The Last Entry

Sorry i haven't blogged more - -but blogger has been out of commission for several days. you could read blogs, but not post to them!

It's Friday the 13th. We will leave Menton tomorrow about supper time and spend a night in a Nice airport hotel, before heading home from Nice, via Paris, on Sunday the 15th. I don't think I will have time to blog any more and want to spend as much of the precious time that I have left just making the most of things.

Let’s see – on the 11th I became a Great-Uncle (and my Sister became a Grandmother!) when my nephew and his girlfriend had a baby girl, whom they’ve named Grace!

At the same time, I became semi-obsessed reading the final blog of Derek Miller. To read his final words, click here (http://www.penmachine.com/2011/05/the-last-post).

We should all consider how lucky we are just to be alive.

Recently, Paul and I walked the Le Corbusier walk from Roquebrun Cap Martin train station around the entire Cap and all the way back to our apartment, at the Italian border – more than a 3 hour hike. We were going to take the train from Caronles, but we missed it and the next one was going to be an hour, so we just kept walking.

In the spirit of enjoying life, I think in this post, less is more. Interestingly it was Le Corbusier’s contemporary, Walter Gropius who first said that.

I wish little Grace a wonderful life.

I wish Derek eternal peace.

Love to you all, from one of the most beautiful places on this earth.

The past few days have been clear sun and 26C to 27C.

The Most Expensive Real Estate In The World

Today, being Tuesday, we decided against going to Grasse, as there was still a good chance that most things would be closed for the day. We decided to visit Cap Ferrat instead.

Recent real estate magazines that we have been collecting have confirmed (factually) that Cap Ferrat remains the most expensive real-estate in the world.

No wonder.

The Cap is a gorgeous isthmus of land that juts out into the Mediterranean Sea, like a long finger, situated between Nice and Monaco. When you depart Nice airport, you get a spectacular view of this most prestigious little bit of land. Long the haunt of the Rich and famous (the Baroness Euphressi du Rothschild built her magnificent mansion here, along with King Leopold of Belgium, and countless movie stars both past and present, from Charlie Chaplin to Brad & Angelina), most of the island is sort of hidden by high fences and hedges. But that doesn’t really matter.

The writer W. Somerset Maugham described it in a letter to his nephew, Robin Maugham, as "the escape hatch from Monaco for those burdened with taste."

Money may not buy you happiness, but it can sure get you the peace and quiet that Paul and I relish so much.

We headed off to the Cap today under cloudless skies. We adore catching glimpses of the few mansions that have more public exposure than others, of both the famous and the lucky unknown wealthy. A good example of a mansion that you can see plainly is that of the late actor David Niven. His house, originally called Lo Scoglietto (Little Rock) with its private harbour, is a beautiful pink Italianate villa built in 1880 by Alfred Bounin, the son of an arms supplier to the Sardinian army, himself an olive oil trader from Nice.

In 1920, the villa was rented by Duchess of Marlborough, Mme Balsan, originally Consuelo Vanderbilt. It was extended in the 1950s and rented by Leopold III, King of the Belgians, one year before his abdication.

Later Lo Scoglietto was bought by Charlie Chaplin, and in 1960 he in turn sold it to the film actor David Niven, who was very much part of Princess Grace's social scene.

The small square in front of the villa is named Place David Niven as a tribute to the late actor. Although the ownership of the house since then has been less well documented, there is an unsubstantiated local story that it was briefly owned by Dodi Fayed, who of course was the ill-fated suitor of Princess Diana

Recently restored at reputed cost of €10 million, the villa is now known as La Fleur du Cap.

No matter whom they are and where they come from – they have to have cash, but they are also some of the luckiest people in the world to own this little bit of Shangri-la.

Today’s photos from the top: A homage to St Jean by Jean Cocteau "There is a youthful mystery in the old stones of St Jean", aperitifs before lunch at a local bar, David Niven's house, A small boat floating in the private slip belonging to the house, My feet in the Mediterranean sea (sigh, yes, those are sandal tan lines - but look at the tan!).

Today was clear sunshine with a hot but dry hi of 30C. Yes, I said 30C.

