Cote d Azur, Cannes, France

August 14th, Nice France
We had a relaxing and hot day off yesterday. I took my bike to a bike shop just West of San Remo. The owner said he could not fix my spoke until about 4PM. Since I had nothing else going on, I said that would be fine. I went to a hotel across the street and used their wireless Internet to catch up on stuff and update the blog. Jordan texted me about two hours later and then rode down to join me. We had a late lunch and then picked up my bike. After returning to the campground, we took a quick dip in the Med. Sea and then showered. We walked towards San Remo and found a great little restaurant. The grilled squid was a big winner!
Got up early today because I had made a hotel reservation for Cannes, about 90 clicks away. Soon into the ride, we began to realize that maybe we had bitten off more than we could chew. Once we hit France, the riding got a lot tougher. By the time we hit Monaco, we were exhausted. Just before Nice I realized that we had left the Med. Sea road and we on the harder road that is a bit inland. After a quick course correction, we got back on the coast where the riding was much easier, although still pretty tough. The heat is starting to take its toll, too.
We grabbed lunch and then made it to Nice about an hour later. Jordan said there was no way she was going to ride all the way to Cannes. Our hotel was non-refundable, so we opted for plan B... THE TRAIN! We are sitting on one of the local trains headed towards Cannes. As much as I like riding on the Cote d Azure, this is pretty damn good!.
A few notes on the two Rivieras... The Italian Riviera to the French Riveria is sort of like Myrtle Beach to Hilton Head. I liked the Italian Riviera, but it is a little seedy. As soon as we crossed into France there was a definite upgrade in roads, buildings, cars (a cool Ferrari zoomed past us... kind of ironic that it is an Italian car!). I am really looking forward to getting my almond croissant addiction attended to. I have been hungering for some since leaving France and entering Belgium several weeks ago. No other country can bake like the French!
I forgot to mention an interesting conversation between Vic and his oldest son, Jordy, as we were going to play tennis the other day in Lugano. Vic was bitching him out for buying a pair of tennis shoes last year and then never using them. Jordy first protested that he did wear them frequently. Vic then asked why they have been in the back of his car for the last 6 months. Jordy moved to excuse number two: mom bought them so why do you care, Dad. Vic told him that mom got the money from Vic. Excuse number 3 soon followed, and it was a good one: Jordy professed he was going through a style change! That finally shut Dad up. Vic and I were both too busy laughing at the "style change" comment. Kids are not much different despite being from Switzerland or the USA!

Train arrived in Cannes and we just found our hotel and showered. Off to explore.