Learning can come through reminders about what you knew in the past but had long forgotten. This happened to me the other day as I followed my curiosity to see why a memorial exhibit for Martin Luther King, Junior entitled “MLK Après 50” was being featured at the Palais de Congrès in Grasse. Why would the City of Grasse be hosting such an exhibit on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of his death? It was odd, too, for this to happen in October since MLK’s birthday was in month of January and he had been assassinated in the month of April,. But maybe there was something more to this exhibit than an MLK memorial. Could this mean something about the crosscutting and broader impact of MLK’s legacy for today’s world of racial and ethnic divisions? Even in Grasse?
Food and Gender in Lyon
Discovering the unique character of Lyon in the world of food was an eye-opening experience for us. Well, a mouth-watering experience, too. And a tasting trip of refined simplicity, although much of it was so elegantly presented that the simplicity of the ingredients could easily have been missed. And we discovered, too, the strange and somewhat deceptive history of the famed “Mères de Lyon” (Mothers of Lyon).
Picasso and Ardéco in Vallauris
Vallauris has been a favorite haunt of ours for as long as we can remember. Famed for its pottery, the town has had its ups and downs. The walk along its main street, starting with Picasso’s famed statue “L’Homme au Mouton”, his powerful “War and Peace” panorama and a collection of his ceramic works in a museum at the top of the hill, and our personal favorite pottery shop Ardéco owned and operated by Gilbert and Martine Azéma at the bottom of the hill, is a nostalgic one these days. The town seems to be more “down” than “up”. Without being too disheartening, however, we were “re-inspired” by what we learned from our latest visit (27 June 2018). At the one end, we took in the special exhibit of “Picasso’s Vallauris Years” that is part of a two-year “Picasso-Mediterranée” project running from 2017 to 2019. At the other end, having been saddened last year by the demise of Gilbert Azéma and the closing of his famed Ardéco, we were thrilled to come across the reopened Ardéco under new management.
Flower Power in Grasse
On the occasion of the 2018 annual Rose Expo on 17 to 20 May in Grasse, celebrating its 2018 theme of “Flower Power”, we took advantage of the four-day event to savor the fragrances and lush floral displays along the cobble-stoned streets within the ramparts of the old town. This was not our first time to the annual Expo, since we had been May-time visitors of the region with my in-laws in years past, but this was the first occasion for us to explore the wide array of rose-oriented celebrations as actual residents of the town. Continue reading “Flower Power in Grasse”