Arriving in Nice, Musee Matisse and Musee Chagall

Saturday June 2.
We spent Saturday just getting settled in, grocery shopping, doing laundry, and of course checking out the beach. Nice reminds me a lot of Southern California except that the beaches have pebbles instead of sand. It was actually a part of Italy until the 1800s, so it has that Italian flair as well. I loved it!

this is where we stayed. They called them apartments but basically it was just a hotel room without room service (we had to buy our own toilet paper!) The kitchen was big enough for 1 person and had a mini fridge, a microwave, 2 burners, a half sized dishwasher and a sink. Not even an oven. It was small but we loved being able to make our own meals. The best part was the balcony. We actually moved our kitchen table outside, it was so fun to eat out there and gave us more room inside.

 some more instagram shots of Nice:

the beach!

 Sunday June 3.
After church we went to the Matisse and Chagall museums. Because it was the first Sunday of the month we got in for free at both. I liked them because they were relatively small so I was able to see everything in a short amount of time. (I may have been a little impatient to get home so I could take off my church shoes and break my fast)

The Matisse Museum was in a really nice little park. It was mother's day in France, so there were tons of little families everywhere having picnics under the olive trees. and I found myself another carousel. :)

 The building itself was beautiful, it was a big Italian style red house. Emily and I spotted it from the road and we were excited when we found out that was the museum we were going to.

This was one of my favorites-"Village de Bretagne". I love the monochromatic quality of it. This painting shows that Matisse's use of simplified form in his Fauvist paintings was a conscious choice and not a lack of skill. A lot of people thought he drew like a child, but in reality he chose to express emotion through color rather than realistic details. (Excuse the watermark-we weren't allowed to take pictures inside.)

 Next we went to the Chagall museum. Chagall was also influenced by Fauvism, so there were a lot of bright colors. He was a Russian Jew and his faith was a huge part of his artistic expression.

The parting of the Red sea.

 That night we went down to the beach again. I loved being so close, it was only like a 5 minute walk. I built a castle from the rocks while Melissa and Emily read their books. It took a lot longer than I thought so I never got to finish. We also watched kids stuff their swimsuits with rocks and then Emily and I found some cool pebbles to take home as souvenirs. Such a different beach experience than what I'm used to, but I love it.

 xoxo Heather