Posted on 4th Jan 2019 20:45:09 in Muse Mag

Mastering the French language

It may be world-renowned as the language of love, but it’s also a universal truth that learning French can unfortunately be a labour of love. Our English roots leave us lazy, it seems everyone speaks English and so we’ve never had to make the effort to be understood. Yet, grasping even just the basics of the French language can be life-enhancing to enjoying more of the world you visit.

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Posted on 4th Jan 2019 20:39:06 in Muse Mag

Step 3: Keep with it

To become fluent, you must find a continuation method of learning. Once back home, commitment and practise are key. If you are not using the language you will get rusty, and though it will all be there somewhere, your brain won’t access it quickly enough to converse and you’ll sadly lose your French flare.

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Posted on 4th Jan 2019 20:32:46 in Muse Mag

Bring French into your home

Well done if you’ve taken the time and effort to go to classes and join groups. We bet you’re asking yourself “How am I not fluent yet?!’”. Everyone who learns a second language after the age of 10 has been here, but to further your language learning you must go that extra mile and try bringing French into your home. Try having a conversation every day in French in your maison.

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Posted on 4th Jan 2019 20:20:50 in Muse Mag

French courses & living like a local

One of the first fundamental steps to learning French is taking a French course. With bucket-loads to choose from, here’s a selection we can recommend. Most offer accommodation, but (and of course, we’d say this – but promise it’s true) none as good as Pebbles. The smart language learner pays for the course but books their accommodation with Pebbles.

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Posted on 2nd Apr 2018 15:12:48 in Guest Info

What's that boom? 12 noon in Nice

It’s your first day in Nice and you are sipping a cold drink on the Cours Saleya waiting for your lunch to arrive. Then BOOM! You jump out of your skin when everyone around you remains unperturbed. Don’t worry, it happens to all of us – for the uninitiated, this is the century old tradition of the Nice Cannon and a reminder to every self-respecting Nicois.

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Posted on 18th Jul 2017 17:08:03 in Muse Mag

Introducing the new Mr and Mrs Ettinger

Love blossoms between our stage employee and our Pebbles Guest

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Posted on 15th Oct 2015 17:38:55 in Muse Mag

The whole street corner has been closed off to prepare the scene.

Looking out from our Providence apartment in a quiet corner of Vieux Nice, you’d be forgiven for thinking you’d stepped back in time. But this week, you’d be looking at a moving picture of 1940s Nice...

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Posted on 23rd May 2015 11:30:54 in Muse Mag

Drivers line up in rows of three during the inaugural Monaco Grand Prix

Witnessed Lewis and Nico’s high-octane duel in Monte Carlo? Pah. During the first Monaco Grand Prix drivers scorned safety helmets in favour scarves and goggles.

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Posted on 20th Jan 2015 08:32:51 in Muse Mag

AN EARLY CHAGALL PAINTING OF LOZNA, NEAR VITEBSK, 1908

The world’s most famous artists – from Henri Matisse to Jack Vettriano – have chosen to make the Riviera their home, if only temporarily. What it is about this strip of sun-drenched coastline that inspired these great artists – and where they spent their time in the region.

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Posted on 26th Aug 2014 12:31:37 in Muse Mag

Matisse's former home, at the eastern end of the cours Saleya, Nice

The world’s most famous artists – from Henri Matisse to Jack Vettriano – have chosen to make Nice their home. In the first of a five-part blog series, we investigate what it is about this strip of sun-drenched coastline that inspired these great artists – and where they spent their time in the region.

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Posted on 19th Jun 2014 11:15:11 in Muse Mag

Nice Port's War Memorial - courtesy of Jesmar for WikiMedia Commons

Sited at the strategic crossroads of Europe, everyone has wanted a piece of France. Greeks, Romans, Vandals and Normans have all staked a claim. More recent invasions by Italians, Germans, Americans and Brits changed the course of history – much of it on the Southern French beaches where Europe now sunbathes all summer long.

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Posted on 10th Jun 2014 11:02:07 in Muse Mag

The Riviera personified:

In a recent interview with local newspaper Riviera Reporter, Vettriano confides, “I’m in Nice as often as I can be; I find the climate, the light and the people-watching there such a pleasure and very inspiring… Ultimately, perhaps it’s the light down there – such a counterpoint to the grey days spent in London or Scotland.”

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Posted on 10th Feb 2014 16:59:54 in Muse Mag

Breaking the Vault

In mid-July 1976, the bank’s Nice branch opposite Galeries Lafayette played host to ‘the robbery of the century’.

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Posted on 17th Dec 2013 13:32:00 in Muse Mag

Photographies tour Eiffel

Gustave Eiffel shocked and awed in equal measure. His avant-garde genius built monuments as diverse as Budapest train station and the structure of the Statue of Liberty in New York.

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