Monthly Archives: October 2023

Avignon, France

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Day 64 Tuesday,  October 31, 2023.

We are visiting Avignon today.  There is always something interesting to see on our drives.  I think this is an old chimney stack that is being dismantled.

There is a free parking lot on an island near Avignon with a free bus ride into town.  The first thing we see when walk through the town gate is this magnificent tree.  I know…lots of tree photos, but I do love these beautiful huge trees.  It is too bad our winters at home are too cold for these beauties.

We have seen so many churches…but every time we enter another one it is different and sometimes there are little jewels to discover.  I loved the contrast between the modern paintings and this ancient Gothic church that was built in the early 1300’s…Saint Agricol Church.  There has been a church on this site since 660.  Then there is the sunlight streaming through the stained glass windows!

The indoor market has a living wall… and lots of seafood.  Too bad neither Bob nor I are fans.  The very last picture is of Lapin…Rabbit.  Not something we are used to seeing.  I had rabbit once many years ago and although it was OK, it isn’t something I am interested  in trying again.  

We used to pick and dry these same mushrooms.  I knew they were a delicacy but I had no idea that Morels were so expensive … 640€ a kilogram!!

There is a flea market outside the  indoor market.  These old copper pots make me think of my grandparents and their copper pots.

After having our lunch we walk through this narrow street built between the walls of the Popes Palace and a rock cliff.

Bob has taken some amazing photos this trip…he might become a photographer yet!

At the end of this street there are some painted windows.  We see several buildings whose windows contain paintings of people.  They make me smile.

I love the look of all the cobbled streets but they sure are hard to walk on for a long time.

This is a scale model of Le Palais des Papes (Palace of the Popes). It is the largest Gothic building in Europe!   It was a fortress, a palace, and the seat of Western Christianity during the 14th Century.  Nine popes lived here and it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Our 12€ admission tickets includes the use of a Histopad.  This device allows us to look in any direction, as well as up or down and the Histopad screen shows us what the  room would have looked like in the 14th century.  

I usually wait and try not to have a lot of people in my photos, but it was really hard to do that today.  Everyone stands transfixed, viewing these rooms as they might have been. This room was the treasury and in 1995 a secret chamber was discovered under the stone floor, that still contained precious treasures from hundreds of years ago.  There was no information on how this chamber was discovered.  It is amazing that it would still be there after all this time.  Bob is standing beside this secret chamber in the photo.

In this photo you can just see the top of a sculpture behind the Histogram…

It is made from corrugated cardboard and stands about 5 feet tall by Paris artist Eva Jospin.  I think it is fascinating.  

We take a break in the palace gardens and try to buy a hot chocolate from a machine that only accepts credit cards…it was beyond both of us!  No hot chocolate for us today.

The palace walls rise 52 meters above the garden!

The gardens look lovely from afar but they were actually a bit neglected.  

We return to the inside for the last part of our tour.  However the Histopad photo is not what grabs my attention.
Rather it is the three enormous silk embroidered wall hangings displayed on one of the long walls.  ‘Chamber de Soie’  or ‘Silk Room’ is also created by Eva Jospin.  

We spend a lot of time here as I walk back and forth, studying these huge embroidered panels.  I can not believe how much work it would take to make these.

Here are the other two…

along with some close-ups of the embroidery.

Next door is a small room that used to be a kitchen.  It also has artwork, including this sculpture, ‘Empyrée’, that is suspended from the top of the huge chimney in the center of the room.   Empyrée is from mythology and means ‘Highest part of the sky, where the gods reside’.  I am astounded to read that this is also by the same artist, Eva Jospin.

But then we walk into the next room and see this sculpture that is made completely from corrugated cardboard!  Wow, It is astounding.  I spend a lot of time here as well.  There is so much to look at in ‘Forest Galleria’, or Forest Gallery.  And who is the artist?  Eva Jospin!

