Musee Massena on Promenade des Anglais, Nice

This museum sits alongside the Hotel Negresco on the Promenade des Anglais. So we have walked past it many times and today, after serious over-indulgence at lunch, it was this or a nap. Kunst redt, or 'art saves' as they say in holland!

The front door is at the back. As I walked in, the attendant asked for the ticket I didn't have and sent me to the small ticket booth at the corner of the building. There I was given a free coupon at a desk staffed by three garrulous girls and sent back inside. The attendant then welcomed me in and took the ticket. I don't think Napoleon would have put up with this, but I, full and sleepy, was happy to.

It is a beautiful palace that apparently tells the history of Nice through art. Malheureusement, c'est tout en Francais! That said, you can get a sense of it all....and that sense is of splendour, elegance and achievement. 

Superb rooms with marble floors, finely painted ceilings, gilt mirrors and panelling, embellished with art and artefacts telling the story of France and Nice over the last 200 years. Napoleon's death mask is there, together with a haughty portrait of Josephine. I spent a quiet hour admiring it all and a little longer in the gardens, where nicois sat and chatted.

As I was leaving, the attendant was explaining to another puzzled visitor that they needed a ticket to get in and that, yes it was free and no, she didn't have them and so on...