9 September, 2000

Okay, we're here! First of all, a couple of random notes:

First: a HUGE thank you to everyone who helped us get ready for the trip. Thank you thank you thank you.

The reason it took so long to make changes to this web site is because it took me (Andrew) approximately 20 hours of calling all over the world, visiting computer stores, etc. etc. to figure out that the wire that plugs into a phone will not plug into a computer with equal efficacy, even though it looks as though it should. Finally, it took me one trip to a supermarket to buy a plug for the phone jack that works perfectly. I don't even know why I tried it; I had given up hope completely.

This leads me to my first observation about France (please feel free to chuckle at my expense): people speak French here. I assumed that because Cannes is a big tourist town, people would speak English. I assumed that because the U.S. is a world economic leader, people would speak English here. I supposed that people would study it in high school, college, etc. etc. However, this is not the case. Almost no one here speaks English, except maybe enough to be able to ask you if you'd like your steak medium or medium rare (it often comes extra rare either way).

Next, you should know that all the pictures on this page and the following slide shows are taken from other places on the web. However, they are representative of our experiences here. We do have packets of countless pictures we've taken, but I haven't gotten a scanner yet. Further bulletins as events warrant.

Slide Shows
town * beach * market * croissette * Nice

If you have any problems (using the slideshows), e-mail me below. Yes, the water really is that color.

I (Gia) am happy to find that there are organic restaurants and food stores here (only it's called "bio", pronounced bee-oh). The drug stores (with large neon green crosses) are combined with herbologists, so it's easy to find common herbs such as echinacea.

Our next observation about France is that we thought everything would be smaller here than in the U.S. However, they have enormous grocery stores, double the size of King Soopers, and giant hardware stores double the size of McGuckin's. It's amazing.

At the grocery store, you put a ten-franc piece (worth about $1.25) into the cart rack, then you get a shopping cart. When you return the cart you get your coin back. I (Gia) remembered that Jane Dalrymple-Hollo told us this, but only remembered after we walked into the store and couldn't figure out where people were getting their carts from.

Please don't be disturbed at the random nature of our observations -- we're just trying to include everything that struck us.

People here put a lot of faith in their seams. I (Gia) have been inspired by this and feel free to wear very tight clothing and feel like I fit in with the French people.

The city is not set up for bicycles at all. There are no bike lanes, there are curbs at the end of every block on the sidewalks, and there is no way to ride in traffic without blocking a lane if you want to be careful of having a car-door opened in front of you. However, that said, the drivers are very respectful of bicyclists, and one never feels that they are pushy about having to slow down for you.

Children here are extremely friendly towards one another. It is not uncommon to see them hugging each other, helping each other in various ways, etc. etc.

Despite numerous warnings about how rude the French are to Americans, people have been almost universally kind and helpful to us. We have asked many people for directions in French, and they've been great at helping despite our terrible language skills. Our banker, named Yann Redout, is great. He speaks a little English. Our landlord, who speaks English fairly well, has been incredibly helpful in getting us settled in -- setting up internet access, helping us buy a car, get a bank account, etc. (These were all things I (Andrew) thought I could do in English, but which are absolutely impossible in English).

I (Gia) am planning to take French classes at one of a couple of different local colleges. Then I can interpret for Andrew's business if needed.

It is almost impossible to get a bad meal here unless you go to one of the tourist traps on the beach.

Major observation number two: everything is cheap here, with the possible exception of real estate. Food is about 20% less, cars are cheaper, snacks are cheap. We came here thinking that we would never be able to eat out because we were moving to the most expensive place in Europe. However, Cannes is actually not terribly jet-set. There are a lot of nice shops, but there are also plenty of pizza places, sandwich shops, cafe's, etc., which are eminently affordable.

I (Gia) had an indescribably delicous steak in cream sauce at a downtown restaurant, which was quite lovely inside, for $12.

The level of air pollution is approximately the same as Denver's, which is too bad, and in fact one of the biggest disappointments to me (Andrew).

We plan to buy a car in a week or two. So far, we've only been able to visit downtown Cannes and the area in which we live. This means an area of about three blocks deep by five-and-a-bit miles long. Not much. So, we really don't know much about the larger area.

The train system is fabulous. You can go almost anywhere for almost nothing. Except that they periodically cancel trains for no apparent reason. You're standing there waiting, under a sign that says "Cannes, 15:35", and suddenly it changes to "Cannes, Subblime" which means canceled. Then the train roars through and you realize that they didn't cancel the train, but only the stopping of the train.

Our apartment (appartment here) is quite small but workable. However, it is pretty noisy. There are four lanes of traffic between us and the beach. It's not solid traffic, it's pretty constant here-a-car, there-a-car (Gia feels it's worse than this). And the train runs right behind, so every half-hour we hear and extended whoosh noise. All in all bearable, but not a place to live long term.

When you're traveling somewhere with your bikes, it make sense to take the tools to reassemble them.

Kona did great on the whole trip. Nary a mew. However, she wasn't happy to be here at first. She suddenly had to live in a small, hard-floored apartment, with a view of the ocean and other wonders, but she wasn't permitted to explore at all. She was very unhappy about that, but by now she's really gotten much happier. She now sits on our porch on a pillow on a table and watches sailboats and windsurfers all day.

French people have a thing for cuteness, which is described by the word "jolie" (pronounced zho lee). They have cars called the Clio, the Tigra, the Chappy, etc. etc., and they have a bazillion little different coffeemakers in pastel shades. Lots of products have these jolie names. I'm not quite capturing it, except that it's quite different from the Marlborough Man in the U.S., where any product has to be manly and tough.

We're planning to buy a DVD player (as opposed to a VCR) so that we can watch movies in either French or English and have the opposing subtitles. This will help us learn French (as if the total immersion method won't work well enough).

People here seem to be less environmentally conscious. They don't recycle at all, as far as we can tell, and they have lots of zippy little two-stroke-powered motorbikes that pollute terribly. They also make a lot of noise.

If you cross a street without looking, carefully, both ways, you'll be instantly killed. In stark contrast, in the supermarket no one will ever get out of your way. You have to almost bump into them, while they're looking straight at you, and then say "pah-do". Then they will move over approximately an inch so you still have to physically push past them.