Luckily I am in pre-launch status for ABOVE THE BAY OF ANGELS, doing about an interview a day and talking about my experiences in Nice. So I have to keep checking the photos I took the last time I was there to remind myself what it was like. And I thought I'd share a few today to warm us all up. That coastline is one of the most stunning on Earth.
Luxury yachts sparkle on blue water. This is in St. Jean Cap Ferat, which was close to our apartment and one of our favorite places to go for lunch. (It was also featured in my book as King Leopold of the Belgians built a villa there for his young mistress, and very savvily also bought up most of the land. Today an apartment there sells for millions.
This was the view from where we rented an apartment to do my research. It's in Villefranche-sur-Mer. (so called because the town helped keep the area free from pirates long ago and thus acquired a tax-free status)
And this is where I spent a lot of my time, up in Cimiez, where Queen Victoria stayed and most of the buildings date from her time there. This is from the Roman Amphitheater that actually plays a small part in my story.
This is a man-made waterfall, part of the city's original water supply, that was one of Queen Victoria's favorite outings. The bus ride up to it is hair-raising as it zig zags up the hillside extremely fast. But the view from it is worth the danger!
Lastly here I am, slaving away for my craft. (one does need a little time away from libraries, antiquarian bookshops and Queen Victoria's haunts. (yes, those are oysters)
Aren't we lucky to have these brilliant photographs that can take us back to places we've loved. I see the tiny black and whites of my childhood and they don't evoke memories in the same way. What is the best place where you've ever done research?
What lovely pictures . . . thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteWell, I’ve never really done research in the way you mean, but I’ve spent some time wandering through the National Air and Space Museum at the Smithsonian to prepare some space science lessons . . . .
Joan, I remember visiting the National Air and Space Museum at the Smithsonian a long time ago. Loved it there!
DeleteDiana
It's one of my favorite places!
DeleteThose are wonderful pictures.
ReplyDeleteSadly, I haven't gotten to do any research like that.
Wow! Just spectacular scenery, Rhys. What a joy it must have been to do research in such a beautiful place. I can't wait to read about this setting in Above the Bay of Angels. I think it might have me slipping down the Queen Victoria rabbit hole of extended reading.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I haven't done research for writing, the best real place that my reading has taken me is the island of Moloka'i, the Hawaiian island where on one side of it is the former leper colony of Kalaupapa. After reading Alan Brennert's book Moloka'i about an seven-year-old girl who was sent to Kalaupapa after being diagnosed with leprosy and me going to the island of Oahu four times, I really wanted to go to Moloka'i and see the place where this powerful historical fiction book had its roots. I was not disappointed. The irony of how beautiful it was there and the suffering and isolation that those sent there experienced was only truly appreciated through that visit. And, Moloka'i has the highest sea cliffs in the world, which I didn't know before my visit. As I said I visited the Kalaupapa side of the island, where there is a very small landing strip for the very small plane I took there. The two ways from one side of the island to the other once you're on one of the sides is either to hike over the mountain or ride a mule. I declined both. If I go again, I'd like to visit the other side, too, which you can do by being flown in there from Oahu, too. Here's a link by a travel writer who was also inspired by the book Moloka'i to visit. https://wanderlustcrew.com/molokai-leper-colony-kalaupapa-hawaii/
Wonderful photos! I had a lovely trip to Santa Barbara a year ago as research for Nacho Average Murder, which will be out in June. The weather was a welcome break from New England, the scenery is stunning, and we went all the places I later took my protagonists: the Mission, the pier (complete with fortune teller), the tower high in the city hill where you get a 360 view of the area, a restaurant on the beach north of town (where my sisters and I would take my mother for a special meal in her later years), the mid-week farmers' market, even the local ice cream shop.
ReplyDeleteBoy, I wrote that pre-coffee. Protagonist (not plural). City Hall, not City Hill.
DeleteI so agree about the old black and white photos! They are pallid versions of our memories, for sure.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was writing my second book I interviewed people in various places, including two on Bainbridge Island, Washington. I took the ferry from Seattle, and despite the dreary, drizzly weather, it was such a beautiful place it took my breath away.
Lovely warm photos for a (truly) cold Sunday on the mid-Canadian prairie...
ReplyDeleteAs for research, none for a book. But I spent part of my gap year in Paris, wandering the streets, visiting museums and monuments and I discovered a lot about art. I particularly loved the Jeu de Paume with all the Impressionists. I went back to see them many times during my three months there.
