Cannes

Today's day trip was to Cannes. We avoided the ticket chaos of yesterday by booking in advance and caught the train comfortably. We walked from the station to the Cannes Palais des Festivals which turned out to be a large building surrounded by lots of temporary fencing. Poor Stephen never even got to touch the famous red carpet. We walked along looking at the famous handprints till we spied the Saturday Market ahead.

Lyn found a cute dog and then discussed its life story with its French owner. After a reviving snack we found the famous cinema street art and spent some time identifying who was who. 

We seemed to have exhausted Cannes attractions so went in search of a ferry ride to the island of St Marguerite. 

Once there, we walked to a swimming spot. The only peril seemed to be the now familiar pebble shore. Josh and I went swimming. The water was warm so I swam into shore with a plan to persuade Lyn to come in too. Then I felt stinging electric shocks on my shoulder, hand and both legs. Josh also fell victim. The villain was pelagia noctiluca.

We both recovered quite quickly. Compared to the Ozzy bluebottle, it is not a heavy hitter. Still, a quick end to swimming!

We walked across the island to Fort Royal, famously the prison which held the Man in the Iron Mask. There were some nice views and a museum in the old cells. An artist had painted some of the walls and there were displays on the local fishing industry and the archaeology of the islands and surrounding shipwrecks.

On the ferry ride back we admired the racing yachts.

All in all, it was a pleasantly interesting day.