Traveling with the Jones

Ajaccio — pronounced “ah-YAH-cho”— is the capital city of Corsica, the fourth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea.

Although Corsica is located closer to the Italian mainland and Sardinia, it is a part of France — since 1768. As a territorial collectivity, Corsica enjoys a greater degree of autonomy than other regions of France.

Ajaccio is located on Corisca’s west coast, 210 nautical miles southeast of Marseille.

The city is home to nearly 70,000 residents who are known as Ajacciens or Ajacciennes.

5 Fun Facts to Know About Ajaccio

1. Napoleon Bonaparte was born in Ajaccio in 1769 just after the city became the capital of Corsica.

At the age of nine, Napoleon was packed off to military school in northern France. Although from mostly Italian-Corsican heritage, Napoleon rose through the ranks of the French military to become the leader of France and subsequently Emperor. For a time he also ruled most of Europe.

Reminders of Napoleon are everywhere in Ajaccio. Maison Bonaparte, the house where Napoleon was born, is a museum. There are statues and streets named after Napoleon. Even Ajaccio’s airport is named after the city’s most famous resident.

2. Ajaccio Cathedral, officially the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption of Ajaccio was built between 1577 and 1593.

According to legend, Letizia Buonaparte was in the cathedral on August 15, 1769 when she suddenly felt labor pains. She rushed her home, just steps away, and gave birth to Napoleon on a first floor sofa before she could reach her bedroom upstairs.

Napoleon Bonaparte was baptized in Ajaccio Cathedral on July 21st, 1771.

3. The founder of the world’s largest perfume company was born in Ajaccio.

François Coty — founder of the Coty perfume and beauty empire — was born Joseph Marie François Spoturno in Ajaccio on May 3, 1874. He later changed his last name to Coty, a variation of his mother’s maiden name.

After moving to Paris and studying perfumery, François created his first fragrance, Cologne Coty and founded Coty, Inc. Some of scents were inspired by the Corsican maquis, the aromatic scrubland that covers much of the island.

Today Coty, Inc — based in New York — is one of the world’s largest fragrance and beauty companies with more than $9 billion in revenue in 2018.

4. Ajaccio became the first French town to be liberated from the German occupation during WW II

On September 9th, 1943 –during World War II — the people of Ajaccio rose up against the Nazi occupiers. It was the first French city to be freed from German occupation.

On October 8, 1943 General Charles de Gaulle traveled to Ajaccio and proclaimed, “We owe it to the field of battle the lesson of the page of history that was written in French Corsica. Corsica to her fortune and honor is the first morsel of France to be liberated; which was done intentionally and willingly, in the light of its liberation, this demonstrates that these are the intentions and the will of the whole nation.”

5. Ajaccio is a good place to try the local wine.

Ajaccio AOC is an Appellation d’Origine Contrôlée (AOC) for wine made from grapes grown near the city of Ajaccio on sloping hillsides that look down over the Mediterranean Sea.

Sciaccarello wine grapes — the main variety grown in Ajaccio — tend to give both red and rosé wines a distinctive flavor. The vineyards are planted on granitic soil that is well-suited for wine-growing.

The Ajaccio AOC is just one of nine AOC wine regions in Corsica including the island-wide designation Vin de Corse AOC. Corsica is the most mountainous island in the Mediterranean, with the average elevation of a Corsican vineyard at 1,600 to 2,300 feet above sea level. While the vines receive an average 2,750 hours of sunshine per year, the sea and mountains temper the heat.

While the island’s climate is perfect for making wine, Corsican wine is not widely distributed. Most Corsican wine remains on the island for the residents and visitors to drink.

Check out these resources to learn more about Ajaccio and the island of Corsica:

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We recently traveled to Bentonville, Arkansas, mainly to visit the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art.

When in Bentonville, there’s another must-see museum.

Bentonville is the birthplace and world headquarters of Walmart, Inc. the world’s largest retailer, with more than US$500 billion in revenue and 2.3 million employees.

The Walmart empire began in 1950 when Sam Walton opened his 5 & 10 store on Bentonville’s town square. Today, visitors can step into Walton’s 5 & 10 and find a working store fill with candies, retro toys and souvenirs.

Walking through the store, we passed into the attached Walmart Museum. From videos, displays, old photos and other memorabilia, we learned how Sam Walton transitioned from this humble little store to the creation the world’s largest retailer.

In the Walmart Museum there is a re-creation of Sam Walton’s office. It’s obvious that he enjoyed hunting, flying small planes, and keeping costs low.

