Work/Life Balance – Mon Voyage à Cannes, France

Let's face it, work/life balance is an often-discussed topic today in conversations involving our careers. I recently had an opportunity to give some balance to my work life by journeying to Cannes, France located in the southern part of the land of liberté, égalité, and fraternité.

The trip, sponsored by FIAF - French Institute Alliance Francaise, where I sometimes wrestle to learn the French language, should have taken place in April 2020 but sadly was canceled due to COVID-19’s spread. So, in 2022 FIAF reached back out to 2020 sign-ups to see who would be interested in going again. Of course, I jumped at the opportunity.

Cannes, France is probably best known to Americans as the host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival where the world’s greatest film stars flock to the City for a week-long celebration of the year’s best in cinema. Cannes is also a notorious year-round playground for the very wealthy—with its luxury hotels and restaurants and expansive yacht marina.

I, however, didn’t travel to Cannes to mix and mingle with film stars or to rub elbows with the well-off and wealthy. I was there to soak up the area’s cultural attributes which included museums, picturesque beaches, Belle Epoque architecture, and clear blue skies.

The weather in Cannes is remarkable from April through October. Once there, I was told one can expect around 300 days of sunshine a year. True to form, the first day our tour group arrived in Cannes, the weather was sunny and about 76 degrees. In fact, in the entire week in the area, I never saw a dark cloud in the sky until our last day there when it rained a bit on our flight to Paris. Each day in Cannes was as sunny and warm as the day before.

Also, Cannes, and nearby locals, offer a stunning variety of landscapes and colors, from pristine beaches, and seclusive bays to promontories, and immaculately coiffured gardens with bright flowers. And Cannes' famous seashore is lined with cluster pines, palm trees, and Mediterranean maquis.

Our group stayed at the 'College International De Cannes’ a French language school that teaches the language to students from all over the world. We took part in French classes from 9:00 am to 12:00 pm each day, then were free to absorb Cannes and the surrounding area's views, sites, tastes, and sounds.

One of my favorite afternoon excursions was to Saint-Paul-de-Vence, one of the oldest medieval towns on the French Riviera. It is well known for its modern and contemporary art museums and galleries such as the Fondation Maeght, and for the 17th-century Saint Charles-Saint Claude chapel, which in 2012-13 was decorated with murals by French artist Paul Conte.

My good friend and photographer, Ron Foster, advised me to take a bunch of pictures in Southern France—which I certainly did. Below are a few of my shots from my stroll around Saint-Paul-de-Vence.