Some thoughts from the Riviera

I don’t really have a “theme” today, so I guess this will just be some ramblings from Menton, if you all don’t mind.

I’m fascinated by the micro-climate that exists here. As mentioned earlier, it’s mild enough that citrus fruits bloom and are harvested year round. In the gardens right now, roses that usually don’t come out until the heat of July at home are all ready in full bloom. We were in the citrus grove in front of the fine arts museum, and various trees were in different stages of development. I was especially interested in the grapefruit tree, as I hadn’t seen one before (and absent-mindedly forgot to snap a photo!), and how each tree was in a different stage from the one next to it. At home, an orchard of apples (something I know a fair bit about!) generally flowers, matures, ripens and is harvested at the same time. Here, one lemon tree will be ready to be harvested, while right next to it, another is just coming into bloom. Wonderfully different.

I have seen 2 paw-paw trees here as well – something we DEFINITELY do not have at home. I love their form and shape, as well as that of my ultimate favourite, the cypress – which is so architectural in its form.

We haven’t really “done” anything of a tourist form yet… we’ve just been hanging out around the apartment and the pool and staying in town to do some grocery shopping, etc. It’s a bit of a cliché I suppose – but right now the radio started to play “M’Lord” by Edith Piaf! I can hear some Vespa’s racing along the road, and the bell at the Basilica is ringing 11am. The sun is shining strong & bright and there is a faint small of salt from the sea. Things seem so relaxed and casual, you can’t help but feel like you wish that things could stay like this forever!

We’ve all ready popped into the market to get our groceries for lunch & breakfast for tomorrow morning. As it’s Friday, the (smaller & usual) traveling brocante is back in town. I snapped the photo of this little Jack Russell Terrier, at the brocante, that was behaving himself “in storage” for Mary & John to share with Jarvis & Honey, to show them how lucky they are. We bought ourselves a very nice champagne bucket. Unfortunately, the paper-dealer with the cruise-ship menus wasn’t there, but perhaps we’ll see him next week in Nice.

BTW - I'm not overly-happy with the way that my pages are laid out, but I can't figure out the software, so we just have to make do.

I’m signing off to catch some sun before lunch!

Gotta Getta Villa

As we went for a stroll yesterday (which is something that we do several times a day), we observed the plight of the poor old sea front villa.

Here in Garavan Bay, the price of real-estate (and therefore most probably the taxes) is VERY high, which means that the sea-front villas have eventually been sold off to property developers who build multi-story, multi-unit condominiums (like the one we’re renting, I suppose). Our question being: if you were lucky enough to actually own one – wouldn’t you at the very least USE it/keep it in good repair? (The villa above our apartment is currently for sale for 8.2 MILLION Euros – and it’s not even on the shore (but admittedly has a great view)).

My photos today are of various villas in different places all along the sea-front. One, the villa Bianca St. Anne is renovated and for sale, the others are in varying states of decay. The fourth is completely abandoned and practically over-grown. This last one has not been lived in for the 6 years that we have been coming here. It is a beautiful place, obviously built by someone with wealth, as it even has a carved-stone coat-of-arms over the windows on the east side of the façade. It sits amid a walled and fenced garden (I had to stick my camera over the top of the wall to snap the photo!) that I would guess are easily the best part of an acre. There is sits, each year looking a little worse for wear. Someone is obviously paying the taxes on it… so at the very least why don’t they USE it? I know there are extenuating circumstances sometimes (will probates can go for decades here), but to someone like me who admires such and will NEVER even have the opportunity to own it, it seems like a shame and to be honest, a bit of a blight on the town.

As for the Villa Bianca St. Anne (which should be painted white (is white Bianca or Bianco) not pink!), the only reason it hasn’t sold is because they built a 5 story condominium in the once private gardens behind the house – and even attached the apartment building to the rear of the villa, which means that it has absolutely NO privacy. And there is sits, renovated, but the little bit of grounds it has left are completely over-grown and ramshackle. What a tragedy!

On a healthier note, the elevator for the building is closed for repairs today and tomorrow, so it’s 5 stories of stairs up and down each time we want to come and go!

Weather is fair, but cool and unusually cloudy for the past couple of days, which has been a disappointment – but at least we’re on holidays and making the most of our time.

Video of the day shows the redemption of the flaccid Canadian flag at the casino. My Aunt Elaine wants a better photo of the casino… you can see a good portion of it in this video, but I’ll try to snap some more in the next day or 2. Special at the brasserie at the casino today is a roast-beef dinner including desert for 10E!

Wow!

The power of the sea is awesome.

After the storms of the previous night, the Mediterranean was churning and heaving like I’ve never seen before. Waves were reported to top out at 4 meters (12 feet), but I’m positive they were higher. The swells were both exciting and frightening to see. In the back of my head I kept humming the music to Hawaii 5-O, and thought we’d see some brave souls head out on surf boards – but we didn’t. That’s most likely because the police (or someone) came and blocked off access to the water in order to keep people back from the shore. At one point, the waves were cresting OVER the costal road between the west end of the village and the Italian border – so they even closed the road to Italy! We watched the fury for some time and snapped some photos and videos. The extra wide angle of the lens didn’t allow me to catch the true magnitude of the waves (at one point, they crashed in over the top of the lighthouse). Everyone in town came out to see though (kind of like a car accident), so I knew we were getting a good show (for free!)!

