Angie's Journal
The morning went all wrong. The car rental company we had reservations with was not near the pier, as a matter of fact it took us an hour of walking to find them. When we finally found the place we realized Ray forgot his driver's license on the cruise ship smh. We realized our plans of going up to Grasse and having the girls make perfume while the boys explore a pre-historic cave were out. So to make the best of the day, we decided to head to the beach. Thankfully we had all our swim gear with us because we intended to go to a lake later on in the day, but with the beach right there we saw no need.
In Cannes, and much of the French Rivera, is like looking into the lifestyles of the rich and famous. Many of our conversations were about the large yachts pulling in and out and wether they were the ones we saw on the Ridiculously Large and Expensive Yacht show (ok it might just be called Super Yachts or something). In order to do the beach in Cannes, we had to find a private beach and pay for our lounge chairs. Since we were saving a load of money from not getting the rental car, we enjoyed being spoiled for the day with a cabana boy, fruit cocktails, and good food at the restaurant. Of course the warm weather and cool water helped us enjoy the day as well. Ray took the older kids tubing at some point in the day too so they can could have some more fun. The private beach was nice because it had toys for the kids to play with such as pool noodles and sand toys. Just because the day didn't go as planned didn't mean we didn't really enjoy ourselves. I think we all needed a relaxing day after walking around Rome and Florence.
Ray's Journal
So the cruise Itinerary originally had us going to Nice, France instead of Cannes. Apparently, if one little [cheaply run] cruise company has a ship run aground somewhere, all the other cruise companies run scared and avoid it. Needless to say, Cannes may be great if your into Hollywood; but it is not set up for 3 mega cruise ships to port there.
We awoke to find Kathy was sick. She visited the ship’s doctor while everyone else ate breakfast to find that she was having a lung infection due to cigarette smoke (since everyone in Europe smokes and she is esp. sensitive to it). The doctor would not give her anything for it, he said just stay away from smoke filled areas and lay in bed all day. She instead asked to stay on the boat for the day and spend the majority of her free time that day in the spa and herbal steam room. She did and she says she feels better because of it.
We did not pull all the way into the port of Cannes, we took the lifeboats (dubbed tenders for this period) into the port docks. When we got to the docks we found buses for the paid excursions, but no other method of transportation was available - not even a Taxi cab! So we had to hoof it through downtown with no knowledge of where anything was. It took us 120 minutes to find the Hertz we rented from. This caused us to miss our appointments for both the perfume making and the caving. I was incredibly angry, but was finally smart and kept my anger in check so I didn’t ruin Angie’s day. Lexi, to her credit, was sorely disappointed but kept it to herself as well. I love my kids, especially when I can learn something good from them.
Once we found the rent-a-wreck company I found to my dismay, that I had forgotten to pack my drivers license in my bag of stuff for the day. I still feel like a horse’s rear-end for ruining Angie’s day (everyone else recovered from my mistake, but I’m convinced Angie did not enjoy the whole day the way she would have if we would have gone to the perfume making and lake district as planned).
With no ride and having missed 2 of the 3 planned events, we opted for a private beach (Angie is telling me to include, “With a Cabana Boy”). It was pretty nice, it came with its own lifeguard and sun seats with umbrellas. The kids played in the sea all day while Misty played in the wet sand all day. Angie mostly watched Misty as she was trying to give me some relax time. I took turns napping on the recliner and playing in the very chilly water with the kids. The piece of private beach we found also served lunch. After lunch I took the kids in a pull behind a ski boat. We all loved it! It was like a 3 man sofa being pulled by a wake boat. We can definitely get that once we are back in the States!
Angie and I made sure everyone had copious amounts of gooey SPF 70 on, but we all got a mild burn on some part of our bodies. Lexi, however, got a burn on her face and back which seemed to make her a little sick. From the walk back to the launch until dinner time she seemed sad and tired. After we ate she came to our room begging to see the doctor. I investigated and found that she was suffering a mild form of heat stroke. I took appropriate actions with the addition of both pedialyte and advil. She went to sleep less than 10 minutes later. I certainly hope she is okay tomorrow.
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