Le Week-End à Nice

samedi le 2 juillet

So, as Jill had described to me from her 3 weeks in France when she was 14, the French thing to do at night in the south of France is to go to the beach.  And it seems that that is what happens.  And so that is what I did with my friends from school on Friday night.  Since you can buy a legitimately decent bottle of wine for 3 euros, it seems silly to go to a bar and pay 7.90 euros for one drink..!  But I have a feeling that my experience did not quite mirror what I imagine to be Jill's magical experiences on the beach those many years ago.  I'm finding myself to be at a strange age where I'm still young enough to actually go out drinking late, but where I find the conversations of 16 and 17 year olds who are away from their parents for the first time to be a little... callow.  I suppose it's good to know that I don't still think like a 17 year old.

Myself and my friend Maddie at the beach, 7.1.2011

After very little time, I grew tired of monotonous conversation with the younger kids and Maddie and I headed back... But on my walk back to the apartment, though I clutched my mace in one hand and never felt threatened, I think I saw a lot of prostitutes.  And upon my return, I googled "prostitution in Nice, France" and was surprised to find out that, yes, prostitution is somewhat common here.  I don't think that I've ever been in a place where prostitution is quite so blatant.  And I don't think I have ever seen a prostitute before this night.  But it was strange to see after half a bottle of wine. 

Today I went to the Henri Matisse Museum with Kerstin from Germany.  She lives in Munich and goes to university in England, so her English is quite good.  Her German accent, though, really dominates her French speaking, and I find it hard to understand her when she speaks in French.  But I'm sure many people find it hard to understand me when I speak French, what with my crude American accent and everything...

The Museum was actually quite large, and I never realized how many mediums of art Matisse actually practiced.  Some of it was very beautiful; and then, of course, thanks to the subjectivity of art, I thought that there were a lot of things that could have been painted by a child.  There was one room that had been decorated with placards painted by Matisse and cut in such a way that, when placed in a certain way together, the deep, bright blue and also the zero-space between the placards created a scene of swimmers in water.  Separately, not one of the placards resembled anything art-like; but together, they formed a wall of depth and movement.  It was quite incredible.  And my favorite painting from the museum was the Femme à L'Ombrelle, an impressionist work that at first appears to be simple, but after a moment it was very obviously a deliberate and planned-out painting that seems to be of the highest difficulty to re-create. 

Femme à L'Ombrelle, Henri Matisse

Le Musée Matisse with the Cimiez in front

After the Matisse Museum, we visited the Cimiez which is the 'park' in which the Musée Matisse is located.  The Museum, and therefore the Cimiez, are located atop a great big hill upon which the Roman town of Cemenelum once existed.  Now, the city has fallen into ruins and become the outskirts of the city of Nice.  Apparently Cemenelum was important, as it was once the capital of the Ancient Roman province Alpes Maritimae.  Once a rival of Nice, now it is a tourist attraction... how ironic.

The ruins of Cemenelum include an arena, an amphitheater, thermal baths and a basilica of paleochristian origins.  I love finding sites like these, so pristine and yet left to be as they are.  In the United States, a site like this would be roped off for excavation or for profit as a tourist attraction.  But I suppose there are just so many ancient ruins in Europe that people don't get excited about them. 

Entrance to the Arena at the Cimiez

Inside the Arena, Cimiez, Nice, France

Through the archways of the Arena

Remnants of the PaleoChristian Basilica, I think...

Wall of the amphitheater

I only found this out after I left, but Henri Matisse is buried in the Cimiez, along with another painter Raoul Dufy and 1937 Nobel Prize Winner for Literature, Roger Martin du Gard.  I should have looked in the cemetary of the Cimiez Monastery which we had tried to visit while we were there.  The monastery is a 5 minute walk through a picturesque olive orchard from the Musée Matisse.

Olive trees between the Monastery and the Musée Matisse

The Cimiez Monastery

The monastery is situated on the west side of the great hill that divides the city of Nice and the port of Nice.  Thus, it's gardens overlook an incredible view of the port.  We tried to enter the church, but it was closed until 6pm and we had not planned on staying that late.  Business hours in France are simply inconvenient!

Cimiez Monastery as viewed from their Gardens

Some of the Monastery Gardens

View of the port from the Monastery Gardens

Me in the Monastery Gardens, in front of the port

That night, my friend Maddie had a friend with whom she studied in Chicago coming to visit her who was studying French and chemical engineering in Lille; so we all met at the beach that night.  Luckily, this crowd was 20, so that I didn't feel quite so much like a chaperone.  We bought some wine again and went to the beach for a little bit to unwind for the day. 

Myself, Maddie from Chicago, her friend Camille, and Kerstin from Germany at the beach

Tomorrow my host family is acquiring another student.  She is from Austria, and that is all I know.  Apparently the school doesn't give very much information to the host families about the students that they are to acquire.  My friend Maddie is going to Antibes tomorrow with the Junior Program of Actilangue, so I made plans with her friend to go to the Musée Marc Chagall, a 10 minute walk from my apartment.  It usually costs 7 euros to enter, but the first Sunday of every month it's free.  Since there are so many other free museums in Nice, I'm not likely to visit this one unless it's free, so tomorrow's really my only day to go!

À bientôt!