Final Post for now

On my last day in Nice, I visited some of the neighbourhood shops to pick up a few items such as Roquefort cheese and wine to bring back to Canada. I passed by the local cathedral on my return trip and noticed there were a couple of stalls out front with displays of the most beautiful creations for Palm Sunday. I couldn't resist taking a few photos. When I was a child, we used to get a simple cross made from a palm leaf; nothing as elaborate as these. 

My last evening in Nice was pretty quiet. I had to get up at 4 a.m. to catch a bus to the airport. To add insult to injury, the clocks changed that night, so I lost an additional hour. Instead of going out for dinner, I bought a piece of quiche from the nearby bakery and ordered some wine at the hotel. Here is my final meal (without the quiche).

Once again, it has been an amazing experience. I realized that I have spent 10 out of the last 18 months living in the south of France. I have met some extraordinary people and have had the privilege of travelling extensively in this part of France. Although I am not yet fluent in the language, I have made significant gains and I intend to practice in Edmonton. There is no doubt in my mind that I will return to France to continue my language studies. The question is when. We have a few trips planned for this year and early next so I will have to see. Until then, thanks for following my blog.

Art Museums in Nice

During my stays in both Nice and Villefranche, I visited several art museums which were all very different, but most interesting. I've written about some of them in previous blogs, but I wanted to comment on and share a few pictures of a couple of others.

One cool afternoon in December, Keith and I walked over to Le Musée des Beaux Arts. The building was once a private villa owned by a Russian princess and later converted to an art museum in 1928. Although the building is past its prime, you can still see some of the splendor and original art frescos. In addition, there was a varied art collection of paintings and sculptures by renowned artists such as Jan Brueghel, Jean-Honoré Fragonard, August Rodin, Jules Chéret and Raoul Dufy. 

Keith at the top of the grand staircase of Le Musée des Beaux Arts

Les Trois Grâces -  Anonyme d'après Antonia Canova 

Le Baiser - August Rodin

At the other end of the spectrum, Brian and I visited Le Musée d'Art Moderne et d'Art Contemporain (MAMAC). Even the building is sleek and modern, but wait until you see what is inside.

This was one of the first art installations I saw.

Recycled water bottles.

How do you know if it is art or not? A very good question I reckon. 

Les Oeuvres de Niki de Saint Phalle (Art works by Niki de Saint Phalle)

Relief Planétaire sans titre 1961 - Yves Klein. Apparently the pure blue pigment seen in the first panel is known as Klein blue as it was first mixed by this French artist. Several of his pieces were on display featuring this deep ultramarine blue colour. 

The last installation we visited, called Sitemotion, was created by artist Paola Risoli. The room was filled with large metal cans with large openings. You had to bend down or sit and peer inside to see small elaborate scenes within each one. Here is an example of one of the cans...

and here are a couple of examples of interior views. It almost reminded me of dollhouses.

One day we went to see both Le Musée Matisse and the Marc Chagall museum in Cimiez. Pictures were forbidden in the Matisse gallery, but I did take a couple of photos in the Marc Chagall museum.

I have seen some of Chagall's works in other galleries, but in this one, his art was definitely inspired by the Bible.

Lastly, my new friend Dania and I spent a pleasant hour wandering through Le Musée Massena. It is a beautiful building with lovely gardens along Promenade des Anglais and within 5 minutes of the Hotel Rivoli. On my last day in Nice, we decided to take a look. It was built between 1898 and 1901 and became a museum of art and history in 1921. Recently renovated, it retraces the history of Nice displaying collections of furniture, decorations and works of art. 

This ornate sofa leg caught my eye.

I was quite taken by the posters that were used to promote tourism in Nice. Here are a few.

This one was painted by Jules Chéret who has a room dedicated to his art at le Musée des Beaux- Arts.

This last poster reflects how I feel about winter in La Côte d'Azur. Even if the sun isn't shining, it is warmer than Canada and there is no snow. When the sun shines, you just can't beat the beauty of the shimmering Mediterranean, the flowers and the palm trees. I love it! 

Charles

This one is for you Keith. On Saturday morning, I stopped in at one of our old haunts, le Marché de la Buffa. Charles was there manning his stall of fresh fruits and vegetables. I struck up a conversation with him in French and asked if he remembered me. He said he did indeed. Before I left, I took his picture and showed it to him. He smiled and added "Quel bel homme". I agree. 

Hôtel Villa Rivoli in Nice

This charming, boutique hotel is where I'll be hanging my hat for a couple of nights. Much to my surprise, I was upgraded to a larger room which is absolutely lovely. I was told that I was upgraded because I had stayed here previously (see blog Feb 27). In my humble opinion, the Interior Designer for this hotel was very skilled and paid attention to every detail. I love the decor and took many pictures. 

Below is a close-up of the canopy - c'est belle, n'est-ce pas?

The walls and shelves were covered in traditional French toile which simply means cloth in French.

The original toile patterns from the 1760's usually depicted pastoral scenes of the French countryside.

I love French curtains. Many are white embossed cotton or lace often with scalloped edges.

Here is a close-up of one of the lamps. Once again the ornate metal work seen on the canopy is repeated around the base of the lamp.

My modern bathroom.

This is the salon. There is a piano in the corner and guests are invited to play if they wish. You can also purchase a variety of beverages. There are doors to the exterior which open onto an intimate courtyard.

Just beyond the salon, you will find la salle à manger where guests are invited to enjoy a lovely petit-déjeuner. It is a buffet with a wide variety of choices.

The serveuse (server) even offers you an "oeuf à la coque" (a soft bolied egg). It is served in a beautiful porcelain egg cup topped with a "chapeau" knitted by the owner's mother I believe. 

