AzurAlive

French Riviera & the Printemps des Musées

Over 1,000 museums across 27 countries open their doors for free visits on a spring day each year. This year, the Printemps des musées day is Sunday, May 2, 2010.

Note, there's also Internation Museum Day. That's different. It's on May 18 this year, and organized by ICOM

And which museums participate on the French Riviera? Many of them. We've picked a few tasty morcels:

• The Musée d'Art et d'Histoire in Bormes-Les-Mimosas.
• In Grasse, lots of nicely fragranced museums: the Musée Fragonard, the Musée International de la Parfumerie, the Musée d'Art et d'Histoire de Provence.
• In Tourtour, the small Musée des Fossiles with its fossilised dinosaur eggs
• Musée Picasso, Musée de la ceramique in Vallauris.
• Musée d'Art et d'Histoire in Villefranche-sur-Mer, with some fencing animation.
• Dany Lartigues' colorful butterfly museum, the Musée des Papillons in St Tropez.
• Many museums in Nice, including MAMAC, with a guided visit there (in French) that begins at 10h30.

You'll find the complete list of participating museums on the web site: http://printempsdesmusees.culture.fr/

Sentier du Littoral: When not to go

On most days, the sentier du littoral or coastal path that winds alongside the Med, makes for delightful walks with views of the sea, sounds of gentle rumbling waves. 

However, there are days when you should stay away. When? Whenever it's very windy. On the Cote d'Azur, winds can pick up in the Fall and Winter. If the wind howls, don't assume that the coastal footpath is safe. It isn't. It gets wet and in some sections of the footpath, waves can leap overhead.

This New Year's day, a few folks learned this lesson the hard way. On the coastal path along princely St Jean-Cap-Ferrat, a few braved the winds to stroll along the footpath. Waves were crushing dangerously close. A strong whip of waves scooped six people off the path and into the sea. A family of three visiting from Germany thankfully made it safely back to shore. Two others also managed to struggle back to safety. A young woman wasn't so lucky and perished. 

Be safe. When the weather turns windy and waves start slapping the shore, stay off the coastal path. It won't be long before good coastal hiking weather returns.

Callas: Plane Crash

A single-engine Socata passenger plane crashed this morning around 10AM in the hills of Callas in the Var, France.

No details yet on causes of the crash - skies are mostly clear, winds are light. The likely explanation for the accident is an engine malfunction. According to witnesses on the ground, the engine coughed, stopped and the plane plunged and crashed and burned in flames.

All five passengers have died, including two children aged 8 and 13.