The Ridgewood Band goes to France

The Ridgewood Band Goes to France

The last week of June 2003, my band went to the France to play in the Festival des anches d'Azur which takes place in the beautiful little town of La Croix Valmer, near St. Tropez, each year at the beginning of the tourist season. Bands are invited from all over the world to participate in the festival. Here, in more or less chronological order, are some pictures I took while there .

We flew from JFK in New York to Charles DeGaulle airport in Paris. This is a view of the new Terminal 2.

From here we caught a connection to Nice.

Just west of Nice we passed this huge circular complex with interesting architecture. I don't know, I'm guessing its apartments, but it could be a business.

The mountains begin to get interesting.

At the vacation residence Le Parc des Chênes and all over the place, there are these large plants— some type of succulent.

A nice pool behind the Accueil. The bar is directly below where I stood to take this picture.

There are always a lot of welcoming ceremonies. Here we meet some of the staff and town leaders. Third from the left is Jean-Luc Wastable, director of the festival, and fourth from the left is our conductor, Chris Wilhjelm.

Some of the band hanging out on the terrace.

Heading up the hill toward our rooms. You can see John Palatucci (I think its him) on the balcony of our suite.

The view north from the balcony. The building toward the lower right is the Accueil. You can see a bit of the pool behind the trees. This gives you an idea of the height of the hill we had to climb to get to the apartment.

The view south from the balcony. You can just see the Mediterranean through the haze.

Walking to town there are these beautiful flowers along the way.

A view up the main street of La Croix Valmer.

A peek inside one of the shops.

A little further up the street, there is a little mall on the right.

Our first concert was in La Pradet a hour and a half bus trip west. Mountains fall directly to the sea in many places.

Rocks stick up out of the hills.

Another interesting mountain behind behind an old garage.

Yet another rock jutting up from a plain full of vineyards.

One more interesting shaped mountain.

La Pradet is a nice little town. I wish I had had time for more pictures of it.

Notice how the TV antennas point in many directions. Most buildings had three.

The next afternoon we had a tour of Cannes, Monaco and Nice. This is only one of the splendid hotels facing the harbor in Cannes. We had only a 15 minute stop there.

From high atop the hill of the old town of Monaco you can see the harbor and across to the casinos. The modern city is to the right.

I came across this interesting metal sculpture in the park. Its bronze color made it look like it was made of real cellos.

Coming down the hill, I found the antennae farm of Radio Monaco. I walked into the door on the right and got a peek at the control room. Unfortunately, there was no one who could show me around.

Downtown in the modern section of Monaco. Lots of tiny cars and scooters.

A beautiful old hotel in Monaco along the waterfront.

Back in La Croix Valmer the next day, we had a late morning concert on the mall. Here's the band getting set up.

Suddenly the Swiss brass band comes marching up the street.

Almost ready to play now. Desi and I played the Tuba Tiger Rag at this concert as a warm-up for the evening concert.

We had the afternoon to tour St. Tropez. The waterfront is lined with painters selling their works.

These shops and restaurants face the harbor.

This is a view up street leading up to The Citadel.

St. Tropez has a lot of lovely little streets. Tiny cars actually use them.

This little alley has tables for the restaurant.

This historic wall has bushes hanging down the side.

Looking up to The Citadel, four of the band members give me a shout.

This is one of the many old cannons they have on display there.

Inside the gate you can see the ancient mechanism for raising and lowering the draw bridge. A chain goes around the wheel. There is a similar ramp on the other side.