Anne's Travel Journal:

 

 

February 13, 1939 - on Board the Conte di Savoia

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We are sailing thru the beautifully blue Mediterranean Sea.  We saw the Balearic Islands, [archipelago off the east coast of Spain; main islands are Ibiza, Mallorca and Menorca] but otherwise no shore is visible.  It is calm and smooth – just rippling, with no waves.  It’s cool.  I am wearing my coat in the lounge.  We heard a lecture on Italy today.  We have changed our plan at Naples.  We are going to Rome instead of Pompeii.  We just must see more of France and Italy and so are already planning to come to Europe.  Next year South America; 1941, Europe!  Paul is playing bridge.  I’ll go below and try a manicure.  I would like to straighten my things up a bit in the cabin.  We dress for dinner and play Bingo tonight.

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When I got to the Cabin, I found our invitation to have cocktails with the Captain in a private room near the dining room.  I managed to get a manicure and dressed up for the occasion.  Our room steward said that though the invitation said 7:45, arriving at 8:00 was proper.  We took his advice, contrary to Paul’s idea, and got there very late!  We were the next to the last couple to arrive.  We only had time for one cocktail till they all thanked the Captain and left.  So sorry but it was my fault.  I had a champagne cocktail and it was very nice.  Since then, I have ordered them.  They are made with Italian champagne which isn’t quite so good as the French and the Italians admit it.  The Ship’s doctor who looked after me when I fell in the dining room was there and he came over and made us feel at home.  We were formally announced to the First Officer by some minor official, and he presented us to the Captain who was very nice, but I am sure he was very bored.  I was a bit uncomfortable as we were so late, but we had a drink and made our adieus and left with Paul telling me “I told you so.”  It wasn’t as big a thrill as I had thought it might be.  If the Dr. hadn’t been so nice it would have been rather difficult.  We didn’t know many and they were a queer mixture.

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Anne may not have enjoyed the cocktail party with the Captain, but she thought enough of it to save the invitation and paste it in her scrapbook:  

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February 14, 1939 - Cannes

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We arrived early at Cannes and had to take tenders into the City as our ship was too large to go in farther in the shallow bay.  It was cold as the dickens – wore my suit with my sweater and my fur coat over it, and was still nearly frozen.  I don’t know where to begin to describe the French Riviera.  We felt quite at home on French soil, Paul saying he had a feeling that he had been there before.  Cannes is beautiful - the lovely sandy beach, the shallow blue sea along the shore, the white buildings- mostly hotels, pensions, and casinos.  I never saw so many hotels.   We got into carriages or rather cars, first deciding to have the top back but soon found it entirely too cold.  In fact so far it has been cold everywhere except Madeira, and it was cold there in the shade.  It’s colder than New York was, here at Cannes.  As we drove thru the city, our guide pointed out the house where the Duke of Windsor met the duchess for the first time.  She had lived there.  He also pointed out a villa where they lived after they were married.  There were many beautiful villas, but all seemed old in comparison to California.  We caught glimpses of the Alps with snow covered peaks – high and so cold looking.  There are many plants and shrubs like we have.  We went thru little towns all along the Coast – Villefranche-sur-Mer, Antibes, and Cap d'Antibes, where the Duke and Duchess of Windsor have their villa now – a lovely cape extending into the Mediterranean Sea where many lovely villas of the very wealthy are located.   There are no nice sandy beaches here as there are at Cannes – these all have large pebbles.  We went along the coast all the way to Nice.  We saw more lovely hotels there than you could ever imagine in the world.  We drove around the city and finally stopped for lunch at the Negresco Hotel.  I shopped for powder and found a dear little hat, typical of Nice.  Before lunch we drove on over the grand Corniche drive, about 18 miles all along a very high road with beautiful views of the sea and the Alps, and shore lined with towns and cities.  We went thru La Turbie, where there were some ruins of an old Roman tower - a relic of the time when France belonged to the Romans.  We saw the castle where Eugenie, wife of Napoleon III, had lived.  We went on and on over the beautiful road, still so high, and looked down on Monte Carlo and Monaco – our first glimpse of this famed little principality.  It is not French, but is governed by a prince under the protection of the French.  We went on to Menton where we could see the border between France and Italy – a bridge with the custom house of the French on one side and the Italian on the other.  Then from Menton, we took the Petit Corniche drive, or lower drive, back to Monte Carlo.  We saw the Casino with the beautiful slip of flowers all in a formal garden between the streets leading to the Casino.  We went into Hotel De Paris to the Rest Room and stopped for a cocktail.  We stayed so long we had no time to go into the Casino and decided to go back to Nice for lunch and come back to Monte Carlo in the evening for dinner and see the Casino then.  We hired our driver to stay with us, but let the guide go back to Cannes.  We had a nice lunch at the Negresco Hotel, which I mentioned before, did the shopping-- powder and a hat is all- and about 5:15 started back to Monte Carlo  over the middle Corniche drive called Moyen Corniche to avoid the traffic which was very heavy on the lower drive.  It was 18 miles and getting dark, but we were all thrilled.  Mrs. F___ and Miss K____ were with us and when we arrived, we decided to have cocktails at a little sidewalk café, De Paris (same as hotel) but went inside as it was cold.  We had some champagne cocktails, and while we were sitting there a shabby looking young man with a sketch book began sketching me!  I didn’t see him, but Miss K___ noticed and told us.  Pretty soon he came up and showed it to us and it really was very good - flattered me of course, but it was a big thrill.   Paul gave him some 25 francs and I kept the portrait, and we bought a Saturday Evening Post for 12 francs – about 35¢- in which to carry the picture!  We then went to the Casino and were a bit disappointed.  It is run down and shabby, and its once glory and splendor a thing of the past.  Caliente is away beyond and we were disappointed.  There is a sporting club which is new and one has to have cards to go there, and it seems to have supplanted the old Casino.  However, Paul bought 10 chips and played awhile.  He lost, won and lost till he broke even and then quit, which is rather a record at Monte Carlo.  There were so many old people playing- rather pathetic with their paper and pencil watching the numbers and trying to work out a system to beat the bank.  We had dinner in a small restaurant there at the side and finally started home for the ship at 10:00.  We missed the 11:00 tender and had to wait till 12 at Cannes. We got on board about 12:30, tired and very sleepy and very much all in, but very pleased with our day in the famed French Riviera.  We sailed at 2 for Genoa.  Forgot to mention a stop at Eze – on the Grand Corniche where we bought some postcards, some rather risqué, and a doll – French type.  There was a very fine view.  It was all view up there with very precipitate slopes from the road, but such a nice protecting wall that we enjoyed it very much.

