive yachts and water.  From there we  walked up to the  mountain known as Monte Carlo. It is here the famous Monte Carlo Casino is located.  We walked over to the casino which was lined with some of the flashiest and most expensive cars in the world.I have never seen so many pretty and expensive cars in one place! It was almost like I was in a car show. The building is old and looks impressive . However, Monte Carlo is more than the casino; it's actually an entire district. Lots of restaurants and shops.

Monte Carlo casino

We then walked back around the bay and into the famous tunnel  under the Fairmont hotel (which is part of the Monaco grand prix circuit )  towards the harbour to catch our bus back to Nice .

The famous tunnel

Overall, I would say that compared Nice or Cannes, Monte Carlo is spectacular.

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Croissant crawl in France

Every time I have visited France, I am determined to find the best croissant in the city.  There are several boulangeries all around french cities, but if you are not local or do not have the local knowledge, just going to the first boulangerie you see, could be a hit or miss. Anyways in the hunt for THE croissant place in France whilst being a tourist,I have come to conclusion  that there are couple chain boulangeries in France, that fulfills my quest of the tasty pastries. Albeit, not the best top tier  patisseries or croissants , however you will find them in all major cities around France, so you know what you are getting.

Paul, is a boulangerie/bakery chain in France. I found this chain of boulangeries in Paris to be among one of the best.  My first visit to Paul's was the store in Champs Elysees and I liked it so much that I ended up visiting various other Paul in Paris, Nice & Cannes

The stores itself are impeccably French in a black shop-front with its large glass windows where you can see the bread arranged on wooden shelves and baguettes in baskets like umbrellas in a stand. 

Paul store in Cannes

You see, I'm quite a croissant connoisseur so I limited myself to buying just croissants, pain au chocolat & escargots each time. But the display of various flans, cakes, tarts, and sweets sure looks delicious. All the viennoiseries (translates to breakfast pastries in american english) costs between 1 and 1.50 euro each and were soft, fresh and delicious. Paul also have some delicious little Brioches and Bignets. Some french people say Paul is not great but hey, coming from USA where the freshest croissants at Starbucks is a day old, I really can't complain.

Bignets filled with Nutella

There is also has another chain of boulangerie called "La Brioche Dorée", I went there couple of times and its probably not my favorite ,I prefer the boulangerie of Paul anyday, but they do sell something called  a "maxi pain au chocolat" which is more than twice the size of a regular pan au chocolat almost the size of a brick for under 2 euros and its great for lunch if you don't like savory sandwiches.

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Flight to Paris on Air France

I almost always fly United Airlines, so was really excited this time to be booked on an Air France flight to Paris. I had planned to check-in early to try my luck on getting a seat on the emergency exit row, but ended up arriving pretty late at the airport (thanks to the various constructions on 101). If you are on a 10+ hour flight, the biggest benefit of being seated in the emergency exit row is not that the leg room is unlimited, but most importantly you don't have to get up 25 times incase you end up sitting next to someone with a bladder problem.

Upon check-in I asked the airline for an exit row seat. She tried to ignore my request first, but with my never-say-die attitude I shamelessly asked her again just incase she did'nt hear me the first time. She gave me a long stare from head to toe and called someone on the phone. I was'nt sure if I committed some crime by asking an exit row seat, but after few mins she looked up smiled. I knew then I got an aisle seat on exit row. It was 43J . Woohoo!

Flight was on time. I was a bit disappointed that the seats did not have the personal TV screens, which was a bummer, but I did not plan on watching any movies either. I could'nt sleep much during the flight as I had intended to, but the Kiwi lady sitting next to me was nice and we chatted during most of the flight. It was her first visit to Paris so I became her Paris tour guide during the flight. The dinner menu had Champagne listed which was a suprise. I had heard from lot of travellers that Air France's food was not that great, but I felt the food and the service was really good. Maybe its because I have very low expectation being a frequent flier of United Airlines.

After a good 11 hours we touched down in Paris on time. My Hotel was in Montparnasse (left bank), so I went straight to the Air France Bus (Les cars) counter. Air France operates coach services between CDG and Montparnase and will cost you around 20 euros for a round trip which is much convenient than taking the metro/RER. I think this is the most ecconomical way to get from CDG airport to Gare de Lyon or Gare Montparnasse. The Air France coach departs from all the CDG terminals on a regular schedule, so no more carrying your luggages in the airport shuttle to RER station and from there to another Metro line. I did that last time and it was a pain.

Eiffel Tower celebrating the 2007 Rugby World Cup

Anyways since I had been to Paris as a tourist before, I avoided all the tourist stuff this time. On a side note, the Rugby world cup is currently going on in France and the entire country has been gripped by rugby mania. There were giant TV screens set up telecasting games live at most of the public places in Paris. Eiffel tower was decorated with Rugby world cup theme and so were most of the stores in Champs elyeeses. I spent couple of evening watching rugby games on one of the giant TV screen in Notre Dame which was fun.

Well, to end my blog, I tried the same drill (requesting exit row seat) on my return flight to San Francisco and again I got a seat on the exit row. Woohoo twice!

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Eiffel Tower & Paris from the top

Off to Paris  It was the first time in Paris. Weather was a bit gloomy, cold and was snowing intermittently throughout the day. Its December and given that we’d paid relatively little for our air tickets and hotels, we were delighted. And of course, it also meant less crowd everywhere in Paris.

I don’t think there are many monuments that are as famous as the Eiffel Tower. We just walked over from Notre Dame to the Tower along the Seine.

Being there for the first time, it is customary to go to the top, and so we waited. Luckily, the wait wasn't that long. Probably because of the low season and crappy weather. And 20 minutes later, we were at the base elevator, and another 20 minutes, we were at the top of the tower. You get a good view of the city but the top was kind of crowded and you have to “fight” a bit to get a good view. 

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