Visiting the Cote d'Azur with Friends

While I have not posted anything for a week, I assure you that I have been very busy-having a great time with two visitors-one is a friend from 5th grade(!!), and the other is a friend I just met in the spring!!

Monday October 21st

You heard about my friend Joan

earlier, as she came to help me finish packing and get organized before I left! She flew in to Nice from Florida, and I met her at the airport at 9:30. It turned out her flight had been an hour early!! (There is a terrific bus system here; it is so easy to get anywhere, but, especially to and from the airport!) We returned to the flat, and we started to plan what we would do and where we would go! She had found an article in the Delta magazine about Nice, which was appropriate for our further planning! Too bad Oliviera's restaurant closed for the month just before she arrived to go search for olive oils for the restaurant and on-line business!

Tuesday October 22nd
 Up early and off to find Bus 100 to go to Monaco! On Tuesday many things are closed also, but the Palace would be open, and, of course, the Casino! It was a beautiful day to add to our fun!

Beginning of Changing of the Guards

It was interesting to see the Palace-even if the Prince didn't come out to say hello! They were doing some exterior painting we could watch before we entered. We could take no pictures inside, of course! Next to it there is a small museum dedicated to Napoleon. (This is such a non-place that the Lonely Planet doesn't include it, even though the price of admission is for both places!)

Pin Wollemi from Australia

Living fossil!

We had lunch over to right at  Stars&Bars.

We went into the Chapel where Grace Kelly had been married and later buried. There are lovely gardens everywhere! We walked down the hill, and chose a restaurant for lunch, listed in the Lonely Planet who described the menu as American.
There is a very famous and popular aquarium there, but we skipped it.
We took the bus to the Casino, where we managed to make a (minor) deposit at the slot machines. I happened to see down next to Martha from Tennessee; in a very short time, I got a lot of info! She had been the driver for two weeks with her friend, and they had done ALOT OF DRIVING! What was especially funny was that she sat down at a slot machine with all sorts of dogs on it, because she likes dogs! We only went to the outside machines. The serious gamblers go inside....

There are some VERY HIGH END cars parked outside the casino!

We had a glass of wine at the casino before we left, and walked down the hill-very hilly-as you can see-to find our bus stop!

Wednesday October 23rd

Matisse Museum

Lovely Monastery gardens

Of course, Monastery taken on 10/11!!

This was a local day, so first we visited the Monastery next to the Matisse Museum. It was the only day we had any rain while Joan was here!

School vacation, so we loved watching the kids here!

This little girl's outfit matched the paintings in this room!

One in series Chagall dedicated to his wife.

Then it was an easy bus ride down the hill to visit the Chagall Museum. We were STARVING!!! Luckily there was a little restaurant outside the museum, where we could enjoy the chicken and frites lunch before we went inside! This is a wonderful museum with audio-phones that come with admission to educate the public. I had known nothing about Chagall before, so they were great! Born in Belarus, it was fascinating to see his series of religious paintings. I certainly appreciate having the opportunity to see so much famous art in its native environment!

At the end of our visit, I received a text from my couch surfing friend Regine, "Where are you? We are here!" She and Caroline were are the photography museum; I had thought I was to meet her the next week! She invited us to come to Caroline's for tea, so that was our next stop.

When I was there before, I had described how we climbed up the ladder to go out to her wonderful deck! It was too cold to sit out last Wednesday, but here is Caroline in her kitchen getting our tea ready!






We headed back to welcome Mel, http://www.santiago-compostela.net/

who would be staying for four nights. She and I met at a local Spanish class in the spring. She came to Nice after completing the walk on the Camino!! This is not an easy walk by any means, and Joan and I were looking forward to hearing about it!
Now there were three of us to go exploring!


Thursday October 24th

This was really only about a 20 minute bus trip up to Ezes Village, which I had learned about the Saturday I hiked  with Portia and Karin. It is a "medieval stone village", filled with tons of little shops....The most interesting thing about it is its geography. There is a small garden at the top which we skipped, although it probably had the best views!