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Anne and Paul enjoyed the French Riviera so much that upon their return, they purchased property a block up from the beach in Corona del Mar, California because the area reminded them so much of the Riviera.  Their home was one of the first to be built in Corona del Mar and had an uninterrupted view out to the harbor. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Although the street is now jammed with houses and the view of the sea is partially blocked, the house still remains with many of its original features in tact. 

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Anne mentions the Duke and Duchess of Windsor.  Wallis Simpson, an American socialite divorcée, captured the heart of Edward, Prince of Wales, and became his mistress in 1934.  At the time, she was still married to Ernest Aldrich Simpson, an English-American shipping executive.  Edward ascended to the throne of England in January of 1936 and planned to marry Wallis as soon as her divorce from  Simpson became final.  This caused a tremendous scandal in England.  The Church of England and the conservative British establishment was adamant that Edward could not marry a divorced woman who still had two living ex-husbands. The king's ministers also disapproved, and many Britons were reluctant to accept an American as queen.  Edward was forced to choose between the throne and Wallis.  In December of 1936, in what has now become known as the "abdication crisis,"  Edward resigned the throne so that he could marry Wallis.  As Anne noted, the couple maintained a villa in the French Riviera.  The incident made headlines all over the world and in February, 1939, the notorious couple was still newsworthy.

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The Negresco Hotel in Nice, where the Stillmans lunched, is still there.  Anne saved this card from the shop where she bought her hat.

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This is the sketch the itinerant artist made of Anne.  It survived the journey and was hung in the Stillmans' Corona del Mar beach house as one of the souvenirs of their day on the French Riviera.  

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The mountainous region of the French Riviera is traversed by the Corniche Roads, three scenic routes running from Nice to Menton.  A "corniche" is a cliff road.  The Stillmans drove on all three routes: the Grande Corniche, the Moyenne Corniche and the Corniche Inférieure.  This postcard from Anne's scrapbook shows the route.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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This is one of the few postcards in color that Anne and Paul brought back from their trip.

 

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Here is a photo of the Stillmans and their sightseeing companions, Mrs. F__ and Miss K__ getting ready to go up the curvy Corniche.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the stop at Eze, where the Stillmans bought some souveniers.  The French doll is now one of my treasures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is one of the "risqué" postcards Anne and Paul bought at Eze.  They must have found them novel and probably enjoyed showing them to their more staid friends.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The Casino de Monte-Carlo, which the Stillmans visited that night, is still a famous tourist destination.  It is owned and operated by the Société des bains de mer de Monaco, a public company in which the Monaco government and the ruling royal family, the House of Grimaldi, have a majority interest.  Other principal investors at the time the company was formed were the Bishop of Monaco and Cardinal Pecci, the future Pope Leo XIII.  The Casino opened in 1863 and over the years has been expanded and remodeled.  It now includes the Grand Theatre de Monte Carlo and the office of Les Ballets de Monte Carlo.  Until recently, it was the primary source of income for Monaco.

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The next day the Stilmans visit a new country....Italy.

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