Old Meets New

Antibes, France a cornucopia of contrasts between a distant but not so forgotten world and her modern and ever invasive counterpart but sometimes no matter how much things change some things stay the same. This was the feeling we had as we staggered through the ancient archways chiseled from the medieval ramparts which wrapped around the villa of antibes protecting her from long forgotten invaders. The ramparts still seemed to serve this purpose keeeping out not raiding parties of vikings or other undesirables but rather seeming to hold at bay the modern world. It was as if we had walked through a time portal as we ventured forth through the ancient porticos. Bienvenue a Antibes!!

As we strolled through the narrow streets and alleys designed well before the advent of the autombile we stood in awe of the architecture and simple beauty that surrounded us. These are the moments that cannot be forgotten or taken for granted, we simply tried to absorb and appreciate all of the smells, sights, sounds and textures that bombarded us hoping to take in every possible detail and store it deep in the confines of memory to hopely recollect in some distant future. Vines creeped up, around, and in between the stone buildings flower pots were just an unneccessary inconvience as the flowers chose to nestle right along the faces of the buildings turning every street and alleyway into the next great photo opportunity.

This was the old city in Antibes and we enjoyed every minute of it it, however, it stood in stark contrast with what lay just outside the city walls in the Port of Antibes where the modern world in all her glory waited for us as well, the yacht or better said the SUPER YACHT and yes it needs all caps you will see what I mean. We sauntered slowly through the docks in the marina mouths agape with all the boys running around taking pictures and with a gleam in their eye like a six year old in the ice cream shop. We joked and we laughed and we marvelled at these titans of luxury these seabound monsters of opulence and wealth and wondered, if only… if only. I had heard of super-yachts before but seeing a few pictures or a story here or there simply does not do it justice. I am a stronge believer in faith but in this case seeing is truly believing and I now know the difference between money and yacht money and there is a difference. We mused between each other, what or whom we would have to sell to see the inside one of these behemoths and encouraged the girls to use their female wiles on any potential yacht owning males in Antibes so we could achieve our dreams of ocean bound revelry but alas it was not be. As they say in French C’est la vie.