Nice. Go in Russian!
In February, Nice is a carnival. One of the three largest in the world: Venice, Rio, Nice. Very old – born in 1294, when the duke of Anjui came here to spend some pleasant days. Different balls, fireworks, mimes and other obscenities began, all this, like a fire, covered the whole city, caught artisans, scared fishermen masks. The church was extremely unhappy: paganism! In principle, this is the same our carnival, with a solemnly burning of the huge king of the carnival and followed by a great post. Only – southern carnival, sultry, sensual. Holiday of freed flesh. And going to this holiday bond from around the world.
Madness round day
Carnival – this is a half-blooded flower battery. Cyclopean baskets, covered with roses, gladiolus, mimosami, dahlias, carnations and top models, defiled by the embankment. Each (not top model, a basket) seven meters long and six in height, each on wheels and sleeping petals. Top models Thrust flowers in jealous from delight crowd. Orchestras rattling, but it’s just a surcharge, and the tale will be ahead.
Intrum lights up Massena. In peaceful days it is just a beautiful area with a fountain and garden. On the days of carnival battles on it, the whole prefabricated stadium erects, at home we dress at 120 thousand square meters of plywood, which contains 120 artists. Painted fun, with guikan and booms, which is why the hair gets up from mural. Then the whole of this joyful horror is decorated with 150 thousand light bulbs, which are worried and blame in the night sky. Some fiery wheels are spinning, sinister hellish smoke crawls, the people of Boyko reveal the cockroach places and jumps to each other in the face. From the cannuts of long colored pasta, they are hardening on the wave and plot all the counter – mouths, noses, carnival horned hats and eyes, so as not to see anything. People go to the excitement, richly sprinkles all the oncoming confetti, eats sugar clouds and builds terrible masks. There are no more adults, only children from three to ninety three. Holiday of liberated passion.
Passions of any other than aggressive. I do not know how it turns out, but no one hits anyone and does not offend. No one covers a good French mate and does not drink in the insole. People drunk just from joy.
But this is a surcharge. When everyone is already sitting on the stands, from the street with the clinical name Medsen begin to crawl different nightmarish monsters. The procession always heads the six-storey king of the carnival with a fashionable tattoo on the torso and a carnivorous grin of Gargantua. It is taken to the decorated sea oxidation chariot, the Gargantua is danced with a smaller, from two floors to human growth, and the niadas are tempting ahead.
They are followed by adsa bats, hugging the entire stadium with the black wings immediately and hollow eye coal. Multi-storey chefs go, tasty smoke with nutritional herbs. Pig sizes with two steam locomotive and kings-kongs with your favorite princesses on the tails, sing gei swans and whale fish, moves red-eyed plebs and long-tailed aristocrats. While all this suffocation solemnly defills the perimeter of the stadium, in the center on a huge blasting scene develops its work – they sing there, yell, dance and tumble. Sing, yell, they make hands in the tact and the tribune. Sing, yell and mashem than can representatives of the world elite, sternming in VIP-lips.
Last year, the parade opened the Anita Tsoi specially arrived from Russia. She ran into the stage in his traditional black chapel-tuxedo and sang three songs, two of our and one of them, Edith-Piafov, "NON, JE NE REGRETTE RIEN". Then on stage, flooded with lights, smoke and folk love, sang Gloria Geinor sang. The public went and oral. There was no more rich and poor. Only stunned from the fun participants of the carnival. Holiday of universal joy. The next morning, the hellish procession continues on the sun-flooded embankment, along the necklace of five-star hotels, the huge heads are radiant and still come in laughter. For us, this holiday, for a tens of thousands of actors, professionals and lovers – Nice residents who are specifically to the main event of the city for months Mastery Mastery Mastery Masters, is a job. In the slits of masks you can see eyes, slightly stunned from the heat and carnival fuss.
How Russians took Russian
And circle noise nice. The city where the Russians have always been their. Traces of this alliance are visible here everywhere. The first Russian invasion of the Cote d’Azur France happened a year and a half ago. The case was put at the imperial level – the brave columbus became Alexander Fedorovna herself. Russia wanted to have on the Mediterranean base for the navy. With this mission and granted a widded empress in Nice. It was 1856. English Queen Victoria will utter here only after forty years.
The base was chosen in Wilfranche Bay. Merchants-denunities and sea officers cheerful crowd poured on Nice embankments. Behind them, stepwise followed off offices of ancient Russian labor. And when Alexander Fedorovna solemnly cut the ribbon, opening the empress, the beauties of the city enjoyed more than four hundred Russian families.
Since then, the turbulent secular life of Nice has gained typical Russian unpredictability and scope. Mysterious oriental morals are recorded on the srices of the most romantic local legends. Russians chose the most prestigious areas of the city and arranged with incredible comfort. Prince Cherkasy, for example, loved that every morning in the garden I was met by a new floral pattern on the flower beds. He hired 48 gardeners whose task was fully changed at night. Baron Residence Dervis Background "Chateau de Valkarosis" famous for a rosary where a hundred gardeners worked. Even more than flowers, Baron loved music – he ordered the architect Makarov exported from Russia for 500 spectators. 70 musicians I "Khor" Of the eight singers, they performed here solely for Baron, his spouses, his children and households. But there were also torn concerts, where all the highest Nice Society was invited; The places were paid, the profit went on the development of the city. And once Baron, usually gloomy and noticeable, provided Nice 60 thousand gold francs for public purposes. In 1877, the famous charitable ball thundered by dervis. By that time, the glory of their home orchestra was so great (experts equated him to the orchestra of the Parisian Conservatory) that tickets to the ball, despite the exorbitant prices, it was impossible to get in two months.
