After leaving a rainy Gatwick very early on Christmas Eve, we were soon enjoying a spuntino in the sunshine outside the Cannes food market and then enjoying an Italian feast at Da Laura, a lovely family-run Italian restaurant on rue 24 août, which is one street back from the ever-bustling rue d'Antibes. The food is quite expensive — pasta dishes are around €14 — but the staff are incredibly friendly and everything is delicious, and my pasta Sorrentina, with fresh buffalo mozzarella, was particularly good.
After lunch, we did a little bit of window-shopping — passing on the €46 Terrence Malick-inspired 'Tree of Life' bûche de Noël in favour of a €15 version from Paul — and then walked down the Croisette to the flat. The sunsets are amazing in Cannes at this time of year.
All families have their Christmas traditions and in our family, if we are in Cannes and the weather is half-way decent, we will go for a swim in the sea. Well, *dip* in the sea is more accurate. I went for a quick run yesterday morning to warm up, and then we picked up our poulet rôti and some baguette and headed for the beach. I was relatively brave this year and even went into the sea twice — catapaulting myself in at great speed before running straight out.
The roast chicken, as ever, was amazing, and we warmed up further with another family tradition: Christmas Day beach leaps. The French, as usual, were mildly amused by the crazy Brits, a theme which continued later on when we took some musical instruments down to the rocks and, er, performed some classic hits to a surprisingly enthusiastic crowd. We wrapped up the day with some present unwrapping, and then another feast of oysters, giant prawns, roast beef, the best-ever roast potatoes and bûche de Noël.
Wishing you all a merry Christmas from the Côte d'Azur.
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