Study Abroad Week 2: Chapelle de la Garoupe & Day Trip to Italy!

Left: A view of the old Roman wall and part of the Grimaldi castle the Musée de Picasso is housed in (way in the back.)  Right: Works by Germaine Richier in the plaza of the musée.

Last Sunday, January 12, the day after the French Riviera tour I posted about, CEA had an optional excursion to the Musée de Picasso and then to a lighthouse on a hill.  The museum is one of only a few museums in the world devoted to Picasso's works, because Picasso worked in Antibes and donated his works to the museum provided it became a museum devoted to him.  The museum was interesting- built in an in old Grimaldi castle- and after getting a little bit of history on the tour it seems Picasso was a despicable man.

Left:  La Vierge folle by Germaine Richier (1946).  Middle:  Sculpture by Arman, I believe it's Composition à base octogonale en tour montée (1982).  Right: Regrettably, I cannot seem to find the artist or name of this work.

There were some works other than Picasso's in the museum, which were simply stunning.  My favourites were some statuettes whose backs look over the museum onto the street below.  Their twisted bodies are visible from the street below, and just a week prior we had been wondering what they were, and now we got to see them- bronze and brown patina sculptures by Germaine Richier.

Left: That tiny little lighthouse is where the church we walked and hiked to is at.  Yes, this photo is taken at the starting point.  Middle: A portion of the Roman road that leads from the foot of the hill to the church.  Right:  A portal into the faery world.  No, really.  It's an arch in the Roman wall leading to a small park.

After the museum we walked along the beachfront to a lighthouse on a hill.  A distant lighthouse on a hill.  I still can't believe we walked all that way.  And to make it even better, to get to the lighthouse we had to hike up a Roman road.  The road was beautiful and well-preserved, along with large portions of its wall.  But man, was it STEEP!  Once we got to the top, though, there was an old church built in the dark ages that made it all worth it.

Left: Approaching the church from the Roman road.  Another fey view, from an archway of the church entrance.  Right: A postcard of the church I made for my grandma.

After the walk to the top we had a brief lunch there, and then headed down the same road- much easier this time around!  We found a cheap little bistro by the beachfront as well, and sat down to a real meal on the French Riviera.

Left:  Crêpe creme marron (crêpe with chestnut cream) and cafe au lait.   Right:  First bite!  Yummy!

Well, that was last Sunday.  Saturday and yesterday I had more adventures, but a bit more quiet!  It's been raining all week on the Riviera, and Saturday I went to Ventimiglia, Italy with three friends: two guys in our program and my roommate.  We nearly missed the invitation due to me wking up late , but we met up with them on time...then we missed our train.  But it was okay, because we caught the next one.  

That beautiful Italian river after the rain.  Gorgeous swimming ahoy!

It was also raining in Italy, which unfortunately dampened our exploring a bit, but we did get to explore the marketplace and the portion of Ventimiglia immediately surrounding the train station.  We had an authentic Italian dinner, which was what we were all excited for, with a red wine a friend treated the rest of us to.  I bought pesto to bring back with me, as it was MUCH cheaper in Italy than in Antibes.  My friend and I were able communicate rather well with Italian speakers using our Spanish, and vice-versa.  We were also all VERY happy to note that in Italy, they were playing Italian music, as opposed to the American and Spanish-language (mostly Caribbean) music played in France.  In two weeks I've old heard French music twice.  I cannot for the life of me understand why, it's beautiful...and we're in FRANCE.  Well, mini-rant over.  

One of my little hobbies is to occasionally look up Disney songs in other languages, particularly Japanese, Italian, Spanish, and French.  I went crazy on that with Frozen when I saw it right after The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug last month.  I totally fell in love with Frozen.  And yesterday I went to see it in French.  Now I don't speak French at all, but I most definitely do not have the bulk of Frozen memorized, especially "Let It Go" in 5 languages.  NOPE.  

Au revoir!~

P.S. Psst.  I have been doing some cooking here, mostly improvisation of recipes.  I try to have my camera around it as often as possible and take notes, so if you're into cooking check out my crafting blog as well.  Thanks!