Some close-ups of the different techniques used to create this forest.  I cannot believe the size and complexity of this sculpture…

until we walk into the next huge room.  OMG!!  There are simply no words to adequately explain this work called ‘Paysages’, or ‘Landscapes’.  There are three enormous sculptures in this equally enormous chamber.  This one is actually the smallest of them all and they are all made with corrugated cardboard!

This piece is reminiscent of a classical temple on one side…

and here is the back, all overgrown with trees!

These two sculptures are astounding…but then there is this absolutely unbelievable piece that is placed between the other two.  What can I say?

A close up of part of the front…

a side view.  I did say it is very large!

And a view through the center, which reminds me of a river flowing through a rocky canyon.

Honestly,  photos cannot capture the grandeur of this work! I did find a video explaining how these pieces are constructed with corrugated cardboard, but sorry, it is a FaceBook video so not everyone may be able to view it.   https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=437873248434139.      

And here is the link to Eva Jospin’s website.

https://www.suzanne-tarasieve.com/artist/eva-jospin/?lang=en&show=

There was also a room with a video about Eva Jospin and some photos of the process for creating these pieces.  I am in complete awe.

We climb lots of stairs to the roof of the palace.  We started our tour way down there, under the raised seating of this outdoor theatre.

The views from the top are amazing, but it is time to start heading back home.

As we walk back to catch the bus to our car we walk under the Pont d’Avignon.  Bob said they used to sing the French children’s folksong ‘Sur le Pont d’Avignon’ when he was in elementary school.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_r8eALyO8E4

We walk through the fortified walls through this rather makeshift looking doorway.

Just as we are leaving to catch our bus one of the town’s little busses passes by.  This is the tiniest bus we have ever seen.

Thanks, if you are still reading and made it this far.  I know this is a really long post, but I want to remember all of it.  I actually pruned out a whole lot more photos!

Nïmes, Stay at Home Day

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Day 63  Monday, October 30, 2023

It is pouring rain this morning so we have a nice slow start to our day.  At noon Bob decides to go for a walk when the rain lessens and I start an online chat with Apple.  I had a new battery put into my MacBook in August and its 3 month warranty will have expired by the time we get home.

I was told that if I had any problems I just needed to contact Apple and let them know so they can record it and then it could wait until I was home to be repaired.  So that is what I tried to do…for over an hour!  Talk about frustration.  Finally I was able to arrange to have a supervisor call me  because our France SIM car doesn’t have international long distance.  The not so bright chat guy suggested I borrow someone’s phone so that I could make the call!  He was absolutely useless!  Yet he kept saying “I understand what you are saying 100 %”

I know this is a bit of a rant…but I just needed to get it off my chest!  Luckily the supervisor was amazing.  Within minutes it was all taken care of and I had received multiple apologies.

Bob only took one photo on his walk that went by the coliseum. Nïmes has a lot of water features.

At 5:00 it began to pour again and it came down in buckets!  Here is a very short video of the rain.  https://youtu.be/6S1s_y5HO_8    The weather has definitely changed, and it looks like we will be getting cold and rain for the next few weeks.

Arles, France…Walking in Van Gogh’s Footsteps

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Day 62,  Sunday, October 29, 2023

“Vincent van Gogh arrived in Arles in February 1888.  This was the start of an intense period of activity for the artist, in the Mediterranean light.  Indeed, it was his most productive era and during this 15 months in Arles, Van Gogh produced over 300 paintings and drawings, thus forging one of the most important periods in the history of art.  In May, 1989, Vincent left Arles for the Saint-Rémy de Provence asylum, leaving the name of Vincent van Gogh linked to that of Arles forever.” ~ Arles Tourism brochure.

Vincent spent a year at the asylum before moving to Auvers-sur-Oise in May 1890, where committed suicide on July 27th 1890.

Today we are going to follow Vincent’s footsteps as we walk through Arles, looking for the places where he stood at his easel creating some of his most loved paintings. Arles has placed a copy of each of his paintings at the location where Van Gogh would have stood.

First stop is the courtyard at the hospital in Arles.  Vincent stayed at this hospital three times between December 1888 and May 1889.

