Au Revoir, Riviera!

Before we packed our bags and moved out for good, I had to say goodbye to a few of my favorite cities.

First up on the agenda was Nice. I enjoyed my walk around Place Masséna and the colorful Vieille Ville. Of course, I couldn’t leave without doing a little shopping (it was during the winter sales, after all). My only regret was that Fenocchio, the famous gelato shop, was closed for the winter.

Two days later, I stepped foot in downtown Cannes for the last time. The drizzly weather wasn’t very conducive to taking pictures. I only managed to take one of my favorite street, Rue Meynadier. It's hard to take good pictures of this street because it's always busy with shoppers- even in the rain.  I did better last spring, when I wrote about life in Cannes.

Over the weekend David’s parents came down to help us start moving. Our tiny European-sized car could not have fit both of our big American-sized suitcases.

We spent Saturday morning in Mandelieu, where we lived during our first 6 months in France. I was happy to get to see “my” castle one last time. We could see the tower from our balcony and I used to walk there every week.

It’s still too chilly for (most) humans to swim, but this dog seemed to be loving life.

This is very zoomed in, but from the beach in Mandelieu we could see the Ile St. Honorat in the distance. We visited this castle and monastery a few weeks ago.

Saturday afternoon, we reminisced in Cagnes-sur-Mer. David’s grandparents had an apartment in Cagnes and they vacationed there every summer of his childhood. We walked along the beach and around the harbor.

We had time for one last excursion together on Sunday. They wanted to spend more time by the beach before driving back to snowy Gap. I suggested Antibes because I hadn’t been back in more than a year. It was one of my first sightseeing outings when we moved to France in 2016.

Our first view of Antibes was of the harbor and fortress with snow-capped mountains in the background. It’s easy to forget sometimes that the French Riviera is so close to the Alps!

We walked along the ramparts and enjoyed the clear, turquoise water. There were even a few brave swimmers.

I felt like dancing in my new skirt (merci, winter sales) in front of the colorful cathedral.

David was thankful I refrained from dancing all the way down these pretty pastel streets.

I feel lucky to have called the French Riviera home for the last year and a half. Out of all the places to end up in the world, this was a pretty beautiful one. I'll be back someday!