Saturday, June 6, 2009

Monaco

On the Sunday I stopped in Monaco for a few hours on my way back to Milan.  Monaco is it's own country, 2nd smallest to Vatican City.  It is still a monarchy run by the Grimaldi family.  Famous for Princess Grace Kelly, an American actress turned princess.  I visited the state apartments which house the royal family's art collection.  There is a video at the end of this post of the castle.


View of the Monte Carlo port.



Guard on duty.

View of Monaco port.

At 11:55 every day you can watch the changing of the guards.  To be honest, it was pretty boring and you had to be there like an hour early just to be able to see anything.  



Cathedral where Grace Kelly and Prince Renier got married


Graves of Princess Grace and Prince Renier


View of Monaco from the train on the way back to dirty Milan.

Nice, France

I took another solo trip last weekend to Nice, France and Monaco.  The train ride was very pretty once we got to the coastal side of Italy.  The train follows the coast with a view of the sea almost the entire trip through France.  I am so glad it was my last time staying in a hostel, forever I hope.  Its ok if you have a private room, but dorm style is not fun especially when you are alone.  It's inevitable that you will have a snorer.  After I checked in I walked to the coast on Promenade Anglais to see the beach.  Beaches in France are all small stones.  Not nearly as nice as the fine sand on Michigan beaches.  The next day I took a 3 hour bike tour of the city.  I really liked the bike tour, it wasn't too expensive and its a different way to see the city.  Beat walking around alone, thats for sure.






Two famous hotels from the Art Deco era.


Views from the Chateaux.  The chateaux is the site where an old greek castle once stood.  The ride up was ridiculously hard.  The ride down, however, was lots of fun.

Views from the chateaux down on the old city.
Views down to the port.

These little boats are protected by the city so that the people who own them cannot renovate or change them in any way without permission.  They're historically protected I guess.
World Wars monument.





Cathedral



The Museum of Contemporary art introduced me to a new favorite.  Yves Klein.  He is known for his signature blue paint and resin used in his work.  He also is famous for painting naked women completely blue and having them run and roll around on the canvases to produce abstract and organic shapes.  I think they look kind of like Seals. 

Yves Klein blue, torso sculpture out of resin.
This gallery was basically my Art Design Perspective 1 class from freshman year in one room.  Rauschenberg, Warhol, Stella, Smithson, and a bunch of other modern artists.