As we went for our afternoon promenade, I spotted a vintage Citroën parked at the side of the road. It seemed to be in good shape. You don’t see them much any more, so I snapped a photo for posterity’s sake.

The white apartment building that I’ve photographed is the apartment building that our unit is in this year. Our particular unit doesn’t face south, over the sea (it actually faces east, into a very pleasant court yard, with a view up the mountains), but if you look south from one of the patios, we have more than a glimpse of the sea. We have the pool with our unit (see posting #1), so the view from the actual unit isn’t all that important to us.

My newest ponderence on the European psyche is about electricity. The clothes washers here primarily ONLY use cold water for washing (there isn’t even a hot water hook up), next to nobody has a clothes dryer, and dish-washers do not have a drying (or power drying) cycle – all because they “waste” electricity. However, all the trains that criss-cross the continent run on electricity.

Hmmmm…..

Pebble art & a new friend!

To call Jean Cocteau an artist is an understatement. He was a surrealist artist, sculptor, ceramist, film maker writer & poet... a true bon vivant if there ever was.

You can even catch glimpses of his films, such as Le Sang d'un poete (1930), La Belle et la Bete, and Orphee on you tube.

Cocteau, although born outside of Paris, lived a great deal in the village of Menton. The Napoleonic era fortress of the town now serves as a gallery dedicated exclusively to his work. Even more exciting, there is a modern building being built here to house an exhibit a greater selection of his work. There doesn't seem to be a web-site dedicated to this new museum, but the information posted is that it should be complete in 2011.

The word is that he lived in Menton as it was just a quick hop-skip & a jump to Villefranche-sur-mer, which was where the navy was stationed during the war years(!).

ANYWAY, the museum was begun during his lifetime, and it is actually adorned on the outside with several depictions in the "pebble art" that I was telling you about in an earlier post. When you stop to think that all the pebbles have to be sorted by size and colour before you start working, it becomes a giant project. These pebbles aren't set into the grout on their broad side. each is laid into place on its side, which affords the artist more creativity and fluidity to the images that are being created. The riviera is a giant pebble beach (the sand on the private beaches is trucked in every year!), so there is plenty of material. You can't help but touch the murals (one of the few times you CAN touch!) because of a connection with the artist and the way that the sea has polished and eroded each and every pebble down to a smooth finish. So tactile!

I have included photos of the murals, as well as a close up of the work.

Jean Cocteau was devastated by the death of his friend Edith Piaf. He choked upon hearing of her death, suffered a heart attack and died the same day as she did, October 11, 1963 (some say that Piaf died the 10th, but it is unclear which date is accurate).

On a happier note, PJ & I made a new little friend yesterday. Believe it or not, we actually saw TWO pugs (sorry, Roquets en Francais) at two different times in two different places. This sweet little girl had just given birth or was just about to... but she was as friendly as can be - full of kisses and loved to be petted, just like all pugs. We miss our little guy, but the word from Brampton is that all is a-ok!

Today's video is taken from just about in front of the apartment that we rented last year. It starts looking west to Cap Martin and then shows you shore line (retaining wall boulders, mostly) and pans east to the veille village and Italy. Notice that the guy who comes into the camera at the end is wearing RED PANTS!

Enjoy!

Brocante de 1er du Mai - en le 2eme

How very French!

The May Day (May 1st) Brocante was held on Sunday the 2nd... and people complain about shop hours in Elora!

Yesterday brought a cloudy morning - solid clouds - but by the afternoon, more sunshine!

So PJ and I took a stroll into the mayhem and decided to investigate what was for sale at the brocante. A brocante is a bit of a combination of an antique sale, a flea market and a car boot sale, all rolled into one.

I managed to resist buying anything, but I was really tempted by several items (it's too early in the holiday to spend all my money). I can't resist buying things for our dining room (I guess that's an extrapolation from the food fetish). I came across a set of 8 semi-antique Christofle(!) sterling place card holders, that the woman had priced at 250E for the set, but volunteered to take 200 for. The there was a set of 11 (I guess one got broke over time) of antique crystal - not glass - (which I've never seen) knife rests, that had a solid, clear crystal bar in the middle, and each end had a frosted cherub face. They were 120E for the set. The thing that I regret not picking up, though, was a set of menus (various dates from 1951-1953) from a trans-atlantic ship's restaurant. I can't remember the name of the ship, but I thought it would be fun to re-crate some of the items for our Supper Club (There was wayyyyyy too much food every day to re-create the whole thing). I couldn't get the guy's attention to ask the price (just like at home, they don't seem to put a price tag on things - so how they know the price I don't know), but maybe I'll see them again in Nice or here at the end of the week again (there is a traveling antique market that runs the coast all week).

The crowds yesterday were insane (as expected) however today (Monday the 3rd), everyone is back at work. We found out that in France if a public holiday falls on a week end, you don't get a week-day off for it... so we have our little town back to ourselves.

