Antibes Ain't Playin'

On Saturday we visited Antibes, which has been a happening port town since the time of the Roman Empire. It only took us about fifty minutes to reach Antibes by bus, and it was a beautiful (but chilly) day. My friend Erin wore a dress without tights, a decision that she regretted every time we stepped into the shade. Much like Louisiana in the summer, the temperature on the Côte d'Azur changes twenty degrees when you step from the sun into the shade. 

Antibes was much bigger than I expected. We visited the 'old city' and the port area. 

We chose the yachts that we wanted while we were there. 

In the old city there were a lot of little shops and a flea market. The flea markets that I've been to here usually seem like they consist of people selling whatever they inherited from their rich grandmother's castle. I keep having to stop myself from buying some kind of antique vessel, like a teapot shaped like a boat or an enormous flower vase.

We ate lunch at a café that was across from a really cute merry-go-round, which made me realize how much I like merry-go-rounds. This merry-go-round had horses, a few other animals, and then miniature old-fashioned cars (because, you know, French children are used to a certain standard of living).

We sat inside because it was cold. However, we never saw any of the staff move to go cook anything, which made us skeptical. When our food came, the waiter brought it from outside of the restaurant. So that was weird. But it was good, so if he bought it from another restaurant or a street vendor I'm fine with it.

I had a baguette pizza, with chicken, tomatoes, onions, and mozzarella. It was delicious. It also came with lettuce (salad, I guess) and fries (frites, not french fries).

Don't worry, Mom; I shared the fries and ate all of the salad myself. 

After lunch we walked to the waterfront. I think the section that we were on used to be part of the fort. We had to scramble up this wall to get onto a big ledge where we could see the water really well. It gave a really nice view of the coast to the northeast (where Nice, etc. is located).

Partial view of Antibes and southwestern coast. 

 There was a statue on the fort called Nomad; it was the skeleton (kinda?) of a huge man sitting with his knees up, looking out onto the sea. And it was made of all letters! It was pretty cool, and you could go inside, which is where the picture is taken from.

I'm sure the words form a really meaningful and metaphoric poem about traveling the world. Or being homeless and having to sleep on beaches. 

We also visited the Musée Picasso, which wasn't as cool as I wanted it to be but omg-picasso-lol-art-art-art! He stayed in Antibes one summer, and the director of this huge castle invited him to work in the castle. So when he left he donated all of his work to the city, which is what is inside the museum now (plus some other wacky modern art). In sum, he was already famous and probably just wanted to kick it on the beach so all he left here were a few stick drawings of centaurs and mussels. 

ANYWAY, my favorite part was the picture gallery of Picasso while in Antibes. The pictures were titled things like "Picasso, le torse nu, devant le centaure" and the picture was just Picasso shirtless in front of a enormous centaur. My favorite picture was the one below, and I couldn't stop giggling about it all throughout the museum visit. I would have bought a copy of it if it had been in the gift shop...

Picasso avec un hibou 

So that was my brief trip to Antibes! I would return for another visit. 

Unrelated news: In honor of Lundi/Mardi Gras and my general need to eat, I made jambalaya on Monday! It was my first time, and I had been postponing cooking it for two weeks because I didn't have a can opener. It came out alright; it tasted like the jambalaya that I used to get in the cafeteria at Fifth Ward. If I had never had jambalaya, I would have loved it. The sausage that I used wasn't very good. But it's kept me fed all week and was très facile!

My proportions are limited by my the size of my pan. Otherwise I would have made enough to eat for three weeks. #lazycooking

I missed Mardi Gras a lot this year but Nice's Carnaval starts on Friday (I don't know why it happens during Lent). I will be able to compare the festivities then!