Cannes International Film Festival - Cannes, France

            That morning the clouds rolled over the hills and took their position above the town. The festival was just starting and even though all the tents and stages were set, they were only a few people walking around them. I exited the dock and walked down the long road out of the parking lot, and into the town. I passed by what was going to be the area where they were going to screen the new movie “Gatsby”.  The red carpet led to a massive black entrance where above the doorway, two large, spectacled eyes looked forward towards the town. I wanted to get a closer look but 2 large security men were watching me closely.

            I took the road into the town and tried to get a feel for the city. Cannes is a small seaside town that has the term French Riviera written all over it. The shops and buildings were multi-colored and looked aged and slightly worn, which added to its charm.

            Walking closer to the main center of the festival, I started to see more people. Most of the people were well dressed and wore expensive cloths and jewelry and  I noticed that they all followed a certain look.  It was an artsy look that gave me the impression that they must have been filmmakers or at least working in the film industry (after all, it is a film festival!).

            I walked by several tents and poked my head into a few. Each tent featured its own company and/or country of origin. I saw the film society for New Zealand, Austria, Canada and several others. They had mounted up small billboards inside the tent with the latest movies they were trying to promote to the industry.

            After walking past a few of the tents I reached the main theaters. The red carpet was rolled out and blocked off by red velvet ropes. There were a few people with plastic passes around their necks that were allowed in; otherwise the security was strict. Several spectators took their photos in front of the red carpet outside of the velvet ropes. I snapped a few photos myself and walked past.

            The shops around the area were high end. The manikins in the windows seemed to display the latest fashions with high price tags. Some of them looked very nice as some of them seemed kind of silly. One style in particular that gave me a laugh was a high-end tuxedo that had tuxedo shorts instead of tuxedo pants.

            I finally reached the other side of the festival and decided to go on the other side of the road and head back. I passed by the glamorous Ritz Carlton hotel that was decorated for the festival. It had some advertisements as well as a bright yellow sports car on display on their front lawn.

            I finally passed the other side of the festival again and reached a small park where some older gentleman were playing Bache ball.  There were several parts of the park that were boxed off using woods boards to separate the different courts. The men, shouting in French, were throwing the balls at the other balls on the court. I watched as they would get excited and also their reactions after every careful throw. I watched for a few minutes and then proceeded to walk back to the dock.

            On my way back, I walked through some small roads to see what I could find. I found some apartment buildings that were nestled along side the hill which over looked the ocean. I also found a building with an amusing mural on its side. It illustrated the history of the film festival with animated characters of past films, actors and directors. Some of the characters were Charlie Chaplin, Jessica Rabbit and Marilyn Monroe.

             The excitement caused by the film festival electrified the air. The town was buzzing and I felt fortunate enough to get a small glimpse of it. I wish I could have stayed over night to see how the city would of transformed. The town itself was charming and also displayed a sense of history, high class and a shit ton of money. The streets were almost exclusively lined with BMWs, Mercedes and other high-end cars. It seemed as only the rich and/or famous lived here. It was fun to walk around see the sights but I don’t know if I could have afforded to stay too long!                  -DB

Country Roads and Other Places - Portofino, Italy

After getting some last minute recruitments, Frank (the drummer), Robynne (Shop-ey), Neo (dancer), Carl (another Shop-ey) and myself, got the bikes from out of the crew bike area and headed out to bike to the beautiful Italian town of Portofino. We needed to take a tender boat from the ship to the town of Santa Margarita where there was a small port. So after awkwardly loading our bikes into the boat, and riding for about 15 minutes in the boat, we got onto the dock in Santa Margarita and began our bike ride to Portofino.

            Following Carl, who had been here before on a prior ship, led the way through the small town. The buildings along side the road stood tall, usually three stories. They were brightly colored in a variety of reds, yellows, pinks and lime. They had a charming look that gave all of us something to marvel as we biked further along the road. We hugged the right side of the small road and tried our best to stay clear of passing cars and Vespas.