I started off this morning sort of sad that this is our last week here. I thought being here for a month that we would have done a little bit more than what we have, as far as discovering new villages, etc. One of the things about staying in Menton and the Riviera in general is that it is the extreme east side of the region, so places like Avignon and Aix-en-Provence, etc are quite far away. I agree with Paul that I didn’t come on holidays to spend all day in a car (or on the train, as the case may be…), but I just couldn’t shake the feeling like we should have done a little more. A short coming that we have found here is that although there is excellent public transportation, there is very poor communication about how to use the service. For example, I talked earlier about going to Cagnes-sur-mer and visiting the Grimaldi chateau. All the guides tell you to take the (free) bus from the station up the 2 kilometers to the Hauts-Cagnes to visit the chateau. Well, it turns out that Cagnes has TWO train stations. So which station has the bus? What number bus do you need to get up there, etc. No guide is clear on how to do it.

Anyway, after consulting the guide book, we decided to visit the Palais des Carnolès. In addition to being the museum of fine arts, it also happens to be the former summer home of the Princes of Monaco (when Menton was part of the realm of the Princes). I like it for its architecture and its interiors as well as the actual collection (which is excellent). According the Eye Witness Guide, it is supposed to be open Wednesday to Monday (meaning it is closed Tuesday). After taking the train to get there, in typical French fashion, it was, of course, closed.

Never mind. It was a gorgeous day and I’m not going to be side tracked by something like that. It wasn’t far to our favourite patisserie at Cap Martin (as discussed earlier – winner of the best croissant). So we strolled along and had a coffee and delicious pain au raisin (an eggy brioche bread rolled up like a curly-whirly that contains pastry cream and raisins – and in this case, candied fruit). It was, of course, excellent.

We have decided that if the weather is good tomorrow, we’ll take the train up to Grasse – the perfume capitol of France. We carry the Fragonard line in Pariscope and it’s a charming village – and the train comes right into the village, so there should be no problems.

Today’s photos from the top: Palais des Carnolès. A table at the Port Garavan Restaurant set for a special occasion. Memorial to the unification of Menton to the French Nation. A terra cotta urn infront of the now closed Ambassadeurs Hotel. A man vacuuming (!) the parking lot of the Port Du Garavan.

Todays weather – clear start to the day, but very hazy by the late afternoon. Hi of 24C.

Super Do Nothin' Week End....

Paul and I decided that because this was our last week end in the Riviera (we come home on Sunday the 15^th) that we’d just sort of do what we like, when we like. Not that that is a break from the every day on this trip, we just tell ourselves that it is and it just seems that much more special.

That was the reason for no blog yesterday – I just never got around to it. We spent the day going through some of the shops in town, then succumbed to the lure of the private beach at the festival plage in white and orange. So we put aside our plans for lunch at the apartment for a private cabaña and a feast of moles marnière washed down with a very good rosé and one of the finest sea views you can imagine (photo included). An afternoon of dozing in the sun ensued. We discovered a wonderful new Indian restaurant in town for supper (gasp – we ate out TWICE in one day! So much for the budget!) that we enjoyed (although the service was a bit slow) and had a leisurely stroll home in the dark, admiring the views of the old village lit up at night (not the best photos, I know).

This being our final week there are some things to do, as always. We really are having a fantastic time, but are getting the usual pangs for home, family, friends and our little pug dog. We have seen several pugs here (here they are known as Carlins), and I have a photo of Clousseau on my screen saver on my phone, so we see him every day. The few times that I have called home, Mom reports that everything is well.

Today is Mother’s day at home (which is not observed here), so I wish all Moms all the best on their special day.

Today’s photos from the top: Festival plage (a private beach), View of the sea from a park bench, Mussels for lunch!, The old fortess (now the Jean Cocteau Museum - soon to be replaced by a brand new building) at night, the Basilica at night.

Sorry the 2nd video is sideways, I was holding the camera the wrong way (obviously).

We are having persistently sunny skies and today (Sunday) the temperature was 24C. Yesterday (Saturday) it was 26C.

I Knew We Shouldn't Have Gone...

So, despite my better judgment, we decided to go to the big market day in Ventimiglia today. The reason that I say my better judgment is my readers from last year will remember that we went to Italy and ended up getting stranded there, and had to bring a cab home to France (although its something that I’ll never forget) because all the trains were delayed - sopresso.

