Wednesday 19 September 2007

Nice done, now Marseille and its surrounds

Nice was just lovely. There was a superb cheese taster plate, with other-worldly Camembert, and a superb stinky soft cheese called Reblochon. Please start looking for it in Melbourne for me, and if you don't find it, get the demand started!

My day in St Paul de Vence and Vence was a bit of a disaster. I saw a couple of superb galleries though, the Maeght Foundation had stunning architecture and a great collection including some Miro that I'd seen a couple of years back in Barcelona. Another free one nearby showcased the drawings for concept mega-art - covering rivers with cloth, making monoliths in Saudi Arabia from oil barrels. But the Chagall-designed chapel in Vence was hugely under restoration, and the Matisse chapel was closed. Poo. Then there were too few remaining buses to make it worthwhile going back to St Paul de Vence, shame.

St Tropez had a lovely beach, with a bathing platform moored out in the water and lots of 40 year old boobs.

I've started learning Spanish with an audio CD during my travels, it's going great guns.

Met a crazy-cool woman in a bar in Nice, likely in her 40s, who I drank Champagne with, but I think I was accused of being a gigolo when I was walking with her in the street to a (great!) nightclub nearby - she grabbed my hand and rushed us off, saying she didn't like the people who'd spoken to us.

Been in Marseille a couple of days now. Went to Aix-en-Provence (after a morning spent doing washing, glamour) and hung out with a lovely local there who showed me around the town. Will definitely have to try that again. Spent yesterday in Marseille with three Japanese room-mates, up hill to the spectacular view and church Notre Dame, and gormandised with cakes and almond croissants.

Just off now to Avignon now with the one remaining Japanese guy, Yuuki.

Wednesday 12 September 2007

Nice

Hi folks! Brief update.

I spent a month in Edinburgh enjoying the festival, spent a fortune on shows and expensive festival drinks. I met some fun folks, though more toward the end of the month - there was a fair bit of wandering around with two or three hours to kill between shows and not much to do, which dampened my sense of festivity at times. After the Festival finished, the place calmed down a bit, and I happened into some nice circles of friends, which it turned out all interlaced with each other. I hung out at Yasmin and Mat's, Kelly's, Martin's and Axier's, and hung out with Anna, Anna, Helen and Nicci.

I spent four nights in Glasgow at a hostel. Contrary to its international reputation as a gritty industrial city, it's full of beautiful buildings and was lovely. It was interesting to walk around and attempt to pick if people were actually speaking English. The accent has an "I'm throttling myself" element to it. Glasgow hosted two international industry fairs at the end of the 1800s, so the museum was in an extremely glamorous building. The art nouveau design from Mackintosh and friends from the early 1900s was a highlight, and great to see that women's design contributions were well represented. Martin came over from Edinburgh and joined me for the last couple of nights in Glasgow, and we had a blast.

I flew from Edinburgh to Nice on Saturday, and Nice is everything you'd want in a holiday. The hostel is a megahostel, not conveniently located, but otherwise fantastic. They picked me up from the Nice airport, for example, and I didn't even have to speak French to request it. In Nice, the Matisse gallery was a wonderful showcase of his work, and very inspiring. So is the icecream store in the old town - I had two bowls so far, one "old lady" flavoured (orange blossom, lavender, rose) and one novelty flavoured (almond, cactus, Corona beer). I've travelled from my Nice base to Eze Village, Monte Carlo in Monaco, Antibes beach, and am off today to Vence and St Paul de Vence, most visited village in France and home to many Impressionist artists.

I'm planning to head to Marseille in the next couple of days, to explore and then use as a base for Avignon, Aix-en-Provence, and whatever else may come.

Hugs to all!
Luke