Here are details of the old lock and, in the smaller photograph, the doorknob - see yesterday's post.
The door knob wobbles but who cares?
Look at that old door, riddled with woodworm, yet still going strong after 466 years.
There are several fascinating stone lintels on Rue Longue. This is perhaps the most interesting in that the door and door fittings appear to be original too. It's just along from the Prince's Palace, which we'll see another day.
The smaller photo shows the lintel more clearly - click to enlarge. On the left you see the date: 1543. In the centre is Christ's monogram - you find this on several houses along the street. Either side of Christ's monogram are the letters B and G. These stand for the original owner Gaspard de Bottini. I don't know what the two symbols on the right signify.
As I was photographing this house, a lady opened the door. Naturally I apologised - then we chatted and she confirmed the door and door fittings are original - other than the door has been reinforced along its base with newer wood. She kindly left the door unlocked for me to go inside and photograph the hallway - there would seem to be two apartments. Tomorrow, we'll look in more detail at this beautiful ancient doorway.
Marta - this is for you! Marta left a comment the other day hoping I'd feature number 129.
Yesterday I wrote that no cars go down Rue Longue. I was wrong! Here you see 'Le Petit Train' which takes visitors around the town.
So yes, cars - and Le Petit Train - can go down Rue Longue but it's obvious they can't park for long as they'd block the street.
Thanks to Karen, USA who left a comment that Le Petit Train used to come down this street even before the renovation. See her comment below. Thanks Karen!
If you live on Rue Longue, you'll be used to steep stairs. These are actually quite smart compared to many that have no tiles. The smaller photograph shows the entry with old tiles so typical of this area.
There are five apartments in this building as you can see by the number of mailboxes.
Water, wine, milk, all your food, your household cleaners - everything - has to be carried up several flights of stairs and that's after you've already carried your shopping from the market to here. You'll find no cars in the tiny streets of the Old Town. (see next day's post - I was wrong!)
An old door on Rue Longue. The anti-war poster is used as a message pad:
'Jean-Philippe, Me donner en urgence la clé de la cave. Merci. Ou je change la serrure,' - which roughly translates as -'Jean-Philippe, Give me the key to the cellar urgently. Thanks. Or I'll change the lock.'
I love this snippet of life. Maybe it's simply that things seem more interesting in a language other than your own.
If you enlarge the smaller photo, you'll see the poster says 'Tout pour l'armée, rien pour ta gueule.'
Thank you so much to Marie and Catherine and my neighbour, Agnès, for the correct translation, which isn't literal - the word gueule being slang in French. 'All for the army, nothing for yourself.' Read the first two comments for this explanation and information on Cabu, the famous cartoonist and caricaturist, who created this poster. Thanks, ladies!
Did you notice these socks and rubber gloves in yesterday's photograph?
Along with the new road surface comes the possibility of cable television and that's what these guys are installing. They saw me taking a photograph so immediately went into 'pose mode.' Aren't they great!
Whilst this ancient street has a new surface, happily nearly everything else is old.
Some of you may remember the series on Rue Longue at the end of 2007, when it was under renovation. At the time it was almost impossible to walk down the street - take a look HERE to see how the road was excavated to a depth of several feet and residents had to squeeze past on narrow planks of wood.
Rue Longue, after two years of work, is almost finished. In the main photo we see the new surface on the road. The smaller photograph - left - shows how it used to be. Yes, perhaps the tiny pavements had to be removed, but I so wish they'd used paving that was more in keeping with the feel of these medieval houses. Of course, it's safe, it's non-slip and that's what councils think of these days. And yes, there is a sense of design in the light and darker tiles giving that long winding effect in the middle, but it's awfully modern. In 1908, Rue Longue was repaired with stone from La Spezia in Italy and it's this paving that has now been replaced. Progress?
Rue Longue was the original Roman Road - the only road leading into Italy. Called Via Aurelia, it became the Via Julia Augusta in the first century and it was around this road that Menton was built in 1250 AD.
The photo below shows this street how it was not long before the new paving was laid.
Tomorrow - we'll start to explore this beautiful old street and see what's new and what's old. Do come back.
Do you remember being buried in sand when you were a child? I've a photograph somewhere - just my head shows and I recall to this day how clammy and uncomfortable it was. We dug a deep hole, in went the victim, and on went the sand...and it was so heavy you couldn't get out without help. Scary.
Yesterday, we had steps to walk up. Today we have steps to walk down - although we could take the narrow traverse to the right and then we might be on the road less travelled...
The Old Town is a myriad of little streets, up, down, through tunnels, turn left, turn right. It's easy to get lost. Of course, that's the best thing to do: get lost. Wander - enjoy - and see where the road takes you.
How could anyone be sad living amongst so many happy colours? We are at the base of the Old Town today.
Beach, book, gently breaking waves.
The private beaches of Menton are along the Bay of Garavan.
This one is called La Pergola (there's a restaurant here too) and this man is sifting pebbles by throwing spadefuls of them at this contraption. Small pebbles are retained - the bigger ones chucked out further down the beach. I presume the uniformity is so that the beach chairs and tables, which will soon be in position for the season, will be on a reasonably even surface.
I had lunch here the other day and this was the entertainment.
Yesterday. No sun and later heavy rain over Les Sablettes. There's something about a tree on a beach that I just love. In summer, when this tree is in full leaf, it's used by families to shade babies in pushchairs.
The first of the month and so once again it's Theme Day in the City Daily Photo community.
With the theme being 'yellow' the most obvious choice for Menton would be a lemon, after all, Menton is the citrus capital of France. So I give you a small photo of lemons but the main photo I couldn't resist - mimosa tumbling over the entrance to an old villa in a backstreet of Menton. Both photos were taken within a few metres and a few minutes of each other at the end of February.
Yellow is such a happy colour - the colour of sunshine. I hope it's shining for you today.
Part of the facade of the Basilica seen thru an archway of the Old Town. Following on from yesterday's post, this is where the Festival of Music is held each August. Tiered seating is built for the audience, with a large platform for the musicians extending over the steps in front of the entrance to the church.
In August Menton hosts a fabulous classical music festival outside the beautiful Basilica in the Old Town.
The festival started in 1949 and for its 50th anniversary in 1999, this mural was painted at the base of the steps that lead up into the Old Town and our place in the audience.
Note the lemons and also the Clef on her ear.
Click on the link above to see one of the concerts.
Daisy Daisy,
It always amazes and delights me when people love having their photograph taken. I saw this group in the distance and snapped them - then they saw me and one or two waved (see smaller photograph). Then they quickly organised themselves into posing with the tandem - the sun really too bright and too harsh on their happy faces. A great group having fun, doing what they love to do cycling around France.
They'd cycled over from Hyères - that's a long way...near St. Tropez. Home is the Ardèche region of France.
Tomorrow - a Bicycle Made for Two.
