OCTOBER 26

We where off to Antibes mid morning under overcast skies.  An almost winter gray type day, the first I have had since I got here in mid-Sept.  Had our on private car until we got to Cannes and "Bruiser" and her dog got on.  It was big dog and had a muzzle so we figured we should not argue  On the way home it was standing room only as it was Friday night everybody was traveling.

 

 

Antibes is a great town.  It is actually a large metro area, but on the water front is great.  It has a beautiful large old walled city on one side of the port and a large fort on the hill on the other side of the port.  The port is actually surrounded by part of the old wall of the city.  The old town has great little shops, narrow streets, lots of flowers and a small Picasso museum.  We had a windy lunch in the park and then walked the old town and visited old Picasso.  The town was still pretty busy even though it is late in the tourist season.  We talked to several Brit's, a couple from Hawaii, Finlandiers, and students from Holland. As is required by law, we found a nice small side walk cafe and had a mid-afternoon coffee.  The owner was very nice and despite the fact he spoke perfect english, he patiently waited as I worked my way through my poor french. After the coffee we walked around the port to the castle on the hill.  A lovely walk  around the bottom on the water and up the hill through a park to find that it is  closed for the season. Went back into the Centre de Ville in the modern part with a nice park and a big fountain.  We caught the 6:15pm train home.

 

pictures

In the distance over the red roof is the Castle.  Through the sea of masts is from the other direction looking from the castle to the old walled city.

 

 

 

 

 

 

If the rich live in St. Tropez and park their boats in Cannes, they bring them to Antibes to be worked on.  I can honestly say that I have never seen so many super-mega-yachts parked in one place in my life.  The whole downtown water front offices where yacht related, service, crewing, managing, insurance, etc.There was lots of activity on all of the boats, painting, varnishing, redoing interiors, etc.  We were slightly surprised to see a "Discount Marine" van pulled up behind a 300ft yacht.  I am sure the owner did not know that it was there. The interesting thing is that in the States you would never be allowed to walk among these boats. They would be behind locked gates with lots of security.  We have not been to a marina yet that all docks where not open to the public, who actually owns them, just as we own them in the US as they are all on public waters.

 

 

 

This small little cruise ship with it's own long dock and security, (but not to keep you away) is named "Kingdom" and it's home port is Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.  I will let you guess who owns it.

 

 

 

POLITICAL STATEMENT OF THE WEEK

Almost all of the super-mega-yachts are registered in Grand Cayman, like that infamous company Halliburton, to avoid taxes and regulations.  At least 3 of these monsters I know are owned by Americans who made their fortunes in the USA. They also claim to be great citizens.  To me they are not.  Great Americans are like the late John Moran.  He owned the Toyota distributorship for the whole SE USA.  In his life time he had over 50 boats and the last 20 or so in the mega-yacht category, all named "Gallant Lady".  He was very proud to register all his boats in the USA and fly the Stars and Stripes on them.  He said he had made his money in the USA and the small inconvenience of taxes and regulations was well worth it for the "privilege" to fly the "red, white and blue" flag on all his boats.  He was truly a great American citizen.

 

We will probably go back to Antibes on a sunny day as there where many great photos to take in the light.

OCTOBER 31

Well today was a work day, so we where off to Cannes by train.  WWI, Inc.had been retained by Robert Lubliner of Lubliner and Trent from Chicago several years ago to find one Catharine Zago. Mr. Lubliner was a second generation movie theater mogul and his family had started in the theater business in the very beginning in the 1920's.  When you talk to him it is like a talking history book of the old days in movies.  His story is fascinating.  He tells of memories of the depression as child and of the family being evicted from their home and him sitting on the curb with the nanny, cook, chauffer and his sisters.  He has known many of the 30's to the 70's movies stars, producers, and film promoters from Jack Warner to Earl Flynn. I could go on and tell many many stories of Bob's, but that is for another day. 

In the early 50's he came to Europe to romp with the rich and famous.  He and his buddy where staying at the George V, the premier hotel in Paris, and he met two ladies that shared an apartment near by.  One was named Catherine Zago and the other was a lady named Ursula Andres, both aspiring actress's. They became, shall we say friends, and traveled around Europe.

Our job was to find out what we could about Catherine and so far that had not been much, but I figured the movies stars come to Cannes once a year, so we may find out something there.

The train arrived on time and we started the adventure.  Cannes is not an exciting place.  There is a very small old town and then the rest is mostly new and modern.  We walked through the market, followed by the Police Muncipal, and up to the old cathedral to get and overview of the city.  We had to set on a bench and wait for the cruise ship people to clear out.  That took about half an hour and then we where pretty much alone.  It is a nice view from high up there but nothing spectacular.  We walked back down the hill to the waterfront and answered many questions from the Princess Cruise ship customers who had dared to venture out on their own.  They where looking for the really interesting part and where could they see some stars.  At least they are out of the USA and "sort of" seeing the world.

If the rich and famous live in St. Tropez, Cannes is where they park their boats.  There are at least 5 marinas that I saw in close proximity to Cannes and all had so many yachts that the 70 and 80 foot ones looked small.

We walked the water front.  At 1pm is was not very crowed but by 4 pm it was full.  They do love their sun.  There where some nice sand sculptures on the beach and you where expected to through money. Being a poor American I did not. You have all seen the pictures of the topless sunbathers on the beach.  Some are offended, but to me it is no big deal.  Except,when the ones on the beach are the great-grandmothers of the girls you see the pictures of !   We covered the back streets, which where of interest, but could have been any upscale part of any town in Europe.  We found a nice Kebab shop for lunch with a lovely lady order taker who talked us into adding a little hot sauce on the Kebab.  It was a great idea.  

