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Tag Archives: Nice
I’m back! Again.
Posted by on October 18, 2008
Hello, I’m back. I apologise for just disappearing but I have been for a wonderful break to the South of France with a girlie mate for a week of gallery hopping and museum visits. Oh and lots of yummy food. I took 342 photographs so I will need a while to sort them all and I promise not to bore you all with too many of them but it was such a wonderful week, I do have to share some of it with you.
I came across this sculpture outside the Museé d’Arte Comtemporaine in Nice. Quite scary really, I hadn’t realised the cult of Daddy Papersurfer was so popular in France….
The prize for the cutest moment of the trip went to this little creature (no, not DP) who we watched for ages in the zoo in St Jean Cap Ferrat. He was SOOOOOO sweet! He was trying to be like his meerkat mummy – are baby meerkats called meerkittens? I must look it up.
The Worst Menu Translation prize goes to the ‘Trastevere’ restaurant in Villefranche sur Mer for it’s translation of the word ‘pignons’ (pinenuts) in the Salade Chevre Chaud on its lunch menu. Would you like oil with those, madame?
Most Spectacular View prize goes to the view from the Botanical Gardens at Eze. This photograph does not begin to do it justice.
Most Wonderful Street Art prize goes to the various installations which follow the path of the new tram system in NIce. These figures sit atop tall posts and at night light up and change colour. I love them but they are not universally admired – some detractors call them the ‘jelly babies’.
My favourite museum is just outside the hill top village of St Paul de Vence. It’s called the Fondation Maeght and it is the most beautiful tranquil place, full of wonderful sculpture and paintings – especially by Miró, Calder, Giacometti and Braque who were all friends of the founders of the Fondation, Aimé and Marguerite Maeght. Interestingly, there is an exhibition at the Royal Academy in London at the moment featuring the relationship between these four artists and the Maeghts.
I have been visiting the Fondation Maeght for 20 years or so and have always pronounced it ‘Fondation Mekt’. I recently found out it is actually pronounced ‘Fondation Magg’. I’m not quite as sophisticated as I thought I was!
I found this photo of my youngest son, taken in front of a fountain at the Fondation Maeght about 15 years ago. The fountain is still there but the little boy is now a grown man. Happy days.
Home again
Posted by on December 10, 2007
Another dinky little book, this time with the Indian embroidered paper, very pretty printed inside paper too.
Well, another week and a chance to get back to normal – or whatever passes for normal chez moi. Last week was really disrupted by my trip to Nice and then by the panic over the dreadful weather. However, this week promises to be better weatherwise and apart from a Christmas party on Thursday, I can get back to normal. I have fallen badly behind replying to comments and checking out my favourite blogs so I apologise for that.
Here are some more photographs of Nice. It’s a nice city (the 5th largest in France) and so it has great shopping (not the boots I was seeking unfortunately) loads of eating opportunities, swanky hotels and the wonderful Promenade des Anglais – the wide road which follows the sweep of the coastline (but the beach is rather pebble-y). Old Nice is very quaint and although it is very tourist-y, it is a pleasant place to wander round particularly the Cours Saleya, which is a large square with a great antiques market on Mondays and wonderful fresh produce market every other weekday. Because Nice was part of Italy until relatively recently (1860ish I think), all the street names are in French and Italian and the influences are obvious from the churches and architecture. I climbed up Colline du Chateau (Castle Hill) to see the panoramic view over Nice. It was such a treat to see blue skies again.
Anyway, I am now back and trying to catch up and get myself into the mood for Christmas. I suppose I ought to start my Christmas shopping soon….. but just catching up with e-mails is a huge job! I was sent this and thought it might make you smile. Bless :-)
It’s Nice here…
Posted by on December 6, 2007
This book is smaller than my usual square books, only 5″square, so it is actually very cute. I might make more this size as they are almost handbag sized. Well, they are if you have a big handbag!
I am posting this from a rather swanky hotel room in Nice, France. I made this book before I went and saved it up for today. I flew out of England yesterday at 8.30 am, after a really early start in the foulest weather you can imagine. I left my house at 4.30am as I have a 2 hour drive to Bristol airport. It was raining incredibly hard and there were gale force winds – really nasty. At around 5am I was caught by a speed camera which I hadn’t noticed as I was concentrating on the dark, empty road (and I don’t like driving at night). I was so busy watching for huge puddles, as a lot of the roads were flooded, I didn’t notice the camera so being caught on an empty road, doing 40 in a 30 zone is very annoying.
I arrived in Nice and the sun was shining in a clear blue sky. And it was warm – such a treat. I’m only here for a couple of days but as it about 6 years since I was last here, it is nice to be back. I took some photographs but haven’t brought the cable to get the photos off the camera, so they will have to wait until I get back on Friday. Here’s a photo I found on Google images.
When I was last in Nice, this wonderful Art Deco facade was all that was left of the original building which was a casino on the Promenade des Anglais. For years behind this facade, there was just a huge hole but recently they have re-built the casino and added a lovely hotel. On the third floor, there is a sun terrace and a swimming pool (on the level above the arches).
It is really very nice here in Nice and it’s a shame that my winter break in the sun is over on Friday, then it’s back to the rain…
Much of a muchness 
