Ah this is the life

Well here I am in my room which overlooks the hotel swimming pool. Not bad eh, leave on a Thursday afternoon and by Friday afternoon I'm in the Côte d'Azur. Of course my body clock is out of kilter but give it time.


Played cards with the lady in the window seat to pass the time on the plane. P was of Scottish descent and was going back to Edinburgh to see her dad. The gent with the aisle seat never took off his coat, just read his Financial Times and was mildly irritated whenever we needed to get past him.


Thought while waiting to board the shuttle flight to Nice how wonderful it is to have time at my disposal again, to be a wanderer and a magician instead of a warrior, in the lingua of Jungian archetypes. Time to sift, reflect, absorb and discard. To have only vague plans for the day. To be free to do or not to do.


On the short but pleasant flight to Nice they handed out ice-cream bars for desert; a bit unusual for an airline menu. It lent an air of informality. Nice Airport looked dilapidated; I somehow expected better. I reconfirmed my plane ticket and hopped on the bus with no time to get any francs from the ATM. The landscape reminded me of Southern California: bare soil, bright sunshine. I thought maybe that's why the dilapidation; why fix anything when it won't rain anyway. Maze of highways before arriving in Cannes. There was a pleasure navigation expo on so it was crowded. The afternoon was humid so I was drenched in sweat by the time I reached the tourist office. An even sweatier walk was required to get to the hotel at the top of a hill.


Weak water pressure due to water restrictions, so I jumped into the aforepictured swimming pool to cool off. The water here has a slightly saline taste. It reminded me of Adelaide.


Dozed off but woke in time to walk down the hill for dinner. Opted for a pan bagnat instead of a sit-down meal. But there was plenty of fine dining available in the narrow streets of the old city. People here are friendly and used to tourists. Cannes is a pleasure town. Evenings in the open air are heavenly. I was reminded of my sojourn in Sestri Levante, a few years previously.


The old town and in particular the market all looked alluring but I was too tired to explore much with an 8 hour jet lag, so I called it an evening.