So we went to the big market, and I think on the whole it was a bit of a let down for me. I wasn’t in the market for clothing or shoes (although I just LOVE the styling of Italian men’s shoes), which is what predominantly what makes up the market (despite all my photos of food). I could use a new wallet (I’m still carrying the one that my brother-in-law gave me for being in his wedding 25 years ago – thanks Juergen, it was a great gift), but the wallets here are all sized for Euro notes, so they’re sort of useless for North America. If anything, its major appeal is for women - clothing, awesome Louis Vuitton items (the loose wallets that you see in my photo were only 5 Euros each!). I was hoping to get Paul that watch that I promised him for his 60^th birthday, but everything in Italy when it comes to accessories is so BLING! We were looking for something a little more classic, and we never found it.

For lunch we found a nice little out-of-the-way Mom & Pop restaurant and had very good pizza (in Italy!), and bought pasta and sauce form the same people that we did last year (No, you can’t have that sauce with this pasta – you must use this sauce…I love it!) to bring home with us. We also treated ourselves to a very good canolli cookie (although I think my own home-made ones are better. Sigh.) and decided to catch the 1:47pm train back to Menton.

Guess what the sign board said against every departure?

CANCELLED (or cancelleto or something like that, anyway, we clearly got the idea…) “You’ve got to be kidding – not again!” I said in exasperation as we stood amid the crowds in the station. Paul even said a bad word. But then I looked closely at the board… the 1:47 was still departing – but every train thereafter was cancelled. We hastily made our way to platform 3, where the train was all ready waiting, and within minutes we were being ushered back to our beautiful Menton.

That was a close call. The only thing I could do to calm my nerves was have a glass of champagne and sit on the beach…

Sunny, with the occasional light, cotton-ball cloud, and 26C today.

A side trip to Greece

Well, almost. Today we decided to take the train to Beaulieu sur Mer to re-discover the Villa Kerylos. We hadn’t been for a few years, and we decided today was a fine a day as any.

I must have Anthea on my mind again today, she's half Greek and I think she & Don should celebrate by building a Villa Kerylos of their own.

The villa was built between 1902 and 1906 for Theodore Reinach. Reinach was one of 3 sons of a prominent Frankfurt banking family. Widowed when he was only 29, he remarried and had six children with his 2^nd wife. Theodore was infatuated with Greek antiquity, and had the villa built as an authentic replica of those from ancient Greece. He then commissioned one of-a-kind furniture, all exact reproductions of the originals (and all of which are now antiques themselves!). He even had the dining room furnished not with chairs, but reclining beds, as the Greeks never ate sitting upright. Although the home was only the summer residence for the family, while there, they lived in the style of ancient Greece, all the while entertaining the likes of Isadora Duncan (Watch out for that scarf!) King Leopold of Belgium and King Gustav of Sweden. Oh, and his cousin by marriage was the Baroness Euphrassi de Rothschild, who lived just across the bay on Cap Ferrat. To visit the web site for the villa, click here.

In an interesting twist of fate - for those who read my blog from last October in Paris – one of Theodore’s sons married the only daughter of the man who built the Nissim de Camondo mansion in Paris (one of the finest town houses I have ever been in in my life), and tragically, Theodore’s son & daughter-in-law were annihilated during the holocaust. To know more about the house, click here.

Theodore passed away in 1926. He left the house to the Republic of France, but the surviving members of the family continued to live in the Villa until 1967.

While in Beaulieu, we stopped by a restaurant that had a prix-fix menu of 220 Euros PER PERSON (Over $300 per person CAD). I took a photo of the menu if you want to see it... But we just weren't that hungry, so we we stopped into a local haunt and had a pasta lunch. The bowls of pasta were family-sized (no one knows what eating light means here) and much more reasonably priced.

It was another stunning day in the Riviera today, Sunny and windy, with a high of 25C.

Thinking about things

When we were at Carolyn’s birthday party in April, our friend Anthea commented that it seemed like we had had “arrived” at our station in life – that is to say, we have things sorted out and know what we like to do and where we like to go and so on. It was an interesting comment made by an observant person – because it was something that she saw before we even saw it in ourselves.

