Place massena

The city of Nice is building a new tramway and the construction seems to have been going on for millennia. An exaggeration, of course, but there has been masses of disruption and for a long while it looked like there was little progress. This is now changing, at long last.

Place Massena had looked like a bomb site for several years while the tram rails and new paving were being laid .


The other night when i was coming home from the Old Town , I passed through the newly reopened square. It was absolutely breathtaking - the new lamps and paving looked quite magical. So i quickly took a few photos .

The buildings of Place Massena are a painted reddish terracotta colour and are in the 17th century Genoese style with arcades underneath. They were built in 1835.

The new paving and lighting really set them off, though its not easy to see in these night photos. I will try and take some daytime photos later in the week.
You can see some of the new tram rails on the right of the photo.

The Fontaine du Soleil [Sun Fountain] by the sculptor Janoit, from 1956 has been put back into pride of place in the square. I had forgotten what it looked like. It an impressive fountain, with several mythical beings and animals cavorting in the water. I haven't worked out who the beings are yet, maybe a closer look during daytime will help.


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Photo Friday-purity

In western countries , brides traditionally wear white on their wedding day as a symbol of purity.
The tradition only dates back to Victorian times, when the white wedding dress was popularised by Queen Victoria.

This particular bride was photographed yesterday-one of 5 brides that we saw in Parc Phoenix. Its obviously a popular place to have your wedding photographs taken because of the beautiful floral displays, fountains, and artificial lake.

The wedding photographer was organizing some photos with a fountain as backdrop and was busy talking to the groom while the bride arranged herself on the wall. It was quite an awkward-looking climb onto the side of the fountain in a long flouncy dress.
I thought this particular photo made the bride look like she was meeting a host of brides forming themselves out of water, like an enchantment from a fairy tale.




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Photo Friday -how i see myself

I took this photo in Saint Paul de Vence when I saw that i was reflected in the shiny plinth for the statue of Rodin's 'Thinker' -photos of the statue itself are here.

I'm not very keen on taking self portraits and I'm necer happy with other people's photos of me - I prefer to be behind the camera- but I do like to photograph my reflection when taking photos of other things.


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