Chez Nous: Cannes

As we approach our one year anniversary of moving to the U.S. from France, the reminiscing is inevitable.

Last year at this time I had several blog posts planned that never happened with all the excitement and stress of the move.

I like to remember the places I've lived abroad, even if they involve crappy, tiny apartments. I wrote about my Strasbourg, Jerusalem, Haifa, and Mandelieu homes here.

After our wedding we moved to Mandelieu-la-Napoule, a small town next to Cannes where David worked. We lived there rent-free at a family member's home for our first 6 months in France. 

When he returned from rehab after recovering from a car accident, we found our own place.

It wasn't easy.

The French Riviera caters to tourists and the filthy rich. Most apartments are only rented out as summer vacation homes or were way out of our price range.

After a lot of searching, we found a place in Cannes. It was approximately a 10 minute walk to the beach, a 10 minute drive to David's work, and 10 minutes to downtown. 

Originally, David wanted to be right on the beach and I wanted to be right downtown, but it wasn't a bad compromise.  

Without further ado, here is a tour of our place on Avenue Sainte-Rosalie that we called home for a year.

Outside of our building

Our street

Outdoor hallway leading to our apartment.

Also the location where I would sometimes make David take outfit pictures of me.

Standing in the living room looking at the front door. So exciting, I know.

Living room

Living room/balcony

Living room/baby kitchen. We had no oven, dishwasher, or dining table.

Our bedroom. There was a light fixture but I broke it.
There was bedding lol but I was washing it.

Bathroom- toilet was separate as the French tend to like to do.
We were happy to have a washing machine even if it was crammed into this room.

The best part of the apartment was the balcony. It wasn't quite the Mediterranean/castle view that we had in our free place in Mandelieu, but this was pretty nice. I loved when the yellow mimosa trees bloomed!

Probably the weirdest/most ghetto thing about this place was the fridge/freezer on the balcony. There was a mini fridge in the kitchen but it held like one thing, so we were lucky to have this space as odd as it was.

As you can see, it wasn't a luxurious place but it did the job.

Onto our neighborhood- called Cannes la Bocca.

The beach is gorgeous. There wasn't anything else exciting in the neighborhood- it was pretty quiet and mostly populated by retirees. I found a gym I could walk to, and there were several rich grandmas there who wore their pearls to Zumba. #lifegoals

A portrait of our lives in Cannes wouldn't be complete without talking about the city itself. 

I went downtown pretty often to entertain myself while David worked all day. Said entertainment mostly involved shopping, but also just strolls around town taking pictures. I'm a fan of the pastel buildings.

The building on the bottom left was my library- pas mal.

Sometimes David would meet me after work to go out to dinner on the Croisette. David was a big fan of Cannes' Steak N'Shake. I was a fan of the parmesan risotto and gelato at the nicer place next door. ;)

In conclusion...

Pros of living in Cannes: beach in the summer, proximity to Provence and Italy for traveling, the glamour factor, excellent people watching, excellent shopping

Cons: expensive, not a ton to do besides the beach, not a historic city, HOT in the summer (and no air-conditioning)

I do miss Cannes, but I'm happy to be here right now (yes, even during what is possibly the worst winter Wisconsin has had in my whole life). 

I miss Cannes in the sense that I would LOVE to visit for a day, but not live there again. I am very happy that I had the chance to live there- mostly for travel opportunities and the chance to get to know a new part of France.

The winters in Cannes went something like this- 50s/60s in December, occasionally dropping into the 40s in January, mid-60s and spring weather by February. 

The other day I brought that up to David, who hates winter. 

"Don't you wish we were still in Cannes?"

"OVER MY DEAD BODY."

So that was a no from him. He has stayed loyal to America despite experiencing -60 weather. Someone deserves citizenship.