Kilburnlad

Having spent time in Paris during 2013 and 2014 to improve my French, in 2015 I tried something different. I went to Nice on the Côte d'Azure for an immersive French course for the over 50s. The course was of two weeks duration but I arranged accommodation with a French family for most of May, giving me time to explore the area both before and after the course.

Nice was very different to Paris. People seemed more friendly and casual conversation was a lot easier. And, of course, Nice and the other towns along the Côte d'Azure are absolutely beautiful, a playground for the super rich and a delight for ordinary folk like me.

Being on my own for a lot of the time I adopted my usual approach of going places and wandering around to try to capture images that were representative without being too touristy, but in this collection there are of course beautiful views of the coast and the Riviera towns.

Probably my most rewarding experience was coming across the Fête des Mai that takes place in the Gardens Arènes de Cimiez on each Sunday during May. I actually went on the final Sunday when the May Queen competition was taking place. Sitting among the locals was a wonderful experience, there being little evidence of other tourists. I managed to converse with a local and understood some of what was going on on stage, but was totally lost when they spoke the local Niçoise language.It's fair to say that I fell in love with Nice, and the following year Helen and I returned for a holiday. We booked into an AirBnB apartment that I selected on the basis that the owner was local and the apartment appeared more homely than some that had clearly been acquired and fitted out specifically as rentals. The choice turned out to be a good one. The lady owner was more than happy to indulge my French and we got on very well. The apartment itself was close to the port and had a terrace which, while not looking directly over the sea, did allow you to see it. We stayed for just under three weeks and agreed that we would like to return. Amazingly on the first morning I bumped into a chap who had been on the French course the previous year, and who had returned again for the same course.

On this second visit I decided to experiment using my recently acquired iPhone 6S as my sole camera and must say that the results were more than acceptable. The only real limitation was the wide angle lens, which precluded optically zoomed shots and didn't allow a reduced depth of field in circumstances where this would have enhanced the photograph.

2015