Palms

Palms reflected in the just washed-down area outside the Grimaldi Forum.

Garnier's Opera House

We are looking at the rear of Monte Carlo's famous casino which includes an opera and ballet house.

The old Casino buildings were torn down in 1878 to make room, in less than 6 months, for the building of a new complex. Gambling was temporarily moved to the Hôtel de Paris. It was Charles Garnier who, after building the Paris Opera House, was to be in charge of the construction of the Théâtre du Casino and its large gaming room. He gave the building its present-day allure by crowning it with a cupola and two pinnacles. Sarah Bernhardt was the first to star at the Opera, where she recited a poem while waving huge palm branches, on January 25th, 1879.

The steps are a good place for a picnic lunch.

Grimaldi Forum - a View

Yesterday we saw the Gemballa cars outside the Grimaldi Forum. We have walked a few steps on - the sloping walls of the building are on our left and we see a decorative pool reflecting some palms and beyond you see the peninsula of Cap Martin reaching out to sea.

See those tall palms on the left. They stand in front of a restaurant/bar. Click on the link to see a pic I took about 18 months ago, whilst the wonderful Grace Kelly Exhibition was on.

La Porte Rouge

The Red Gateway is named for its ochre colour. You can see an alternative view in the smaller photo. It's situated between Boulevard Suisse and Avenue de la Costa, which is an area very near to the Hôtel Hermitage. Originally it was the entrance to an enormous private domain called Roqueville. The gate was built in 1819 by the son of the owner.

Nowadays, no domain - all is urbanisation - but the Porte Rouge remains.

A Monte Carlo Summer - la Gare

Monaco has a fairly new railway station. You can enter from various levels. Here is the view as you come down the escalator from the highest level - we are looking at the harbour from the St. Devote corner.

To get up or down involves escalators and lifts and happily, views like this. I look this standing on the moving escalator so am surprised the view remained pretty much in focus.

Fort Antoine

Fort Antoine is an early XVIIIth century fortress, built on the north-eastern tip of le rocher . It's now used as an open air theatre seating 350 spectators in a semi-circle. Click on the link to see the theatre from above. It's a magical setting for summer performances.

Below Fort Antoine is the prestigious Monaco Yacht Club.

Phoning home?

This man is working way above the Grimaldi Forum - that's the light green building you can just see in the small photograph. I haven't a clue what he's fixing. Does anyone know?

The Grimaldi Forum is where the beautiful exhibition - The Grace Kelly Years - was held last year.

'The Grace Kelly Years, Princess of Monaco'

This is the view from the bar on the first floor of the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco. It serves delicious sandwiches and is a great place to have a cool drink before visiting the amazing exhibition called 'The Grace Kelly Years, Princess of Monaco.' This wonderful exhibition, curated by Frédéric Mitterrand (nephew of the former President of France) took two glorious hours to walk around and to say it was moving is an understatement. If you happen to be in Monaco whilst it's still on, do visit.

The strange looking V shaped object to the right is part of a sculpture standing on a lower level of the building.

Have a drink in this bar - you can sit at a table, at the bar or relax on one of these sunbeds if you want.

Brass and Bougainvillea

This brass plaque, peering out from the bougainvillea, tells us that here, on the Rock, you'll find the offices of the Minister of State - you can see the building below. The bougainvillea is for Isabella of Naples Daily Photo who loves this plant - see this link.

Police Station!

Here's the answer to yesterday question! As you can see the building is a police station. Well done to Aigars Bruvelis from Riga, Latvia Daily Photo, who got it right. And welcome to the DP family, Aigars.

Square Theodore Gastaud

This is a secluded square, just in from the main port and just off the walking street. Musical evenings are held here on summer nights.

Grimaldi Forum

This is the 5-year old Grimaldi Forum - a magnificent centre for exhibitions and conferences in Monaco. If you click on this link you can read all about it and go on various Virtual Tours. Grimaldi is of course the family name of Prince Albert of Monaco and you may like to know - those of you old enough to remember, that is - that in the film The Red Shoes, Norma Shearer threw herself off the cliff at exactly the spot that now houses this conference centre.