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peterbirksI fell asleep early last night, and so inevitably woke up at about 1am for a couple of hours. That in turn saw me not being fully awake until about 9.30 this morning, by which time the rain had stopped.
That was enough impetus to get me out of the flat, and I decided to head for St Paul de Vence. The no 400 bus was conveniently waiting in an easily findable place at its new “terminus”. It would appear that the old bus station is going to be replaced by an urban park, which is all a bit odd. Perhaps they are going to put up a new station a bit to the north-east, at Vayban. Or perhaps they are just going to do without a bus station.
St Paul is about three miles south of Vence, some 15 miles from Nice, I would guess. It’s an old fortified hilltop village that now looks a bit like a chocolate toytown out of a fairy tale, surrounded as it is now by thousands of other, more modern, residences.
the ramparts:
one of the side streets:
Its fame became assured after the first world war when the likes of Picasso, Leger, Braque, Chagall and Miro came there to paint. Since then it’s become a highly commercialized venture, with scores of art galleries on the main street (the entire village is pedestrianized, with cars parked around the outside, above and below the ramparts).
Even the main street was relatiely quiet.
It’s not dissimilar to Eze, except that it doesn’t have the attraction of the sea nearby. Property prices are astronomical within the old town itself – although to be honest I don’t think that I would like to live there. It appears that prices of the houses nearby (which I suppose are almost suburbs of Antibes and Cannes) are also very high.
Some street art: (The tree with nails in it outside the mayor's office, not the bloke reading the paper).
Some more street art:
And yet more. Can't remember precisely what this was called, but it was something like "second use".
I trekked around the entire cemetery looking for the grave of Chagall, only to give up and check in my Lonely Planet guide to see if it had any clue. Indeed it did; and I found it almost straight away. Perhaps it might have been an idea to check the Guide first.
After walking round the village I made the steep uphill walk to Fondation Maeght, an, er, “interesting” art gallery with what it claims is one of the most important collections of modern art in the world. Well, perhaps, although I suspect that this is said more to justify the entrance fee of E14 plus E5 to take photos (they give you a nice cheap blue badge to signify this right). I actually rebelled against paying another E15 to look at the catalogue.
I'm not to sure that this architectural design will age well. It already feels a bit dated. However, there are some nice snippets of amusement.
Both part of the Miro "Labyrinth" to the rear of the gallery. All very droll, I am sure, but not really for me. Compare and contrast with that magnificent work in Rome near the Augustus museum (from the blog last June), which showed what could really be done with running water.
I photographed some of the more interesting works, although the Chagalls on display pall when compared with the stuff in the Chagall museum in Nice.
Where the gallery excels is with its displays of Miro (of whom I am not the greatest fan) and Giacometti (whose work I do like). Snippets of Braque, Alexander Calder, and others make you wish for more the the whole collection to be on display. When I think of the Hamburg Art Gallery (which would take about three days to see properly), you do feel a bit short-changed by a gallery that charges E19 to enter and which can be toured comfortably in a couple of hours.
Below is a collection of the Giacometti pictures. A dog, an early self-portrait, and then a close-up of one of his stick figures. Proof, if proof be needed, that these were definitely self-portraits.
the young Giacometti
one of his stick images. Clearly this is a self-portrait.
It really was a bit of a Giacometti joy-fest. nd some good samples of his work, too.
Finally, two of the best pieces were relatively modern and by lesser-known (to me, at least) artists.
Gerard Fromanger (b 1939)"Le Dipri de Gaumont"
Jacques Monory (b 1924): Dream Tiger no. 4.
Both the gallery and the old town (which, with its street art, is kind of one giant gallery or installation piece) were remarkably quiet. I guess this is the last week before “the season” starts (several places are opening up on Friday for the first time since the end of September/mid-October), but the dearth of visitors to St Paul was horrific from the point of view of the restaurants and galleries. There were enough of these open to cater for 20 times as many visitors at least.
The peninsula that you might be able to see in this picture (it's hard to tell from the thumbnail) is, I think, Cap d'Antibes.
Just as I got back to await the bus back to Nice at 3.30pm, the sun came out in a temporary display of joie de vivre. The temperature promptly shot up three or four degrees to 18C. But it wasn’t to last. Tomorrow there are showers predicted for PM, although the times when it is not raining, it is meant to be sunny. Here’s hoping, but as I write this, the skies have become overcast again.
I made a brisk trip to Monoprix for a toothbrush and bread (in poker parlance, “standard”), and then took a small detour back via a part of the old town. Like St Paul, extremely quiet, with a lot of stores and cafes not bothering to open on Monday. If you got lucky with the weather this week, it would be fantastic. But this is France, and the weather is a bit more predictable. A month from now it will be constant 21C to 24C max temperatures. Unfortunately, a month from now is not within my carried-over holiday period.
+++++
Other things I have learnt.
(1) If I turn off the wifi on my Dell Streak, the battery lasts about five times as long.
(2) Turning on data roaming to get emails and facebook updates costs me about 80p a time. Not expensive, but still a ridiculous profit margin for 02 at three quid a megabyte.
