Both Cannes and Nice are in utter states of disrepair right now. Walk along either the Croisette in Cannes or the Promenade des Anglais in Nice, and all you see are construction vehicles, cranes, piles of wood, dirt and sand, and swarms of people furiously working. In Cannes, the frenzy is driven by the upcoming Cannes Film Festival, which starts in less than a week. Stages and platforms and tents are going up on every possible inch of real estate to accommodate the movie stars, producers, directors, fans, and paparazzi. Movie posters are being hoisted onto the facades of luxury hotels. Fancy cars line the streets. Every person with blonde hair, expensive clothes, high heels, and sunglasses could be a movie star. OK, so that's every person here, but still . . .
In Nice, on the rocky shore of the Mediterranean just 34 km to the east, the workers are in recovery mode. The storm earlier this week left a path of destruction all the way up the beach, over the railing, and onto the Promenade and the street, decimating the many restaurants housed along the shore beneath the Promenade. The people cleaning up from the storm are literally tossing chairs, tables, awnings, and heavy equipment into huge piles of rubbish destined to be carted away by cranes and dump trucks. The national guard is out, entire sections of railing have been removed, and the mood is quite somber. The shore of this city stands as a stark reminder of the power of the ocean and the havoc it can wreak.
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