Nice: The Hotel Negresco

The Promenade des Anglais in Nice is a fitting Côte d’Azur address for the five-star Hotel Negresco. Since its opening in 1913, this belle époque gem has welcomed royalty and celebrities like Princess Grace of Monaco, The Beatles and Salvador Dali. A visit to La Negresco’s Bar for a pre-dinner cocktail gave me the perfect excuse to explore the public areas of this luxury seaside hotel.

Hotel Negresco, Nice

Eze: The Exotic Garden

Eze Village on the Côte d'Azur has an amazing Jardin exotique, Exotic Garden, at the summit of the hill on which the town is perched. To my regret I didn't venture quite that far on my previous visit to Eze. On my recent trip to France, I got a second chance.

Exotic Garden, Eze Village

Art: Larger than Life

Works of art are no longer confined to the hallways of museums and galleries. Contemporary pieces sometimes appear outdoors where you least expect them – like this colourful bouquet of metal flowers in Place Antonin Poncet in Lyon. The piece was designed by Korean artist Jeong Hwa Choi for the Biennale of Contemporary Art in 2003.

The Flower Tree, by Jeong Hwa Choi

Modern Art in Historic Venice

In a city as old as Venice, modern art may not be on your sightseeing radar. The Peggy Guggenheim Collection is therefore an unexpected treat. In 1948, the American heiress succumbed to the charms of La Serenissima and purchased a villa on the Grand Canal. As the patron of many notable artists of the 20^th century, Peggy filled Palazzo Venier dei Leoni with avant-garde paintings and sculpture. In 1951, she opened her collection to the public.

Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice

Hidden Gems of Cannaregio

With few tourist attractions, quiet Cannaregio is a neighbourhood of Venice that many travellers never see. Before checking out of the Boscolo Venezia I took some time to explore the canals and narrow alleyways surrounding the hotel to see where real Venetians live.

Water Fountain in Cannaregio

The Vatican Museums

Our visit to Rome this summer included Vatican City and St. Peter's Basilica. The Catholic church has amassed an incredible collection of art over the centuries including Greek and Roman antiquities and Michelangelo's Renaissance masterpiece, the Sistine Chapel. These treasures are housed in the the Musei Vaticani, the Vatican Museums.

The Dome of St. Peter's

The Palazzo Vecchio, Florence

One of my favourite spots in Florence is Piazza della Signoria, a busy square dominated by the fortress-like Palazzo Vecchio. As a fan of Dan Brown's novel, Inferno, I toured the palazzo's museum to see some of the items mentioned in the book for myself, like the Hall of Five Hundred, the Mappa Mundi and Dante's Death Mask.

The Palazzo Vecchio, Florence

Luxembourg Gardens, Paris

On the Left Bank of Paris in the 6th arrondissement lies the lovely Luxembourg Gardens, Jardin du Luxembourg.  This 60-acre island of tranquility is the city's second largest park and originally formed the grounds of a palace built by Marie de' Medici, the second wife of King Henry IV. The palace is now home to the French Senate.

Luxembourg Palace, Paris

Pompeii Today

The movie Pompeii opened in theatres recently and tells the story of the ancient Roman town destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D. Archeologists have unearthed the remains of this civilization beneath the layers of ash and rock, giving us an interesting look at the lives of the ordinary people who once lived here.

The Forum and Mount Vesuvius

Saint Jean Cap Ferrat

Cap Ferrat – the name conjures visions of million dollar villas hidden behind massive security gates. In the 1800s, the peninsula was a popular spot for wealthy families in Nice to come for a picnic.  In the 1950s, celebrities such as Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton discovered the town of Saint Jean Cap Ferrat. Today the village is a quiet side trip on France's Côte d'Azur.

Dan Brown's Inferno: The Art

Dan Brown's latest bestseller, Inferno, centres on the writings of 14th century Florentine poet Dante Alighieri. The Divine Comedy details the journey of the departed as they descend through the various levels of Hell, Purgatory and Heaven, and the images conjured by Dante influenced artists for centuries to follow.

Portrait of Dante, Botticelli
(WikiPaintings)

Monaco-Ville

Monaco, July 2012 - This was departure day for travellers on the Provence extension of an Avalon river cruise through Burgundy and Provence, but we planned to explore the oldest part of the principality, Monaco-Ville, before leaving Monaco. And the first item on my agenda this morning was a special experience from my Bucket List: a tour of Monaco by Ferrari.

Tour of Monaco by Ferrari

Dan Brown's Inferno: Florence in Photos

Dan Brown's latest novel, Inferno, was released on May 14th, just in time for a rainy long weekend. It was hard to put the book down as I followed Robert Langdon on another thrilling chase through the streets of Florence and Venice. And it prompted me to look up my photos of some of the locations from the book.

Inferno opens with a mysterious character running north from the Arno River, behind a palazzo with a crenellated tower, through Piazza di San Firenze toward the spire of the Badia.

Palazzo Vecchio, Florence

Piazza di San Firenze and the Badia Spire

"D" is for Dolphin

This is Day 4 for the

Blogging from A to Z Challenge

for 2013.

My topic for today is the dolphin, an aquatic mammal found all around the world. There are both common and bottlenose dolphins in the Mediterranean.


In communities around the sea it's a popular subject for statues and fountains. Depictions of the dolphin in art go back to the Minoans at the Palace of Knossos on Crete. The Fontana del Moro in Piazza Navona in Rome also features a Moor wrestling with a dolphin.

As we travelled to the south of France, the first place I noticed the dolphin was on a statue in the Camargue town of Aigues-Mortes. The fountain sits at the base of a statue of St. Louis, King Louis IX of France.

Dolphin on a Statue of St. Louis