Let's not forget

I am interested in the textures of a place that speak of its past. Some things are destroyed in the name of progress, or because of lack of appreciation, or economic factors, and even for greed. It is interesting to come to a place with fresh eyes and look at its layers of history, found most prominently in the architecture. Geographic and in particular urban locations evolve with human history and through its evolution one sees evidences of the traces of the past or not — it can be demolished and completely swept away from view.

These are traces of the Roman civilization preserved in the walls of the now ancient Cathedral of Vence.

Here is an older villa on the Promenade, which is sandwiched between taller more modern apartment buildings. You wonder what was once there and how is it that this little red villa was so fortunate to be spared?

Over the years buildings have come and gone in Nice. The rare birds who escape destruction are truly rare.

This villa is my favorite. It calls to mind an exotic birdcage. Could this have been a small, dainty palace for a Russian Princess who came during the winter months for her health? It truly is a calling card from the past squeezed in the middle of urban Nice or rather modern Nice has all but squeezed it out.

I have been intrigued by bits of the past in the lovely coastal city of Nice. At this time Nice is in the midst of hurtling forward into its promising future with a new east/west tram line that will be partly underground. It is an exciting development which will link the port on one side of the city with the airport on the opposite end. I am sure in the wake of this additional transportation that there has been some demolition, although I am unaware of what has been sacrificed for this project.

These two buildings formerly had other buildings on its side, but they were eliminated to create a park above ground and parking below. How do we know that there used to be buildings there? Well, upon closer inspection you will realize the windows on the west side are painted; it's troupe-l'œil.

I also appreciate the role of plaques and monuments throughout the city which remind us of people and moments that we should appreciate or never forget. In particular, I am always humbled (saddened, affected) by the plaques often found on the churches which list all the youth of the parish whose lives ended too soon in the name of their country during World War I. Indeed, too many names are engraven in these marble plaques attesting to how devastating this war was on the French population.

This is a monument prominently located in the center of Vence. It's a memorial to the deported Jews of the region. Lest we be unaware ... or forget.

The other day I came across a plaque that had the purpose of reminding those of us in the future of an important moment or person who sacrificed for the ideals of presumably this better future. It's all conjecture, because sadly the words have faded into unintelligible hieroglyphs. I wanted to do the trick of rubbing a crayon across an overlaid paper to allow the plaque to perform its duty: to whisper, shout, declare, teach, but above all to help us never to forget.

Good news / Bonnes nouvelles

So often we hear how things change for the worse, or at least the changes we hear about are often the bad ones. Well, this morning when I went to the language school (Actilangue), I saw a good sign of change for the better. France, like many European countries, has a very Conservative party on the far right. In fact it's fascist. The party is the Front National, now led by Marine Le Pen (the daughter of the radical Jean-Marie Le Pen). She infamously stirred up religious and racial controversy with this quote:

"For those who want to talk a lot about World War II, if it's about occupation, then we could also talk about it (Muslim prayers in the streets), because that is occupation of territory. ...It is an occupation of sections of the territory, of districts in which religious laws apply. ... There are of course no tanks, there are no soldiers, but it is nevertheless an occupation and it weighs heavily on local residents."

Last year she had an office on the street corner below the school. A troubling show of social support for the movement in Nice. Although to give her justice, she has softened the image and platform of the party a bit, steering it away from nazi ideals.

With the multiple attacks in France and even in Belgium, I was wondering how xenophobia was playing out in France. Was it feeding into politically extreme movements? How would the French react socially and politically?

Two answers came to me this morning. The first was to discover the local Nice office was vacated. (See the picture below.) Admittedly, they could have just moved to a cheaper rental property, but I prefer to think that they didn't have enough support to maintain their presence here.

The second affirmation was found in an article in Le Monde entitled « La tolérance a gagné du terrain en France en 2015 » (Tolerance won a lot of ground in France in 2015). To read the article.
Studies indicate that contrary to what one would expect as a result of the attacks, as a whole the French prefer a multicultural society. In fact, they are remarkably more tolerant than they have been in recent history (since the 1980s when this topic began to be polled and studied more closely).

Isn't it ironic that the violent terrorist attacks have had the effect of deepening social tolerance and even as the article says, cultivating multicultural « indulgence »? I honestly haven't been able to fathom the terrorist perpetrators' motives, but this is definitely a promising and hopeful reaction.

Fennochio's Gelaterie: Around 100 unusual gelato flavors.

The world is a better place when there are many unique choices of flavors, n'est-ce pas?

A day in the airport in Nice

I spent the day in the Nice International Airport. After having to pay a taxi cab to take me to a destination that could have taken me 45 minutes to walk, because the public buses weren't running on the Labor Day holiday (le 1er Mai), I decided I would not be returning to my tiny studio until I had greeted all the students arriving. The arrivals were splattered throughout the day from 9:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. So, I had a lot of time to sit and watch and observe.

Here is one observation. The French use the postal system more than we Americans. I am unaware of any mailboxes in airports (they probably are there). I don't think about finding a mailbox at the airport. On the other hand, in this airport the large iconic yellow box that serves as a receptacle for mail was prominently attached to a wall where quite a few people came to make their personal donation.

Another topic of interest were shoes. My preconception was that many French women wear uncomfortable high heels, especially in public. But, that was actually rare. Most women in high heels had on an outfit that demanded some pain in the feet or wanted to stand out, but those were rare exceptions. For the most part, I saw flat shoes. A lot of white sneakers or sneakers with bling. Then there were the platform shoes, but mainly platform heel sneakers (if that makes any sense).

If you're curious or can't imagine it, check out this example: 

Something that should never have entered fashion vocabulary

There were more boots than I would have thought and a lot of them were ankle height. 

As for the men's footwear, the majority were nondescript or athletic in tendency, but there were a few men who stood out. Those that caught my eye were double monk straps with pointy toes. Here's an example from the web:

Double monk strap leather shoes

One last observation, confirming past notions, the French love. They love their dogs and they love each other. It was heartwarming to see reunions with both pet and family members. I saw a fair amount of « bises » (French cheek kisses) and hugging. 

It wasn't a bad way to spend the hours.

Photo taken on my walk home from the airport along the Promenade.