Cannes - Day 1

It's overcast and about 70 degrees. Everyone's rushing to put up the final items for the fest before the Croisette closes and it's pedestrian-only.

I have to get to a meeting, but here are the highlights:

1. It's a holiday here so lots of stuff (including room service... huh?) is closed. It was also a holiday on Friday. Today is celebrating end of Lent. Friday was WWII Victory Day. Really?

2. EVERYTHING is one giant billboard. Every hotel has movie posters and banners and promotional items stuck to the outsides, in every imaginable position. The Carlton was beautiful. Now it's gross. Keep that stuff in Vegas.

3. I changed rooms. Yippee. Pics to come. The drapes match the bedspread, which in turn match the carpet. That level of coordination is pretty impressive.

4. I got 2.5 hours of sleep last night. Apparently I haven't adjusted as well as I thought I would.

5. It appears that Cannes is 9 hours ahead of LA, not 8 as I originally thought. That lost me another hour of blogging. :)

Cannes - Day .5

Hotel is not the quality I was expecting. Kinda like a National Lampoon’s European Vacation – 2-star, very basic, nothing fancy like artwork or hand towels. Shocked. Thought I had the biggest bed in the world, but it’s just 2 twin beds pushed together. And they have separate sheets and blankets so I can’t easily sleep diagonally as I normally do when I have the bed to myself. A/C is broken. Front Desk doesn’t know how to fix it and won’t let me switch rooms. Room service stopped 3 hours ago. French Customer Service. Hmmm. Wireless internet comes up quickly on my computer, but the Front Desk can’t find the password. Whoohoo. My normal alarm clock (my cell) doesn’t work here, so I have to trust the hotel’s wake-up call. I’m a little nervous about that. I’m not going to sleep at all.

Good news is that there is a mini bar. I enjoy Pringles and a bottle of some generic white wine. It’s the most delicious thing in the world.

Hotel is http://www.cannes-palace.com/ - looks boutique-y online, more like a Best Western in reality. More to come on this.