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Saturday, October 4, 2014

Mom's 1953 Europe Road Trip: French Riviera

From Mom's Europe trip diary, in the "PLACES VISITED" section: 
October 4, Sunday – Road between San Remo, Italy, and Aix-en-Provence, France
Went to Mass at Franciscan church [in Sanremo] where all the priests had beards.  This was church, which in addition to church in Norway, gave me a feeling of being close to God.  After breakfast, drove to border where we had no difficulty at all in crossing.  Ate lunch in Nice and drove down Promenade des Anglais (very fine beach).  Then drove to Grasse (perfume essences) and back to coast at Cannes.  From Cannes we headed inland and stopped for night at Aix-en-Provence, France.  Although weather was bad, thought Italian and French Rivieras very beautiful.

According to the "HOTELS STOPPED AT" section of the trip diary, my mother and her friends stayed at the Hotel Splendid in Aix-en-Provence, France.

Here is a view of the beach in Nice from the Promenade des Anglais (English Way).  I like to think of the three women in this picture as my mother and her traveling companions Sylvia John and Joye Murphy - except that this photo was taken 25 years after their trip:
Near Empty Beaches - Nice, France, 1978 [Promenade des Anglais, cropped] / Rob Ketcherside /CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Grasse is considered the world's capital of perfume.  There are three perfumeries in the town, all of which have been there since 1926 or earlier.  The Parfumerie Molinar, founded in 1849, is in a very pretty building, pictured below in 1989.
Grasse, Parfumerie Molinard [1989] / Christof Halbe (Self-photographed) / GFDL or CC-BY-SA-3.0

Here is a view of Cannes from 1979:
Cannes from Harbor [7 June 1979] / Roger WollstadtCC BY-SA 2.0

Here is the probable route for the day: 



This is the 58th in a series of posts transcribing entries in my mother's 1953 Europe Trip journal.


© Amanda Pape - 2014 - click here to e-mail me.

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