This trip has given me time to muse on her comment and I have to say I feel like I agree with her. You know what? It feels good, too. I hope everyone I know has the opportunity to feel this way at some point in their life, too.

We headed out this morning to go to the city gallery here and look at the permanent collection of art (as it doesn’t seem that there is a show on at this time). We were a little disappointed to find the Palais de Europe closed (in the mystical French way of just being locked up – no sign, etc), despite the fact that it was supposed to be open.

This wasn’t the exact disaster that it sounds, though. The area is in the more “gourmet” area of town. On the corner is the best baker (with a stunning building), where we stopped in and bought some bread, a couple of croissants, and a slice of tart au pêche and a slice of tart tatin for our dessert at supper. Strolling along and admiring the displays in the chocolate shops, the magnificent platters of candied fruits (something we don’t really have or do in North America), flower shops and epiceries, we bemoaned the lack of such establishments at home. I think it really speaks volumes about the huge difference between the way that North Americans and Europeans look at food. In North America, I feel the food – its preparation and consumption – is seen as a chore, not as a pleasure and the art that it really is. Here, there is ALWAYS time for food. Outside of Paris, there are very few people who grab a sandwich and go back to their desk for lunch.

Sharon Burke, our local connoisseur of foie gras, would be interested to try the newest fad that we have seen here, which is foie gras mi-cuit au chocolat, or semi cooked foie gras with chocolate. Sounds circumspect to me, but its in almost every epicerie that we have been to. I’m sorry Sharon, but I can’t figure out a way to get some home to you safely.

So after day of morning of salivating over fine foods and wines, we went home and had a fine lunch, followed by a huge hike in the afternoon across practically the whole width of the village, on the boulevard de Garavan.

The morning started out with clear sunshine, but changed to haze by the mid-afternoon. The high today was 23C.

Another Day in Paradise

I can tell you straight up that I did not hear the alarm clock this morning. Paul claims that he did (but he never got up to put the coffee on), so I guess I’m sleeping so soundly that even the annoying ring of the travel alarm clock isn’t doing its job!

Luca actually showed up at 8am this morning. I was still in my robe, but I figured I’m on holidays, so what do I care? He showed up with an electrician. When they left, everything was working fine – for five minutes. Then the dishwasher tripped the breaker again. Paul and I took it upon ourselves to play with breakers ourselves, and we’ve sort of figured out that you have to shut the breaker off for the rolling blinds to make sure that the breaker for the dishwasher doesn’t trip when it’s running. I actually think the electrical in here is pretty screwed up due to other small problems that we’ve been having – but I don’t own the place so they’re not my problem.

In a word, today was GORGEOUS! We headed into town (as commented in my video – it’s a little quiet here this season, but that’s how we like it) for the first part of the morning, just to see what was going on. One of the buildings in the main square is having some scaffolding put up, so it looks like some work is going to start there soon, so that’s about it on the excitement level. We just did some grocery shopping after that and then spent the afternoon up on the rooftop enjoying the sun and the pool.

We’re thinking of going to Ventimiglia on Friday (YIKES!) and I’d like to do a bit more by train, such as see the Renoir museum & the Grimaldi chateau in Cagnes-sur-mer, or perhaps go back up to Grasse (the perfume capitol of France), but we’ll see. I have to admit that it’s nice to do what we want, when we want. Sometimes you just don’t want to leave the pool side….

Top photo: Doggie keeping an eye on me. Middle: PJ in the Marina. Bottom: The view from the front door of the Hambury Palace

Today was sunny and a high of 23C.

What A Day!

The day started today with the news informing us of the death of Osama bin Laden (big news, even here). The photo of the dead guy sure looks like him, but it seems strange to me that they “buried him at sea” when Afghanistan is a landlocked country. Not that I that I think that this is dis-information on behalf of the US government or anything….

And then, of course, it’s Election Day at home in Canada. We’ve been keeping up with things via the internet here (it was even on the news this morning, so Canada does get air time here in France!). It sort of sounds like we may be coming home to a bit of a different country that we left, though. Is this good or bad – I don’t know.