The staff at the hotel from the front desk to the cleaning ladies are so friendly and helpful. They just can't do enough for you. The hotel is spotless too. Although it doesn't overlook the Mediterranean, it is only two and half blocks away. It is quiet and conveniently located close to public transportation, shops, restaurants, museums, the old city, markets and the theatre. I would highly recommend staying here if you happen to visit Nice. Thanks for finding this gem Marianne!

Graduation Day

It is with mixed emotions that I write this blog. On the one hand, I am relieved that school is over. It has been a very intensive and tiring four weeks. It is now time to relax and and rejoin my wonderful and supportive husband, my sweet dog and all my dear friends in Canada. On the other hand, I am sad to leave this beautiful country, excellent school and the amazing people that I have met here. 

A beautiful view of the shimmering sea from my terrace. I don't think that I will ever tire of it.

A view from the school overlooking the same port. It was absolutiely glorious outside.

On our final day, we had to repeat the same exam we took on the first day in order to measure our progress. I was really quite nervous, but managed to get through the initial part which tested our comprehension, audition and writing skills. Following that, we were given a short break at which time students, including me, gravitated outdoors to take advantage of the sun and warm weather.

We reconvened for a two hour séance pratique with Frederic, at which time we were called individually to meet with a prof to complete the oral part of the exam. I was tested by Sylvie whom I also like very much. I had lunch at her table one day and she made the subjunctive sound so easy with her explanation. "C'est super qu'il fasse beau aujourd'hui" (It's super that it is beautiful today.) 

At 12:30, all of the students had lunch together for the last time. The meals prepared by Natalie and her staff have been exemplary. Everyday the menu changed and I have eaten everything from rabbit to salsifis (a vegetable root that resembles white asparagus - I liked it). Following lunch, we participated in another séance pratique with Julien to review material learned in the past. As always, there were some good chuckles. During "La Pause" our respective profs called us to the classroom on an individual basis to review the results of our test and show us the comparison to our previous results. I was shocked by mine as I had fared much better than I anticipated. Bruno was very kind with his words and suggested that I had really improved over the four weeks and that my determination and hard work had paid off. He felt I had a good foundation of the language and now I need to spend time talking to people in French to build my confidence and fluidity. 

Last, but not least, the Grand Salon was transformed into a graduation hall. As we filed in after the break, we were given the words to the song "La Vie en Rose" by Edith Piaf along with a glass of champagne. 

To begin the ceremony, we all sang "La Vie en Rose" together and then Frederic, Master of Ceremonies, said a few words before he commenced issuing certificates to the graduates. 

Each student received a beautiful certificate accompanied by applause from the crowd. 

Classmates Dania and Lynn with their certificates.

I must admit I was getting a little worried as I hadn't been called to receive my certificate and there were only a few students left. Even though Bruno assured me I had improved significantly, maybe it wasn't enough to warrant a certificate. As it turns out, there were six students who received an Honorable Mention for their laudable efforts and improvement. My classmate, Kyle, was one of them and so was I. I couldn't be prouder!

This school has been an excellent experience for me. I know that I have made significant progress in both comprehension and speaking due to excellent profs, innovative teaching strategies, immersion in the language and culture, extracurricular activities and hard work on my part. I recognize I have a long way to go, but there are certainly worse things to do with my time and money in retirement. I expect I'll be back several times yet. In the meantime, I'm heading to Nice for a couple of days and then I face the long trip home to Canada.

The Last Day of Classes

In past blogs I've talked about some of the teaching strategies here, but this time I wanted to share a few pictures along with a description of "le laboratoire" or "la chambre de torture" as it is fondly referred to. Everyday for an hour, each class participates in the language lab. The picture below is where the prof is seated. I'm sorry I didn't get a picture with Bruno in his chair. From there, he has us work through a series of audio exercises to reinforce lessons taught in the classoom such as verb conjugations, pronoun placement etc. It is also meant to strengthen our listening comprehension and pronunciation. We repeat the same exercises over and over while he introduces different subjects, verbs, pronouns etc. for us to integrate into the sentence structure. The hope is, at the end, it becomes reflexive or instinctive rather than analyzing each word.

This picture is rather contrived. We definitely don't smile during the lab. Take note of "les casques" - headphones to listen to the exercises and the microphone in which we give our responses. 

Although the lab was rather arduous, I believe it was very useful. Below is a picture of some of my colleagues, Laila, Doug and Lynn in our tiny classroom. For the last two weeks, there were only seven of us in the class and three of us were Canadian!

On the last day of classes, Douglas kindly brought a bottle of champagne and chocolates for us to share. We enjoyed both as we finished our last debate on "country versus city living". Because Laila and Douglas were both leaving at the end of the day, we decided to give Bruno his gift of wine and chocolates along with a card signed by each of us. It was an absolute pleasure to have him as a prof and I thank him for his patience, support, humour and sage advice.

After school, Jackie (R) invited Larry and I to join her for a glass of wine on the terrace that we shared in our complex. What a lovely way to end the final day classes!

 

Lucinda

If you have read some of my recent posts, you'll be aware that the subject of my exposé for a class assignment was my blog. Several students in other classes heard that I was writing about my experiences while I was here at school in Villefranche and started to read it. Lucinda, a student from the Advanced 2 class, wondered why I hadn't posted a picture with her in it. So I pulled out my camera to take a photo and lo and behold, my battery was dead. On the last day of school I made a point of taking her photo to include in this blog post. 

Lucinda is presently retired, but has had an interesting work history. She was a chef and proprietor of a restaurant in Philadelphia. Following that, she was a Vice President with the Campbell Soup Company. Now she is having a wonderful time improving her French.