We visited a few places and talked to a few people and then headed along the water front past the Carlton and Martiniz hotels to the adjacent town of, of all things, Palm Beach.  It is the home of even bigger yachts. 

By 4pm we where done and took a break in the lovely rose garden on the water.  A little rest and we where off to the train station where we caught the non-stop back to St. Raphael and home to the Jardine d'Angele et de Marius for a couple of Martini's.

St. Tropez is a place I would visit again but Cannes I will not go out of my way for.  It was pretty, glad I checked it off, but there are far prettier and more interesting places.

 

 

 

 

Ken Wilson
"Certainly, travel is more than seeing of sights, it is a change that goes on deep and permanent, in the ideas of living."

SUNDAY

A sunny Sunday in San Rafael!

 

 

 

 

OCTOBER 21

So, there I was setting in my nice warm and dry apartment.  I had just had a nice salad for lunch with a glass of wine and I was watching the french news.  They were talking about tne new James Bond movie.

 

Him:  "Maybe we can go see the movie". (thinking "future" )

Her:" I don't want to see it if it is in French"

Him: "Well, we could walk down some time and see if it is in english."

several minutes pass

Her: "Lets walk down and see if it is in English"

Him:" In this weather? "(weather- heavy rain and 80km winds)

Her: "It is not raining that bad". 

Him:  "In this weather ????"(glancing out the window he notes that the rain has stopped and the sky is not dark black any more but a dark gray) 

Her: "yes let's go, it won't be that bad"

45 minutes later back in the warm apartment

 

So what did "him" learn from all of this:

1. The weatherman was right, it is heavy rain with 80 to 90 km winds

2. James Bond is not in English

3. The coat he brought is not waterproof

4. That little umbrella "her" bought for "him" is not worth a damn in "heavy rain and 80 to 90 km"

5. And most important......keep your mouth shut!!!!!!

 

Ken Wilson
“Heureux qui comme Ulysse a fait un beau voyage !..”

Worked this morning in the garden of our apartment with my new friend Jean Pierre, the owner of our apartment.  Perfectly clear dark blue skies and a perfect temperature.  Afterward we enjoyed a few glass's of a good Rose" from Aix-in-Provence.

 

For lunch my new French friends Annie and Eric ( alias The Singer Alias of local fame) came to join us in a fine meal my wife prepared.  As is the norm in France, lunch required numerous bottles of wine and lasted until after 3pm.  They departed to go swimming in the Med (brrrrrr). 

 

The day is still beautiful, the sky perfect, the location is excellent.  But.....sitting here drinking the last of the  wine in the warm sun with Jimmy Buffet, I would give it all up to turn back the clock about 5 years or so and be back on the boat at M dock or the Bahamas with all the old boating friends of anchored alone off Powell Cay.  Sadly times have changed and those are just great memories.  I share this with you as you are of the few people in the world that can understand what I am thinking.

 

"there is nothing better than just messing about on a boat"   (close)

 

 

Ken Wilson

"Certainly, travel is more than seeing of sights, it is a change that goes on deep and permanent, in the ideas of living."

Well, today we caught the ferry and took off for the land of the rich and tourist.  Nice hour ride across the Med in perfect weather.  St. Tropez is a small old town that is very clean and very expensive.  Small alleys, upscale restaurant. more 4 star little hotels than I have ever seen anywhere else and lots of big boats.  We hit the weekly market in the center of town to say hello to Jean Pierre and the roamed around.  Away from the market it was not to crowded.  It was one of the cleanest towns I have ever seen.  No dog pop on the streets here. We debated on whether to have our usual cheap meal, Kebab or baguette with ham, but wound up at a little back alley side walk cafe.  Vicki was very creative and ordered a pizza.  I took the meal of the day and it was the right decision.  Picture attached. We walked a little more and then caught the bus back.  Nice ride and semi-scenic along the coast.  On board the bus was a cat and two dogs.  The French would rather you bring your animals than your children and I have never seen a dog misbehave here.

Ken Wilson
"Certainly, travel is more than seeing of sights, it is a change that goes on deep and permanent, in the ideas of living."

We got up early today as we where going to go catch the boat to St. Tropez and hang out with the movies stars, rich people and our land lord.  Unfortunately on  9 oct the boat quit running everyday and this was one of the days it did not go.  So, we walked out on the street and caught the next bus out of town.  It was going west on the coast to a little town call Aegay and was cheap.

It was market day in Agey, alas a small market as it is a small town.  We where lucky as we found some paperback books in english for 3 eur apiece.  If  you can find them in a store they are 11 Eur or about $15.  So we loaded up on those.  Had coffee and started walking back towards our home town.  Had not intention of walking all the way but a good part of it and then catch the bus.  Well, that worked about as good as the boat to St. Tropez.  We found that the "frequent" bus was not frequent from 11 to 13:45.  So we walked until we got tired, bought some lunch stuff and sat a bus stop in the country and had lunch.

The area is where the US troops landed in April 1944.  Uniformed Americans love to bash the French, but they still very much honor the American soldiers who fought in WW II.  Here are just two monuments in the small town of Agey honoring the Americans.  And yes no email would be complete without Kenny's Political Opinion De Jour.......wish we did the same with our soldiers from the present "conflicts".

Ken Wilson
"Certainly, travel is more than seeing of sights, it is a change that goes on deep and permanent, in the ideas of living."