Even though Lent has begun, Carnival continues here in Nice.
Sunday afternoon we ventured into the fray, though we did wait until we knew the mob scenes would have dispersed.
With the new tram lines that opened about a year and a half ago, the Carnival and all its parade routes are all along the beachfront and central park, as opposed to up the main axe of the city as it had been for decades.
I kind of liked it better when it was going thru the streets and not along the water.
At any rate, first item of business was a ride on the merry-go-round.
A little video to put you in the mood:
Every year the Carnival has a theme. This year's theme is "Roi des Mascarades", or King of the Mascarades. This involves about 20 enormous floats, including the King and Queen floats.
Various artists, designers, cartoonists and sculptors are solicited from various countries to think up the various floats. This year's floats' ideas come from Italians, English, Americans, Indians, and of course the majority are French.
This one, not a great shot, is by a French artist and is supposed to be a machine or robot that chooses masks.
The float below is from an American press cartoonist named Chad Crowe. It is supposed to be a giant masked Pulcinella, carrying tragedy and comedy masks in his hands.
This next one with several "Russian dolls" is by a French designer and is called "Russian masquerade", saying "who is really governing Russia, Medvedev or Poutine?
I just liked this guys with birds on the backs and blades on their feet. So Bread and Puppet. I got wistful.
Below is a bad shot from behind of an Indian designed float, "Many Faces" where the slogan was "a many-faced suitor has no face of his own".
There was a float by a French painter called "Nice and its monuments" but all it turned out to be was these enormous representations of the "head" that is over the big library near our neighborhood - which you see below:
Another French float by a graphic illustrator - this one entitled "The Enigma of the Iron Mask", representing the muskeeteers and the Man in the Iron Mask.
This one is from France too. Nothing too significant about it.
This next one was called "Masked Justice" and it said it was "Tornado, Zoro's horse".
And here is one of the stars of the show, the King float: He is coming out of a box and has all the masks he has worn over the years.... there is like a whole thing going on underneath. It was REALLY big, don't know if you can get the sense from the photos....
The back of the King:
I just liked these tired troopers. You can see that the "stands" for the people who pay for a seat were all empty at this point.
This next float was far away but you can see the mess on the street. It was representing Carnival's theoretical return to the Old Town of Nice. This doesn't mean much to anybody outside of the city!
This one, poorly photographed in the sole contribution from the Italian press cartoonist, and is the Devil, masked - is he an angel or really a devil? It represents eternal deception.
This one below is also from the American: it's called "The Credit King" - the note said "a masquerade of excessive richness pulled by poor men whose feet are chained to credit cards"
Here's England's contribution: a tatooed man on a harley. No one knows what it means.
Another French float: a "masked boat"
You can see Estelle was pretty interested in this huge things. Look at the blue of the sea behind them.
This float was called "Freedom thru drunkenness, in moderation of course!" the subtitle was "Bubbles lead to drunkenness, drunkenness to freedom". uh, whatever.
Very poor photo below but it was called "The Chameleons' Masked Ball"
And here is the Queen of the Carnival - a truly impressive float - so BIG!
And look at what was going on under her skirts - all these people!
A great float!
And finally, a few videos:
One, a band playing in a gazebo. Whilst there we ran into an acquaintance named Gersende whose little girl Jade was born 6 days before Estelle. They enjoyed dancing together.
The hair cutting was using forks from her kitchennette.
Pierre, 12 yrs old, captivated Estelle by drawing stories for her.
Last night I surprised Thomas by calling in the babysitter and going out. We joined Craig and Doug and another couple friends of theirs whom we know rather well for dinner in the very trendy Mougins village. Lots of laughs.
This morning we were at the beach at 10 a.m. with a thermos of tea, croissants and a "ficelle", like a baguette but smaller, thinner and made of flour that is less "doughy". I brought jams, yogurt and bananas and we baked in the sun for 45 minutes before we couldn't take it anymore.
Estelle enjoyed walking along the edge.
The old diving platform that is closed off but in summer the local boys swim to it and climb up the side of the rock to jump off. Terrifies me.
The beach was empty except for divers, swimmers and kayakers. Here you can see a man who just walked up out of the surf in a wet suit and peeled it down to his waist. He was like the Muckle Man crawling out of the sea. Impressive.
Back at the ranch, some cooking to do.
Meanwhile, in pregnancy news, I have been not-so-gently encouraged to put my feet up to ensure I make it to 37 weeks. This was a hard pill to swallow but now after digesting it for a few days, I'm kinda looking forward to slowing down a bit earlier than I expected to! Let the "nesting" begin!
