Cannes

With my camera on the fritz, I had to resort to taking pictures of the Millau Bridge with my PlayBook so when I get a chance I'll update the blog with those pictures but those of you who have seen my screensaver with the Red Aston Martin DBS will remember the striking Millau Bridge in the background.  In person, it is every bit as striking.  An amazing piece of engineering that the French are justifiably proud of (although the designer was an Englishman!).  

Anyway, after Millau, it was on to Cannes where I picked up a new version of the same camera.  I quite liked the old one as it had an amazing zoom that let me get shots (especially of the African wildlife on safari that people with huge lenses on their fancy $2000 SLR cameras were not able to get) and this one is even better in that respect plus it addresses the one problem with the other one (and most digital cameras) in that it does a good job in addressing high contrast photos.  With most cameras, the bright background (or foreground) dictates the exposure setting so part of the picture - often the most interesting part is dark.  If you adjust the exposure to see that...  you wash out the rest.  This camera takes 3-5 pictures with one click (all within about a half second) and then automatically merges them together to get one shot with all the details.  It is quite cool and I have already used that feature to good effect many times.  Although I was not looking to spend another $400 on another camera, I took about 15,000 photos since we left home and can't really complain.

On to Cannes... we arrived just a few days before the start of the International Film Festival which makes the town so famous.  It is obvious where all the pretty women in France went (I had been wondering up to that point).  We were showered with fancy stores, $6M 1100 square foot apartments and about every supercar you can imagine... Lamborgini's, Ferrari's, Aston Martin's (Yeah!) and Bentley's.  We didn't quite fit the spirit of the place with our little diesel Ford station wagon!

This is a Wally Yacht..  all carbon fiber and worth multiple millions.  Just one of the toys of the rich and famous here in Cannes.

The French were happy to finally see some sun and "some" warmth... it was 24.  The water was about 15.

Building a temporary stage for the festival.

She's taking a picture of me taking a picture of her!  (I didn't notice this when I snapped the picture).

 After our short jaunt through Cannes, we headed on towards Nice to find a campground where we could rent a mobile home (great way to stay cheap in Europe when you are 4).  We found a nice little spot just outside Nice where we would stay for the next few days.

The other benefit is that the kids get their pasta without us having to spend 12-15 Euro's each for them to have plain noodles.  Every cent helps when you are travelling for 10 months!