I feel like I have walked into a painting…

In the old hospital buildings there is also a wonderful photography exhibit by Pierre Vallet.  We later see some more of his work on display in the Arles Amphitheatre.

There is a sculpture of Van Gogh in the courtyard.

On our way to the next location we pass an old church that is hosting an AI exhibition. The audience is invited to sit and interact with these AI games.Here are the screenshots of some of the other games…notice that one of them has a character named Bob.

We pass a shop window with a creepy window.  Halloween is only two days away!

Arles is a pretty town.  We are trying to follow the not very clear map to find the next location when I notice…

this plaque set into the sidewalk.  So now we just have to follow the plaques, and it feels like a treasure hunt!

The stairs of the Trinquetaille Bridge was painted from this spot.

We climb the steps and cross the bridge, walking beside the Rhône River to our next destination.

We pass these ruins which are Roman baths…looks interesting but we are on a mission.

We pass a couple of old stone façades, just one wall left standing.  Back home it would have been torn down.

Starry Night over the Rhône…too bad the river cruise boats are in the way of our view, but we are able to pick our several of the landmarks in the painting.

We make small detour to check out the remains of a bridge that was destroyed in the bombardment of Arles in 1944.  There are many reminders of both the First and Second World War in every town and city that we have visited.

Then we pass a little carnival that was just getting set up.  I thought it was interesting that they have chairs for the parents to sit while their children are on the rides.  

Unfortunately the Yellow House that Van Gogh shared with Gaugin was also destroyed during the bombardment. It stood on this very street corner.Several young boys were hanging about and one of them, Leron (in the blue jacket) asked me to take his photo.  They were fun.

Van Gogh’s next painting was done in the amphitheater, so we buy tickets to go inside, even though the plaque is outside for tourists to see. The Amphitheatre painting shows the arena full of people, but there aren’t many people here today.

I took some black and white photos in the passageways beneath the seats.  I like how the light streamed in through the openings and all the old stones.

We climb to the top of the amphitheatre tower and get a great view of all the very French rooftops.

And up in the tower what do I find?  Graffiti!  It has been around for a long, long time.

Set in one of the stones at the top of the staircase to the tower is a sea shell, partially buried in the stone and just below it another stone block that is full of smaller sea shells.  I love it when we notice these little kinds of details, details that I am sure many people don’t ever notice.

We take another detour to visit the The Roman Theatre of Arles.  It  is a 1st-century Roman theatre, built during the reign of Caesar Augustus.  Bob is sitting consulting our map to figure out where to go next, as we have wandered off the path laid out by the plaques in the sidewalk.

I just love the way the stone steps have been worn down by countless footsteps over the centuries.

We pass this poster of a young man who is carefully another poster

We walk through this old building to reach the square on the other side…

to look for the painting, Café Terrace At Night.  We find the cafe but there is no sign of the plaque with the painting.  We find the location which must have been very close to the spot where Van Gogh stood.

I noticed that the café isn’t open so I went up to take a peek in the windows.  Everything inside looks ready to receive customers, and there is the plaque that we were looking for!  However….

I think it has been closed for a while, as there is a pile of old  mail on the ground at the door.  Too bad, It would have been nice to go inside for a drink.Walking through this plaza I notice another photography exhibit but it is getting late and we still have one more painting spot to find, so we decide not to go in.

But we do a quick peek inside the Church of Saint-Trophime.  We never know what we will find behind church doors.  Every church is different, ranging from quite austere to the incredible elaborate.

We find the park where the next painting should be located and a monument to Vincent but we can’t locate the painting.  Pansies have been recently planted for the winter garden around this monument.

Bob checks out one part of the park and I go look in another.  The tower is part of the Roman Theatre that we sat in earlier.

Finally we find it!  But looking at these photos, I think we should have turned around and taken the photo of the garden in the other direction.  Guess we were getting tired.  There were three more spots on this walking tour but they are almost on the town’s outskirts and we have once again run out of daylight.

It is only 45 minutes to Nîmes and here we are driving in the dark once more.  One more interesting fact, the whole old town of Arles is a UNESCO World Heritage Site!

