Kelly and Malia take the Parents to Europe 2015: May 2015

Day 8: Getting to Know Antibes

We moved into our new home for the remainder of the trip. A super cute apartment in Antibes. In normal fashion for Simmons and Owens, the patio was our favorite room in the house.

The first day, Kris and Malia's first goal was to find a crepe. Kelly's rule in Italy was a minimum of one gelato per day. Malia's rule in France is at least one crepe a day. Rules are rules.

We took a stroll thru one of the markets Antibes is known for...

We strolled through the Antibes Port Vauban, home to many of the world's largest yachts.

Mo found one to call his own. Just a simple little thing...

We walked up on the fortress wall around the city and Mo gave us a history lesson. In the 10th century, the walls were put up to protect the city from the wars and epidemics of the time. Mo explained the importance of the angle of the opening for gunmen.

Up at the viewpoint of the wall, we could see for miles. The beautiful coastline of Antibes, the Alps in the distance, and Le Nomade (the man of letters looking out over the mediterranean, a sculpture by Jaume Plensa.

If you look very, very closely, you can see the Alps in the far distance.

The beautiful beaches

Sailboats everywhere

And of course, we ate tons and tons of bread and cheese. Fondue is fun-to-do! Especially when in France. Please do not judge the amount of food on our table... we could barely walk out of the place.

Day 9: Cannes

Mo begged us to go see the end of the Cannes Film Festival. He was just dying to see all the celebrities. So, here we are in front of the red carpet leading up to the Palais de Festivals where all the festivities were held.

It was the 68th year of the festival.

Kelly met and became a Charlie's "angle."

The beaches were beautiful, although this was one of the few that was public and not covered by a restaurant. In the far distance, there is a pier that we watched about 15 helicopters land, load and fly off. I guess the rich and famous needed a quick exit.

We enjoyed a crepe and a beer on the famous catwalk beside the sea, Le Croisette.

After Malia sending us in the wrong direction to find the ferry to St Margherite island, we decided to jump on a train tour of the town. It was a great break for our legs and a historical lesson.

The train took us by boulodromes dedicated parks where the locals played Petanque, a game similar to bocce ball. We couldn't get a very good picture of the groups of people playing, but it looked like they were all having a great time.

This picture doesn't give the crowds justice, but the people Mo and Kris are looking at were crowded around a hotel exit waiting to get glimpses of the rich and famous leaving.

The buildings off the street have beautiful french charm.

Amazing street art

Fantastic frenchmen

And thanks to the train, we had an easy trip up the hillside to see gorgeous views of the city.

Day 10: French Beach Day

Thanks to beautiful sunny weather, we were able to enjoy a French beach day. We adventured over to Antibe's sister city, Juan de Pins and Golfe Juan. Unlike Santa Margherita Ligure's stone beaches, these beaches were glorious and sandy. Mo was so glad he packed his goggles.

When Mo was swimming about, we were unaware that the water was loaded with jellyfish. He came out unscathed, but we watched two little french boys go hunting. We watched them collect about 5 or 6 jellyfish. And one of the poor little guys, got a tentacle to the inner thigh (yes he was wearing a speedo) and he was obviously not happy about it, but it barely interrupted his hunting. He kept rubbing sand on it, but the hunt had to go on.

We don't have as many Mo sleeping pictures in France, but here is one gem to throw in the mix. Beaches are the perfect place to sleep, so you can't really blame him.

Thanks to the jellyfish, this is about as close as our feet came to the water. Do you like our Toms tans on our feet?

We walked from Golf Juan thru Juan de Pins back to our apartment in Antibes. On our walk, we were entertained by acrobats on the beach and sand foot volleyball. I think volleyball is hard enough, I can't imagine playing it with only my feet. They were amazing.

And as we did everyday, we had cheese, bread and wine out on our cozy apartment porch. It was crazy how affordable the delicious wines were at the local market. We could not get enough.

Day 11: 30th Birthday in Monte Carlo

For Malia's 30th birthday, Kelly and Malia woke up and took the train to Monte Carlo, Monaco. Malia had the plan to use her birthday luck to go big at the famous Monte Carlo Casino.

Monaco is the smallest country in the world and it was built into the hillside. When we arrived, we didn't realize the train station was on the -15th floor. We saw crowds waiting to get on elevators and then saw the staircase and thought stairs made more sense of course. As we entered the stairwell, 4 Australian men seemed to think we knew what we were doing and followed us in. Big mistake... 15 flights later, all 6 of us were curled over attempting to catch our breath. Made a lot more sense why everyone was waiting for the elevators. Lesson learned.

But it was all worth it, the views were amazing.

As we walked through the streets, we walked on the actual course the Grand Prix had just been raced on. We walked next to the grand stands and the metal barriers.

We stood in front of the famous Monte Carlo Casino. Sadly, we did not get to go in and throw down the big birthday bet. It did not open until 2pm and we needed valid ID to go in. We made the big travel mistake of not bringing our passports with us.

But all was alright with the world, we got to enjoy a delicious meal at Cafe de Paris with views of the beautiful casino.

And, we found out we loved Provencal wine.

It was a fantastic birthday adventure. For the rest of my life, I can say I got to spend my 30th birthday in Monte Carlo.

When we returned, Kris and Malia's first order of business was to enjoy the last crepe of the trip. Oh the decisions....

Then, we enjoyed a wonderful birthday dinner at our favorite Antibes restaurant Le Rustic for the 3rd night. Don't judge us... it was delicious!

Because it was our last day and everyone kept giving us change in coins, we paid our last bill with almost all coins. It took all four of us to make sure we counted correctly.