We had crepes for lunch which a man cooked outside on his terrace. After our bus ride home, we took a break before we went out find someplace for dinner. We struck out at three of our choices. Finally we decided to eat at Campo di Fiori, with so much pasta we took home the leftovers. This is  pretty unheard of here, but the waiter could see that we had barely eaten, and he offered. So we had another meal!:))

Friday October 25th

 Portia had recommended the Anatole Javovsky Native Art Museum which sent us in a new direction. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mus%C3%A9e_international_d%27Art_na%C3%AFf_Anatole_Jakovsky

Outside Native Art Museum

It too was interesting with a real mixture of paintings and sculptures. Probably we all agreed that one of our favorites was the picture of the Last Supper with thirteen chickens at the table! The museum itself had once been the home of Coty, the perfume magnate. Then we walked to see the Museum Massena, which is owned by the City of Nice. It is really a museum (all in French) about French history, so it was not too interesting to us. Well, we really could not understand much!!
Now it was lunch time, and we decided to come home to eat our pasta from last night! Joan and Mel wanted to try socca, so we had plans to go to Chez Pepo's that night for dinner. You really need to plan these meals!!
After lunch we walked across the street to visit the Modern Art Museum...They were not too enthused about much of it...They did like the sculptures by Eliot Arkin up in the rooftop garden!

Andy Warhol

"Little Miss Muffet"

Joan and Mel on the rooftop!

Great city views!

 We headed back home to rest and get ready to go to Chez Pepo's! It was Friday night, so I figured it would be busy. We sat down inside-no outside seating then! They said it would be a 45 minute wait! Now all they serve is pizza and socca; it seems like most people eat socca. Luckily an outdoor table became available, and it didn't take quite 45 minutes for our food to come!! I am happy to report that they both really enjoyed the socca!

Saturday October 26th

Another early morning, as we headed to the Rosaire Chapel in Vence, which was designed by Matisse. He considered this his masterpiece. Lonely Planet commented on how wonderful it is in the morning light, so we wanted to be there then! Now getting to Vence is a little confusing, because first the bus arrives at St. Paul de Vence and then Vence. IF you don't really know where you are going, well, we did not.... A woman on the bus encouraged us to get out at St. Paul de Vence, which was the home of Chagall, and we visited the small "museum" above the TI with some interesting Chagall pictures, after a leisurely coffee under a lime tree.  The town itself is quaint with small windy pedestrian only streets-but lined with shops. We wanted to be in Vence when the chapel opened at 2! So we took the 11:30 bus up and walked around a bit and found an interesting place for lunch in another tree-lined square outside the town hall, where there was some sort of celebration going on.

St. Paul de Vence coffee outside

We were delighted by cat's drinking from this fountain in St. Paul de Vence!

Chagall, wife, daughter + ? in Egypt

"Streets" of St. Paul de Vence

even though I specifically asked about Matisse....Well, it turned out the chapel is only open Saturday afternoons...so it was our good fortune that the woman had encouraged us off the bus!! St. Paul
It was about a 15 minute walk up to the chapel; we were there in plenty of time!

Exterior shot of the famous window!

After all the ornate chapels I have seen, the simplicity of this one is spectacular!!! We were lucky that the nun who gave the talk did it in English, so we totally understood! One wall had Matisse's rendition of the Stations of the Cross; two had his stained glass windows. This was all done of plain white walls. Matisse had designed Rosaire because his former nurse Monique Bourgeois, who became a nun and had cared for him, persuaded him to do it for her community. https://www.google.com/search?q=matisse+chapelle+rosaire+vence&client=firefox-a&hs=SjQ&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=a6VwUpquCKuY0AWz44CYCA&ved=0CEMQsAQ&biw=1344&bih=634
This link will take to many wonderful pictures of the interior of the chapel, as we were not allowed to take any. I am still wondering why people STILL take pictures anyhow, as I saw one man sneak one on his ipad! It was a picture of one of the special priest's robes in the small display area!? THAT nun would have been very harsh on him! At the end of her talk, she said three or four times, "That is mine!" She was talking to a man at the back of the chapel who was holding what looked like a brochure. I had thought she was emphasizing how much the chapel means to her!

And we were back on the bus to Nice and the flat. 

Sign advertising park opening on Museum

However, our walk home took us through the fantastic Pavillion which had opened at 10AM that morning! Of course, we had been gawking at the various goings-on, as we had seen workers inside the fenced-in area, which was solid fencing, so we could see what pedestrians could not! At 12:30AM Saturday, I saw these workers finishing this area just beneath the balcony!

