4th and 5th of July, 2021.
Before entering France, I decide to buy a bus ticket to Germany, as a “proof” for leaving the country. They say in the official French website that you should present that when entering the country, as many other documents which are also listed, but as I have told you before, they did not ask me anything.
So now I have a voucher to use the money I paid for the ticket in another travel. And because when I check the road out of Toulon, towards Cannes, I couldn’t find a possible hitchhiking spot (now I have a much better strategy to do it or I use the tips from the website Hitchwiki), I decide to use that voucher and go by bus to Cannes. The thing is, the timetable will allow me only to arrive there at night, so I decide to camp somewhere nearby the bus stop and go visiting the city next morning.
The place I choose to camp it is quite tricky. It is a small area, like an abandoned park, in between residential buildings. I am a bit worried but I believe nobody will come and everything it will be alright. And it is.
Very early next morning I am already heading to Cannes. Basically I will walk around the Palais des Festivais, while dreaming about being there one day, and spend sometime admiring the sea (which, by the way, is mostly private, owned by restaurants and their “beach chairs” are everywhere, so only a small area of the beach is open for the public), having breakfast, and that is it. I knew that even before coming here but I also knew I had to come and see this place. Even though I am completely perplex and disappointed with the fact that a film like Titane won this year, for me Cannes is still the place where you can have a reunion of some of the best actors, actress and directors in the world. Just the fact that they were all here at some point, makes this place special for me.
Donia Fellah stops soon enough for me. She is going home but when she sees my sign saying “Monaco”, she decides to go visit her mom in Nice, so she picks me up then. I tell her I am glad to be “an excuse” for her to visit her mom. She is a really nice girl, struggling in life to get her own stuff. Donia drops me slightly out of town, in the way to Monaco.
It does not take long also until a Moldovan guy in his van stop. He is going to work in Monaco so he can drive me all the way. He is nice but is having some issues with documents to bring his wife from Moldova do here. My feelings about the world are very contradictory: sometimes I believe that there is hope and it can be a good place; but most of the time I feel sick of how so many good people have to struggle so much, their whole lives, to be able to be happy, while some piece of shit rich people, have everything given to them.
The nice Moldovan guy drops me right in the bottom of the Palais des Princes de Monaco. I don’t have where to drop my backpack so I decide to go up with it. I manage. I walk all around the little island, nice views and nice buildings. The cathedral is for free, which is great! I have lunch and then I go down.
I decide to walk along the see to the Casino Monte Carlo. I really does not have the stomach to go closer and to take a look. I could barely take a photograph. So many fancy cars around and so many people also.
Trying to leave town to my hitchhike spot, I cannot find a supermarket to buy food. I am starting to think I will starve for a little while when I actually arrive in a gas station. The food is over priced but I need to eat, so I buy it. I even give myself a little treat and buy an ice cream! Wow! It is delicious! The place where I have to hitchhike it is not so great though. Bloody hell!
