My French Holiday

Hi All,
I'm just back from a couple of weeks in the South of France. I spent the first, very enjoyable, week with friends at their house in Narbonne Plage, a real family resort, before heading off to Nice for another 8 days of fun.

Our hotel was in the Rue Pastorelli and seems to have been in the Artists Quarter, as there were loads of art shops. We had four within a few minutes walk of our hotel! One of the shops - Charvin -  even made their own easels and paints. I live in Guildford and have seen three art suppliers fail over the past couple of years, so Nice was quite a surprise.

As I was travelling with my wife, it was difficult to stop and paint (I have a travel watercolour set that I can't use very well), I tend to take photos for later consideration. Let's just say that I came home with over 250 photos!

St Paul de Vence was a revelation; it seems that every other shop contains an artist. It helps that it is a beautiful location as well. We also went to Antibes, Monaco, Menton, Beaulieu and St Jean Cap Ferrat, which is where the Rolling Stones recorded "Exile on Main Street" at the villa Nellcote. You can't see the house from the road, as its gates are shrouded in netting to prevent peepers like me. Interestingly, it has the main railway line just a few yards from the front gate - not very tranquil!

Time to start thinking out what to paint next...