It was mobbed with children and parents and baby carriages and wheelchairs. EVERYONE was so happy that this two year project was finally completed!

Marine playground equipment

We were to meet Caroline at 6:30 around the corner to take the bus to Regine's for dinner! Earlier in the week she had been mushrooming in the mountains! She dried them and made delicious pasta sauce with them.

Apple tart Regine made

How she served it-YUMMY!!!

This was a great fun for all of us! We all enjoyed the French and English banter so much. I had emailed Regine to see what we could bring. She said, "Italian jam". Well, now I was confused! I emailed to see what this is, as I know that the French translate salad dressing as "sauce". She thought jam was ham! Whew! Good thing I asked or I might have taken a jar of pesto!! So we took some Parma ham and two bottles of wine which Mel had found in a small Carrefour around the corner. What a treat this wine was!!! It cost 9 euro here; at Post Road Liquors in Wayland, MA, it is $40 or $50!!! (HOPE this didn't spoil me for the much lower priced wines I had been drinking! Guess I won't take any wine tasting classes while I am here!) Regine dropped us back at the edge of the park, which we again enjoyed seeing!

Sunday October 27th

Mel was off to Brussels and then home to Weston on Saturday. We were delighted she could join us! It was interesting to get a first hand account from someone who has walked the Camino! She hopes to do it again on another path-maybe just the last 100km. I did find another perspective when I googled the Camino. http://francistapon.com/Travels/Spain-Trails/10-Reasons-Why-El-Camino-Santiago-Sucks
I'll just be happy hearing Mel's report on her next walk!

Joan was game to go to the Meetup coffee in Place Rosetti, so we went there at 10:30. First, however, we visited the charming Lascaris Palace, a small free palace owned by the city. It housed many vintage stringed instruments.We took the elevator up to the Parc du Chateau for great views! Louis XIV took down the chateau in 1706.

VERY INTERESTING!

MANY  still smoke here-like this painter at work!

We walked through the park to listen to the end of a delightful concert in the bandstand!
This was a night we were so tired we just made ourselves ham and cheese sandwiches and ate them on the balcony! Ah, the tasty jambon et fromage!

Monday October 28th

We had one more day, before Joan headed back home. We made the most of it!

Outside St. Michael's

...where a funeral was underway.

Menton was our first stop. I had never been there, but it gets rave reviews because of the Cocteau museum. Again, Cocteau was an artist I knew nothing about, so it was interesting to see his work. He was very talented-director, artist, sculptor. I especially liked seeing the friendships the different artists had. There was special exhibit with works by both Picasso and Matisse. WE could also visit the small Bastion across the street with more of Cocteau's works. We tried to find Sini's, which had very good reviews on Trip Advisor. When we found it, Monday is the day it is closed. So we settled for a quick-not great-slice of pizza on the next corner!
We headed back towards Nice to see two higly touted spots.
We hopped off the bus in Beaulieu-sur-Mer to visit Villa Grecque Kerylos, the reproduction of an Athenian villa built in 1902.

 The price of admission included headphones so we could learn about the builder, the family, etc.!

 Then we were off to the Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild. We were told there was a bus or 25 minute walk. So we started to walk, as the stop was not that evident. Well, when we found the stop, we thought we were almost there. HA!
Joan said, "I hope that doesn't mean we'll have to go up that hill!" Of course, she nailed it!

Beatrice received guests here.

Dogs' chairs

Large collection of Sevres china

I had read about the Ephrussi family in the wonderful The Hare with Amber Eyes, so I really did want to see this. Beatrice Rothschild had married at 19 the much older 34 year old M. Ephrussi. He managed to lose most of his money gambling, so Beatrice became legally separated. They never divorced, so when he died she was a widow=more "acceptable". She could not have children, but she had dogs and other pets. But she treated her dogs like people. She arranged a marriage ceremony between her dog and a friend's which included wedding invitations and gala to match! The audio guide quoted the article written up in the Boston Globe!

Luckily the bus stop was right at the base of the walk, so we back in Nice quickly.We stopped in Garibaldi Square for dinner-exhausted but more than pleased at all we had seen while Joan was visiting!!

Thanks again for traveling along with me! I hope you will take a minute to post any comments!!