Chauvet II, Caverne du Pont d’Arc, France

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Day 61,  Saturday, October 28, 2023

Today we are going to visit another UNESCO World Heritage Site to see the oldest prehistoric cave paintings known to date in the world!  The cave is an hour and a half drive from Nîmes, so we leave early.  The drive to the caves is interesting as the countryside is constantly changing.The Sycamore/ Plane trees are starting to show their fall colours.

As we drove into the hills it got foggy…

and we were soon below the clouds.

The Chauvet cave, or Caverne du Pont d’Arc contains exceptionally high-quality paintings dating back 36,000 years.  It was discovered in 1994 and has never been open to the public. Only a very small number of scientists are allowed to visit each year to study the Chauvet cave.  The lessons learned at the Lascaux caves helped prevent any damage being done to the amazing art discovered in the Chauvet Cave.

Construction on the replica cave began in October 2012 and it was opened to the public in 2015. Chauvet II is located 9.5 km from the original cave.

All the photos of the building and the inside of Chauvert II, Caverne du Pont d’Arc are by Patrick Aventurier and can be found on the Chauvet II website. https://en.grottechauvet2ardeche.com/history/

An arial view of Chauvet II.

The building that holds the replica cave.  It has a viewing platform on the top of the building.This is the view from the top of the building.We have time to watch an immersive sound and light experience called ANIMAL before our cave tour begins.

Here are two videos I took during the show.  I don’t know how to edit videos, but they are not long, one is just over 2 1/2 minutes and the other is 3 minutes long.  It really was a spectacular show.

https://youtu.be/n9nf7gZ3V1M.     

https://youtu.be/tsU3uZaAuPI

Before we enter the cave our guide asks us not to ask questions about the construction of the replica cave until after our tour, to help us feel as though we are in the real cave.

The Chauvet caves contain a masterpiece…the oldest known artwork in the world.  They are over 36,000 years old…that is 18,000 years older than the Lascaux Cave we visited earlier.  These handprints tell us that the right hand of the artist had a crooked little finger, perhaps it was broken at one time and didn’t heal properly?

These red dots are palm prints.  If you look closely you will see that there are a few prints that show the fingers and the little finger of the right hand is crooked.  These palm prints were done by the same artist as the previous handprints!

One of the first charcoal drawings that we see.  Because charcoal was used the paintings were able to be carbon dated to determine their age.

Some of the engravings were made by pressing into the soft mud walls of the cave with the artist’s fingers.There are very few owl depictions in prehistoric cave art.  We get to see one here.

As we walk further into the cave there are more animals on the walls.

The next four photographs are all part of a panel showing the largest collection of animals in the cave and it was located in the very deepest part of the cave.

We are in front of the Lion Panel: a12 metre-long fresco of a lion hunt that takes my breath away! We stand in awe, as the flickering lights reveal these drawings.

The lighting mimics flickering firelight and the animals almost appear to move.

Of course the lighting is set on a timer and all too soon it is finished.  I tell our guide that our time here is too short and I don’t want to leave… she asks if we would like a  bonus viewing and when I say yes, she turns the lights on again.   We all got an extra 20 minutes in front of these magnificent paintings!

The Aurignacian Gallery is a complementary area to discover on our own after the cave visit.  There are life size replicas of prehistoric animals.  Wooly mammoths, Megaloceros , the huge deer in the background, …

Aurochs…

Cave Bears and Cave Lions…and Bob’s favourite, the Wooly Rhinoceros.

There are interesting interactive panels, including this photo of a baby wooly rhinoceros that was found in a mine in Russia in 2007…

and one of this steppe bison found in Alaska in 1979.

