Last day in Paris

We ate breakfast. We went for walk. We went shopping. We walked thru garden de Luxembourg and saw parrots in the trees. We packed. We swam in spa before retiring.

Walking

Paris Market

St. Germain des Pres

One of the interesting Station of the Cross tiles

Guillaume Apollinaire statue

Hotel Da Vinci

We woke up and had breakfast at the Hotel DaVinci. We sat next to some Americans and they asked us about the flea markets. We went to one after their suggestions. We bought a Dogon statue from Mali from one of the market venders. We are a sucker for sources used by Giacometti  in his work. We walked and walked. Later in the evening we went to the spa at the hotel before retiring.

Last day in Nice

We went to the market and ran into Arnaud the artist. He made a portfolio for us with scenes of France. We purchased some of his work. We have to get all my artwork and things we purchased back to the US so we only purchase a few pieces. A customer at the market began a conversation with us. After some talk, she offered to show us her lobby. It is in the building next to ours. Napoleon stayed in her building. The interior lobby was in the Art Nouveau style and was all hand painted. The mailbox was also made of wood in the Art Nouveau style. We relaxed in our apartment until the rain passed. We walked around Castel Hill to the port where we saw a couple of $75 million dollar yachts. Our final adventure was our walk back to the apartment thru old town and we bought some ratatouille for our last dinner in Nice. 

Musee Matisse/Musee Chagall

 Augers

Matisse Musee

Chagall Musee

We went to the market and got breakfast and walked over to the sea and ate. We stopped in Augers, a favorite chocolate shop of Queen Victoria. We walked thru Nice and caught a bus to the Musee Matisse. At the bus stop when we arrived was  a small Roman Arena. We visited the Matisse Musee that had many fine examples of his work and an assortment of textiles, art, ceramics and home furnishing from places he lived. I enjoyed his sketches and paintings he did not far from where we are staying. We walked to the Chagall Musee and had lunch and again enjoyed the Chagall display and stain glass. That was enough for the day. We returned to the apartment for a relaxing evening. 

Musee Picasso/Antibes

 

We went to the market and saw the depressing headline of the Ukrainian invasion. We took the train to Antibes to see the Picasso Museum. Picasso stayed at the Grimaldi Museum when the curator invited him to have a studio for two months in 1946. The museum name was changed to the Picasso Museum and the works created while Picasso was there are on display. The old town is charming with walkways that are too narrow for vehicles. There are a few squares lined with shops. We ate at a local eatery and I had a splendid pasta dish with fresh tomato sauce. We returned to the museum after lunch when it was closed and saw the rest of the collection.

Fondation Maeght/Sainte Paul de Vence

Morning view

Arnaud Savary, artist

Fondation Maeght

Stain glass by George Braque

Folon Chapel

Saint Paul de Vence

We went to the market and purchased a painting from a street artist by the name of Arnaud Savary. We purchased olives, marinated peppers, French strawberries, and a baguette from the market. We then went to Fondation Maeght but most of it was closed. We did see a chapel with a stain glass window by George Braque. We walked to the village of Saint Paul de Vence. It is an ancient town with narrow walks. We were pleasantly surprised  to find a chapel by Jean Folon, a French illustrator. I have been fond of his work for many years. We had lunch and took the bus back to Nice and walked along the Mediterranean and returned to the apartment and ate before retiring.

Matisse Chapel

Morning view

Matisse’s Vence residence

Matisse Chapel

We went to the market in the morning. There are flower vendors everyday except on Monday when there are antique dealers. We took the bus to Vence to see the Matisse Chapel. There is quite a story about its evolution.  One of his models became a nun. They continued a friendship and the sister asked Matisse about helping with the design of a chapel. He got very involved and ultimately designed every element of the chapel.  There is an exhibit that shows all his preliminary sketches and ideas. Matisse always worked thru his ideas by sketching or painting an image multiple times until he was satisfied.  His residence in Vence is now shabby, a sad edifice of past grandeur. According to the cashier at the Museum, three nuns live there. The gardens are not tended. There was a “gray gardens”  feeling. But still one can imagine Matisse there with visits from Picasso and Renoir during the war years in the 1940s, over 80 years ago.