Wednesday Rain promised and delivered. All day. Often quite hard.

Passed through St maxime on way to laundry in frejus. Expensive but clean and well maintained coin op.

Corniche de l’esterele. Beautiful if one could take eyes off the curves. Similar to the big Sur road with steep drops and hairpin turns. The cornice runs from St. Rapheal to just outside of Cannes.

First pic where the climb begins.

We have entered the alps maritimes. Big waves along the coast. Very windy day. Kite surfers and wind surfing heaven.

Decided to head up to Mougin, very famous for its eateries and art shops. Old hill town with spectacular views. We went there many many years ago and thought we might try and get lunch this time. Silly us.

Another laundry. Not nearly as modern as the coin op.

Mougin, too late to eat. High hill town with one lane road we took. Not the best choice. Settled for a croque.

Bar at the Carlton. Seven waiters when they needed but two. Very overpriced but a nice place to sit. We had salades as the rain became torrential. Nice place to sit and watch the rain. Second shot, from room.

Thursday. Rain all day promised. Woke up to a break from the very heavy downpours over the evening.

The view. Yes the view. We came to this hotel for the view. Many years ago when United Airlines used to offer half priced coupons to stay at hotels we had a similar or same roon. Sitting in the Med at that time was a sail ship with a black ship with a black sail which then and even today evokes memories of The Three Penny Opera song.

Surfing above.

The hotel has not changed much. Then it was charming, now a bit annoying. WiFi functionality is an upgrade, coffee capsules are charged for, heat not available, electric plugs have not been upgraded (bad locations and no usb), no modern lighting. Fortunately we read electronically so reading a book is less of a concern. But…. the view is great and the sound of the waves crashing is wonderful. Good euro shower. Overall we will not immediately check out though it was discussed.

Many choices

A relaxing day of investigating shops and restaurants.

Before a very fine plateau,scallops with risotto for QB. Good people watching along the main drag.

Friday. Rain gone.

QB had done a George pointing out the repair and maintenance work not done in this old classic hotel. Chips, cracks in walls, loose stuff, old plumbing.

Not cheese… but sure looks like it.  We stopped to admire the cheese.

The croisette is being redone and modernized with a wider beach area.  Project will take until 2020 or longer.  Do not come here if you want to bathe or swim in the main area.  Closed as is obvious.  The beach is open and crowded in the old town area.

Below, lunch in the room.  The piece in the middle is a craquelins, a brioch dough with caramel coating.  As good as it sounds.  Some bert cheese and apples.  Madelines, for later, in the bag. 

Front of the hotel plastered with TV show signs.  Monday mipcom starts (we never heard of it) where 7K to 10K global TV business and entertainment folks will converge.  According to the concierge all hotel rooms are fully booked throughout town.  If we had tried to come next week we could not have.  Entry to the show/convention: 1400 Euro.

QB looking pleaseed with her moules frites.  KB, not pictured, equally pleased with the plateux.