As promised, here is the story of the quest for a church:
As attending a church was one of my personal goals, I was originally planning on going it alone. Come to find out, however, several other people in CEA were interested as well, which was quite exciting. So, two Sundays ago we started looking for directions to an English-speaking church we found in Cannes. This part of the adventure alone took around 2 hours. A FUN FACT (or actually no-so-fun-fact) about the French is that, from what I have seen so far anyways, their websites are not the easiest to figure out. Even if you speak French.
It took us a while to find the correct address, locate it on the map of Cannes we could take with us, and then find a corresponding bus route. We persevered, however, and after two hours were pretty confident in our directions. We found the correct bus, got the the center of Cannes, and promptly found the second bus we needed to get us to the church.
The kind bus driver then dropped us off where he thought the church was....unfortunately, it was not the correct church. So we consulted our map, walked several blocks in one direction, and then stopped at a random patisserie that we found to ask for directions.
Come to find out, we were headed in the wrong direction. So we turned around, and low and behold, found the church with 20 minutes to spare. Unfortunately, there was no 6 pm mass to speak of and it seemed as though the church was deserted. Travel-weary and disappointed, we decided to take a look inside anwyas since the doors were unlocked.
Inside, we found two pastors. Turns out they no longer do a 6 pm mass in English, though they do still translate their morning masses. Again, I got to use my French-speaking skills, and they were quite impressed with the journey we had taken to try and find a church. The younger of the two men who spoke some English, then offered to give us a ride back to Antibes (which is around 20 minutes by car). We agreed, and then proceeded to fit seven people into a car made for five. The pastor was kind and told us about his family and church involvement on the ride home. Then, he invited us to dine at his house and meet his family at some point in the future!
While we did not actually get to go to church that Sunday, the dedication we put into finding it and the end result was really a spiritual experience in itself. Therefore, I would say it is a solid start to List Item #2.
Unfortunately, I will not be able to attend the church until next Sunday, as we are going hiking in the Esterelle Mountains this coming Sunday. I will keep you posted once I go, though, promise!
As attending a church was one of my personal goals, I was originally planning on going it alone. Come to find out, however, several other people in CEA were interested as well, which was quite exciting. So, two Sundays ago we started looking for directions to an English-speaking church we found in Cannes. This part of the adventure alone took around 2 hours. A FUN FACT (or actually no-so-fun-fact) about the French is that, from what I have seen so far anyways, their websites are not the easiest to figure out. Even if you speak French.
It took us a while to find the correct address, locate it on the map of Cannes we could take with us, and then find a corresponding bus route. We persevered, however, and after two hours were pretty confident in our directions. We found the correct bus, got the the center of Cannes, and promptly found the second bus we needed to get us to the church.
The kind bus driver then dropped us off where he thought the church was....unfortunately, it was not the correct church. So we consulted our map, walked several blocks in one direction, and then stopped at a random patisserie that we found to ask for directions.
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| It was an outdoor bread/pastry shop. I got to test out my French-skills also, even though the lady later revealed she did indeed speak English. |
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| Delicious, non? I wish I could say I tried one... |
Inside, we found two pastors. Turns out they no longer do a 6 pm mass in English, though they do still translate their morning masses. Again, I got to use my French-speaking skills, and they were quite impressed with the journey we had taken to try and find a church. The younger of the two men who spoke some English, then offered to give us a ride back to Antibes (which is around 20 minutes by car). We agreed, and then proceeded to fit seven people into a car made for five. The pastor was kind and told us about his family and church involvement on the ride home. Then, he invited us to dine at his house and meet his family at some point in the future!
While we did not actually get to go to church that Sunday, the dedication we put into finding it and the end result was really a spiritual experience in itself. Therefore, I would say it is a solid start to List Item #2.
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| Laura and I were excited to find the correct street name. |
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