So today turned out to be a very interesting and enjoyable day, well the second half at least. But the first half didn't end up that way. We planned to go the the Chapelle Matisse in Vence first, and then on the way home stop in Cagnes-sur-Mer to browse around, even though the Renoir Museum there isn't open until May when the season really starts.
We went into Beaulieu, and after our usual breakfast at the Gran Caffe, Maurizio, the owner, knows what to bring now without us even ordering - a croissant et deux cafes cremes - we decide to browse in the outdoor Saturday market right there in the main square just opposite the cafe. During the week it's a fruit and vegetable market only, but on Saturday and Sunday it's about double in size with many other stalls including clothing, jewelry, linens, pottery, shoes, hats and other sundry things. We ended up buying a few last minute necessities!...like shirts, good luck bracelets, change purses, a tablecloth with matching napkins, etc. It was fun. We brought that stuff home and then headed out for our day in the country.
It takes about 45 minutes to get to Vence, where Matisse's Chapelle is, so since that would be around 1:30, it would be lunch time. Jill checked her trusty Michelin Bible again and found what sounded like a lovely restaurant somewhere in vielle Vence, not in the center. So she put the restaurant address in the GPS. We drive toward Vence and just as we are about to enter the village center the GPS tells us to turn down a little road...it shouldn't be too far away now. As the little road twists and turns up higher on this hill, the little road also narrows and the buildings look older and older, like the original really ancient village. We get to a corner where we are supposed to turn right and there is a metal barricade across part of the road with the word 'BARRE' on it. We know that means 'barred' but since it is only across half the road and the other half is passable, we take it. Well, big mistake!
The road gets even narrower and with switchbacks more for bicycles than cars. We know the restaurant has to be just around the next bend, so we continue into the next switchback. Now we can reach out of the car window and touch the buildings on either side. And guess what? We really CAN'T make this turn? OK, so we won't go any further, to hell with this restaurant! We'll just go back to the center of town. But HOW? We now have to back up somehow until there is a piece of road wide enough for us to turn around. So Marty starts backing up, we're both looking, but unfortunately we're both looking on the same side of the car, the passenger side. All of a sudden we hear a big C-R-U-N-C-H! We had obviously backed into something.
Marty turns a little white, lets out some kind of a groaning sound and curses, and tries to literally tack his way off the hidden railing that he had backed into and maneuver the car to get out of this road. I don't know how he did it, short of lifting the car up and turning it around, but he did. He didn't even get out of the car to see the damage at that point (that's how upset he was!) because we both knew it was bad and just wanted to get out of there ASAP! What the sign on the half barred street meant was that a car shouldn't try to go here, but other smaller vehicles can. Moral: don't drive anywhere near a 'BARRE' sign...it means something bad is down that road! They're not kidding!
Marty was so upset that he said he just wanted to go home. I understood, but after we both calmed down a bit, we decided that it was an accident and we didn't want to totally kill what was left of the rest of the day. So we drove back into town and parked. It was only then that we got out and saw the damage, a large gash across the rear door and fender the height of the guard rail...UGH!
We asked a few people to help find a nice cafe or small bistro for a light lunch...at this point we weren't in the mood for fine dining. They pointed to the main square where there were a myriad of restaurants. The problem was that although they all looked nice, they were too fancy and formal, with dinner type menus, that we weren't interested in then. We finally decided on one restaurant and we sat down and they told us that it was almost 3pm, and the kitchen was closed for lunch. Uh-oh, our patience was waning. But the restaurant had a bakery that was open just next door and they said they could make us a jambon-fromage sandwich (ham and cheese) which was sounding like all we could handle at that moment. The restaurant let us sit at one of their outside dining tables to eat our sandwiches. That allowed us to settle down, relax and finish with a cafe.
We decided that the smart thing to do now was to go back to the car and take a picture of the damage and call American Express Insurance Department who hopefully would set up a claim to pay the insurance for the damage.
After a lengthy phone call (THANK GOD FOR SMART PHONES!), we got a claim in the works, and hopefully when we return the rental car, they will already have the records and documentation saying this will be taken care of by our insurance, and, therefore, not charge us anything on the spot for the damage. The jury is still out, but hopefully Amex and Geico will come through for us...we won't know for sure till we return the car next week. Fingers crossed.
After sitting in the parking lot for a half hour on this phone call, we're both feeling much better, so now we are ready to salvage the day and try to find Matisse's Chapelle. It just had to be somewhere around here...the town isn't that big! We plug that address into our GPS now and go on our merry way, and we soon find the street that it is on...Avenue Henri Matisse...makes sense, right? We drive and drive and now we're out in the countryside. We both sense that something is wrong. We make another u-turn and retrace our steps, and there it is, right outside the center of town...we could have walked there...but obviously we're both still a little rattled and so had just driven right passed the Chapelle.
Anyway, we went in and, knowing the history of how this Chapelle came to be, it was quite beautiful, simple, meaningful, and serene. It was understandable why Matisse designed this chapelle at the end of his life...he wanted to have it built to honor the nun who took care of him during his long recovery from a cancer operation. We had actually been there many years ago, but wanted to see it again because it is so simple and charming, and we're glad we did, especially after our prior ordeal...very calming. In the Chapelle, it is easy to understand what a genius Matisse was. With simple stained glass windows and wall drawings, he presents such an enormously beautiful picture forcing your imagination to fill in the blanks...less is more.
We then left Vence and drove to Cagnes-sur-Mer, a cute little town nearby. We had a gelato and a drink, and then headed for home in the pouring rain. We hit a lot of traffic going through Nice, and finally made it home at about 7pm. We had a dinner date at 7:30 at Pourquoi Pas, a restaurant down at the port in Beaulieu, with Linda and Vance Johnson (whom we met more than a week ago with the Linds) and one of their good friends, Kim Smith, whom we hadn't met yet, but why not? The more the merrier! The Johnsons are the American couple who had lived in St. Jean Cap Ferrat nearby for 16 years, and with whom we had gone to that lovely fish restaurant in Ospedeletti, Italy, along with the Linds.
Kim Smith, a long-time friend of the Johnsons, is a lovely American business entrepreneur who splits her time between Miami and Bordighera, Italy, just across the French boarder. She and Marty have a lot in common, as she started a branding consultancy more than twenty years ago which she stills runs. The Pourquoi Pas is an OK restaurant that was hosting a Dutch birthday party tonight which was very loud and fun, but impossible to hear each other talk.
After dinner we walked over to Le Max for a night cap then said our good-byes. We will undoubtedly see them all again, especially Kim who wants to make a date with us next week before we leave. The Johnson's leave on Monday so we won't see them here again on this trip.
Despite the accident, it turned out to be a very nice day.
Despite the accident, it turned out to be a very nice day.
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