The museum has a self-guided tour through displays that detail the phenomenal growth of Walmart. As the photo above indicated, the company slowly added new stores in neighboring states close to the Bentonville home office.

Sam Walton had 10 rules for building a business. Rule #2 on the list exults “SHARE your profits with associates, and treat them like partners. Encourage your associates to hold a stake in the company. Offer discounted stock, and grant them stock for their retirement.”

The Walmart Museum hands out a brochure with the 10 rules. It’s translated in five languages in addition to English.

The museum holds Sam’s 1979 Ford F-150 pickup that he was famous for driving long after he became one of the world’s wealthiest people.

Visiting the museum made me wonder, “What would Sam Walton think of Bentonville and Walmart today?

I may have to re-read Sam’s autobiography, which was first publsihed in 1992, around the same time he died.

Admission to the Walmart Museum is free. The museum is open 7 days a week, from 8 am to 9 pm – with longer hours on Friday and Saturday, and shorter hours on Sundays.

Have you visited Bentonville, Arkansas?

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During the last weekend in March, we drove to Bentonville, Arkansas, which is only 210 miles south of Kansas City, Missouri. During our once-a-month weekend wanderings, we often fly to explore somewhere new to us, but this time we got in the car and drove south.

Why Bentonville?

As the birthplace and world headquarters of Walmart, the small city of Bentonville — in the northwest corner of Arkansas –has grown dramatically during the last 20 years to a population of nearly 50,000 people.

As Walmart grew from its small town beginnings, the company’s success made its founder Sam Walton, and his children, extremely wealthy. Sam’s daughter, Alice Walton used part of her wealth to spearhead the founding of Crystal Bridges, a world-class art museum in Bentonville.

The Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art opened on 11/11/11. Designed by architect Moshe Safdie and engineer Buro Happold, the museum’s glass-and-wood pavilions are nestled around ponds and forest trails on 120 acres.

Admission to the museum is free, but there is a charge for special exhibits.

The permanent collection at Crystal Bridges — valued at more than $450 million — includes American art from the Colonial era to the contemporary period.

The first art we experienced at Crystal Bridges was a giant spider (more than 30 feet high) in an outdoor courtyard between the museum store and the main entrance. It is Maman, a bronze sculpture by artist Louise Bourgeois.

The spider looked scary and familiar at the same time. Later I realized that we’d seen Maman before at the Tate Modern in London, and at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao. The artist made seven spiders — the original was created in steel, with an edition of six subsequent castings in bronze.

Once inside Crystal Bridges, we found a permanent collection of American art that spans five centuries from the Colonial era to the current day.

This is George Washington (The Constable-Hamilton Portrait) by Gilbert Stuart painted in 1797.

Along with two portraits of George Washington, the Crystal Bridges permanent collection includes iconic images such as Asher B. Durand’s Kindred Spirits (pictured above), Norman Rockwell’s Rosie the Riveter, and Andy Warhol’s Coca-Cola.

The art at Crystal Bridges includes more than paintings.

For example, this work — Depression Bread Line by George Segal — is a life-size work made from plaster, wood, metal, and acrylic paint.

At Crystal Bridges, art comes in many forms — hanging from the ceiling, standing life-size, and in high-definition video portrait with blinking eyes.

One of my favorite things about Crystal Bridges is the outdoor art that is stationed along four miles of walking trails.

The Fly’s Eye Dome, pictured above, was created by R. Buckminster Fuller in 1966. Inspired by the eye of a fly, Fuller designed the dome as his idea of the affordable, portable, self sufficent home of the future, with windows and openings in the dome to hold solar panels and systems for water collection. Fuller hand-built three prototypes of the his design; the 50-foot fiberglass prototype at Crystal Bridges is the largest.

In January 2014 Crystal Bridges acquired the Bachman–Wilson House created by architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Originally built in Millstone, New Jersey in 1954, the house was dismantled piece by piece, relocated to Bentonville and rebuilt at Crystal Bridges. T

Visitors to Crystal Bridges can tour the first floor of the Bachman–Wilson House free of charge, but a ticket for a specific visit time is required. A free audio guide is provided, giving details about each section of the house and its design.

Our visit to the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art was eye-opening. What a fantastic art museum that did not require a flight to London or New York or northern Spain. Just a few hours drive.

Have you visited Crystal Bridges in Bentonville? What museum do you recommend that’s close to home for you?

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Learn more about Crystal Bridges Museum of America Art with these resources: