We l
eft the Hotel and drove to St. Paul de Vence – a special community not more than 5 miles from the hotel. St. Paul de Vence was first settled about 1,000 BC by roaming Gauls. It was used by the Romans around 100 AD to 800 AD as a military outpost and settled as a city about 1,100 AD. It has been a thriving commercial city since and is now populated by great artists and restaurants. The greatest story of St. Paul de Vence is from La Colombe d’Or, café-bar. It seems that Paul Roux opened the place in 1920 and befriended artists such as Matisse, Renoir, Dufy, Van Gough and Signac. They couldn’t pay for lodging or food, so they left a number of their paintings as full payment, instead. So you can imagine what’s on the walls of this quaint little café-bar.
eft the Hotel and drove to St. Paul de Vence – a special community not more than 5 miles from the hotel. St. Paul de Vence was first settled about 1,000 BC by roaming Gauls. It was used by the Romans around 100 AD to 800 AD as a military outpost and settled as a city about 1,100 AD. It has been a thriving commercial city since and is now populated by great artists and restaurants. The greatest story of St. Paul de Vence is from La Colombe d’Or, café-bar. It seems that Paul Roux opened the place in 1920 and befriended artists such as Matisse, Renoir, Dufy, Van Gough and Signac. They couldn’t pay for lodging or food, so they left a number of their paintings as full payment, instead. So you can imagine what’s on the walls of this quaint little café-bar.
We left St Paul de Vence and went back to Vence for a lovely little luncheon in the historical city area of Vence – the home of D. H. Lawrence, James Baldwin, Marc Chagall and Henri Matisse. The town, of course, has a wonderful art museum and lovely little sidewalk cafes.After lunch, we drove down the mountain to the A8 motorway and found our way to Monaco. Too m
any cars, too many people, too much money. It seemed like every other car was a Bentley, a Rolls, an Astin Martin, or a Smart Car. The Casino was packed with tourists – although you knew that at the end of the day, when the tourists left, the REAL people of Monaco came to play. Our friend from Dallas – Heintz – met us at Café du Paris next to the Casino Monte Carlo for a few drinks. Heintz recently left Dallas to rejoin his Mother and Father in Monaco – and is certainly adjusting to his new life style. He had front row seats at Casino corner for the F1 Grand Prix of Monaco and has been seen at some of the most exclusive hot spots in town over the past 2 months. BUT, we know that Heintz is still the same loveable friend we knew from Maguires (Heintz says a big HELLO to all Sunday people at Maguires)….
any cars, too many people, too much money. It seemed like every other car was a Bentley, a Rolls, an Astin Martin, or a Smart Car. The Casino was packed with tourists – although you knew that at the end of the day, when the tourists left, the REAL people of Monaco came to play. Our friend from Dallas – Heintz – met us at Café du Paris next to the Casino Monte Carlo for a few drinks. Heintz recently left Dallas to rejoin his Mother and Father in Monaco – and is certainly adjusting to his new life style. He had front row seats at Casino corner for the F1 Grand Prix of Monaco and has been seen at some of the most exclusive hot spots in town over the past 2 months. BUT, we know that Heintz is still the same loveable friend we knew from Maguires (Heintz says a big HELLO to all Sunday people at Maguires)….With great directions from Heintz, we left Monaco by the back roads – around the Formula One Monaco circuit: around Casino corner, down Mirabeau and the hard 180 turn to the bottom of the hill and through the long seaside tunnel – and there, at the connection, was the road to the top of the mountain and the A8 toll road back to Nice / Vence. It saved us at least an hour.
Back at the Hotel we dressed for dinner (Thanks, Lisa!) and a concert. It was a wonderful performance by a world renown pianist, Francois-Rene Duchable, and a great French actor and troubadour, Alain Carre. It was a wonderful combination of piano selections mixed with little theatrical recitations from various French authors. We sat with several other English speaking couples who were spending several months in Vence. One was from Guernsey and the other from Palm Beach. After more wine and a great desert we retired to the room – to pack for our trip, tomorrow, to Venice.
No comments:
Post a Comment