Adventuring in France: Part 4

On our second to last day we trotted off to Nice on the train, and my oh my was it Nice! We started by walking an extremely long way to the Musee Matisse - we realised rather too late that we could've caught a tram there. It was glorious when we did finally arrive, lots of fabulous drawings, paintings and cut-outs. My only sadnesses were that they were changing over the temporary exhibition and that there were no pictures allowed. 

Nice has lots of amazing museums, galleries and churches, and many of them can be accessed by paying for 10 euro for a  museum pass. It's amazingly cheap and gives you access to all the big museums for 48 hours! We were pretty delighted when we found this out as it meant we could blow more of our money on postcards in the shop (always my biggest indulgence!!)

Having wandered about the Matisse museum and seen the Hotel Regina were Matisse spent his last days making the cut-outs, we walked back into the centre (getting a little lost along the way). Next up was the MAMAC, home to a wonderful selection of Niki de Saint Phalle pieces (this was my main reason for visiting - I LOVE her). They really do have a extraordinary collection; if modern sculpture is your bag then I definitely recommend a visit. They had great pieces by Calder, Christo, Stella etc. I was particularly enamoured by the Saint Phalle sculpture in the outside foyer, it reignited my dream to visit her Tarot garden in Tuscany. 

Alexander Calder

More Niki de Saint Phalle

We then headed into the old town, which was SO beautiful and filled with signs for interesting monuments, churches and palais'! We stumbled on Nice Cathedral, and I am SOSO glad we went in, it was truly one of the best places I've ever happened upon. It's completely mad; everything is gilded and frothy and wonderful. There are heaps of dedications to saints and reliquaries, including a fantastic dedication to Saint Reparata (who the cathedral is also dedicated to in it's entirety).

Dedication to Saint Reparata - including wax memento mori dolls (which I have been waiting a lifetime to see in the flesh!! They are very popular in French and Spanish churches)

After our visit there I didn't think Nice could get any better but it really could! We visited Palais Lascaris, a late 17th century palais home to thousands of ancient musical instruments from across the globe, plus the state apartments covered in frescos and filled with glorious high baroque furniture. It was one of the highlights of the entire trip and it was included on the handy 10 euro card - amazing. Again no pictures but I managed a few very sneaky ones when the guards had their heads turned!

Palais Lascaris

Palais Lascaris

Palais Lascaris

Palais Lascaris

Nice was such a fab place to visit for the day, I think I could spend at least 4 more there! I'd love to go back and see all the things I missed. There's a fabulous looking Russian Orthodox church, several more palais', a monastery... etc etc!!

I only have one more post from France and I'm done - PHEW!

X

Adventuring in France: Part 3

 Hello! More snaps from my trip. We spent this day exploring Saint Paul de Vence in the morning, we stumbled on the most amazing cemetery filled with tombs adorned with ceramic flowers. It was so moving, each had a little engraved phrase beneath 'mon amie', 'mon cherie' and my favourite 'regrets'. The photo above is me peering into another amazing chapel that we found, it was too dark to snap any pictures but I assure you it was very very beautiful.

In the afternoon we visited my top top place ever Matisse's chapel in Vence. We couldn't take pictures inside so here's one from google:

Source: 1

I really wanted a book on Matisse's chasubles that was in the bookshop but talked myself out of buying it (luggage constraints). I now deeply regret it as it seems to be pretty pricey online, I guess I'll just have to plan another trip to the chapel! Here's a sample of a page from the book:

Source: 2

Source: 3

Incredible right! What a talent he was. It really was the most moving experience inside the chapel, the light is like nothing else I've ever experienced. I definitely recommend a trip if you're nearby and if not watch this youtube snip.

Next we clambered back into the car and drove right up into the mountains along a very windy road to the little town of Grasse; famous for perfume and Fragonard! My two favourite things! We didn't spend very long there as we were a little tired from lots of walking the previous day but I did manage to slip in a quick visit to the costume museum. It was filled with glorious lace, jewellery and gowns from the 18th century so I was in heaven. I would have liked to visit the perfume museum and the Fragonard museum and the cathedral and a perfumery etc etc. The rest of the party were less enamoured with the place, and I can understand why it's a little rougher round the edges than many of the towns we visited but it has a such a rich history that I really feel it's a bit of a hidden gem. Anyway I will go back!! The cathedral has a Fragonard! I have to see that!

Until tomorrow mon amies, bon soir!  

Outfit Details

Cotton Bardot top - car boot sale

Shorts - emergency charity shop buy when I realised I didn't own any!

Blue bucket hat - Trago Mills

Espadrilles - E.leclarec supermarche

Blue cotton block print kaftan - East

Adventuring in France: Part 2

I'm back with the second installment. I've actually skipped a day in favour of posting these pictures from our third day instead. It was the first day of truly glorious weather and we spent the day train hopping across the coast, we began at Cagnes sur Mer then stopped off at Villefranche sur Mer and then finally Monte Carlo in Monaco. 

Villefranche was one of the most spectacularly beautiful places I've ever visited, endlessly photogenic, every possible angle looked wonderful. As you can imagine I took quite a few snaps so I've drastically narrowed these down to my favourites. I was very happy with my outfit choice this day, I was going for French Riviera chic - the headscarf was also partially out of necessity as my hair went a bit fluffy and wild with the humidity.

The hotel above is one of the very fanciest in the town, right on the sea front with a view across the bay. I loved the sign, it looks like something straight out of a 1960s film. Hopefully when I win the lotto I can stay in one of those rooms up top! 

Chappelle St Pierre (below) was another favourite, utterly magnificent.

Monte Carlo was a little stranger in atmosphere, the Grand Prix was being packed away. All the stainless steel structures did rather dampen the vibe (and view) it was also dreadfully hot by the time we arrived so we all felt a bit bothered. Having climbed to the top to visit the Palais it cooled down a little and we were able to enjoy ourselves a little more. However for me it lacked the character that the crumbly medieval towns retain (despite being overrun with tourists). It was incredibly clean and everything was very pretty but I'm not sure I'd return in rush. I much much prefered Villefranche.

I still seem to have rather a lot of photos left to share so there'll be another post tomorrow (and maybe one the day after too!) X

Outfit Details

1950s cotton dress - car boot sale

Beaded choker necklace - car boot sale

Headscarf - nicked from my mum

Sunglasses - flea market stall on Brick Lane