Nice - Modern Art and Chagall

Yesterday I got up and made myself the rest of the pasta that I bought when I went grocery shopping with Virginie that first full day I was in Saorge. I had a leftover bottle of $4 wine so I gave that to her as  thanks and then I was out the door, walking through town on my way to the train station. It was surreal leaving this little paradise town - as if I was leaving my own home. I passed the area in town where the old guys always sit and of course there was one already - he gave me a nod goodbye. I passed the restaurant/bar we had drinks at the day/night before and said goodbye to the owner, who told me to come back because I'm always welcome. I walked through the nasty tunnel, which I had just done a few days prior, but which felt like I had done years ago. At the train station I did my first tag - picture below. I just had to do it there because this place touched me so much. As I was waiting at the platform a woman asked me if I was going to Nice, and when I said yes she told me that the train comes on the other side, so I walked over towards her. She was in her mid 60's - from England - but had lived near Saorge for years before moving onto Nice. She gave me some good tips about Nice, specifically that they had really great museums, such as the Matisse, Chagall, and Modern Art Museum. Perfect! The train took about an hour and a half and then I was dropped off only about 10 blocks from my hotel, so I walked over - checked in - dropped my bags and hurried off to the Museum of Modern Art. It was about 3pm now and I knew the museums closed around 5pm, so I wanted to see as much as possible. Pics below of the Modern Art - absolutely LOVED it. Notes below for more details, but it was inspiring. Also, there were terraces on the top of the museum with great views of the city. Nice really is amazingly beautiful. After running around the Modern Art Museum I walked over to the Chagall Museum, which was about 20 minutes away. I got there just before closing, but it's not a big museum so I was able to see everything. I wasn't aware that Chagall was so religiously influenced, but nonetheless there were some very cool textures and themes in his painting (pics below). I walked back towards my hotel after the Chagall, but decided to go to the train station to get a ticket for Arles, where I'll be going next. VERY excited about this part of the trip. Arles is supposed to be an old Roman city, with an amphitheater and a lot of artists. Instead of a hotel I decided to do AirBnB, so I'm staying in a room in an apartment with a local guy. Should be interesting to hear his point of view on the city - could be good to get he insiders tips. So my train leaves tomorrow around 2pm, and I get into Arles around 6pm. I have a little layover in Marseilles, which is apparently not that nice of a place, but I might just walk out and check out some of that city while I'm there. After the train station I grabbed a kebab and then walked around the old part of Nice - very beautiful and packed with tourists. Headed back to my hotel after that and passed out nice and early. I'm up now and will try to see some more sights before heading to the train. Might even try to fit in the Matisse museum, though it's a bit out of the way.

It's Monday now in the US. Hope everyone had a great weekend and you're off to a good week :)

Entrance to the Museum of Modern Art (National Theatre is across the way there)

LOVED this one

Big fan of this as well. The background of the shark picture is black, so it's basically a mirror. Great effect to put you in the picture. 

Recycled bottles - seen this in a bunch of museums. Very cool. 

Big fan of this one

I've seen this done before but it was beautiful with the violin

This was titled NYC#15. Def see it...

This was the last painting in the gallery, and it gripped me the most. The brush strokes are amazing - see in next few pics. 

Seen waling on the street

Seen walking on the street :)

Chagall Museum! 

Very religious in all his paintings.  

This was in the rotating exhibit portion - loved the use of double photos...

Saw this Polish store on the walk home from the museums :)