Photo Friday -Art -Jelly Babies

The route of the new Nice Tramway has become an open-air museum of modern art, L’Art dans la ville, with a variety of artworks by 15 international artists.

Some of the works include the jingles which announce the stations in a variety of voice tones and languages, calligraphic massages on the sides of the tram stations and special lighting under bridges and between some of the buildings.

This is the artwork by Spanish artist , Jaume Plensa, called Conversation à Nice. It is installed n the centre of Nice at place Masséna.

During the day the sculptures are an opalescent white , but at night they are lit up and cycle through a range of colours.


According to Jaume Plensa's artist statement, the figures are meant to represent the 7 continents and the ease of modern communication. Additionally , they are meant be a modern landmark almost like a lighthouse and to watch over and protect the passers-by.

I have heard a variety of suggestions about the meaning of the statues that differs from the official one - the most common theme is that the statues are cross-legged Buddhas or possibly yogis who represent the different areas of Nice [quartiers] , although people are slightly puzzled as to why Buddhas represent the quartiers.

My favourite suggestion is from my kids and their friend is that the statues are giant jelly babies!
-though I suspect that is a very ex-pat British opinion due their familiarity with the jelly baby sweets.


One of the sculptures when blue.

Tags: Jaume Plensa, Conversation à Nice, place Masséna, Nice, photos, photo friday, L’Art dans la ville

Huskies

I'd been thrilled to see the dog sled running through the snow at Casterino when we visited the recently. I didn't get a good action shot of the dogs in action but I was pleased to at least get the full sled and dog team into one shot.

This is the musher seeing to his dogs. Musher seems like a strange sounding word but its apparently the correct term for the human in charge of the dog sled team.
He was taking them off the sled harness and making a big fuss of them all individually, which was really nice to see.


The dogs had a rest and a snack after their run. Some chose to have a quick snooze.

This dog was my favourite. It was so beautiful curdled up and sleeping in the snow. The reddish gold coloured fur seemed to glow against the white.



This dog was really lovely , especially with the fine dusting of snow on his dark furry head.
I was pleased I managed to capture a photo of his bright pink tongue.

Tags: photos, husky, huskies, dog sled, snow

photo friday - 'What Is That?'

I've taken a few 'What Is That?' photos over the years. Mostly , I've managed to figure out what i've photographed but I haven't had any luck with this alien-looking plant.

The seedpods were about the size of a mango, so reasonably big , and the whole plant looked so strange that we started calling it a triffid without really noticing.

As the seedpods ripen they seem to split and release hundreds of black seeds carried on hairy parachutes.
I've spent some time looking at seed catalogues but still have no idea what this plant is.

This is an example of Teabagus arborealis -the tree dwelling tea bag. Its something that often provokes a 'What Is That?' response when out in the countryside -but further examination reveals it to be an ordinary teabag that some idiot has thrown up into the branches, rather than taking their rubbish home.

Its particularly annoying because they must be carrying a vacuum flask and cup around with them and a used tea bag isn't exactly heavy.

Tags: photo friday, photos, teabag, strange plant

Snowy Mountain Sports

When we visited Casterino the other day, we saw a lot of paragliders [parapente in french] .

I don't think I can ever see me doing any paragliding - I am too freaked out by heights.

I expect there is a tremendous feeling of being at one with the birds and the views must be unbelievable -but the thought of potentially smashing into the ground [or trees] at the end puts me off.

Having said that, I didn't see any bad landings so maybe its not as dangerous as I fear.

This was the landing target -it doesn't look to me like it would be very visible from the air, though most managed to land close.

I saw two little kids triumphantly carrying off some small blue flags, so the target must have become progressively more difficult to see as the afternoon went on.



A few paragliders landed in the middle of the mountain bike racers, and the billowing parachute was an awkward obstacle to cycle round.



The mountainbikers were taking part in a 4hour moutainbike relay race over snow -La 4ème édition des 4 Heures VTT sur neige.

The two-person teams had to cycle a 6km route as many times as possible in 4hours in relay. The snow was pretty thick and visibility poor so it must have been hard going.

A pile of bright red snowshoes just begged to be photographed.

A very sleek black skidoo was a more hightech approach to speeding across the snow-they make a lot of noise and have other drawbacks but they do look like they would be fun. I can't drive and I am pathetic at steering virtual machines in computer games so I'd have to give the skidoo a miss too.

We saw a dog sled pulled by some beautiful huskies -it was possible to reserve rides on the dog sled in advance, I think the price was around 35 euros per person so it would have been a bit much since there were 4 of us.

I would have liked to have taken a ride on the sledge, though, maybe another time.

I have some really lovely photos of the dogs themselves which I will post tomorrow.

Tags: snowshoes, huskies, dog sled, paraglider, mountain bike, snow, skidoo

Casterino in the Snow

We took the Train des Neiges to Val Casterino at the weekend.
The Train des Neiges is a special train and shuttle bus that takes people to the snow for winter sports certain weekends of the year. This one departs from Nice [others leave from Marseilles and Aix and have different snowy destinations].