Something I didn’t know before this trip and all the caves we have visited is how like us Prehistoric Cro Magnons were.  They were hunter gatherers and were anatomically very similar to modern man “but more robust, having larger brains, broader faces, more prominent brow ridges, and bigger teeth. They were well renowned for creating a diverse array of artistic works, including cave paintings, Venus figurines, perforated batons, animal figurines, and geometric patterns. They also wore decorative beads, and plant-fibre clothes dyed with various plant-based dyes. For music, they produced bone flutes and whistles, and possibly also bullroarers, rasps, drums, idiophones and other instruments. They buried their dead, though possibly only people who had achieved or were born into high status.”  ~Wikipedia

After our visit at Chauvet II we drive to the location of the original cave along this narrow road with lots of tunnels.

It was quite the experience.

We park and this is our view.

The cave was located near the  Pont d’Arc, a natural stone bridge.  We would have liked to walk up to the location of the original cave, but it is getting late and we still have an hour and a half drive before us.  Too bad but we don’t want to be driving home in the dark.

The cliffs here are full of what appear to be cave openings, and there is a sandy beach alongside the river that is a popular spot for families.

Bob spots this rock formation in the distance that looks like a horse’s head.  He is good at finding rock formations that look like people or animals.More tree lined roads on the way home…the leaves look golden in the setting sun.

All too soon the sun sets…and we are driving in the dark, but only for the last half hour or so which isn’t too bad.

Nîmes, Musée De La Romanité

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Day 60, Friday, October 27, 2023

Bob visited the Musée de la Romanité this afternoon so he is writing today’s blog,

It is interesting to see so many ancient Roman artifacts in Nimes, so far away from the center of Rome.  Nimes was not an outpost of the Roman Empire but a regional capital with a population of over 50,000.  It was an important link between Rome and Spain. This bust is from the 7th century  BC.

A wall fresco from 40 AD.

In memory of Marcus Attius Patterns who died at age 25 in the 1st Century A.D.

The floor tiles were the most impressive, as some of the rooms were as big as our modern living rooms.

4th Century pottery.

12 Century relief of a griffen (head of an eagle and body of a lion) fighting a dragon.

A relief from the 12 Century depicting the Temptation of Adam and Eve from the Notre Dame Cathedral of Nîmes 

Nîmes, France

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Day 59, Thursday, October 26, 2023

Nîmes is a pretty city.  It the most Roman city outside of Italy, and it was the regional capita during the Roman Empire.  Today it has a population of about 150,000.

On our way to the center of town I peek inside this open window and I am surprised to see a boxing ring!

I love this door knocker and it even looks a bit ‘Halloweenish’.

We turn the corner and there it is.  The Amphitheater of Nîmes, or the Arènes de Nîmes.  It held over 20,000 spectators and is the best preserved Roman Amphitheater in the World.  It is so well preserved because it has been in constant use since it was built.  In the 6th century it was turned into a fortress, and in the 14th century it was filled with houses, workshops and warehouses.  In 1809 this was all demolished and work was done to restore it to its original state.

Today, the amphitheater hosts bullfights, concerts and sporting events.  It host many cultural and festive shows all summer long.  We will come back and visit the interior another day…today we are just strolling.

Today it is also offering shelter for this homeless person. The Maison Carrée is a very well preserved white limestone Roman temple that is about 2,000 years old.

Here is another view of the the Maison Carrée from the street opposite to it.  It is impressive.  Both the Amphitheater and the Maison Carée are UNESCO World Heritage sites.

In the 1700’s canals were built to supply a better source of drinking water and to power textile mills.  These mills made ‘serge de Nimes’ or as we know it today ‘denim’ (‘de’ or ‘from’ Nimes)!  Today it is a beautiful park with exotic plants, statues and walkways.

We walk along the canals and find some Pétanque players.  This is a popular pastime everywhere in France, although we have only seen one female player. It is more common to see elderly men playing when we are out and about in the afternoon.  We noticed this extraordinarily tall man on his bicycle which Bob says is the tallest bike he has ever seen.  The men around him barely come up to his armpits!

A Pétanque game in progress, with observers and critics!  The players are incredibly skilled and can knock an opponent’s ball out of the game with one throw.

On the way home we pass St. Paul Church and go inside.  I really liked the sculpture right by the entrance and the dome is beautiful.

One more view of the amphitheater on the way home.  This is only a couple blocks from our Airbnb.

