Picasso, Absinthe, Macaroons, and Rugby!

This weekend we took a little day trip to Antibes! It’s a lovely little coast town between Nice and Cannes. We arrived and, after a few trips like this, I am now realizing that you should never judge a town by the area around the train station. It was a little grummy, but the view on the train ride was unexplainable! It looked like we were on a boat in the middle of the Ocean (because you couldn’t see the shore!)

After walking into town a little bit (and stopping to get coffee),

We decided that the town was quite charming! It had a fair mix of old cobblestone streets and buildings with newer stores and lots of colors.  We met up with a few friends next to a park by the beach and it was so chilly! Standing right by the water it felt like a mini hurricane, so we snapped a few photos and then set off (inshore) to find the Picasso museum.

(A little side note to all of my viewers-Facebook and blog, I know it looks like I only wear one outfit everyday, but that's because I only have a few warm things, and considering the weather, I must wear them often. Give me a break-i'm from Arizona!)

We wondered around the adorable streets and popped into several little shops. There were a lot of hat shops and knick knacks, and cooking wear, and jewelry! And then, to our pleasure we ran right into a little outdoor market that was housing the Italian chocolate tasting! We walked around and tried samples of cheese and chocolate and macaroons and brioche! We ended up buying 12 macaroons and we ate 4 but are trying to make them last longer, they’re unbelievable!  It was super nice that we happened to go on a weekend where there was a little festival! Then we set off towards the Picasso museum. After a few quick pictures of all the precious streets and buildings, we entered the Picasso museum. Due to one of the exhibits being shut down for renovation, the price was cut in half, which was nice because it wasn’t even stuff we were that interested in seeing!

The museum was great! It was so interesting to stand so close to a piece of artwork done by the famous Picasso! The building that housed the museum was actually a building that Picasso lived in for several years because he loved the view of Antibes and the Ocean. Several of his works were inspired by the views from out the same windows that we were looking out of! It was neat to see the pencil strokes up close and the reoccurring shapes and figures that he wanted to experiment with. Unfortunately, I couldn’t take any photos so you will just have to trust me that it was very moving. There was a little back patio outside of the museum that I snapped a few photos on before running back inside to escape the hurricane.

After we left the museum we walked around a little outdoor market with some strange, raunchy items, and then we found the absinthe store/museum! The store had all different kinds of absinthe, little bottles, big bottles, and even little souvenir make-your-own kits. Downstairs, there was the “museum”. It wasn’t really a museum but an actual absinthe bar. There were decorations all over the walls and a bar with the different kinds of absinthe being displayed. There were also antique tables and chairs with the water dispensers and sugar cubes for consuming the absinthe. I took lots of pictures because we were the only ones down there, only to realize that there was a camera and the guy working the shop could see us down there taking pictures behind the bar, etc. We probably got the AMERICANS label and were dismissed J Here are a few photos from the bar area:

We continued our stroll down the cobblestone but were discouraged by the bitter cold wind that was whipping around the streets. We searched for a little coffee shop but instead found a great used English bookstore (mom-you would have LOVED it!).

After the bookstore a few of our friends decided it was a little too chilly-so they headed back home (Menton). Lauren and I weren’t quite ready to leave the mysterious city of Antibes (and I’m so glad we didn’t). Our first stop was a precious little soap shop where the owner told us about his process of making the soap and how each one had its own special qualities. My sense of smell was on stimulation overload so after awhile of chatting with our friend, we bid him a farewell! But he told us that there was no way we were leaving without soap, so he cut us a calendula and an aphrodisiac (not sure what he was trying to say) and gave them to us for free!  We felt bad, but whoever said the French are rude was gravely mistaken! So nice! We then ventured into a little coffee shop (because there were snowflakes falling -it seems like whenever Lauren and I are traveling-it snows) and split a crepe avec tartinade aux noisettes (not nutella-but something a bit similar).

Over our crepe we had a lovely discussion about nation-states and Tunisia in an effort to assist Lauren in her Thesis planning. It was ironic because we happened to be sitting right next to a few guys from Tunisia!

After crepes, we decided to eat dinner (obviously-all I do is eat). We found a cute little Indian restaurant (yum!) and ordered several enticing dishes. It was super yummy and we left feeling happy and refreshed.  Here is a picture of the little dish they give you with your check!

Then we decided to hit up a little pub that I read about in my guidebook and we got pretty lucky! There was a big rugby match between France and Ireland! So funny that we were in France and at an Irish pub. So we grabbed some beers at the bar and found a little table (lucky again-the place was busy). The game hadn’t started but it was showing the teams warming up and Lauren started chatting with the older couple next to us who were British. Then some French guys joined us at our tables because the place was filling up quickly. After watching the warm-up for awhile and sipping on beer (it was a blonde beer and it was really delicious-dad you probably wouldn’t like it-a little too light for you!) the bartender turned on some music and switched the channel to the Barcelona game. I was very confused so I asked Lauren was going on and she laughed and said the game had been canceled for like 10 minutes! How did I not realize? Oh yeah, because I don’t speak French!  So we watched Barcelona and chatted with our neighbors until we had to catch the train.

We hurried back to the train station and a short ride later we arrived back home in the lovely Menton!  All in all, I love Antibes! It was so cute and I’m sure in the summer it’s so lovely with its warm beaches! 

Hope everyone has a lovely week, and stay tuned because I leave for Morocco in two weeks!

Ciao babies!