19th Chapter – Cannes Fall 2024
St Paul de Vence, Tuesday, Oct 15, 2024
We met Carlos, Sun, and their friend at the Nice train station for a drive to St. Paul de Vence a quaint village about a half hour north of Cannes to visit La Fondation Maeght.
The Maeght Foundation is part of the great history of art and a story of family and friendship between Aimé and Marguerite Maeght, visionary art dealers, and their artist friends who were among the greatest masters of the 20th century.
Just a stone’s throw from Saint-Paul-de-Vence, the Foundation is a unique and daring architectural ensemble designed by Josep Lluís Sert. Behind its walls is one of the most important collections of paintings, sculptures, drawings and graphic works of modern art, with more than 13,000 references. Among them, works signed Miró, Giacometti, Chagall, Braque or Calder. Born of the passion for art of visionary collectors Aimé and Marguerite Maeght, and their friendship with the great artists of their time, the premises have hosted legendary exhibitions since 1964.
After exploring the grounds and works we drove to St. Paul de Vence to wander around the village including the local cemetery to visit Marc Chagall. There are many art shops in town.
Cannes, Monday, Oct 14, 2024
Carlos and Sun joined us in Cannes to explore the town and catch a bite to eat.
Nice, Sunday, Oct 13, 2024
Rebecca and I joined members of Democrats Abroad to view the new Trump movie – The Apprentice.
After we joined our friends, Carlos and Sun who were visiting from Chicago. We met at the Nespresso Hotel and walked around Nice.
Ambrose, Tuesday, Oct 8, 2024
We stayed at a pleasant Bed and Breakfast in Ambrose. We headed off to one of the grand Chateaus in the area- The Château de Chenonceau.
The Château de Chenonceau is a Loire Valley château located in Touraine , in the commune of Chenonceaux , in the department of Indre-et-Loire in the Centre-Val de Loire region .
Chenonceau with its famous two-storey gallery overlooking the Cher is one of the jewels of Loire Valley architecture . Its borrowings from Italy and its French characteristics are clearly perceptible.
Chenonceau was built, developed and transformed by women of very different temperaments. It was built by Katherine Briçonnet in 1513, enriched in 1547 by Diane de Poitiers , who received it as a gift from Henry II , and enlarged under Catherine de Medici . It became a place of meditation with “the white queen” , Louise de Lorraine , then it was saved by Louise Dupin during the French Revolution and finally, transformed by Madame Pelouze .
In reference to the large number of female personalities who have been in charge of it, it is nicknamed “the Ladies’ Castle”.
The private estate of Chenonceau has belonged to the Menier family since 1913.
After our visit, we headed back 2H/30M drive to Paris Gare de Lyon to catch a 4:10 TGV back to Cannes for a 5H/15m trip back home. We were treated to a rainbow on the way home.
It was a very enjoyable trip with our good friends, Kathleen and Kevin.
Mont Saint – Michel, Monday, Oct 7, 2024
We arrived last night at the iconic Mont Saint – Michel. We arrived near dusk and stayed on the island at Les Terasses Poulard Hotel. It was almost eerie having the island to ourselves in the dead of night.
The Mont-Saint-Michel is one of Europe’s most unforgettable sights. Set in a mesmerising bay shared by Normandy and Brittany, the mount draws the eye from a great distance.
This staggeringly beautiful location has long captured the imagination. The story of how the mount came to be a great Christian pilgrimage site dates back to the early 8th century, when Aubert, bishop of the nearby hilltop town of Avranches, claimed that the Archangel Michael himself had pressured him into having a church built atop the island just out to sea.
From 966 onwards, the dukes of Normandy, followed by the French kings, supported the development of a major Benedictine abbey on Mont-Saint-Michel. Magnificent monastic buildings were added throughout the Middle Ages, one vertiginous wing in particular being nicknamed the Marvel. The Abbey of the Mont-Saint-Michel became a renowned centre of learning, attracting some of the greatest minds and manuscript illuminators in Europe.
After breakfast, we visited the Monastery.
We left the island and headed to visit Château d’Amboise which is the alleged final resting place for Leonardo DaVinci.
Leonardo’s wish was to be buried in the church of St. Florentin in Amboise, which took place on August 12, 1519. However the church was demolished during the French Revolution in the late 18th century (and later by Napoleon I). The alleged bones of Leonardo da Vinci were discovered in 1863 and moved to the Chapel of Saint-Hubert in the gardens of the Château d’Amboise. Today, the tomb can be visited on the left side of the tiny chapel, where two epitaphs (in French and Italian) hang on the wall describing his birth, death, and how he came to rest in the Chapel of Saint-Hubert.
St Malo, Sunday, Oct 6, 2024
On the way to St. Malo, we visited the Christian Dior family home in Granville.
“Les Rhumbs”
Christian Dior’s childhood home stands on the cliff facing the Channel Islands in Granville, Normandy, not far from Mont St Michel.
Villa Les Rhumbs was built by the shipowner Beust in the late nineteenth century and was named after the old marine term “Rhumb”, designating a wind rose divided into 32 rhumbs, a symbol which appears as a mosaic floor ornament in one of the house’s entrances.
Christian Dior’s parents bought this grand house with its winter garden located in a park in 1905.
St Malo, an ancient walled city. It was featured in the novel “All the light we cannot see”.
Saint-Malo is a port city in Brittany, in France’s northwest. Tall granite walls surround the old town, which was once a stronghold for privateers (pirates approved by the king). The Saint-Malo Cathedral, in the center of the old town, is built in Romanesque and Gothic styles and features stained-glass windows depicting city history.
