Walk along Promenade Amiral de Gasse

A beautiful walk on The Promenade. For History nuts like me, it is named after François Joseph Paul, Comte de Grasse, Marquis of Grasse-Tilly (13 September 1722 – 11 January 1788), who was a career French officer who achieved the rank of admiral. He is best known for his command of the French fleet at the Battle of the Chesapeake in 1781 in the last year of the American Revolutionary War. It led directly to the British surrender at Yorktown and helped gain the rebels' victory.
That said, it is ONE WINDY place to walk, we had to hold our hats in hands most of the time. As we were sauntering towards the Picasso Museum, I noticed a building where, turned out, Nicolas de Staël lived and died. (The tablet attests to the fact). De Staël born Nikolai Vladimirovich Stael von Holstein (Russian: Николай Владимирович Шталь фон Гольштейн) in Saint Petersburg, Russia in 1914. (His father, Russian Lieutenant General, Baron Vladimir Stael von Holstein was the last Commandant of the Peter and Paul Fortress). Family emigrated in 1919 because of the Russian Revolution.
Stael became a painer and was known for his use of a thick impasto and his highly abstract landscape painting. He also worked with collage, illustration, and textiles.
Then right by The Picasso Museum, we came upon an old... yeah...lol I can say THAT again... Roman Cistern!!! 😮
Granted, you can't see much, but still...Читать далее