The legend of the Russians – the prominent connoisseurs of music – strongly strengthened Prince Apraksin. Suffering from cruel attacks of melancholy, he kept with him some good violinists who had to dare his hearing at any time of the day and night. Music brought him into a completely suicidal arrangement of the Spirit. I had to introduce the position of the servant who stood behind his chair and at a critical moment was supposed to prevent his shiny to put a bullet in the temple. Rare minutes of enlightenment Prince asked expensive French cognac, mixed with a violent liqueur, and drank this cocktail for seven glasses in a row. Certainly biting fresh strawberries.
There was still Princess Suvorov, which was called "Madless". She spent all nights in the casino of Nice and close Monte Carlo, losing whole conditions, but not becoming the poorer. With her name, another pretty tradition is associated here, so accepted in the Russian hussar society, but for the backward West is extremely exotic – drink champagne from the ladies’ shoes. Having lighted the next state, the princess went to relax, she wanted to the will, in the pampas, she took off his shoes and stretched them away. They fell to the legs of some Mademoiselle Ontorin, Subretera of the theater "Palae royal". Actress, on stage who can effectively play any surprise, was not confused and in life – filled the aristocratic shoe champagne from the cellars of the widow cleaned and offered a toast for the hostess at home. And all guests removed on the shoe and fell off of them "Widow Kliko", and it seemed to them that the cold, never the setting sun of the North Palmyra rushed into the moment over the velvet night Nice.
Swimming through the ocean, the toast Subarotki Ontorin ignited the fantasy of Hollywood directories, and in the future all Russian heroes of all American films drank champagne exclusively from their own shoes. Just like in Russia. From the other famous Russians, Nice was visited by the frantic Herzen, awakened by the Decembrists, but having advocated the vigilance of the allocations. The bronze monument here stands here as a reminder of irreversible. Lenin visited here, who in the struggle to lock compatriots in Russia, traveled all of Europe. Lenin Nice liked. "It is quite wonderful here", – He wrote the sister, dreaming about the time when the proletariat will come to the redistribution of villas. The current appearance of the city has retained the Vitivatu Vych of these exquisite East-Western legends. Promenade des Anglais is a luxurious embankment – in the rays of the setting sun glows the mysterious light, dull and noble, which only wealth radiates, insane and careless, not knowing boundaries and goals. In the afternoon, very Moscow old women are sinking on the sun, in the veins of which Arbat blood flows, – the local Russian colony is already in the days of their youth, in the 1930s, there were five and a half thousand people.
On the threshold of new invasion
The second Russian invasion, you guessed, happened on the threshold of the 90s. The former proud adoption was no longer – we invaded timidly, not knowing how to use all this. Colleague told me a wonderful story about the new Russian, who came with a full suitcase of money, but without knowing any language, including Russian. Removed the number in Cannes "Carlton", where, he heard, the movie stars stop, and sat for a long time in the room, not knowing how to order food. While he did not save him the very same colleague, accidentally passed on the corridor. A week later, the representative of the newly minted Russian elite already knew that the most exquisite food was not only in "McDonaldse", He hit the waiters with unearthly tea and looked at the oysters.
When the Red Flag over the Kremlin was replaced by the tricolor, the business world of the French Riviera had already begun to get used to the sufficiency, with which Russians are buying the most prestigious homes and land in expensive Nice quarters. Then we met with a growl Viktor with Moldovans. He was extremely pleased with himself: just gave her young and the same red-haired spouse for the birthday of a magnificent villa halfway from Cannes in Monte Carlo, and now they celebrated this event. Before the newlyweds held their honey year at the hotel "Negrico", ordering in the bed champagne not on the variety, but to more. Catching once in the restaurant a couple of inappropriate views, Victor instantly changed the front-line blue-yellow pants "Adidas", in which at home went to listen to the concert of Alena Apina, on the costume from Bonucci, it was now smelled of a fabulously expensive cologne, and he gave the biggest tips, ever recorded in the memory chain of local waiters. They are sitting on the veranda of a beach restaurant and, melancholically sucking Jin-tonic, look at the sea, from where the Russian fleet came from. They have a kind of aristocrats in the first generation. And although we talk quite friendly, at the first attempt to speak about the nature of their amazing take-off of Vitya closes, becomes cold and alienated. As a tear background dervis.
Then local businessmen with alarm noted the resulting decline in the Russian presence on the Cote d’Azur. The waiters of luxury restaurants hastily studied Russian, but it was less and less. On TV talked about the crisis in Russia, about the massive ruins of yesterday’s rich, about the disappearance "middle class". But this was refuted by the funny persons of people who went on the database of direct flight Moscow-Nice. People were drunk, or from the wine, or from the air Nice, they were noticeably less, but they did not resemble the beggars. Drank dear wines, then shouting on the streets of Nice words that local waiters could not find in the dictionary. Cote d’Azur understood that crises come and go, and Russia is all the former. And nothing remains how to strengthen ties, so ancient and durable.
It’s not by chance, having been there once as a sought reporter, I now find colorful envelopes in my mailbox every week – from the Cote d’Azur, they are reported on the wonders that Russians are waiting there. Officially invites you to your endless tastings, the famous perfumery industry in the Grass – nothing equal to fragrances, which hovers over local branded shops, does not know the planet. Sisting guests at the parade of festivals around the coast – here is that neither the city, then their festival, their surprises and their no more than no similar sights.
In 2000, the unprecedented ramp. And ask to convey the invitation to everyone who read color magazines in Russia. Request executing. It remains to find money on the third Russian invasion.