Bayeux, Saturday, Oct 5, 2024
We used Bayeux as a base for visits to Omaha Beach and various WWII memorials.
Bayeux, Friday, Oct 4, 2024
We spent two days in Bayeux the prime attraction is the Bayeux tapestry.
The Bayeux Tapestry is an embroidered cloth nearly 70 meters long and 50 centimeters tall that depicts the events leading up to the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, led by William, Duke of Normandy challenging Harold II, King of England, and culminating in the Battle of Hastings.
We explored the city of Bayeux and the cathedral.
Honfleur, Thursday, Oct 3, 2024
Honfleur is a city in the department of Calvados, in northern France’s Normandy region. It’s on the estuary where the Seine river meets the English Channel. The Vieux-Bassin (old harbor), lined with 16th- to 18th-century townhouses, has been a subject for artists including Claude Monet and native son Eugène Boudin. Nearby is 15th-century St. Catherine’s Church, a vaulted timber structure erected by shipbuilders
Honfleur is a charming seaport that resembles a New England wailing port and houses many artist shops. The harbor was very picturesque.
At lunch, we discovered Sarrasin a local treat.
A buckwheat pancake is a pancake made with buckwheat flour.
After leaving town we drove over to the Deauville-La Touques for a short visit before heading off to Bayeux.
Deauville-La Touques is the sanctuary of flat racing, Deauville-Clairefontaine is the only tri-disciplinary racecourse on the Normandy coast.
Rouen, Wednesday, Oct 2, 2024
Rouen is a city on the River Seine, in northern France. It is the prefecture of the region of Normandy and the department of Seine-Maritime. It is where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake.
We took a night walk around the city.
The next day we saw a presentation of Joan of Arc’s second trial (spoiler alert- she was exonerated) in the palace of the former archbishop.
We also explored the Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Rouen.
We ended our visit to Rouen with an unexpected visit to the local hospital. Rebecca while petting a local Westie was bitten on her hand. After a visit to the pharmacist to have it looked at they recommended a trip to the hospital to have it treated. After two hours in the emergency room and several doctors and nurses looking at it, we left.
We headed to Etretat to arrive before sunset.
Étretat is a town on the north coast of France. It’s known for the striking rock formations carved out of its white cliffs, including the Porte d’Aval arch and L’Aiguille (the Needle), a pillar rising up from the sea.
From there we drove to Honfleur for our next visit and explored the city at night.
Giverny, Tuesday, Oct 1, 2024
Monet Day
After breakfast, we checked out and headed over to la Maison de Claude Monet à Giverny (84 rue Claude Monet 27620 Giverny)
Giverny lies on the bank of the River Seine in Normandy, close to the town of Vernon. Were it not for the arrival of the renowned Impressionist painter Claude Monet in 1883, the village might have remained a quiet provincial backwater. The long years Monet spent at his house in Giverny would turn it into a place of artistic pilgrimage, even in his lifetime. He settled here with his companion Alice Hoschedé and their respective children, and lived here until his death in 1926.
Monet designed several exuberantly colourful gardens, the most ambitious of which was his famous water garden complete with lily ponds, which initially caused discontent among some local people, as it involved shifting the course of a stream. Monet was not seeking specific inspiration with this plan, but once the ponds were flourishing, they led to some of his very finest paintings – Water Lilies – a series that became beloved around the world and which put the small Normandy village of Giverny on the map. Monet had become a hugely admired artist by this time, and a ‘colony’ of followers came to visit him in Giverny, changing the face of the village. Monet lived here up until his death in 1926.
Up the road from the Money house was the Museum of Natural Mechanics (2 rue Blanche Hoschedé-Monet) which Rebecca and I visited briefly.
This surprising museum holds a collection of industrial and agricultural engines gathered since 1966 by three brothers who were mechanics and loved to bring back to life old engines. There, you can see a collection of hydraulic machines coming from all over the world (USA, France, Poland, England, etc.) and carefully restored to working order. From motor-pumps to agricultural machinery coming straight from Modern Times, including machines belonging to craftsmen such as a veneer saw from 1824 that can cut precious wood into thin sheets with an accuracy to one tenth of a millimetre!
After our Monet visit we set off to Château-Gaillard at Les Andelys, roughly on the way to Rouen our next day stop. We explored the town a bit.
Château-Gaillard was quickly built between 1196 and 1198 by Richard I of England, “the Lionheart”. Its purpose was to protect Richard’s Duchy of Normandy from Philip II of France as it helped fill a gap in the Norman defenses left by the fall of Gisors Castle and above all Gaillon Castle, a castle on the opposite bank of the Seine river which now belonged to Philip and was used as an advanced French fortification to block the Seine valley. Gaillard Castle was also to act as a base from which Richard could launch his campaign to take back the Norman Vexin county from French control. Richard did not enjoy his new castle for long, however; he died in 1199.
Cannes, Monday, Sept 30, 2024
Today, we took the 10:33 TGV train to Paris with Kathleen and Kevin, our friends from Chicago, to begin an 8-day road trip through Normandy. We picked up their rental car at Gare de Lyon and drove to Giverny, which was our first stop to visit the Monet house and gardens the next day.
The train to Paris ran 5H/15M, and the drive to Giverny added another hour.
Kevin skillfully did all of the driving for our trip.
We arrived at dusk and after checking in to our accommodations we set out for dinner at La Parenthese restaurant (96 Rue Claude Monet). It was a short walk from our accommodations.
