So far, we have had a tight itinerary and a very busy travel schedule. Other than driving us long hours with hardly any breaks in between, Andrej has been the highly efficient tour guide and a delightful travel companion. Even though he never complains about the distance covered (or the gas consumed) or makes mention of the exhaustion from such a tedious activity, I knew he could definitely use a relaxing day at the beach. I was happy for him to finally have a breather on this day. We had checked out the beach at Frejus last evening but since we arrived there late and due to a more or less cloudy weather, we could not enjoy much of the sun. Andrej wanted to go to the beach at Cannes today, lie down, read and sleep all afternoon. He said he wouldn’t mind getting tanned but I told him I did not want to get any browner than I already am and I tend to get tan very easily. And to know that neither of us had any sunscreen lotions on us bothered me a little because I’m usually particular about applying them before heading out into the sun. But the Mister said he did not like applying lotions or oils on himself and couldn’t care less about harmful UV rays. I decided to take the only lotion I had on me anyway, a Victoria’s Secret beauty product that was meant for moisturizing the skin than protecting it from the sun. I also knew I was in no shape whatsoever to be flaunting a bikini. To know how body conscious people are in the West and also dedicated to working out, I felt embarrassed to slip into a bikini. But the positive thing is that Andrej makes me comfortable in my own skin, or at least tries to shower me with compliments. As confident as I may seem, I won’t deny the benefits of having a man that appreciates your body the way it is. In my case, Andrej forbids me from trying to look anything else. In our email correspondence in the past, we talked about going to the beach and lying down next to each other so often and to be able to do that now, not just on any beach, but in a famous place like Cannes felt wonderful. I was just happy to be here next to him and thanked the heavens for this moment and for allowing us to live out one of our desires.
The French Riviera is an absolute delight for tourists I thought, with so many popular, world-renowned towns, beautiful beaches, and a moderate/pleasant climate. I thought Andrej did a tremendous job is planning and showing me all these famous towns, names that I only used to read about in magazines and newspapers. Although, I would normally associate such cities with the rich and famous, I was happy to see it didn’t appear to be as pompous as St. Tropez and people looked quite ‘ordinary.’ Aside being known for its annual film festival, Festival de Cannes, the city was really very fine-looking and we were blessed with a sunny weather, perfect for some beach time. We parked the car a little further ahead from the main festival auditorium but closer to the beach. We took a few pictures of the coast and the city in the backdrop before heading towards the sands. The beach was crowded with people, mostly families. I think Andrej was quite disappointed to not see many “hot” girls like he expected except for a couple of them that were topless and only one in thongs that he likes to see on girls. I was more interested in looking at how much fun the children were having building sand castles and snorkeling in the water. We took a walk on beach first before settling down on the spot we found for ourselves. Andrej went to the sea while I watched him and admired his good physique. He came back to lie down upright and closed his eyes, hoping to tan his pale belly or so I thought. I walked into the water and wanted to play in it for a while but it was too cold to stay for long. I got Marquez out and began to read a few pages from his book. There were three ladies tanning beside us; one of them was topless throughout. Andrej told me it was normal for people to be naked on the beach…I could only imagine the scandal it would cause if someone were to pull off something like that on the beaches in India. Again, it reminded me of the huge cultural gap between Indians and Europeans, especially in terms of how each treat their bodies. Indian women like to believe that their bodies are meant only for the eyes of their beloved, in the bedroom; and much like Muslim women that are covered from head to toe, most would think it unimaginable to expose their bodies, let alone breasts for public viewing.
It was getting really hot with the sun overhead and I could see my own skin color changing from its usual beige-like tint to roasted brown; whereas I saw no change on Andrej’s. We were Cannes a couple of hours more before deciding to go spend the rest of the afternoon at the beach in Nice. We arrived at Nice which looked relatively quieter and less crowded than Cannes. We went into a grocery store to get some soda and candy for Andrej, per usual. The lady at the counter spoke in American accent and looked pleased to meet us English-speaking people. Nice looked lovely but the beach was rocky unlike the sandy ones at Cannes. But I thought the water was much bluer and cleaner. We could see airplanes passing by above the sea and figured an airport must be nearby the beach. I applied some lotion on myself and on Andrej’s back as hesitant as he was. There was a vendor on the beach that sold peanuts glazed in sugar. We got a packet to munch on. Later, while we were both in the water and Andrej was taking a few pictures of me, we found a bunch of pigeons crowding around the peanut packet and picking on them unabashedly. They seemed oblivious to our presence and cared only for the peanuts as we tried to shoo them away gently. Andrej asked me not to feed the birds as they could choke on the peanuts. Apparently, this must be happening frequently as there were signboards put up on the beach which requested visitors not to feed the birds. I noticed Andrej’s fingernails had grown very long and joked to him that they were beginning to resemble eagle’s talons. I took my nail clipper out and started playing the manicurist, clipping and filing his nails. He noticed that one of my toenails were falling apart and became a bit concerned. I told him it was the end result of wearing bad shoes along with all the walking I had to do at Helsinki airport with my heavy cabin baggage. Andrej decided to play pestering paparazzi and took a few pictures of me while I was lying down on the stony shore. The sea was even colder than the water in Cannes so I decided not to take a full dip. As evening dawned upon us and the sun began to disappear in the horizon, we decided to leave the beach. We thought we would have some beers and sat down at a restaurant but the waitress informed us that we couldn’t stay there unless we ordered something to eat as well. Andrej said he would like to order dessert but the waitress gave us some absurd response saying they did not consider a dessert as meal. Instead of arguing further with the woman, we got up to leave, walked further ahead and found a bar. We had French beer and headed back to our hotel in Frejus.
We were getting very hungry and thought of having dinner at the restaurant downstairs but the price didn’t agree with us so we drove out to look for McDonald's. We went round and round in circles as we tried to find McDonald's. We drove to the city center but couldn't locate any pizzeria so we drove a bit more and somehow always got back to the same spot. Clearly, we were lost but I got to notice how quiet and serene the town looked, with an idyllic quality to it and all the homes in the locality appeared warm and welcoming. I didn’t complain even though I was starving. I spotted a small pizza place by the road and told Andrej we should just stop the car and eat there as McDonald's was nowhere in sight. The trailer shop was run by a father-son duo and they were very friendly to us. We ordered one pizza, a beer for me and soda for Andrej. It was such a simple pizza but tasted very good and “healthy” as Andrej put it. So, we were happy to have spent much lesser than we would have at McDonald's and for a much better quality food. There were a couple of chairs and a table by the trailer where we sat down and enjoyed our wholesome pizza and drinks. After bidding au revoir to the adorable pizza family, we came back to our hotel to take pleasure in our last night in Frejus.
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