What Amanda said, about a cold Sunday morning. Just viewing those lovely photos, Rhys, warmed up my cold bones! My research was in the field--out of the city and often deep in the countryside, spending lunchtime with my legs dangling over the edge of a riverbank, or on a ridgetop above a creek in a quiet valley--if our work took place before construction began on whatever project required our services beforehand to meet federal/state requirements.
ReplyDeleteWhat beautiful pictures for a cold, snowy day. Thanks, Rhys! I have a few questions about your research: do you have friends in Nice or someone you can contact in case you need unexpected info when you are back home? Do you speak French? Do the people in Nice speak English?
ReplyDeleteI dream of travel but my hearing loss makes it very hard for me understand accents, even British ones.
I have a degree in French and speak fluently but no friends there unfortunately a reference librarian was really helpful to me
DeleteCathy, if it is ok to share with you,I have hearing loss too and I learned how to travel, starting with family travel. I kept notes in my travel log and it takes practice. I started travelling on public transit on my own in my teens when I was in school then started travelling by bus, plane and train when I was in college. I always brought pen and paper so I could write notes. Most people, I find, are understanding about my hearing loss.
DeleteDiana
Thanks, Diana! I was born with hearing loss and I, too, occasionlly resort to note writing. It's easy nowadays with smartphones! I use my Notes app. :)
DeleteLovely photos! New Orleans...the smell of the pavement after a shower, the endless array of flowering bushes, the mockingbirds and purple martins, beignets and chicory coffee, fried shrimp po'boys, shotgun houses painted every color on the paint chart, WWOZ jazz blaring from car radios.
ReplyDeleteLove those pictures, Rhys... What a life! My favorite research was going back to Beaufort, South Carolina for YOU'LL NEVER KNOW, DEAR. It's such a beautiful town, water views, great food, and I had an old friend there who was willing to ferry me about. Thanks, Connie!!
ReplyDeleteHallie, I saw beautiful photos of Beaufort, South Carolina.
DeleteDiana
I'm looking at your pictures of Nice and then looking out the window at snow falling, third day now. We have about 16 inches. And under all that snow is a half inch of ice. Still I don't long for my years in Arizona.
ReplyDeleteRhys, about high ceilings, I noticed there was a ceiling fan. If you can, reverse the direction so that it blows up, not down, and turn it on low. This will force the hot air from the ceiling down to the living area without creating a draught. We have an old house with high ceilings and fans in all the bedrooms. They are remarkable for distributing heat where we need it.
I haven't done research since college, so I don't have a "best place." But if I did, I think it would be Tuba City. Living and working on the Navajo Reservation was an experience that I treasure.
Jealous!!! You and John look marvelous - what a beautiful place to suffer for your art! Paris, London, Tuscany, and Ireland haven my most exotic settings to date but I do dream of writing a travel based series one day. Japan is presently on the top of my list!
ReplyDeleteNot a bad selection!
DeleteJenn, did you live in England when you wrote the Hat Shop series?
DeleteDiana
Love these pictures— I’ve been to France several but never to Nice. Looks like I need to add that to the list.
ReplyDeleteI’ve never traveled for research, but the first time I went to London was like research in reverse. Nearly every street and building looked familiar after years of reading.
Rhys, it's in the fifties here in California. Wonderful photos of you and John. I have not done research since college. If I ever decide to write novels, I would love to do my research in a cozy English village or in Scotland / Wales / Ireland or Europe. Perhaps Martha's Vineyard if I decide to write a historical fiction novel with MV as a setting?
ReplyDeleteDiana
Glorious photos, Rhys. It's in the 50s in SW Florida right now, and I know what you mean about cold. It's unexpected, and falls overnight. Without an adjustment period, it strikes hard.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite place to do research? Sint Maarten in the mid 1980s when it was still a quaint Caribbean island. I have several unpublished books set there. Sint Maarten these days is unrecognizable to what it was then, but I still think of putting out a period piece.
Hadrian's Wall -- but the only Roman soldier I've written is a ghost still patrolling there 1600 years later. :) I also found the Pont du Gard inspiring but have yet to dream up a story that takes place there.
ReplyDeleteSeveral summers ago I was doing research at the V&A extension in Hammersmith, London. The weather was, errrr how should I say, much different. It was in early July, right before they went on summer break. It was 50 degrees Fahrenheit, the wind and rain were horizontal, the umbrella was about to launch me as Mary Poppins II, and as I trudged to the study room, I stopped and asked myself-- why am I doing this? In the future, I will be smart like you and find more creative surroundings. LOL
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