Astrid, Queen of the Belgians

So we went for a walk to Italy yesterday morning. The part of Garavan that runs from just about where our apartment is (porte de France) east to Italy is not especially commercial. It houses the local soccer & boules stadium, several villas & apartments (with spectacular views of the old town and marina) and the road that runs to the old passport control office. The south side of the road is completely against the sea, so the places on the north side have glorious, unobstructed views.

We have told you about the Belle Epoch propensity for wintering here in Menton, especially royalty. Queen Victoria and her son & heir, Edward, spent tons of time here, as did the Belgian Royal family.

Astrid, Queen of the Belgians, was born a Princess, the daughter of King Gustav V of Sweden. In 1926, she married the Crown prince of Belgium, Leopold, and became queen with the death of her father-in-law in 1934 (he died in a mountain-climbing accident). She was very much the Lady Di of her day, renown for her beauty, charity and devotion to her husband and her duties as Queen.

Unfortunately, just like Princess Diana (and come to think of it, princess Grace, too) she was killed in a car accident, at only 29 years of age, on the 29^th of August, 1935.

During her husband’s regency, though, they built a magnificent villa in the town, with one edge of the property actually comprised of the Italian border. The villa and its extensive grounds, lavishly planted with some of the finest Mediterranean specimens anywhere, is unfortunately closed to the public. It is owned by the Village of Menton, and is used for hosting diplomatic and municipal functions. One can only imagine the delights behind those closed doors. Paul and I were lucky enough to sneak in to the grounds one year and snap some photos, using our ignorance of the language on the signs as an excuse.

So far, we've had sun every day, though there continues to be persistent clouds. Tans are developing nicely!

Goin' to The Chapel...

First thing's first - can SOMEONE please tell me who got eliminated on the Amazing Race last week? Also, The finale is tonight, and if you could tell me who wins, I'd much appreciate it. I'm totally cheering for Cord & Jet, the cowboys! Believe it or not, here in France they have their own version of The Amazing Race (It's called the Pekin Express) and the Amazing Race website from the USA is blocked by CBS. When you try to view it the web page says "it is not available in your area." So much for the world-wide web!

WE WILL NOW RESUME NORMAL BLOGGING

Las Vegas of the Riviera? Perhaps!

Just like Vegas, there’s a lot of gambling going on in these parts. There are also a number of these little chapels, spread along the Base Corniche (the original road clinging to the seaside). That’s pretty much where the similarity stops, though.

These little chapels aren’t devoted to quickie weddings. They were built as devotional stops for the people who used to travel the roads. They’re not far apart, probably less than a half a kilometer from each other. They were built at different times (starting in the 17^th Century (That’s 1600-1699!)). They now have pretty much been re-adapted to different uses. The largest one (top photo) is still a chapel – on the lower level. The upper portion has been partitioned and is an apartment! The next photo down shows the oldest one (built in the 17^th century). Although it looks a little rough, it is actually a very small art gallery. On nice days the proprietor has the doors open, and the interior is MAGNIFICENT for such a small place. It is a good use of the space. It is also a National Historic Monument. The next one is currently finishing up its restoration and is still a devotional chapel. It is dedicated to St. Anne, and is just around the corner form the magnificent Villa Bianca St Anne (now the St Anne bit makes sense) mentioned in an earlier blog. The Chapel of St. Roche is still a functioning chapel. It has unfortunately been completely enveloped commercial & residential development. I haven’t been inside of it, but as a functioning place of worship, it’s ideally located right next door to an apartment building (after all this is Un Nation Catholique!). The final chapel, before Menton (on the west end) turns into Cap Martin, is the last photo in this bunch. It’s tiny, but someone has actually built a loft in it and turned it into a holiday home (with air conditioning and everything). It’s isn’t ideally set (surrounded by apartments and a parking lot), but I think it’s an amazing adaptive re-use of these buildings. Each one is a gem and it would be a sin to just resign them to the wrecking ball.

On a completely different note, television here is bizarre. We are currently in France, watching a television station broadcast in German from Germany, about dwarf & midget bull-fighters in Spain.

Paul & I did a little real-estate shopping Saturday. It never hurts to look. Today’s video is from that little adventure. Enjoy!

V E Day

France has something like 11 public holidays a year – the most in Europe – and the majority of them (three) fall in May. May 1^st is Mayday, and today (May 8^th) is Victory in Europe day.

Today there are special church celebrations of thanksgiving, memorials at public cenotaphs, and just a hint in the air of the overwhelming joy that the French people felt 65(!) years ago today when the Axis powers were soundly defeated.

As for Canada and the village of Menton, there is a special bond that most Canadians do not realize.

The village of Menton, which was the first village in France to be invaded by the Italian fascists (June, 1940 – then transferred to Vichy control administered by the Nazis) was actually liberated by a combination division of Canadians and American militia, known as The First Special Service Force http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Special_Service_Force ) on the 8^th of September, 1944. I think there’s something to be said for that. I can tell you I certainly was not taught that in school – and the only way that I know about it is the memorial in the public square here. Paul and I hope to place some red & white flowers at it today in our own small way of remembrance.

The village of Menton has several memorials scattered about (not as many as Paris, but then again it wouldn’t). While there is perhaps a certain romanticism about living in occupied France, it must have been a terrible time to be alive. It’s times like this that I’m even prouder to be a Canadian.

On an interesting note to our friends back home, Paul & I are keeping up our Friday night tradition of dinner out. I hope you’re sitting down for this, but I actually ordered the SEAFOOD PLATTER (photo attached), while Paul timidly ordered a pizza. Okay, it wasn’t timidly – he just felt for it. Keeping in the food vein, we have been faithfully watching Un Dîner Presque Parfait (The Perfect Dinner) all week on M6. Last night, they absolutely trashed a poor 20 year old guy who’s turn it was to host – one of his guests giving him two zeros out of the 3 scores (food, table setting & entertainment). Poor guy! Oh well, as they say here, C’est la Vie!

For my Aunt Elaine, I’ve posted 2 photos of the Menton Casino. It’s not as prestigious as the one in Monte Carlo, but they’ll take your money just the same!

Today’s video comes from the roof top deck. Enjoy!

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!