Cannes: Ile St Honorat

At Banana's Camp, I befriended another solo traveler, an Australian woman named Jana. She was curious about the island where my workshop was going to be held, Ile St Honorat, so she came along to explore the island while I was painting.

There were only two students in the workshop: myself and a young woman from Nice.

Our instructor, Rachel, was delightful - she is an artist and tree expert who loves to teach. If you get an opportunity to study with her, I recommend it! That being said, it was surprisingly difficult to process the information she was giving me (in French) -- I think I must have been trying to access two radically different parts of my brain simultaneously! (She does also teach in English, FYI.)

The island was gorgeous -- it's home to an ancient Abbey, populated by various orders of monks since the 5th century. (It was oddly and ironically reminiscent of the Stanford campus!) Today, the monks run both the island and the ferry service. They also host retreats.

After the workshop, Jana and I went for a swim. I didn't see much in the way of fish, just a few small schools, but Jana saw an octopus! The water was glorious, and the beach also had an amazing collection of seaglass.