Today's images all come from the brocante - and I snapped the gold sequined outfit as I think Carolyn would look ATD in it (you go girl!)!

I have to admit I'm being seduced here, too. Now before you get too excited, I mean, of course by the French Riviera (although I guess I've all ready give in to that seduction)... but there's this marvelous woman who has a stand at the market. All day long, like a trooper, she calls out in a sweet voice "Tapanade du maison, vert ou noir, tomates sechees!" Not loud - just lyrical and soft. She dolls out her home made tapenade from giant caviar bowls, and her sun-dried tomatoes from a big pile in the middle of the table. That's all she sells - and she's there day after day. I've got to get me some of that tapenade... however around here they all put anchovies in it, which isn't my favourite.

Today's video is brought to you from the casino in Menton.

Today (May 3rd) is my Brother's birthday, so I'll call him later on. I'm blogging a little late today (it's 1:15pm), so I want to dash and get up to the pool to do some sunning. They are calling for rain for Tuesday and Wednesday, so I want to get a good dose of vitamin D to last!

If I'm confusing anyone, I always blog about what happened yesterday so I hope everyone's on the straight and narrow.

Thanks to everyone about my photos. I find that I'm so wrapped up in doing this blog thing that I have only taken about 15 actual photos on my camera!

Anyway - off to the roof-top!

Saint Michael and the Quiche

Legend has it that Saint Michael is the defender of Heaven. He is always portrayed defeating Satan by standing on him and slaying him with a lance or a sword.

I don't know about all that - but Saint Michael is also the Patron Saint of Menton. The Basilica (a Basilica is a church of the highest order in Roman Catholicism, IE Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome) of St. Michael here in Menton is of mammoth proportions. There has been a place of worship on the spot since 1619(!), although the church as we see it today was built around 1645 and renovated many times in its 365 subsequent years.

From the outside, it is approached from Garavan bay by a double set of criss-crossing stairs that take you up the mountainside. Each step of those stairs, as well as the square in front of the church, has been paved in geometric designs of individual pebbles (sorted by colour and size). The square its self is made up of the stairs on the east (with a magnificent view of the sea - see today's video), the Basilica on the south (Interestingly, it does not face east), the church of the White Penitents on the west, and some religious buildings & houses on the north.

The exterior of the building (it could use a good cleaning/painting) is asymmetrical & is of a restrained baroque design with a huge campanile rising up into the sky, which is probably the most photographed thing in Menton, and is as much a symbol of the city as the Menonnaise lemon. It's an unusual tower, as the base starts off as a square and finishes at the top as a circular structure. It houses a bell that rings off the hours (twice, like my comtoise clock at home) and half hours, and despite the noise of the Riviera, can be heard anywhere in town (it's especially clear up on our roof top - it is also dead accurate with wrist watch!).

Inside, the restraint that was reserved for the facade was thrown to the wind... the interior is a riot of baroque forms and heavy crimson draperies and crystal chandeliers. the ceiling is painted with a huge fresco of (you guessed it) St. Michael. For a baroque church its a little on the dark-side inside, though (most are painted out in white), and some of the detailing is lost because of it. But there's PLENTY of gold and gilding around to satisfy the fussiest of Popes. Speaking of which, a plaque inside commemorates a visit by Pope John Paul II in days gone by.

Despite earthquakes and wars, it has endured and stands as a testament to the faith of the people who built it (and around here, it takes YEARS to get builders to complete ANYTHING!).

As for the quiche? Well, after going to the market yesterday, I made a broccoli & cheddar (yup, you can get cheddar here) quiche that, by my own testament, rivals any that you'll find in a local boulangerie!

Day has started of gray - but we'll hope for some sun this aft!

May Day, Grand Prix and Red Pants

It's the 1st of May today - Mayday - and all of Europe is celebrating the arrival of Spring. Today, everyone in France will be wearing a sprig of muguet (lilly of the valley) on their shirt or lapel, to welcome the arrival of this season. Flower shops everywhere are full of the stuff. it's a nice tradition - something that we don't do at home.

Today is also the start of the Grand Prix De Monaco. Yesterday, Paul and I had the opportunity to join our good friend, His Most Serene Highness, Albert, the Prince of Monaco, in his private box to watch the qualifying rounds. I think my photos speak volumes about the action and excitement! The odds on fave are for a McLaren Mercedes to take the flag again this year!

Now, I ask you - what's with all the red pants (pantalon rouge) this year? My goodness, they're hideous, and everyone is wearing them. I snapped a couple of discrete shots of them... you can make up your own mind on if you appreciate them or not.

So - May day - we're about to loose our idyllic little town for a few days to a huge influx of tourists (mostly from Italy). So far, despite the forecast for showers (gasp!), the sun is shining and it's most pleasant - dare I tell you it's even a little cool? Nevertheless, I suspect in a few minutes we'll get dressed and go for our morning constitutional (it's 9:20am here right now, 3:20am at home).

Today's video was captured last night - it's the main square on the pedestrian street in town. It's surrounded by bakeries, restaurants and the like and is an agreeable place day or night.

Don't know what today's adventures will hold, but I'll keep you posted!