Sending messages

One of the great things about travel -- as about life -- is meeting people and enjoying their take on things.

One of the interesting people -- and everyone was interesting -- I encountered on my most recent expedition to France, was in a place I least expected.

It was my last week abroad and the only museum in the area that wasn't closed for repair that I hadn't visited yet was a little spot off a little rue called Le Musee de la Carte Postale.

No Chagall, Matisse, Renoir or Picassos here. Those were in the surrounding neighborhoods and towns.

But in the two hours I spent in the two rooms that make up the museum, I learned history, culture, art, science, humor and anthropology. I learned about inventions, politics and careers as well, courtesy an interesting gentleman with a passion that was contageous.

With few exceptions, the cards were over 100 years old. He had the first postcard ever printed, the first card with a photograph, the first cards with color. He had 100 cards of early Paris, cards with flowers, cards chronicaling school children, cards featuring everyday life for women, cards about men, cards with families, cards with flourescent coloring, cards with moving parts, cards with surreal art, cards that pop-up, cards with mini records, cards with mini bags of salt from the Great Salt Lake (still being sold) and mini bags of copper from the Kennecott mine (no more), cards from Russia, cards from Japan, two-dimentional cards that require a separate contraption to look through and cards that -- when collected as a series -- make up a puzzle of Napoleon. And he had them much better organized than this list.

And I could go on.

There's something about being around someone who delights in something so much that he's made it a life's focus, that's inspiring. And there's something to respect about someone who then wants to share his passion with others every Tuesday through Sunday from 2 to 6 p.m. for 3.50 euros.

So if you're ever in Antibes with a few hours to kill ... don't miss the chance to enjoy a whirlwind tour of science, art and culture from someone who collects it in antique postcards.

But don't just enjoy the postcards. Enjoy the collector who shares their histories, their politics, their interpretations. Sometimes there's as much to learn from the messenger as the message.