Letter 8: Hotel Victoria, Cannes

[Letter 8]

Hotel Victoria,
Cannes, FRANCE
November 11, 32

Dear Folks

We are very comfortably established in our rooms. Dora emptied the bags and the trunk as soon as they arrived. There is a lot of space to put things away, as shown by this floor plan. The larger room is ours, but Marcus has plenty of space, a lovely table with mirror, a bedlight etc. "W" in the diagram means window. His room overlooks a private garden across the street.

In several letters I discussed prices in some detail. You understand, of course, that I have no undue interest in such figures, but merely wish to pass along first-hand information which you can give to anyone in need of it. A matter of very divergent opinion was the wisdom of shipping our trunk on to Cannes. The cost was said to be prohibitive. We sent out our trunk from the boat to Cannes by "slow freight". It was claimed about five weeks after it was shipped. The total charges were 230 francs or $9.20. To this should be added delivery charge to hotel. The hotel porter went to the customs official with our trunk-key. The trunk was not even opened!

While on financial matters I may mention that the practice is for the hotel to add 10% to the bill to cover all the tips. Another hint for travelers is to take the full or "pension" arrangement, as it is much cheaper than attempting to have meals out. Thus a single luncheon at our hotel is 30 francs--$1.20. That's about what we pay for a whole day's meals.

Trips. We've already taken some nice jaunts by bus. A few blocks from the hotel we board one of the very numerous busses to Nice. The ride took just an hour. Nice is much larger than Cannes. We strolled the concrete "board" walk, sat on the private chairs and returned home, in ample time for our afternoon rest period. Another day we went toward Nice but got off at Juan-les-Pins and looked over this delightful small resort. Marcus sketched a palm-tree. Yesterday we climbed a hill and saw a beautiful view of Cannes and also the real native homes, away from all the Americans and Britishers. I made a pencil sketch of the castle tower. Today we took the most wonderful trip possible--the mountain trip to Menton, which I shall tell you about later. Marvellous is a weak word for the views one gets.

Dora went to the Am. Exp. and brought four fat letters at once: Isabel's, Bertha's, Jack's and Putnoi's. Thanks, thanks again.

We're feeling fit and enjoy the sunshine on the beach. Yes, we know Roosevelt was elected by a big vote, and Lehman, too.

Affectionately

Morris