            The town eventually gave way to barren coast. We could now see looking out into the bay, a beautiful view of the other side of the bay, which housed several small towns and also several marinas with hundreds of small sailboats. Every curve in the country road gave us another view of the coast, which ranged from small resorts to unusual rock formations to secluded beaches.

            Stopping only a few times for photos, we made it into the town of Portofino. The first building we saw was an old, pink colored church. As we approached it, the church bells rang for 12 noon. The ringing of the bells sounded as if they had been in the church for 400 years and seemed like an appropriate soundtrack for this old town. The road dead-ended into the parking lot for the Portofino marina. We locked up our bikes and walked down the old stone road into the main marina plaza.

            The road into the plaza was narrow and on each side were several shops and restaurants. As we walked further, we agreed that we would like to sit down and have lunch at a restaurant with free Wi-Fi. We walked further until the road emptied us into the gorgeous marina. It moored mostly small sailboats and on each side was green, natural hillside. Looking out we could still see the other end of the bay. Along the marina were more restaurants to choose from.

            We tried sitting at one restaurant, but as we tried to log onto their advertised free Wi-Fi, the waiter told us that no more that 4 people were allowed to log onto the Wi-Fi. He explained that there we already two people logged on so only two of us could log on. Annoyed, we got up and left. We walked around the town like lost ants with our tablets and phones trying to pick up networks with little success. After about 15 minutes, we decided to give up and just sit down anywhere.

We found a small pizza place and after the waiter arranged the tables so all of us could sit, we sat down and browsed the menu. We each ordered some pizzas and waited for only a short while before they arrived. I ordered a 4-cheese pizza with hot salami and it was pretty good. For one of the cheeses, they used Brie, which I’m typically not a huge fan of. The pizza though was still excellent and with the view of the marina on a bright sunny day, how could you possibly complain?

When we got the bill, we realized that the restaurant was a cash only establishment and none of us had cash. Frank, from the U.S., tried to withdraw from an ATM but for some reason would not work. Neo, being from the U.K., managed to pull out enough cash to cover all of us. While this was all happening, the waiters were growing impatient as we were taking a long time and the restaurant was filling up quickly. Neo paid the bill and we thanked them in our absolute best Italian accents and got out of there.

Most of us being completely stuffed, Robynne still wanted to get some Gelato before we left. We walked down the road a few feet and found a nice little Gelato stand. As she ordered and got her Gelato, I watched and realized that maybe I should get one too. With my last 5 Euro, I got a Nutella and Pistachio flavored Gelato. I had never tried it before and was sort of under the impression that it was just like normal ice cream. I got my cone and licked the green pistachio side. I was instantly blown away. It tasted exactly like pistachio and made the top of my head tingle. The Nutella was also excellent and as I started to mix the two together, it made a perfect compliment to each other. I couldn’t stop smiling from top to bottom of that cone. This wasn’t just ice cream, this something far, far better.

Gilato makes Robynne very happy.

We walked back up to the parking lot to where our bikes were locked up. With the Gelato melting on one hand, I managed to unlock my bike and get on. Robynne went to the bathroom and we waited till she got out to get back onto the road.

The way back was equally scenic as it was going into the town. We stopped more frequently this time to take photos. We made it back to Santa Margarita in only about 20 or 30 minutes. As I looked back I saw that we lost Robynne and Carl along the way. We waited for 15 minutes and decided we needed to just head back to the ship for a rehearsal. As the tender boat pulled out of the marina, I looked at the road that we rode and was amazed that that is were I had just road. It was like out of a magazine.

Portofino was such an amazing little gem in this Italian country coastline. The road leading to the town was probably as exciting as actually getting to the town. It was an amazing experience and to share it with some awesome people made it even more enjoyable. I recommend if you get in the area, grab some friends and a few bikes, and see where the small country road will take you. I guarantee it won’t disappoint.    -DB