As we were waiting to cross the road two vehicles with fully armed military drive by.  There were four soldiers in each vehicle and they were scanning the surroundings as they drive by.  The sign on the side of their cars says Vigipirate Operation Sentinelle.  They are part of the 10,000 soldiers that are currently active in this operation to defend and protect the French.  As France is currently on high alert the Vigipirate Security Alert System has been at its highest ‘Emergency Attack’ level since October 15th.   This means that our bags are searched when we enter tourist sites, museums and other places where there are lots of people.  We stay aware of our surroundings and we certainly avoid anything that looks like a protest, or large gathering of people.  So not to worry, we are safe.

Cannes to Nîmes, France

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Day 58, Wednesday, October 25, 2023

Time to move on….today we have a four hour drive to Nîmes. We have been using the toll highways for these longer drives as it usually saves us a couple of hours of much slower driving through little towns with lots and lots of traffic circles. Most intersections use a traffic circle here, so Bob is now a traffic circle expert.  I finally took a photo of this beautiful big tree that was in our back yard garden in Cannes as we were leaving.   It had huge limbs that arched all the way down to touch the ground.  Unfortunately a photo just doesn’t do it justice.  

We are only on the road for a short time before the landscape changes, and we drive past red rocks that remind us of Arizona…and cypress trees that make me think of Vincent van Gogh’s paintings.

Now instead of Sycamore/Plane trees lining the roads, there are Cypress and coniferous trees.

We were going to visit Cézanne’s Studio in Aix en Provence, but it didn’t work out.  When we tried to book a ticket online the site wouldn’t allow same day bookings, so we decided to drive there and hope to get tickets.  That proved to be a very difficult task.  Between one-way roads, a couple missed turns and crazy rerouting, we finally gave up.  We weren’t even sure we would be able to get tickets and I was getting frustrated…it just wasn’t meant to happen today.  We get back on the highway and we are soon at our new home in Nîmes.  It is quite small with a cheery hot pink sink and shower and it will be our home for the next five days.

 

Monte Carlo, France

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Day 57, Tuesday, October 24, 2023

The train ride to Monte Carlo is a relaxing 70 minutes. I like trains and would be happy to do more travel by train.  I do a bit of sketching, some are more successful than others, and even more people watching.  I sketch in ballpoint pen so  it is difficult to correct errors.  A tall, slim young woman dressed in black with very long black hair sits near us and a couple stops later another young woman who could be her twin gets on the train, also all dressed in black…and they sit together.  We can’t decide if they are related or friends.

The area near the train station isn’t very fancy but look at the size of the trees growing on these balconies!

We are soon in an area wth shops. This bridal shop had a sign in the window about a royal wedding but it wasn’t clear if they made the royal wedding dress.

We head up this very long set of very wide steps to get to the Palais Princier where the ruling Grimaldi’s still live.

There are some good views of buildings on the nearby hills.  The buildings are very close to one another, there is not much open space at all.

We missed the changing of the guards at noon, even though we thought we had planned to get there early.  Only our bus was late, and then our train was late….even best laid plans go astray.  But this guard walked right towards us and then kindly stopped so I could take his picture…or so it seemed.  Turns out it was where he always stopped to turn and go back the other way!

It starts to rain so we duck into the shops nearby.  I think this fridge magnet is the closest we will get to actually holding a 500€ casino chip!

And this is the closest Bob will get to being captain of a boat!

The old town streets next to the palace are narrow and packed with shops and restaurants and offers us a bit of shelter from the rain.

We hide out in this church for a while too.  it was nice to sit for a bit out of the rain, before we make our way towards the harbour.

There is a good view of the harbour from up here.

There is a lovely garden along the sea on our way down to the harbour.  I loved this sculpture called Invitation by K. Verkade.  One of the side benefits of writing this blog is that I take the time to do a bit of research on some of the things we have seen, and I end up discovering interesting new things…like this sculptor and his work.

Bob finds us a bench that is dry under several big coniferous trees that offer shelter from the rain, so we sit for a bit and have tea and cookies and take a selfie.

