Roaming the Riviera

Little boys dream of visiting Disneyland or going on a safari in Africa or flying to the moon; I have always dreamt about vacationing in the south of France and pretending to be a celebrity in the ranks of Serge Gainsbourg and Brigitte Bardot taking a breather from 1960s Hollywood.

We spent a day driving around the French Riviera: Nice, Monaco, Eze, St. Paul de Vence, Antibes, and Cannes. Though it was not as glitzy as I had expected it to be, it was filled with so much local art and culture enough to keep me inspired for years to come.

boater hat from The Garment District, tailor-made jacket, vintage shirt, H&M jeans, Club Monaco ring, Zara shoes

Lunch in Le Tilleul in St. Paul de Vence was the perfect accompaniment to the dreamy surroundings: light, well-executed, tasty.

an updated Nicoise salad with red snapper and poached egg

home made foie gras

magret du canard with apples and pistachios

Despite the gastro-rgasmic cuisine, the highlight of my meal would have had to be this nutty fellow strumming the guitar while doing a little bit of stand-up comedy just across the balcony where our table was. Everything in his outfit was perfection: the brown wool bucket hat that looks like it's been trampled upon, the rumpled tuxedo jacket in the daytime,

(note the toothbrush in his jacket pocket)

and to up the lunacy to asylum levels, Aladdin shoes!

This is what I want to look like when I hit 60.