New York City & Barritz France ~ In May of 2023, before joining Road Scholar in southern France, I visited NYC for theater/museums and then a few days at the delightful French seaside community of Barritz. I explored the coastline for miles with fabulous views of the ocean tideline, I visited museums, and I enjoyed fabulous French cuisine. A most exceptional way to relax.

Top row left to right from Barritz, France: (1) Lighthouse, (2) Villa Belza, (3) Bell of the Plateau de l'Atalaye.

Bottom row left to right from New York City museums: (4) Modjesko - Soprano Singer by Kees van Dongen circa 1908, (5) Boy Leading a Horse, aka Equus, by Pablo Picasso circa 1905-6, (6) Fernande with a Black Mantilla by Pablo Picasso circa 1905, and (7) Lady in a Park by August Mackeby circa 1914.

Ken, Barbie, Young Bruce Plenty Horses ~ by Juane Quick-To-See-Smith. She is a Native American visual artist and curator. She is an enrolled member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and is also of Métis and Shoshone descent. Reference

Equus ~ Boy Leading a Horse by Pablo Picasso, circa 1905-06.

Soprano ~ Modjesko - Soprano Singer by Kees van Dongen, circa 1908.

Lady in Park ~ by August Robert Ludwig Macke, 1914. He was a German Expressionist painter, and was one of the leading members of the German Expressionist group Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider). Reference

Fernande with a Black Mantilla is a portrait by Picasso which serves as transitional work in the artist's oeuvre. The work is somewhat expressionistic and romantic, incorporating a subdued tonality paired with lively brushstrokes. The painting portrays Picasso's mistress, Fernande Olivier, wearing a mantilla; perhaps symbolizing the artist's Spanish origins. Reference

Fisherwomen by Joséphine Jeanne Hélène Feillet, 1940. She was a French painter and lithographer. She is remembered in particular for the vignettes she engraved for albums illustrating Barritz and the Basque Country. Reference

Biarritz Lighthouse ~ The lighthouse was built in 1834. It stands 73 meters above sea level overlooking Cape Hainsart (so called because of the oak trees which surrounded it in the past, now replaced by tamarisks). The lighthouse marks the boundary between the sandy Landes coast and the rocky coast of the Basque Country. Reference

Bell of the Plateau de l'Atalaye is a landmark in the city of Biarritz overlooking the Bay of Biscay. This coastal area is known as Basque country, located in the western Pyrenees, straddling the border between France and Spain on the coast of the Bay of Biscay. Reference

Villa Belza is a neo-Medieval mansion and was built on a cliff between 1880 and 1895. Over the years, the Villa Belza has had multiple uses: several directors used the Villa's incredible scenery for their movies, and it also was a restaurant before becoming a sumptuous lot of 10-pricey apartments. Located near the "Trou du diable" (The Hole of the devil) abyss, locals like to tell stories about revenants and witchcraft ceremonies supposedly occurring in there, which helps maintain the Villa Beltza's mysterious and intriguing legend. Reference