We had been intending to take the train des neiges to the snow for years and never managed to get organised enough to do it [a booking needs to be made a few days in advance] so it was great to finally get there.

Casterino is a tiny hamlet , high up [altitude roughly 1550 m/5085 ft] in the Alpes Maritimes close to the French-Italian border. Its strange to think that this is higher than Ben Nevis [Scotland and Britain's highest mountain] which is only 1344 metres/4406ft.

The scenery is amazing as Casterino is in the middle of three mountains - Mont Ste Marie [2740m, just under 9000ft] Monts Chajol [2293m /7500ft] and Mont Agnelet [2201m/7220ft].


Unfortunately , snow fell all day so visibility was not prefect, although it added to the impression of walking around inside a Christmas card.
I wasn't able to work out which mountain was which from my photos-maybe next time we visit, I will pay more attention.

There aren't very many buildings in the hamlet but most of them are beautiful wooden Alpine houses , with carved balconies.

I think the man standing with the bundle of red snowshoes is one of the mountain guides. In the summer people trek out from Casterino with guides ; on foot, in 4x4s and on horseback to see the famous ancient rock carvings of the Vallée des Merveilles.


I saw a man clearing thick snow from the roof -its hard to imagine that this is just a couple of hours from Nice.

The rich tones of the wood contrasted beautifully with the grey local stone stairs and snowbanks.




Casterino is surrounded by wooded slopes so there are no formal downhill ski slopes. Most of the skiing is cross country but other sports are also available such as snow shoeing, dog sledding , ice climbing, paragliding and sliding on sledges and building snow men .

Next time we go, hopefully early next month, we have decided to hire snowshoes and see more of the trails around Casterino.

Tags: photos, train des neiges, Casterino, snow, mountains

Eze sunset progression

I have a new computer, so I am back again.

I'm still getting used to Vista [though things have been much smoother than I expected] and I have a lot of stuff to transfer from the other hard discs, especially photos and artwork, but its absolutely brilliant to have machine of my own again.

We went back to Eze at the weekend and took Nietzsche's Path down to the sea. It was quite different from the last time I walked the route since many of the trees were bare and the bushes and plants had died back for winter.

We were lucky enough to witness the sun as it gradually set and the sky changed from blue to palest pink to deep orange and charcoal.

Saint-Jean Cap Ferrat reaches out to sea behind the two trees on the hill.


When I looked back, I could see that the rocks were tinged with pink from the sky. I'm not sure if its as visible in the photograph as it was at the time.


A soft pink sky glowing through the leafless tree branches.



The sky is darkening over Saint-Jean Cap Ferrat, which looks like a snaky island visible in the v-shaped notch [the bay of Eze sur mer is hidden at this angle]


The sky is darker and the soft pink has turned to peach.


I think the following photo is my favourite -the sky and sea were so beautifully lit and whole bay was tranquil and still.
The sun was setting behind the headland and because there was so much cloud cover it gave the effect of a glowing volcano. It reminded me somewhat of Mount Doom.
The sun had dropped further here and these were the last deep orange rays .
I loved the subtle light on the bay as the light died.

It was such a privilege to have witnessed this spectacular sunset.

Tags: photos, Eze, sea, sunset, dusk

Tramway

I hope everyone has had a wonderful start to 2008.
As yet, I still don't have my computer sorted and I am suffering from a rotten flu-y type bug which is dragging on since just after Boxing Day- I hope I start to feel a bit more normal soon.
Surprisingly, I am feeling remarkably optimistic about 2008 despite the strange start to the year.

I had intended to take a lot of photos of the new trams and things en route but it hasn't quite worked yet-this might be an ongoing project for 2008.

The trams in Nice have been a huge success- I think they have been much more popular than was originally expected.

On the opening weekend at the end of November , the trams were free and every tram car was jampacked with people squished together like sardines. We joined the throng and went from one end to the other, which was quite an adventure.

It wasn't quite as bad as the Japanese trains where people are pushed on by white-gloved officials but it probably wasn't too far off.

Things have settled down now that the tramway is running smoothly - though the trams can be busy at rush hour and night.

Here is one of the trams approaching the station nearest the Gare SNCF [train station].
The electronic sign with red letters gives the estimated time till the next tram arrives plus the times for the ones which follow.


The trams are very sleek and shiny and the journey is pretty smooth and quick. The trams and ligne d'azur bus system are integrated so that connections from tram to bus [or vice versa] can be made using the same ticket, which is pretty good value.

There is also an all day ticket that allows unlimited travel on the tram/bus system or a 10 journey ticket that is handy for multiple journeys or travelling with other people.
(The tickets need to be validated on board the tram in the same yellow machines as on the ligne d'azur buses)
Technorati Tags: trams, Nice, tramway

Merry Christmas

I have been having some computer problems [my computer seems to have come to the end of its lifespan] so haven't been able to update the blog.

