Tram Tuesday - Le Cannet

I have received a complaint - from a member of my own household, no less. The complaint was something along the lines of : "Enough already with the French Riviera trams!" If you happen to feel the same way, know that this is the last Tuesday of French Riviera trams, at least for the foreseeable future.

How can you not love these cards that transport us back in time to give us a glimpse of daily life in the beautiful Le Cannet though? I especially like the first two, because they appear to have been taken in sequence.

Here are a few closeups of the two cards.

The same man seems to be on both cards along with the young men who are probably up to some kind of mischief.

The trams that traveled to Le Cannet would have been part of the Tramway de Cannes system. The Cannet line opened in 1899. By 1907, the Tramway de Cannes also linked with the Tramway de Nice (TNL). Early service on the Tramway de Cannes was uncomfortable and apparently plagued by accidents. There was a particularly nasty accident in 1913 where several tramcars plunged into a ravine, killing 18 and injuring another 25. In that same year, newer more modern tramcars were purchased, including #30 shown above. Still, with an assortment of cars of different vintages and low power, the system was especially vulnerable to competition from bus lines. Tram service ended in 1933.
Here are a few more views of trams in Le Cannet.

The card above shows an open car, which would have been a fun ride, except perhaps on dangerous curves over steep ravines. This card also shows the Pension des Heliotropes. I would love to stay there, and, while I think it is still there, I don't think it operates as a pension anymore. Here's a listing from a 1943 paper that seems to indicate that the pension and all of its furnishings are being sold.

Danish Butterfly

A few weeks ago I posted a card showing a butterfly very similar to this one. That card was from Malta. This Danish one, sent to Ivar Pettersson in Stockholm in 1907, is a little prettier, and this  woman has antennae.

Here's the back of the card.

Gardens

The theme for Sepia Saturday this week is gardens. I have many boring postcards of gardens. That's because it's very difficult to capture the essence of a garden in a small photo, especially a grainy black-and-white photo that then has fake colors added. I do like to look at those old cards of people on promenade through elegant gardens though. You get a sense of the social significance of gardens. They were places to play and socialize as well as places for quiet contemplation.

View from the other side

And then there are the family photos in gardens, a chance for a more casual portrait than might otherwise be acceptable. Here are some photos of my ancestors in their garden in Berlin at the turn of the century. When the city of Berlin was divided into two parts after World War II, this fell on the east German side and my family lost this property. Today there is an apartment building on the site. In the picture below, my great grandmother sits in the chair in front, while my great-great grandmother is on the very left.

Another photo (circa 1906)  shows what appears to be a greenhouse, with my great-great grandmother on the left and my great grandmother in the middle. The smiling young boy is my grandfather. He died during World War II, so I never had the chance to meet him. His sister Käthe is on the right.

And then there's this odd photo postcard, not in very good condition, showing my grandfather, the youngest, and his siblings.

Here in Oregon, we love our garden, especially during the warmer months when we can cook and eat outside. We look forward to that season with much anticipation during the rainy winter months. The benefit of all those rainy months is that everything grows vigorously here.

Even things you may not want to grow vigorously. For more on this plant, visit this previous post.

For a veritable worldwide garden tour, head over to Sepia Saturday.