The French Rivera . . .
June 11 1998
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Tyler took this picture of Dan and Kaaren having their first French breakfast in the dining room of Hotel La Flore. The Vick-Cullens recommended this hotel to us after having stayed here the previous summer. It’s a perfect spot: very reasonably priced (at least by Riviera standards); sweeping view of the harbor at Vilfranche su Mer, nice people, good food. |
After breakfast we got in the car and took off exploring westward along the Riviera. Beautiful homes and cars, beautiful beaches and bodies. Every buildable site along this spectacular coastline has long since been developed and the famous Riviera municipalities just blend one into the next. Our first stop was in Nice where we parked in the first vacant spot we came across and started exploring on foot, eventually finding ourselves at the Marc Chagall museum. We can’t help thinking of Ted’s art when we admire that of Chagall.
| Then on to Cagnes sur mer where in a quiet residential, hillside neighborhood we found the preserved site of Renoir’s home and studio. Nobody around but us and a couple of docents. It’s a beautiful ground covered with azaleas and ancient, gnarled olive trees, maintained just as when Renoir lived here. |  |
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The house and studio are absolutely littered with photos, and sketches and sculptures. Obviously a man of great genius, you're nonetheless left with a sense that Renoir was an often arrogant and unforgiving old bastard in his later years, and not real fun to be around. |
Next, on to the Picasso museum in Antibbes, again situated in the very seaside building where the great man did his work while he lived there. It’s awsome to consider all the incredible modern art and artists that were erupting in such proximity, all at the same time. As always, Picasso excites us the most.
June 12 1998
| Ty hung around the hotel while Dan and Kaaren drove into Monaco for an al fresco breakfast along the quay in front of the casino. After lattes and croissants we hiked up the winding flagstone path to the Grimaldi Castle, with it’s magnificent view of Monaco Harbor. The royal pennant was flying, indicating that Prince Rainier is in residence. |  |
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This bronze is from an imposing statue of Francois Grimaldi, who in 1297, dressed in his sword and monk’s habit (of a Knight Templar?) stormed the gate of Monaco Tower and won the principality for his family. |
| Later in the warm afternoon we all wandered down the hill to the beach at Villefranche to go for a swim. Much to the boys’ delight, bathers of both sexes tend to wear one-piece swimming attire. |  |
June 13 1998
A quick flurry of shopping for provisions at the street market in Villefranche, and then we began driving north and west toward the Vaucluse. A short detour to explore Cannes, then north through Grasse and the mountains.
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We took the narrow, scenic road that is cut into the cliff faces high above the Gorges du Verdon. Unfortunately the cliff edge was on Kaaren’s side, and she was a wee bit anxious. |
| To Apt and then on to Joucas, where we met up our good friends from Mercer Island, the Windes family . . . Robert, Mary Jane, Dorothy and Darwin. |  |
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A year and half earlier, while we were all standing around making sushi in the kitchen of their cabin on the Yakima River, somebody proposed that we get together and share a house in Provence for a week. We all love good food and drink, and good times generally, so Mary Jane has found us a beautiful little villa located right in the heart of this land renowned the world-over for is gustatory delights. |
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