From the Inside Out

Tuesday proved to be a beautiful day in the French Riviera. The rain was gone and sunny, warm skies greeted us this morning. First, we visited the Russian Orthodox Cathedral in Nice which was built in 1912 and was the first Orthodox Russian Cathedral outside of Russia.

Afterwards, we hopped on the train to Cannes and spent most of the day there. Cannes is a beautiful city, and it’s one of the most famous on the French Riviera because it hosts the annual Cannes Film Festival. During the festival, celebrities flock to the city to promote their films, but we didn’t see any during our visit. We did see some great sights though…check out the pics below and in the Cannes Album.

First glimpse of Cannes

Having fun outside the Cannes Film Festival Building, Palais des Festivals et des Congrès. They had these cut-outs set-up near the mini walk of fame with celebrity handprints in stone

Yeah…baby!

Looking back towards the La Croisette waterfront avenue

Chapel of St Anne at La Suquet, the old town of Cannes

On top of the hill in La Suquet

View of the harbor from the Castle watchtower

Posing for the camera…yeah, it was a bit windy up there.

The tower on which we were standing in the previous photos. You can see everything from here.

Shops in the pedestrian area of Cannes — filled with clothing stores, pastry and chocolate shops.

We’re traveling to the French Riviera in January! Nice will be our final destination with day trips to Cannes, Monte Carlo and the Southern Alps. After our October vacation plans were foiled (because of a hefty workload), I thought we’d be going elsewhere. Possibly New Zealand or Australia because the weather is warm and sunny in January.

I changed my mind after investigating the flight options. The best case scenario had us arriving in New Zealand about 24 hours after departing. With the time difference, we’d lose an entire day just traveling (i.e. depart on Sunday, arrive on Tuesday). While the charm of New Zealand is appealing, the thought of spending two entire days on plane is not. We’ll save that trip for a time when we can be gone for more than one week.

Even though the weather will be a little chilly, I’m really excited about this trip. We’re staying at the Palais de la Mediterranee, an oceanfront property located on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice. And since there are ski resorts about 60 miles inland we can stroll along the beach in the morning and ski in the afternoon. How cool is that?

Viva la France!

The Palais de la Mediterranee

View from the pool area