Cannes... Hollywood glam takes a holiday...

As I wander through the streets of Cannes, I can't help but be transported to another era. A time when Grace Kelly & Frank Sinatra were the talk of the town, where men wore Fedoras and women Chanel suits and Fiat 500s & Bentleys were the cars cruising down Boulevard de la Croissette. A time where romance wasn't dead and being rich also meant having class. Fast forward 60 years, and here I am sitting by myself in a stupidly expensive hotel restaurant where all I can bring myself to order is an espresso (as I fear anything else will involve me reaching for my credit card) enjoying watching the waves of the ocean crash to shore.

It is my first time in Cannes, however it isn't my first time on the Cote d'azur. The last time I was here was over 4 years ago and it couldn't have been any more different.

Flashback: Its 2008, I am 25 years old and I am living in London. I had arrived to London 6 months earlier bright eyed and bushy tailed trying to find a job. I had a year of nursing under my belt and wanted to continue my nursing career in London. (Little did I know that at the time it would take 16 months for my nursing registration to come through.) So whilst I was waiting for my registration I decided that I would try and get myself a job as a medical rep. I had met plenty of them whilst I was working in Sydney and it seemed like the perfect job to have while I was waiting for my nursing registration to come through. I searched the Internet top to bottom, but couldn't find anything, so I started working as a nursing assistant.

About a month later, I caught up with a friend who was visiting from Australia and decided to go out with her and her boyfriend for dinner. Dinner turned into drinks and it was there in a tiny pub in Balham I had a chance meeting that was to change my life. I started chatting to one of the guys in the pub who turned out to work for a medical company and it just so happened they were looking for a clinical educator. He gave me his card and told me to email him my CV and 2 weeks later I had a new job. 

It was the perfect job for my stay in the UK. I got to travel all around the country, I had a car that was MUCH to big and business like for me and I still got to be in the medical field. A few months later I was promoted to a sales job and early 2008 we had a large sales conference, in Monte Carlo.

We flew into Nice Airport and were driven to the Fairmont Hotel where we were to be staying for the next week. The view from my room blew me away, and as I walked out onto the balcony I remember standing there reflecting back to those months earlier when I couldn't find a job, to this.

The view from my balcony at Sunset

Whilst the conference was filled with the usual stuff a sales conference is filled with, there was one night where we got to dress up and just enjoy Monte Carlo. We had a gala ball where everyone got dressed in their finest and we spent the evening in the ballroom of Hotel de Paris. Being in Monte Carlo, the last home of Grace Kelly in my finest evening attire really made me feel like a princess!

All dressed up with somewhere to go

Posing in the Grand Lobby

For one night we got to pretend that we were royalty and it was amazing. I couldn't believe I was there, and all just because I met the right someone in a bar.

Now 4 years later I am back. I may not be in Monte Carlo in a ball gown or staying at The Fairmont, but I am still dreaming of the old fashioned Hollywood glamour & having a ball.