VISITING PARIS - LA FÊTE NATIONALE

VISITING PARIS - LA FÊTE NATIONALE

In July, on my way to Amsterdam, I decided to visit Paris again to see the fireworks for Bastille Day, take a tour of Versailles (which I missed the last time I was there), and visit my friend Annie who lives in Paris with her husband.

MY HOTEL

I got a great deal on my hotel. It was in Bercy in the building connected to the train station Gare de Lyon so all I had to do was walk out and go back in through another door. For less than a hundred euros I got a room that would normally cost over 300. I even had my own mini-fridge and espresso machine! Oooh!

L'HÔTEL DE VILLE

I had heard that a really cool exhibition had been built in front of the Hôtel de Ville (not a hotel - basically the city hall). Luckily it was the last day of the exhibit and I was able to experience it before they tore it down after the holiday. It was called L'Anamorhpose. It was a strange three dimensional garden that while unintelligible from ground level metamorphosed into a globe with trees growing out of it when seen from a small grandstand:

Doesn't look like much does it! Just wait . . . 

Here's some geezer looking through the crosshairs.

This is what it looks like through the crosshairs. Pretty cool, huh?

There was also a firefighter exhibition nearby as well:

MONTMARTRE

Since I wasn't meeting Annie until the next evening and I had some time to kill before the fireworks I decided to go to Montmartre which is the higher northern district of Paris where a huge hill stands housing the Sacré Cœur cathedral. Montmartre originally was full of windmills, but after development it became the nightclub hangout of famous artists like Picasso (think the Moulin Rouge and Le Chat Noir) and then a dangerous den of Parisian gangsters by the 1950s. Today it's like Little Africa. I walked out of the metro station and felt like I was in a Timbuktu market. Unfortunately, I didn't go in the cathedral it was so packed but I got some great pictures. At Sacré Cœur you have to watch out though because people will come up and quickly tie a string around your wrist and then demand money for it. I dodged them, got the pics I wanted, and headed downtown for the fireworks.

Steps up la Butte (what they call the hill)

Views of Sacré Cœur 

Views of Paris from la Butte.

 THE FIREWORKS

The crowds kept me from seeing a lot of fireworks but I did see some. It was actually a big scandal the next day because they played American music and people were outraged that French music was not used on their "Fourth of July."

Stay tuned for my visit to the Palace of Versailles and my trip to Amsterdam.

Ciao!

Tour of Croix du Sud Apartment

TOUR OF CROIX DU SUD

For a video tour of my new apartment in Nice click on this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TcyupyG4wAg

NICE JAZZ FESTIVAL

FIRST NIGHT

On July 8 and 12, I went to the opening and final day of the Nice Jazz Festival, a very famous event that in the glory days had most notably hosted the likes of Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and many others of the same ilk. It was usually held, I think, on the outskirts of Nice at the Palais Nikaia, their local arena-size venue. However, this year they decided to set it up on two outdoor stages in the large stretch of park that divides the downtown and old town areas. There were two stages, one off the Place Masséna that was standing room only, which would house the more rock-type artists, and one, le Théâtre du Verdure, with makeshift stadium seating for a more formal setting. It was a nice venue but unfortunately it was egregiously hot and humid.

le Théâtre du Verdure

Vendors set up to sell not foie gras, not escargot, not tartes aux pommes, but . . . hot dogs and beer.

On the first night, my plan was to see a Miles Davis Kind of Blue tribute, but because the map they gave us for some reason was not designed with north pointing up like every other map in the world, I realized only half-way through I was at the wrong venue. I did see the Nice Jazz Orchestra though, which was good, but the music was not very interesting.

Nice Jazz Orchestra

And then a female jazz singer named Roberta Gambarini, who was late, came on and sang some atrociously horrible songs. One of them was in French and performed with such an awful accent everybody was moaning.

Roberta Gambarini

My plan was to stay and see Michel Legrand a very famous jazz and film score composer (i.e. Bande à part - de Jean-luc Godard) for at least 45 minutes and than run to see John McLaughlin, but everything was late so I only saw one song by him.

John McLaughlin was a famous psychedelic British jazz fusion guitarist who was discovered by Miles Davis in the late 60s. I guess you could consider him the opening-night headliner, but first you had to sit through the end of Mike Stone's set. I don't know who this guy is but it was cheesy Satriani-type rock with some electronic violin player (he was actually OK). I definitely knew I was on the "rock" side of the festival when I smelled something in the air . . .

Whoa, settle down! It's just a violin, son!

