Free Day in Cannes-Saturday, April 28, 2007

Hello from GSE

We have a free day today in Cannes.  Caroyln and Sharon are relaxing with their families and Mark, Tura, and I are exploring the area.  Yesterday, we learned about the French Justice System in Grasse.  We actually sat through a criminal trial and the system is extremely different here.  There were 3 judges based on the severity of the crime and also a state representative. 

We had lunch at an Italian cafe and dinner at French Antilles restaurant.  Both were interesting experiences.

Au revoir for now.  Tomorrow we are moving onto Nice.

Tracy

CANNES, APRIL 25

Spent our first day in Cannes visiting a private school and then had an opportunity to walk around near the ‘main strip’ where the famous film festival is held.  There should be a LOT more tourists next week when the festival starts….good thing we’re here early!

We don’t have any photos ready from the past few days yet but here are a few from last week!  Click each thumbail to view a larger photo.

 - Mark

p.s. Tracy says hi to everybody back home but is staying at a house without internet access :)

p.p.s. The rest of us say hi too!

 

 

Again, too tired to write much, but we are all ok and hope to have more time to post pics!   Best to everyone – Tura

Sunday – leisure day!!!!

Coast at Cassis

On our way…..

Tomorrow we leave for Cannes…..are not sure we will have internet access.  Has been quite interesting and exciting this far.   Visited an engineering school today and a huge french supermarket with all kinds of beautiful fresh produce!   Tura

Porquerolles Island

Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Today we visited Porquerolles Island by ferry. It is a very beautiful island with a few beaches, restaurants, hotels, and homes. We walked around the town square and ate a lunch with Rotary members from Toulon. Lunch was great. The French told jokes about President Bush-tres interesant! They are sincerely concerned about the war.

They set us free and we rented bikes or walked to the beach. The water was very cold, but not enough for some of us to swim. This is definitely a place I would return to later.

No time for pictures. A demain.

Fair at Brignoles

Hi, no time today to post photos, maybe tomorrow. We spent the day at a very interesting fair in Brignoles. We were lead around the fair by leaders from the Rotary Clubs. We ate a great lunch with them at the fair. It was an agriculture fair with food, wine, landscaping, building materials, animals, and about everything else under the sun. Its was very hot, in the 80s. They gave us each 2 bottles of special festival wine.

In the evening we went to the meeting place of 3 Toulon Rotary groups. It was very nice, located on the harbor. We traveled to an old fort and overlook to take some photos and headed out to the Sollies Rotary group. Our second offical presentation went well, even though we were very tired.

A Demain. I will post photos tomorrow, when I have more time.

Happy Birthday, Tura!

Monday, April 16, 2007

Today is Tura’s Birthday! We started off by touring a waste treatment center. The French are very proud of the technology to dispose of their waste. The treatment plant was set in the most beautiful surroundings at the foot of a mountain on the Mediterranean Sea. It was very unique because of the incinerator used to burn waste. We got the full tour, including how they sort the waste. Very interesting and smelly…

Then we went to the Holiday Inn in Toulon to give our first presentation for a Rotary group. We were an hour late, but it does not matter here in France. It was a small Rotary group of women who meet over the lunch hour(s). They did not have a projector for our PowerPoint, so we winged our presenations for the first time. We were perceived well from what I could tell. They seemed much more interested in our personal lives rather than our professions.

After the lunch meeting we went on a boat tour of the Toulon Harbor. The tour was great. Many French naval ships and a naval school is located in the harbor. After the boat we went to the Marine Museum where we learned about the rich marine history of Toulon.

In the evening we went to Bertrard (our guide’s) home to have a small party for Tura’s Birthday. The hospitality here so far has been terrific. They baked Tura a cake and gave her a book about this area of France. Carolyn got a phone number from some of the men from the boat tour. Who knows what is next!

The weather is warm, about 80s and sunny.

Life is a Beach!

After two very long days of travel by airplane and car, we enjoyed the first day of our exchange. We went for a hike on a beach of the Mediterranean Sea. We could see the summer home of the French President. The beach and the sea was very beautiful. It was very nice out, about 20 degrees Celsius, but the water was not warm enough for us to swim.

Then we had a wonderful picnic with the Rotarians and their families. All of the food was good especially the cake. We went back to our families for the evening.