The Man in the Iron Mask

It's been the better part of a week since I last posted, and, as you can imagine, much has transpired in the meantime.

Sadly, as of Saturday, the two RAs I was closest to, Lily and Sara, are no longer with ASA Nice. They went home under some circumstances that still aren't clear to me. So we're a couple staff members down, which sometimes means we're stretched a little thin. I still have down time, but it's been more difficult when the whole program is going somewhere or in different directions to keep things under control.

On a more positive note, I have had a lot of fun over the past 5 days.

Friday, July 6, 2007
ICE SKATING

Friday evening I escorted a group of participants to the ice rink about 15 minutes from the lycée for an evening of skating. It had been several months since my last time on the ice, and it was good to put on some skates again. In all, about 15 people came. It was a good time, but many of the students left after only skating for 30 minutes or so. I stayed for about an hour and a half with a couple of the girls that wanted to skate longer, and I was grateful for the workout. I didn't get to go running on Friday morning.

Saturday, July 7, 2007
CANNES

L'Ile Ste. Marguerite and the Man in the Iron Mask. After an hour on our Peirani tour bus, we got off at the ferry dock in Cannes. We got on a boat for l'Ile Ste. Marguerite, a small island off the southern coast of France. The island was once a stronghold for France's coastal defense, but it was also built with a prison. In this particular prison, the legendary Man in the Iron Mask was held. While the prisoner's identity is debated, there was a prisoner held on the island by royal decree who was to wear an iron mask as part of his sentence. There were some great views from the island of Cannes and the Mediterranean. I've posted them on Facebook for those interested.

Le Musée de la Castre et la Malmaison. After a couple hours on the island and at the fort, we returned to Cannes for an evening on the town. I already visited Cannes a couple of weeks ago to see Guillaume, my friend from my mission, so I decided to devote the two hours of free time I had to visiting some museums and other parts of the city. I ventured off on my own, walking up a hill to a museum with an excellent collection of old instruments. In addition to its ancient instruments, The Musée de la Castre is a museum containing artifacts from early human civilizations In South America, Africa, and Australia (or was it Europe?) as well as a collection of authentic Impressionist and post-Impressionist paintings. Some of the paintings dated back to the years when impressionism was big, while others mimicked the Impressionist style with great skill. Still others were obviously inspired by and contained elements of Impressionism but varied in their execution.

The exhibit on instruments, however, was undoubtedly the best part of the museum (at least it was in my mind). It appears as though part of the museum is converted from an old church, and the chapel of the church is the room housing the instruments. There were predecessors to the harp, the violin, and many stringed instruments, as well as interesting percussion pieces. Some of the instruments looked more like farm equipment than instruments, but they were all clearly labeled as instruments.

After the Musée de la Castre, I made my way down the hill and across the main part of town to the Malmaison, another museum which supposedly contains Picasso exhibits from time to time. Since I knew the big Picasso museum in Antibes is closed this year, I had really hoped to see some Picasso in Cannes. No such luck. The collection of paintings was small (not more than a dozen or two in all), and there wasn't a single Picasso in the whole place!

Although I appreciated the contemporary art on display, I didn't necessarily agree with the artists' messages or style. The paintings were all done in a single style where thick black lines were used to give shape and depth to the cartoon-like pictures. Most of the paintings were mock movie posters, and they were all politically charged. The thick black shaping lines of the images gave a geodesic appearance to the forms represented. The handwriting in the caption boxes and lettering appeared to be that of a kindergartner, and some of the subject matter was questionable at best. What was interesting to me was to see what artists today are doing. This seemed to be a new and unique style. There were certain elements of cubism, but the school of painting had something novel about it. When people are studying art history in a few years, they might just learn about what I saw while the paint was practically still drying on the canvas.

I had a nice dinner across the street from the Palais des Festivals where the film festival takes place each year. I could see the red carpet from my table. The food here is so good. I had a wonderful salad, steak, and dessert. Panna Cotta, I think it's called. It was amazing.

After an uneventful evening bus ride home, I decided to call it a day.

Sunday, July 8, 2007
CHURCH

After missing a Sunday at Church on the 1st, I was very excited about going to Church. Knowing several missionaries in the mission also got me thinking I might no someone serving in the ward. I was not disappointed.

My first experience on the Nice public bus system was quite pleasant. The bus driver refused to let me buy a ticket on the way to Church, so I got a round trip to Church and back for the price of one trip on the bus. Also, I was able to stay for all 3 hours, much to my surprise.

As I walked into the chapel (a beautiful white building on a hill with palm trees in the yard), the Elder playing the piano quickly stood up and came excitedly toward me. I soon realized it was Elder Kyle Hamilton, one of my roommates my first semester back from my mission. He was excited to see me, and I was excited to see him. It's almost like I can't travel around France without running into someone I know at Church. We had a great talk and discovered I live in his area. How weird is that?

When Sacrament Meeting came, Elder Hamilton's companion pointed out an American family that didn't speak French. I offered to translate, which they reluctantly accepted. They wanted to hear the talks in French. At first I only gave them an idea of the topic and let them try to pick up a word here and there. But by the time the counselor in the Stake Presidency stood up to speak, they were ready for me translate the whole talk. It brought back some memories from the mission, except that I was translating from English to French in Canada. It's much easier to translate into one's own language, but it was still hard to keep up. The talk was great, and I felt the family and I were both edified.

I took a few pictures after Church (check Facebook) of the building and with Elder Hamilton, and bid him 'til next week. I thought when I left I'd also have next Sunday morning off, but it sounds like I won't. I'll just have to catch up with him when he gets back to BYU in 6 or 7 months, and I'll have to try to get to Church in Aix-en-Provence when we're there in a couple of weeks.

ANTIBES and JUAN-LES-PINS
I made it back to the lycée just in time to eat lunch and get on the bus for Antibes, a resort town between Nice and Cannes but right next to Cannes. The ride was about 40 minutes. Our first mission upon arriving in the city was to find a restaurant or a bar with a TV so the guys in my group could watch the Wimbledon Final. Since the majority of those wanting to watch the match were guys, I was chosen to head up the activity.

We quickly located a bar with a TV and then went our ways. When the Final started, we all met up again at the bar. I don't like watching sports on Sunday, but when it's part of your job, what can you do? (I don't like working on Sunday either; this job is the first time I've ever had to work on Sunday.) Despite the less than ideal circumstances, I have to admit the match was great. The players were very evenly matched (a Spaniard named Nadal and the famous Swiss player Roger Federer), and the match went back and forth. These were the same two finalists in the French Open, where Nadal beat Federer. We watched the first three sets in Antibes, followed the fourth by Blackberry on the bus, and found a restaurant to watch the fifth in Juan-les-Pins. Federer won the match in the fifth set 6 games to 2, I believe.

After the match, all the staff met for dinner at a wonderful restaurant on the way out of the downtown area. We then got on the bus, and headed back to the lycée, completely exhausted.

Monday, July 9, 2007
SHOPPING

Nothing exciting happened yesterday, with the exception of a few wardrobe acquisitions. This might not be exciting for all my readers, but it was to me. After a slow day around the lycée, it was nice just to get out.

I got a cool retro-looking track jacket from a sporting goods store and pair of flip flops from another sports store. I'm happy with both purchases. I've decided I need some more European-looking clothes for when I'm in Europe, so you might never see me in some of these things in the States.

Tuesday, July 10, 2007
NOTHING

Today has been even less eventful than yesterday, but I have some amazing plans for the next few days, including mini-golf and the Harry Potter debut. I'll keep you posted.