Life in the French Riviera

After Amsterdam we went back to our apartment and did absolutely nothing for about a week, we were exhausted from all our travels. And then our friend Jen, who we met in our Paris hostel, came to stay with us for a week. 

She was taking classes at Cannes International school and we were more than happy to host her for a week. We spent Saturday in Villefranche and then on Sunday she and I decided to do a quick tour (by train - 15 euro day pass) of the beautiful Cote d'Azur. She had classes all week so we had to take advantage of the little free time she had left. We started in Cagnes Sur Mer.

Which reminded me a little bit of L.A.

Cagnes Sur Mer was beautiful and just a few minutes away from Cannes on the train. If I could do anything over I would have chosen to spend the summer here. Cannes was so overpopulated with tourists from all over the world. Whereas Cagnes sur mer had some tourists, but nowhere near the amount that Cannes did. It was a quaint little Mediterranean town.

We stopped in town and got normal sized coffees (for once) and a box full of pastries. We then had to go up hill a bit to reach the top of the town, our destination - Musee Renior.  We enjoyed our pastries outside of the Renior compound. We weren't allowed to bring them in - No picnics allowed :(

Jen approves

Needless to say they were absolutely delicious.

After our scrumptious pastries we started the trek up to the Museum where Renior lived and worked.

 

The house has the most gorgeous views, basically my dream home...

 

Renior continued to paint into his old age. 

 

Seriously, these views... It would be hard not to be inspired here.

Except for that kind of ugly modern Building... I don't even know what it is.

The Museum was free entry because it was the first Sunday of the month (a very common practice throughout Europe). We made it before the lunch break so we had a little over an hour to explore. It closes for lunch from 12pm - 2pm.

Hello, I live here.

There is even art in the bathroom.

So after the Museum closed for lunch we explored the grounds. You can let yourself out so they leave this part open during lunch hours.

Olive Trees

The place is just absolutely gorgeous. If you are ever in the South of France please go. We only learned about it because a friend of Jen's recommended it and we are so thankful he did. We loved it.

Do you see the heart?

Fresh limes anyone?

We finished up outside the house and let ourselves out of the garden. We left happy and excited to continue our tour of the dazzling Cote d'Azur.  Hint: there is much more to come!