One of the pleasures of exploring a hill village is the element of surprise. Turn a corner, climb some steps, traverse an alleyway - you always find something new.
I've been going to the medieval village of Roquebrune for years - indeed I lived just below it for seven of them but here's a corner I discovered just before Christmas - isn't it pretty.
Menton and a man draws in the sand.
To see something fabulous, do take a look at this video. Kseniya Simonova is a Ukrainian artist who won Ukraine's version of 'America's Got Talent.' She uses a giant light box, dramatic music, imagination and 'sand painting' skills to interpret Germany's invasion and occupation of Ukraine during WWII.
Click on link to view. Please do - it's fabulous!
The sea is still unsettled after all that rain - rocks and pebbles have been washed up the beach. No surfers today. We're looking towards the Old Town of Menton and beyond is Italy.
View from Roquebrune village.
For the Christmas and New Year period, an ice rink had been installed in the Jardin Biovès. Alongside was a small children's training area - the surface wasn't ice but had a slippery surface.
Young children wear these skates - not ice skates, not roller blades but special training skates. I'd never seen these before. Have you?
The swimmers in the sea are surfers, one of whom we saw yesterday. We are looking towards the Old Town of Menton and Italy beyond.
Yesterday in Menton. After snow, weeks of rain, suddenly a joyous blue-skied day.
Whoever said the Mediterranean didn't have a tide didn't see yesterday's waves. Yes, I know, nothing compared to Australia's surf beaches but this guy was having the best fun.
Sadly - tragically - the high seas also brought drama to the south of France. In Marseilles two people drowned after being swept out to sea and in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, just along the coast from Monaco, a young woman died of a heart attack after being taken by a wave.
Christmas is over. In France you see decorations up for months so I'm not sure if there is a limit unlike in the UK where they stay up until 12th night - the 6th January - by which time they must be taken taken down.
I was going to continue this little series until the 6th January but today the sun is shining - it's glorious weather after snow and then endless rain - and so I've been out and taken some pics. So tomorrow, we'll see something else - thanks so much to everyone who has walked the village with me and visited these cribs. More next Christmas!
Theme Day this month is 'Changes' and this photograph, taken at Le Balico in Menton reminded me that Martini has changed the shape of its bottles. Remember the old Martini bottle? - you see it on the left. And below the new one. I love the old one, same as I love the old Martini poster in the photo. But everything changes unless we believe, 'Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.'
Henri-Louis Bergson, the French Philosopher who in 1927 won the Nobel prize for Literature wrote:
Giovanna is an artist who lives at the top of Roquebrune village, opposite the entrance to the medieval Château.
The red sign invites visitors to look through the French windows to the crib she has created but on the day I was there it was impossible to see due to lack of light. Nevertheless, I thought you might like to see her charming house with the lady at the upper window...
Happy New Year everyone!
Some of you will remember this beautiful 2,000 year old olive tree in Roquebrune village - particularly the bloggers who climbed it.
Here is it used to display a nativity in a bird cage. Hard to see the actual crib as the camera focused on the wire of the cage.
I walked right past this crib, thinking it was simply a Christmas door decoration.
Later, on my return, there it was - a bright red ring box displaying the tiniest nativity scene I've ever seen.
A crib in an oil drum? Don't you just love the imagination of the villagers? The last photo doesn't show the actual crib very well - but you get the idea...
Of the 150 cribs in Roquebrune village there are hardly any that are the same. This one, sitting on top of a wall, appears to be housed in carved wood - perhaps a gourd but I don't think so.
Here, tucked behind bars on a window sill are these painted Christmas decorations. An original creche, don't you think?
Wishing you and those you love the very best of Christmases!
I'm not sure if this is the village well or it's where the horses used to drink. Perhaps both. In any case it has been decorated for Christmas and is used to display two tiny cribs, one in a cage, one in a bread basket.
This must count a permanent crib as it's cemented to the gate post of this house. A modern interpretation of the nativity. I love it!
This post is dedicated to Chuckeroon of Richmond-upon-Thames Daily Photo who has had a bad fall on black ice, breaking his shoulder, hip and femur. He's currently in hospital and when home will need rest and physiotherapy. Do visit his blog and leave a message which he'll see when he gets home. Get well soon, dear Chuckeroon.
The medieval village of Roquebrune has many of these covered alleyways.
This charming and tiny nativity scene has been fixed to the stone wall, probably it is set back into a drainage hole.
To see Prince Albert II of Monaco and his companion, Charlene Wittstock, take to the icy sea for the traditional 'Bain de Noël' on Monte Carlo Daily Photo, please click on the link - you'll meet Woolite the sheep too!