This is the view from our sheltered bench… but this sculpture nearby gives a more accurate portrayal of the weather! We saw this statue “The Cloak of Conscience” elsewhere on one of our trips, but I don’t remember where.  The artist, Anna Chromy studied at the Academy de la Grande Chaumiere in Paris, my favourite life drawing studio!   She is another interesting artist I read about today.   I did not know that this sculpture was also carved in marble and stands over 15 feet tall!  This website has some amazing photos of its creation.. https://annachromy.com/cloak-of-conscience/from-escavation-to-completion/

A big frame overlooking Monaco offers the opportunity for a rather wet portrait.

But then the sun came out!

And we walk down a very long ramp to the harbour area…

where we walk along some of the roads used for the Monaco Grand Prix.  Bob poses with this statue of the winner of the1955 Grand Prix, Juan Fangio.  The F1 cars have changed a bit since then!

We visit the Prince of Monaco’s Car Collection.

This new 3,500 m2 building holds  around 70 vehicles including racing cars that have competed in the Monte-Carlo Rally and the Monaco F1 Grand Prix.

Here are a few of Bob’s favourites.  

And of course there is a red convertible!

We stroll along the harbour where the rich and famous dock their yachts.  I think this is one of the biggest ones we have seen… even bigger than the one in Antibes near the sculpture made up of letters.  It has two curved staircases!

The people standing on the dock give an idea of the size of this thing.

The boats parked alongside it look very small in comparison.

Next stop is the Monte Carlo Casino.  I wish we could have taken photos inside.  It is over the top ornate, and yes, we walked through the gaming rooms where some of the James Bond movies were filmed.  Pictures are allowed in the lobby. so we prop our phone for a selfie.

We need to show our passports and pay 18€ each just to get into the gaming rooms…but we do each get a 10€ voucher to spend.  Interestingly, it is against the law for citizens of Monaco to work or gamble in the casino!

There weren’t many people gambling…I think it was a bit too early in the day.  We spend an hour or so trying our luck on the slot machines.  We spend our two 10€ vouchers and after putting another 50€  into the machines we aren’t doing all that well…

until we go back to the first machine we played and we start to win.  In the end our time in the casino only cost us 26€ and we had a lot of fun.  The casino is starting to get busier just as we are leaving.  It would have been interesting to be there later in the evening but we need to get home.

If you would like to see photos of the inside of the gaming rooms check this link. https://www.shutterstock.com/fr/search/monte-carlo-casino-interior

It is already getting dark when we leave the casino.  

We take selfies in the reflection of this giant metallic ball, with the casino in the background.

As we head back towards the train station we walk through a garden area with great views of the casino and the very expensive hotels nearby.

The casino is very pretty all lit up at night.

We pass a tree with these beautiful huge flowers that are at least as big as my outstretched hand…. and another big flowering Brugmansia.

Getting back to our train was really difficult.  There is construction and we can not find our way into the train station!  We walk around and around and although the sign says that we are at the train station there is no way we can find to get inside.  Finally we see a young lady who seems to know where to go, so we follow her through a door that says no public entrance, walk through part of a parkade and we finally find an elevator that takes us up to the train station.  We buy our tickets and then have to run like crazy to catch the train so we don’t have to wait for an hour for the next one….and it is packed, no seats, standing room only!  Luckily after about a half an hour most people get off at Nice and we finally get to sit down.  Guess who is sitting opposite us…those two long haired young women who rode the train with us this morning.  They were carrying shopping bags from Nice.  I was so thankful to have a seat but too tired to even try to draw.  it was a really full day.

 

 

 

 

‎⁨Villefranche-sur-Mer⁩, ⁨Côte de la Riviera⁩, ⁨France⁩

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Day 56, Monday, October 23, 2023

Bob goes exploring on his own today to some small villages near Nice.  Villefranche-sur-Mer, like so many French towns, it is built on hillsides…

and rocky cliffs.  The Rolling Stones recorded Exile on Main Street here in 1971.