I'm hoping to get back online properly soon-fingers crossed.

Here is a little card I painted the other evening to wish everyone a very happy festive season and a wonderful, healthy New Year in 2008.

Technorati Tags: illustration, mouse, christmas card

Photo Friday - Travel

We are just back from a family reunion in Tenerife, one of the Canary Islands. We flew there from France and the rest of my immediate family flew in from Scotland.

Not so long ago this sort of thing would have been unheard of and near impossible - due to the distance, travel time, costs and dangers . Now, with local airports and budget airlines , travel is much more accessible and safe -at least for people in the West.

Its hard to imagine that people are still undertaking dangerous journeys across the sea in flimsy boats with a real risk of death-and spending all their life savings to do so.

This is a cayuco, a Senagalese fishing boat. They are normally used for fishing rivers and estuaries and not intended for sea crossings.
Basically they are a form of large canoe and this one was in a terrible state -and probably not exactly sea worthy at the start of the journey, never mind the end.

I've quickly removed the stone jetty from behind the cayuco to show the shape and size of the boat.


Tenerife is fairly close to North Africa and in recent years there has been an upsurge in the number of illegal immigrants trying enter European territory in the hope of making a new life.

Unfortunately, many people die in the attempt or end up exploited in a kind of indentured service to pay the huge amounts of money for the passage.

The cayucos are jampacked with people when they set out on the 8 to 10 day crossing and its not known how many cayucos sink on the journey. I have heard estimates that over a thousand people have died in the attempt to reach the Canary Islands since the 2006

90 men were rescued from this boat when it was intercepted. 6 people were in critical condition and sadly one man died later in hospital, probably from the effects of exposure and dehydration.

The coastguard emergency boat that intercepted the cayuco is in the foreground and the cayuco is visible behind.
When we arrived at the port to take photos we saw the bright orange emergency boats and initially thought there had been a training exercise rather than a real emergency.

It was only when we saw the rickety cayuco and the ambulances and men being lead off for medical treatment that we realized what had happened.
The Spanish red cross and medical teams were giving medical aid, food, water and clothes to the people from the cayuco inside these inflatable tents.

After medical treatment, the men are repatriated if their nationality can be established.
The cayucos are destroyed since unsafe fuel storage generally leads to the hull being impregnated with fuel. Plus so many people crammed onto a tiny boat leads to unsanitary conditions and the boats are considered hazardous to health.

Technorati Tags: cayuco, photos, tenerife, red cross

Toussaint/ Fête des Morts

Here in France, the first of November is All Saints Day [la Toussaint] and second of November is the Festival of the Dead [Fête des Morts].

These two festivals have become somewhat interchangeable over the years, and its more common for people to visit their family tombs on la Toussaint. I've heard it said that this is mainly due to Toussaint being a public holiday here.

However, since there is a famous painting of families visiting a cemetery on Toussaint from 1888 [ Émile Friand] it would seem that this is definitely not a recent development.

Bunches or pots of Chrysanthemums are used to decorate the grave sites. This association of chrysanthemums and the dear departed now means that its bad luck to receive chrysanthemum flowers as a gift.

The cemetery in the centre of Nice is on top of the Colline de Chateau with a view over the sea and Nice old town. Most of the tombs are from the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century and the sculpture is quite opulent-with plenty of angels and cherubs in stone.

This tombstone depicts someone rising from the grave at the last judgment when called on by an angel. I think a lot of modern visitors find it creepy to see a shrouded hand lifting up the stone.


I think this grave sculpture is really attractive-it was quite a different style and i liked the lady's peaceful expression.


Old cemeteries are often filled with children's graves-and its a reminder of how much the world has changed in the West and that most people can now expect their children to live and thrive and reach old age. And yet, such a short time ago, losing children to disease epidemics was commonplace.

This little girl is depicted here in her first communion dress, circa 1930, I think.
These little portraits were on a large family tomb which depicted many members of the same family and a considerable number of children.

The little ten year old and 4 year old somehow remind me of Mary Cassatt's painting the Sisters Some angels on pedestals, towering over the cemetery - very reminiscent of a scary Doctor Who episode called Blink where Angels statues come to life.


These angels were street performers at the Haut de Cagnes mediaeval fair. They moved quite slowly as if they were statues coming to life.

There was something quite freaky about them, even for people who more than likely hadn't watched the "Blink' episode of Doctor Who.



Some of the performers were on stilts and looked very imposing, especially when they moved suddenly. This woman was obviously taken by surprise when the tallest 'statue' started striding through the crowd..

[I've blurred the faces of non-performers in the photos slightly]

This little princess found the living statues very intriguing.


A little Knights Templar boy acting as a scale marker
Their clothing and skin was covered in a kind of clay -which must have made moving difficult- although it definitely added to the impression of statues coming to life.

The programme for the fair called them Living Gargoyles,which seems quite appropriate.

Technorati Tags: photos, tombs, cemetary, toussaint, living statues, gargoyles, street performers, stilts