Cannes, France, Day 13

This morning I woke up and my lungs were on fire. I knew exactly what it was. I’ve been here before. Bronchitis. Dreaded bronchitis.

I went down to deck 4 (where the medical center is and pretty much nothing else) at 7:30 am this morning, but the medical center didn’t open til 8 am, so I went back upstairs and lied in bed until 8 am. J tried to convince me to take some Robitussen, but I told him that I wanted the doctor to see me without any meds, so he can determine properly if it was bronchitis or not.

At 8 am I went back down, the medical center was open, and there actually were other passengers there waiting to see the doctor. I think I was third to go see him, which wasn’t so bad, but then when it got to be just before my turn, a woman collapsed on Deck 7 in the Princess Theater (while waiting to be called for her tour), so I had to wait even longer in the waiting room. Finally I got seen. 60$US for the visit and 19.95$US for Amoxycillin and 8.00 for some Paracetamol (which is basically Tylenol since I didn’t have any on me). So my bill came to $87.95 US. I have insurance, (which costs more than that - so you will be damn certain that I will be requesting a refund for that amount!)

The doctor said that I was not contagious, and that I could continue on the trip as normal, providing that I was up to it.

So, here in Cannes, J & I had to take a tendor boat (small boat) from the anchored ship at sea to the shore (the pier wasn’t big enough here to handle such a large ship). The ride lasted just a few minutes, and we were on shore pretty quickly.

We walked around downtown, saw a castle, but it was mainly a very modern city with not much to see. It’s too bad, because everything was too expensive and also another place where there was nothing much to buy at all. We actually didn’t spend any money here, besides on lunch (which consisted of baguette sandwiches - come on - we’re in France - must have baguettes!)
After lunch we walked around a bit more, and then eventually made our way back onto the tendor and back to the boat. On our way back to the boat, we walked by this beach that we decided to come back to (we still had numerous hours before the boat was leaving Cannes for the day). At this beach, I noticed this fairly attractive woman - topless. I pointed her out to J. He was confused. His wife was pointing out a fairly attractive woman, naked. He could look at boobs of another woman and get away with it. The entire boat ride back to the ship (all 4 minutes of the ride) he was amazed that I pointed her out. He was like “Most wives wouldn’t point out something like that - they wouldn’t want their husbands looking at boobies, but you.. you’re not normal! I love it!” LOL…

Once we got back, we put on our bathing suits and head to the beach. So we got ready, didn’t bring anything with us but towels, our cruise cards to get back on board and as well I brought Marley & Me to read.

And off we went… swimming in the Mediterranean sea! I am very upset that I didn’t bring my camera with me. I didn’t want it to get stolen while we were in the water, but no one even went anywhere near our bags (how were we to know, right?) so, I didn’t bring it. The water was awfly cold, but once you got into the water, it wasn’t that bad (even though it was HOT HOT HOT outside!) I worked on my tan once we got out, and read a bit in my book. There were plenty of 50+ year old women topless on the beach. J kinda laughed at some of them (as did I) as they CLEARLY should not have been topless, let me tell you! It was hidious to see! I kid you not!

After getting back from the nice afternoon at the beach, we both took a nap until dinner. For dinner, I tried King Crab legs (or any crab for that matter) for the first time. I’ve never had crab before. It was actually very good, but a pain in the butt to eat, because of the way they cut it open (to make it easier for those seniors on the cruise to eat it) as they cut it in such a way that the cartiledge was not coming off properly and it was just a nuissance to eat. I am sure that had it been cut properly, I would have eaten more than I did. Oh well. It wasn’t bad at all.

Tonight I discovered honey. I didn’t even realize there was any on the ship. I asked if there was when I ordered a tea, and they brought it out to me. I think I ended up eating the honey straight out of the container they gave me, instead of putting it in my tea. It was just so good coating my throat. Mmmm! Honey! My new best friend.

Tonight I visited the casino, but I did NOT play. J sat down, but I just wasn’t feeling well at all. I bought a really cute tshirt tonight for baby S - it has all the ports of call that we stopped at on this trip, on a map printed on the tshirt. I also got J’s dad 2 tshirts as he’s been the most difficult person to shop for! (Both him and my dad - but my dad I found a souvenir bottle of Port - since my dad is a big port drinker and collector). The tshirt for baby S is really cute, I’ll have to take a picture of it, and post it when I get home. (I have a ton of things that I want to photograph and post once I get back home).

I just cleaned up the stateroom and can’t believe that there is only 1 day left on the cruise, as Saturday morning we’re flying out of Rome back home. (Not direct - I wish).

I really don’t want to get back to reality. I am not ready. I am enjoying relaxing and traveling and seeing new things, meeting new people, and all that jazz. I am enjoying not cooking or cleaning and all the joys of an almost all inclusive vacation.

Tomorrow we’re in Florence, Italy. Can’t wait to have a nice italian lunch and enjoy the sites!