In apartment D30B at the Hambury Palace, we returned from our day in Nice to find that our little apartment had no electricity. The building did, but we didn’t. After trying all the breakers, we had to go get Luca, the concierge for help. He managed to trace the problem down to the dish washer, which, for some reason, blew the electric to the whole apartment when it mal-functioned (even he admitted it was a mystery). So right now we have no dish washer. We never thought that taking a new place meant that all the “kinks” hadn’t been worked out, yet! Anyway – Luca promises to come back tomorrow at 5pm to see if he can sort out what’s wrong, so stay tuned.

We headed off to Nice today to check out the action at the Monday antiques market. We found nothing more than a sweet little dog sitting under a sign that informed us that he bites. Seeing that there was nothing there for us, we went to the Lebanese restaurant we discovered last year and had a scrumptious lunch of Mezes washed down with a very fine bottle of Lebanese rosé, followed by a selection of pastries and some fresh mint tea pored from a very handsome pot. Delicious!

On the way home we passed by several tabacs – of course – and we all ready got the scoop on Kate and Wills – gasp! Photographs that won’t make the Queen laugh (but you will!)

Despite the weatherman’s call for nice weather today, we headed off in sunshine, but by the time we got home it was windy and grey. We did not see any rain, but it sure looked like it was going to - -and we had headed out in shorts and sandals. It seemed cold despite the temperature reported on the pharmacy sign of 22C!

The 1st of May Brocante

For the last few years we have been lucky enough to be here over May day (May the 1^st) and as a result, be able to browse the merchandise being purveyed by the many stall holders at the Lion’s Club fundraiser (yes, the same Lion’s club as at home).

Today dawned with cloudless skies and we knew we were in for a treat.

We strolled from the Hambury to the market via the port, and it wasn’t long until we were in the thick of things.

It was fun to see the lions club selling sandwiches and hot dogs to raise funds, as well as hosting a ducky race in the fountain for the kids.

I found some really neat Air France menus that had reproduction prints of the old hot air balloon flights from the 1700’s (I’m sure you have seen them before) – but couldn’t really think of a good use for them. I met my champagne bucket dealer, but didn’t pick up any right now as he’s been sending me them every so often, so I don’t need the hassle of bringing them home on the plane. In usual antique dealer fashion, we found a pair of Chinese “foo dog” statues that were glazed in a real beautiful blue glaze, but he didn’t have any price on them. I couldn’t get his attention to ask – but the guy behind me did - and bought them for only 30E! I was sure they’d be more than that. The sting left quickly, though, when at the next table I spied a small period (C. 1800) portrait print of Napoleon with only a 10E price tag on it! The print is round (like a coin) and is matted and framed in a square gilt frame. I moved in for the kill. He wouldn’t do 8E, but I managed to sweet talk him into 9E. I know it is worth wayyyy more than the price I paid, so I feel like I got a real deal on it, and it’s perfect for my Napoleon collection.

Inspired by today’s find, we are contemplating going to the HUGE antique market in Nice tomorrow. We’re not actually sure if it’s on tomorrow, as this is one of those odd “holiday” things that you can’t figure out here in France. Today is May 1^st – which apparently, if it falls on a week day, is a holiday. But if it falls on the week end (such as today) it’s NOT a holiday (i.e. – you don’t get Monday off for it). The antique brocante in Nice is NOT open on holidays OR on the eve of a holiday – but you could just see them not opening tomorrow anyway. Doesn’t matter – if the weather is good we’ll get into Nice anyway.

Paul and I also have a little competition when we go to these things to find the most hideous thing that we can. Amongst the stalls with dolls missing heads (Marie Antoinette dolls?) and selling used bras (!), I found a table lamp in the shape of an upturned shell, with sea-horses, fish and coral applied therein. I say it’s hideous, but I could also see it being someone’s old beside lamp that for years and years was the last thing they saw at night when they went to sleep at night – perhaps a souvenir or a gift that brought them some sort of joy. I guess I should be less judgmental.

We had a terrific time today, even though we didn’t buy anything else, and were just pleased to be soaking up the sunshine and breathing the fresh sea.

Today was clear and sunny with a high of 27C. Yes – 27C!