Graham Greene's Antibes and a Brit's Frites

Overcast and rainy for much of the five days we spent traveling Provence, our journey was circumscribed often to various restraurants and cafes which settled perfectly well with me. Beginning with Antibes I admit that even capped by clouds, I was struck by the rocky beauty of the coastline and the small natural bay that has made it a thriving sailing and trading spot since well before Romans declared the Mediterranean "Mare Nostrum".

The city, despite its location, has long also been pugnaciously more independent and resistant to commodification than much of the other surrounding areas - so much so that the town was a favorite of Graham Greene who made just that point after moving to the city in 1966 to be near the woman he loved. Though they lunched together everyday at Chez Felix, neither left their marriage partners. The streets are perfectly picturesque and just as you would expect but, while theactual facades of the city have resisted change, the place is obviously accustomed to an annual besiegement of travelers, be they English or German, and consequently it has become an awkward spot of high night-life, and the cusine has taken a predictable tourist downturn. Most notably, a first meal of long-anticipated moules frites; while the moules, briny in a lovely cream sauce were delightful, the frites were tepid steak-cut "chips" in the British style - perfectly fine for and with any malt vinegared fried fish but not the delicate and crispy wonders that the properly done frite should be - an experience that makes all crave the wonders of properly done carbohydrates. We happened across an English language new/used book store run by a perfectly cantankerous English retiree who spoke fine French but refused to, and - we discovered after having it out that Mary Ann is Swedish - more than passable Norwegian. I looked but found only a tattered copy of Greene's "Our Man in Havana" and so passed over a half-baked plan to pass part of an afternoon reading him in the shadow of his building. Just as well; there was driving to do and gustatory ventures awaiting elsewhere.

-hp&ma