Thank god these bums were over quickly and we got to see John McLaughlin. His set was the best of the night, I just didn't recognize anything. I hadn't listened to anything by him since the 80s when he had a band briefly with Carlos Santana. He had a guy off to the side who played keyboards, drums, and I guess "laptop," the newest instrument. Here are some pictures from the show:

John McLaughlin and the 4th Dimension

I took video but the sound was so bad its not worth it. Alright, so much for the first night. The second night was even better. I was able to see Wynton Marsalis and the Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, probably the best traditional jazz ensemble in the world. Stay tuned . . .

THE MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCE

TRIP TO MONACO

As you well know, at the beginning of July, Prince Albert II of Monaco married some South African swimmer chick. It is important to note that in France you get married twice. Once in a civil ceremony and again in a religious ceremony. Vard wanted to go to Monaco to see the Prince and the Princess, but her fiancé didn't want to go so I went with her. I wanted to find some good Italian coffee anyway. On the first day, after the civil ceremony, we would supposedly be able to catch a glimpse of the newlyweds wave at us commoners from a balcony window followed by a two hour spectacle set up on the waterfront.

Here's me walking down from the station.

Can you see Vard?

Vard and I met on the train and promptly wasted a whole bunch of time figuring out how to get out of the Monte Carlo train station and down to the port. We wanted to just check out the surroundings there so that later that night we would know where to go, but we took the wrong exit and had to walk down a stairway of cliffs to ground level.

Here's a look down from the cliffs at a little garden in front of the station.

The Port of Monaco looking down from the train station

Once we got down to the bottom level we saw a crowd and followed them. They were all watching the Prince and Princess on a giant TV screen. I guess this was as good a view as Vard was going to get. Here is the uncomfortable awkward royal couple in all their glory . . .

It was so nice the couple had reconciled after a rough day at the airport where supposedly she had to be coaxed back to the proceedings by the prince and his entire entourage after she discovered his "deep dark secret" and tried to jump a plain back to South Africa. 

Next to the jumbotron there was a chapel of some kind but I'm pretty sure they weren't going to get married there but at the "castle."

Anyway, we had time to kill so we found a little café Rémi had recommended and tried some ristretti, or really strong espressos. They were good but they only give you a half-mouthful of coffee (literally!). Here I am relaxing at the café. I sure live a tough life, don't I?

After our coffees, we walked around a bit and saw some of the swanky hotels and landmarks.

The Monte Carlo Casino and hotel

Fountains in front of the casino

A Church

Prince Eric

Finally, we were ready to go find our spot for the free concert. We went down to the port and found a great place in the middle of the car park. Soon all the people arrived, though, and we realized we would have to stand up for the show in order to see. People were chanting "Assis!" and "Restez assis!" which means "Sit down!" but to no avail.

The stage just before the show started.

The concert was put on free for all visitors by the French techno artist Jean-Michel Jarre. I had never heard of him before but I guess he has performed around the world producing these kind of elaborate shows with synchronized lights, fireworks, laser shows, and synthesizers. It was impressive, and not just because it was free. It lasted two hours, shot more fireworks off probably than any fourth of July event, and the visuals were interesting. Here are some shots from the show, however, they don't capture the magnitude of it since every song had its own display and fireworks are hard to capture on cheap cameras. This Jean-Michel Jarre shredded on the keytar though, so enough said. Savage 80s throwback.     

In the middle of the show, the Prince and Princess addressed the crowd. However, at any event if anyone speaks English the French get pissed and start shouting "en français!" It was embarrassing though that the Princess could not speak even a word of French. Vard and I could speak better French and she's going to live here forever and has already lived here for two years!                            

    

My favorite sequence.

Here's a picture of all the rich people's yachts. The ones with the big spotlights blew their horns to salute the Prince during the celebration.

After the show it was a mad rush to the train station because there were only two trains left to get out of Monaco. Luckily, we took a short cut and snuck in the back way. Unluckily, I missed the first train and had to wait, but Vard got on. The thing is the French sometimes don't even care about each other and push and shove wherever some authority has dared to create some order or a line. Anyway, I fought my way on the second train and made it home even though it was late. We probably got home at the same time actually because I only had to go a few stops to Nice Riquier, Vard lives in Antibes which is another 20km away.

I will have to return to Monaco before I leave for Italy to see the museums, the castle, and the casino, but at least I know my way around now and it technically was the third country I have visited now. Very shortly I will have my account of the Nice Jazz Festival and my little summer vacation ready. Peace!