Wandering into France

It isn't far from the Italian Piedmont to Nice, France. Several hours through vineyard hills and secluded mountain villages got us situated in the hotel and off to the airport to pick up my cousin.

Our next stay was in Vence, outside the city of Nice but very accessible to charming towns, cultural sites and day wanders. On such wander led us to St. Paul de Vence, a walled town with some remarkable galleries, restaurants and substantial photo opportunities. I had had the opportunity to visit some ten years ago and found it mostly the same except for more tourists than ever. I recommend morning strolls or evening and leave the mid days to the busses.

The Foundation Maeght is located on the side of town- a jewel of a museum. The other landmark for culinary hounds would have to be the Colombe D'Or.
A historic and well known restaurant, they have a lovely garden area for dining in the summer months and a stunning dining room with world class art. The artists were often cajoled into swapping their art for the meal, probably could no longer be done. Certainly not by these artists- Calder Picasso, Miro, Chagall, Braque and others. The hotel no longer gets stellar reviews but we had a Delicious lunch, were well treated and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Chicken with morels in a cream sauce, rack of lamb with perfect mashed potatoes made our dinner for the day.
For more information and history of this spot check out their website
http://www.la-colombe-dor.com/indexEN.html
 Wandering the village offered picturesque photo opportunities, interesting galleries, pleasant shops of lavender and souvenirs, and insight to a long running game of petanque. (These fellows also seemed quite comfortable being photographed.) Cats defended their turf from unsuspecting tourist dogs and all was well for the day.