family reunion at the french riviera –preeti cool!

i’m going to post in english now, so that my australian friends can keep up. and who knows –maybe i’ve got some english-speaking viewers?

we left st. tropez early in the monday morning, heading back to st. raphael. we had been in contact with my second cousin cameron from australia and his wife preeti since before we left norway, and planned a meet up on the riviera. they were travelling in italy at the time, and decided to take a detour to catch up with us. they also love to travel and were staying in europe for a month, going to italy, croatia, england -and now france! we’d been exchanging e-mails with different hotel options, and decided to go for the hotel mimosas in juan les pins. the golden goal was of course the film festival in cannes wich was opening on that wednesday. juan les pins is a relatively small town just some km east of cannes. it has, with its neighboring city antibes -grown into one large city. to get to juan les pins from st. raphael we had to catch a train. most of the trains don’t stop in j.l.p but keeps on going to antibes. on the train station in st. raphael, we couldn’t find a ticket automat in time (the train were about to leave). so we asked a woman in «train uniform» if we could buy tickets onboard the train. «it is more expensive» was the answer we got. that didn’t sound to terrible to us, so we jumped on the train! the ticket man came to check our tickets and we told him we hadn’t got any, but we would like to buy one. his face changed a bit while he explained to us that it would cost us. and it certainly would! it wasn’t just expensive, it was in fact a fee for traveling without tickets. so at the cost of 50 € per person we got ourselves to antibes. but -what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. in antibes we went to the tourist info right outside the train station. the two girls there were very helpful and told us to take a bus to j.l.p and were to go on and off. some minutes later we were on our way to the hotel, and it struck us how quiet and nice the area was. and it got even better! our hotel was surrounded by a tropical garden, and had a swimming pool! happy days! we got our room and were very satisfied. the hotel mimosas weren’t modern at all, but it had something special about it. and the staff were very friendly and welcoming. preeti and cameron were on they’re way, so we decided to check out the city centre while waiting for them. the city centre of juan les pins wasn’t to big, but very nice and lively. the beach on the other hand went for miles and miles.. we got to do a little bit of shopping and some late lunching while we waited for our travel companions. we had a good meal and lovely view at the l’up side down.  as our friends were approaching, we were waiting for them at the train station. i’ve been to australia twice and visiting cameron and his family. it’s been 5 years since last i saw him, but when i met him again it only felt like days ago. he was the same friendly, warm person. this was the first time we met preeti, but it didn’t feel like that. we connected instantly and just loved her! we took them back to the hotel and after a nap ore two, it was soon dinner o’clock. on our hunt for some good dining we found ourselves on the beach were we had a stroll while we looked at (and photographed) the sunset. hungry: we went up and down the streets of j.l.p to find a place to suit everyone’s appetite. the lucky place to have us was an asian restaurant. the food was good and the company was even better! we talked and laughed and planned the next days. monaco and cannes was on our schedule.