Cap d'Ail

During the August Exile, we went looking for the beach at Cap d'Ail, having been told it was nice and worth going to. Didn't find it. Did find a picnic area and a very windy coastline, with huge waves. (If anyone knows where we went wrong from the picnic area, do shout...)

Photos:

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MAMAC - Nice

As part of the August Exile, I had to find things to do to fill up the day. One of them was pretending to be cultured and visiting the Musee d'Art Moderne et d'Art Contemporain (MAMAC). You can go up on to the top and wander round, where you get some great views over Nice, and then we walked round through the exhibits til we found the way out. (The lift was dodgy; I don't recommend it.) Photos follow.

Nice:

Art:

Venus, by Niki de Saint Phalle:

More art:

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Vive L'Empereur!

Not a cry you often hear on the streets of France, these days. But, there we were, sitting by the dock, waiting for Napoleon III to arrive, greet his wife Eugenie, and survey his new lands. Sadly, as the Mayor said, we weren't able to greet the Crown Prince, in whom rests the future of France. He finally turned up (delayed, as the announcer said, by the Spanish, who just didn't appreciate the importance of the French royal family - 150 years clearly hasn't changed much) and it has to be said, the cheers were muted. Apart from the woman standing right behind me, who was extremely vocal in her appreciation for His Majesty.

150 years ago yesterday, The Emperor of France arrived to take stock of Nice and its surroundings, who had just chosen to join him, rather than Italy, or whatever the other options were. He landed at Villefranche, due to an unfortunate miscalculation as to the depth of water needed for the Imperial Yacht - though the official reason given was due to maritime conditions. (Again, according to the announcer today.) Wouldn't you have hated to be the one to break *that* to the Mayor?

"Excuse me, sir, but you need to come in to the mairie and dress up today"
"Why? It's hot. Fuck off."
"The Emperor is coming here."
"Don't be silly, we're a small fishing village in the middle of nowhere. Why would he come here?"
"The idiots in Nice fucked up - he'll be here in about an hour - best get started on your speech!"

Yeah. A bad day, all things considered. His speech was good though - they gave it again today, to welcome Napoleon again. We all waved flags (though they were the modern French flag, not the relevant one from the time), occasional cheers were heard of "Vive l'Empereur", people were dressed in costume and must have been dying from the heat (and the Most Bossy Woman In The World was shouting at them to make sure they all curtseyed in time with each other and turned at the same time as each other - it was positively military!), and there were horse-drawn carriages to convey the Imperial Party around Villefranche. (Sadly, as you'll see below, they didn't close the roads, so the Emperor got stuck in traffic. Bet that never happened in the old days...)

The hired guests:

The Emperor:

Emperor and guests:

Emperor and carriage:

Emperor's marching band:

Emperor hitting traffic jam:

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Fete du port 2010, Nice

Yesterday was the 7th annual Fete du Port in Nice - basically a big party where they celebrate having a port. Which is nice. The local restaurants all send out their chefs to provide either a starter, a main course or a desert for apparently €5 each - the queues for entry to the Official Food Seats was huge though, and none of the food looked that appetizing, so we didn't bother. We had curry instead, from a curry takeaway place that had opened at the other end of the port.

Queues:

There were all sorts of local food stalls outside the Official Food Place, and a blacksmith, who was making pretty things with a hammer and fire. (I liked him.)

There was a singer with very moveable eyebrows:

There was a parade, too. With some of the most brilliant things - and many, many bubbles. There were people in a bubble, spinning endlessly and dancing:

And giant floating jellyfish:

There were people on stilts in brilliant costumes:

There were people who danced along holding hands and skipping:

There were mad people on bikes with many, many bubbles:

There were old Italian people who started off by singing mournfully as they marched along with their cart full of broken chairs, but disappointed me cruelly by not singing the whole night. I like to imagine their little village in Italy as being full of old people singing to themselves as they wander around in traditional costume carrying wool and broken chairs. No wonder they look miserable.

There was a happy inflatable octopus:

There was a Giant Disco Ball Of Doom, suspended from a crane:

There was also a play. I suspect (hope!) it may be a uniquely French thing to try and educate people at what ought to be a party, but there was a play in 3 acts, telling people the story of Nice's joining France. With elderly musicians accompanying. And poor jokes. It was delightful in a surreal kind of way. For about 5 minutes.

The professor from the play, before my brain started screaming at me to move away from the history lesson:

There were lights reminding us where we were, and what year it was:

There was a brilliant story teller, who was telling the same story, but much more energetically and focused on food. She was awesome - I was dragged away after a while because the other people were bored, but I'd have sat there all night listening to her tell me about 1860s Nice. Fantastic woman.

There were other random and sundry things, some of which photgraphed, some of which didn't. You can see more photos here.

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