July 17: Gastronomy and Solitude

Cannes is tiny.  And crowded.
It was sunny; the weather was perfect, but the tourists milling about in droves drove us mad, so first thing in the morning we hiked from one end of the town to the other to gather some goodies for a picnic before catching the ferry to Iles De Lerins.

 Marche Forville blew my mind!

I wanted to commit gluttony on everything.  All the food on display looked incredibly sexy.

See the woman standing next to the weight scale?  She was spooning a small serving of tapenade for Douglas when I took this photo.  In the next instant she thrust it at him and after he politely declined (he already sampled countless tapenades), she insisted!  So Douglas accepted the sample and deemed it excellent.  

I felt rather ignorant, gawking at some of the goods.  I've seen squash blossoms countless times, but at this market I made a promise to myself--to cook it at home.

I so much wanted to touch one of those truffles. 

I saw those little furry pods and figured they were unripe almonds.  So I took one and bit into it.  I couldn't figure out the appeal, but I liked the way it felt in my hand.

Even Levi appreciated the gastronomic environment.

We boarded the ferry with a little too much food.

 The rumors were correct.  Just 20 minutes away from Cannes, we found solitude on this old prison island where the Man with the Iron Mask was incarcerated.  Crumbling forts hugged the coastline of this pretty island.  We found a spot under a tree by the water and pretended we were the only ones on the island.  There were people and even a camp for kids there, but it was a lot quieter and we actually did not see people for quite some time.

The sky got dramatic.  Lighting struck miles away.  Rain began to fall, but it was the good kind.  We didn't mind getting wet.  Levi fell asleep in the light warm rain, snuggled deep into our sling.  We walked through a path of eucalpytus trees and lavender.  

I didn't take too many photos because it was raining.  It was a wonderful moment best captured in my mind.