The  Rue Obscura is a 430-foot-long passageway under the harbour front houses that dates back to 1260.  

A view from the 16th century citadel.

Bob saw some ‘interesting’ art…an exhibit called The Flying House.  To give a sense of scale, the tennis racket against the wall is about two meters tall.  It is about what you would take if you had to leave your house in a hurry, knowing that you would never return…not sure these would be the items we would take.

Bob took a half hour bus ride from Villefranche to ‎⁨Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat⁩, a fishing village with these interesting sculptures…

and this blue torso that  is a popular frame for taking photos.He then walked for an hour along the coast from Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat⁩ to Beaulieu-sur-Mer before taking the train back to Cannes.  The waves were still quite high today.

Antibes, France

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Day 55, Sunday, October 22, 2023

Antibes and the Picasso Museum is our destination today.  We take the bus instead of the train but it is quite a bumpy ride that makes drawing a bit tricky.  I think I prefer the train.  Good thing it is only a half hour ride.

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As we walk towards old town Antibes we pass aa area that has enormous hanging planters and flowerpots.  They are really spectacular.

We head for the harbour to check out the ancient ramparts and an interesting sculpture.  There are some really enormous boats in the distance as well.

These boats are docked in an exclusive area, no walking past them… so  I take a photo from the ramparts.  Take note of the white van parked by the second boat to help give a sense of scale.  

Bob had read about this sculpture by Jaume Plensa called Nomade.  It is an eight meter high figurative sculpture which is located on the top terrace of the Bastion Sainte Jaune.  It is invites interaction by its viewers, including me.

“On the terrace, facing the sea at the corner of the ring wall, was a monumental sculpture eight metres high of a squatting figure, Nomade. All these pieces used the formal vocabulary developed by the artist over the last few years, based on letters. With this vocabulary, Plensa is suggesting that, beyond its simple mission of communicating a meaning, spoken or written language can also be seen as a kind of envelope covering the matter and energy that constitute us. “Like bricks,” he says, “letters have a potential for construction. They enable us to construct thought.” ~ Jaume Plensa

Walking along the ramparts we see more boats.  This one from Bali has its surfboards mounted on the back.  I think that most surfers do not own yachts.

There are signs with information about boats for rent, little boats…

and little bit bigger boats…makes me wonder how much it costs to operate the enormous yachts we saw earlier?  and no, I have absolutely no interest at all in renting or buying a boat…just not something I would enjoy, even if had that much money..

There is a little sand beach on the outside of the ramparts, and in the background is the huge yacht and the sculpture Nomade.

Next stop is the Picasso Museum.  Nice that photos are allowed.

I am not a huge Picasso fan but this museum has lots of information explaining Picasso’s  paintings and methods which help me appreciate his work. This huge painting was painted on three cement panels that are usually used as a building material.

There is a big display of his glazed platters which are interesting.

More people take photos of these copies of Michelangelo’s sculptures than of the Picasso paintings.I spend a bit of time drawing a couple of Picasso’s altered vase forms.

Here are couple more large paintings.  I forgot to take photos of the titles…

There is another exhibit on the main floor of the museum.  Paintings by Yves Zurstrassen, but it doesn’t interest either of us so we just do a quick walk through. Outside on the patio there are several sculptures by Germaine Richler which I quite like, and two young ladies drawing in their sketchbooks.  I love seeing other people drawing.  They were deep in conversation so I didn’t interrupt them.

Walking back to the bus station we pass these porcelain cups in a shop window.  Made me smile.

The streets are narrow and we have no idea what might be hiding behind those closed shutters.

While waiting for the bus we chat with two twelve year old boys who are absolutely bursting what energy.  One of them asks me to draw him.  It isn’t a very good drawing but he is happy with it. He has a lot of hair!

As the bus is pulling away I tap on the window and his friend looks up so that I can snap a photo.  Too bad I missed getting a photo of Emin.The bus ride home was even rougher than the one coming.  We are travelling on different streets because of all the one way streets in Cannes.  I definitely prefer train travel