(3) The gift shop just outside St Paul de Vence tried to rip me off for about six euros. Don't mind the six euros, but object to being taken for a mug.
____________
That was enough impetus to get me out of the flat, and I decided to head for St Paul de Vence. The no 400 bus was conveniently waiting in an easily findable place at its new “terminus”. It would appear that the old bus station is going to be replaced by an urban park, which is all a bit odd. Perhaps they are going to put up a new station a bit to the north-east, at Vayban. Or perhaps they are just going to do without a bus station.
St Paul is about three miles south of Vence, some 15 miles from Nice, I would guess. It’s an old fortified hilltop village that now looks a bit like a chocolate toytown out of a fairy tale, surrounded as it is now by thousands of other, more modern, residences.
the ramparts:
one of the side streets:
Its fame became assured after the first world war when the likes of Picasso, Leger, Braque, Chagall and Miro came there to paint. Since then it’s become a highly commercialized venture, with scores of art galleries on the main street (the entire village is pedestrianized, with cars parked around the outside, above and below the ramparts).
Even the main street was relatiely quiet.
It’s not dissimilar to Eze, except that it doesn’t have the attraction of the sea nearby. Property prices are astronomical within the old town itself – although to be honest I don’t think that I would like to live there. It appears that prices of the houses nearby (which I suppose are almost suburbs of Antibes and Cannes) are also very high.
Some street art: (The tree with nails in it outside the mayor's office, not the bloke reading the paper).
Some more street art:
And yet more. Can't remember precisely what this was called, but it was something like "second use".
I trekked around the entire cemetery looking for the grave of Chagall, only to give up and check in my Lonely Planet guide to see if it had any clue. Indeed it did; and I found it almost straight away. Perhaps it might have been an idea to check the Guide first.
After walking round the village I made the steep uphill walk to Fondation Maeght, an, er, “interesting” art gallery with what it claims is one of the most important collections of modern art in the world. Well, perhaps, although I suspect that this is said more to justify the entrance fee of E14 plus E5 to take photos (they give you a nice cheap blue badge to signify this right). I actually rebelled against paying another E15 to look at the catalogue.
I'm not to sure that this architectural design will age well. It already feels a bit dated. However, there are some nice snippets of amusement.
Both part of the Miro "Labyrinth" to the rear of the gallery. All very droll, I am sure, but not really for me. Compare and contrast with that magnificent work in Rome near the Augustus museum (from the blog last June), which showed what could really be done with running water.
I photographed some of the more interesting works, although the Chagalls on display pall when compared with the stuff in the Chagall museum in Nice.
Where the gallery excels is with its displays of Miro (of whom I am not the greatest fan) and Giacometti (whose work I do like). Snippets of Braque, Alexander Calder, and others make you wish for more the the whole collection to be on display. When I think of the Hamburg Art Gallery (which would take about three days to see properly), you do feel a bit short-changed by a gallery that charges E19 to enter and which can be toured comfortably in a couple of hours.
Below is a collection of the Giacometti pictures. A dog, an early self-portrait, and then a close-up of one of his stick figures. Proof, if proof be needed, that these were definitely self-portraits.
the young Giacometti
one of his stick images. Clearly this is a self-portrait.
It really was a bit of a Giacometti joy-fest. nd some good samples of his work, too.
Finally, two of the best pieces were relatively modern and by lesser-known (to me, at least) artists.
Gerard Fromanger (b 1939)"Le Dipri de Gaumont"
Jacques Monory (b 1924): Dream Tiger no. 4.
Both the gallery and the old town (which, with its street art, is kind of one giant gallery or installation piece) were remarkably quiet. I guess this is the last week before “the season” starts (several places are opening up on Friday for the first time since the end of September/mid-October), but the dearth of visitors to St Paul was horrific from the point of view of the restaurants and galleries. There were enough of these open to cater for 20 times as many visitors at least.
The peninsula that you might be able to see in this picture (it's hard to tell from the thumbnail) is, I think, Cap d'Antibes.
Just as I got back to await the bus back to Nice at 3.30pm, the sun came out in a temporary display of joie de vivre. The temperature promptly shot up three or four degrees to 18C. But it wasn’t to last. Tomorrow there are showers predicted for PM, although the times when it is not raining, it is meant to be sunny. Here’s hoping, but as I write this, the skies have become overcast again.
I made a brisk trip to Monoprix for a toothbrush and bread (in poker parlance, “standard”), and then took a small detour back via a part of the old town. Like St Paul, extremely quiet, with a lot of stores and cafes not bothering to open on Monday. If you got lucky with the weather this week, it would be fantastic. But this is France, and the weather is a bit more predictable. A month from now it will be constant 21C to 24C max temperatures. Unfortunately, a month from now is not within my carried-over holiday period.
+++++
Other things I have learnt.
(1) If I turn off the wifi on my Dell Streak, the battery lasts about five times as long.
(2) Turning on data roaming to get emails and facebook updates costs me about 80p a time. Not expensive, but still a ridiculous profit margin for 02 at three quid a megabyte.
(3) The gift shop just outside St Paul de Vence tried to rip me off for about six euros. Don't mind the six euros, but object to being taken for a mug.
____________
