Apparently there's evidence that proves that vapour trails affect local temperatures. I don't know about that but we certainly had a lovely, sunny day in Parc Phoenix and I left my coat in the car.
To see the skies of the world call in at the Sky Watch site..
We were back in Parc Phoenix on Sunday afternoon. The original plan was to head back for another carnival fix but enough was enough and we changed our minds while passing the park and ended up enjoying the sunshine and seeing stuff we'd missed before.
Now I don't know if these guys were there last time or if they're newly arrived but, you know, even though they were behind glass they still made my skin crawl...
(And if anyone from Parc Phoenix is reading I believe there were simply too many of these guys crammed into too small a space..)
I'm taking a little diversion round Parc Phoenix again. I went back recently and whilst there spotted these two glorious birds. They were absolutely magnificent in their snowy whiteness and with those adorable tassels on their heads.
However, I have absolutely no idea what sort of birds they are so if you know could you tell me, please, for my records.
I've been feeling definitely out of sorts, either picked up a bug or have been eating "not wisely but too well" but today I'm back on the road albeit in a lethargic way...
This is the Nicole Brousse sculpture from a different angle as I tried to include as much of the figures and as little of the cord as possible. Impossible. I understand why the rope was necessary but its presence did spoil my enjoyment. The Parc Phoenix programme calls this "femme qui sort de la terre" (woman coming out of the ground) which seems nicely apt. The artist, however, calls the piece "L'infini" using a quotation from Blake: "If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, infinite." Love the sculpture, love the quotation...
Just in case you didn't know, the group The Doors took their name from this quotation too.
This was one of the pieces that did have a label. It was sculpted by Nicole Brousse more of whom here and is entitled "L'infini" I've only managed to catch a part of it as the ropes did get in the way no matter what angle I took it from. Briefly the entire sculpture was a series of several women's bodies disappearing into the ground. There was a strong sense of movement in all the pieces though the left hand and centre ones were my favourites overall..
Along with the animals, birds and plants Parc Phoenix is home to a display of sculpture and there are works of art dotted amongst the greenery many, unfortunately, without name tags. Some of you have already noticed the sculpture in the middle of the fountains that I posted here and, no, I don't know what it is either, but here's another one which I actually prefer. It's far more graceful and makes a pleasing frame for the water..
It's hardly surprising that swans are reserved for royalty; there's something very regal in their bearing and while I managed to get fairly close to yesterday's ducks which were so fluffy and cute I wouldn't attempt to approach this black swan mama. She was happy enough to gobble down all the bread people were throwing in the water but scooted away with her brood when I produced the camera...obviously camera shy.
PS Some self publicity: I've just started Around Valbonne Daily Photo if you can spare the time to visit me there.
I was very taken with this view across the park and the way the water softened the hard edges of the buildings behind. The gardens are situated right in the middle of a busy area with traffic laden roads on two sides and the airport runway less than 300 metres away. As you can guess it's not a quiet location in fact you can constantly hear the drone of planes taxiing as you wander through the trees and plants. The green calm of the gardens provides a welcome respite from all the bustle of everyday life...
In our house Saturday morning is too often devoted to household or gardening jobs. It all has to be done, of course, but it's nice to do some different for a change so this morning we escaped the rut and went to Parc Phoenix, a botanical park on the outskirts of Nice just opposite the runway for the airport.
It's a few years since we last visited and I'd forgotten quite how pleasant it is which is why I'm going to share some of it with you over the next few days. There's certainly plenty to see: musical waterfalls, a huge greenhouse with areas dedicated to the major climate zones, animals, insects, an aquarium and a playground.
France has its own flamingo population in the Camargue but their exotic cousins from Chile seem a little smaller to me though with the same astounding elegance and colour.
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