The National Museum - Villa Sauber - la Belle Epoque

The Villa Sauber is the National Museum of Monaco. It houses the famous collection of Dolls and Automatons.

The 'Belle Epoque' (1890 - 1914) was distinguished by its exuberance and exaggeration in every field. Architecture was no exception to this phenomenon. The Second French Empire was marked by a strong urban development where an eclectic style drawn from the French was developing. The Cote d'Azur, with luxury hotels mushrooming, showed numerous architectural examples of that era.

The Villa Sauber, which houses the Galea collection, is a model of the genre and was built by Charles Garnier, architect of the Paris and Monte Carlo Opera Houses.

The National Museum - Dolls & Automatons - Charlot

This museum used to be known as the National Museum of Automatons & Dolls of Yesteryear. Now it's simply the National Museum of Monaco but the permanent exhibition, known as the Galéa Collection, is still that of the dolls and the automatons which are wondrous. Then there are temporary exhibitions, the current one being Botero's circus paintings - we saw a few of those last month.

Come visit the museum over the next days. We'll look at the beautiful Belle Epoque building itself, the Villa Sauber, and see some of the sculptures outside and of course a few of the wonders inside and I'll tell you about Madame Madeleine de Galéa.

Today, we see a display just inside the entrance where we pay to go in.

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.

Gemballa!

Every now and again Monte Carlo Daily Photo presents a photograph of a rather special car or a leggy blonde - this, you understand, to satisfy a certain male readership of this blog. We aim to keep all our readers happy, so today, meet a few of the Gemballa cars, displayed outside the Grimaldi Forum on Avenue Princesse Grace.

For we mere mortals, I understand that a Gemballa is a sort of super Porsche that looks amazing and goes very very very fast. Price seems to be well in excess of $300,000. I read in one article that a Gemballa is the wet dream of every Porsche enthusiast! So you get the picture...

These photos show a Gemballa Avalanche GTR 600 and a Gemballa Avalanche GTR 650 EVO-R. The last car is a Gemballa GT Aero 3 Sport Exclusive,which, being bigger, is I suppose what you buy when you've met the leggy blonde, married her and have 2.5 gorgeous children.

If I've made any mistakes over the names of these cars, please will someone tell me and I'll change the copy. The leggy blonde is your problem.

Apollon Oblitéré - Sasha Sosno

Apollo Obliterated, was created in aluminium in 2007. It stands in the gardens of the National Museum of Monaco on Avenue Princesse Grace. Please click on scupltor, Sasha Sosno's website to see more of his work and to read his bio.

The End of the Croissant

Breakfast for two at the bar of the luxurious Centre Métropole in Monaco.

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Today is Monte Carlo Daily Photo and Menton Daily Photo's 2nd Birthday! Two years in which I've learned so much, not least that I'll never use a normal handbag again. A camera bag has replaced it! Why doesn't someone make a pretty camera bag for the evening?

I'm so lucky to live in such a beautiful part of the world but it's photography that has taught me to really 'see' the beauty everywhere. What a gift! And it's been the best fun to try and share it with you.

• Merci to Eric in Paris, who started it all and without whom this amazing City Daily Photo community wouldn't exist. I'm so proud to be part of it.

• Merci to Demosthenes and Igor, who work so hard to keep us all up and running.

• Merci to many amazing photographers who inspire me every day and special thanks to one who answers my endless questions with so much patience and generosity!

• Merci to friends who have visited (either in reality in Menton, or via the Internet) and for your kind, encouraging and knowledgeable comments.

The Winter Coat - 2

Winter coats are made for trees too - see yesterday's post. Many of the tender trees in Monaco are protected in this way during the winter months. This one is in Fontvieille.

The Winter Coat

The port of Fontvieille - and a coat that caught my eye!

"An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind" - Mahatma Gandi

Heliport - the 20-Minute Trip

A helicopter flight from Nice to Monaco takes 7 minutes. Here you see one of the company cars advertising the St. Tropez trip from Monaco. Only 20 minutes - quick and stunningly beautiful by air. The same trip to St. Tropez by car, especially on that very windy road once you are off the autoroute, can take forever, especially in summer.

Five years ago a friend hired a helicopter, so he could photograph his house in Apricale (in Italy) from the air and I was lucky enough to be invited along. We met up here at the Heliport - no rude comments on the clothes and clogs! My friend wore a headset with a microphone so he could communicate with the pilot and everyone snapped away like crazy. As we flew home he told me to show the pilot where I lived so we could photograph my house but I couldn't find it. Everywhere looks different from the air! When I got home to Gorbio, friends in the village and my neighbour told me there had been a helicopter zapping around the valley...never did get that photo!

Update on Mama Mia and Mistral on Postcards today.

Heliport - Men in Red

Maintenance workers at the Heliport clamber all over one of the helicopters.

In the smaller photograph, we see a group of them enjoying the antics of the circus tigers when they were here in January. The circus adjoins the Heliport. The men, not in red, are a television crew.

Heliport - the Helipad

The Heliport is in Fontvieille, just near to the Circus Big Top, the beautiful Princess Grace Memorial Garden and the Columbus Hotel. It's a 7 minute ride from Nice airport and the cost of the flight includes a private ride to your hotel or home.

Theme Day: Paths & Passages

To get to le rocher (the rock) you park in the car park cut deep into the rock way below. Then you take an escalator and then a lift (elevator). When you leave the lift, you can then take another escalator or walk up this pretty pathway which leads to the beautiful Musée Océanographique above. An attractive way to exit a carpark, I think you'll agree.

Today, being the 1st of the month, it's Theme Day on City Daily Photo (Paths & Passages) and as always there will be a myriad of wonders to see on blogs throughout the world. Please click here to view thumbnails for all participants

Circus! - Botero

The last day of this circus series so let's see some more of 'Fernando Botero & the Circus.'

It seems from comments on the posting a couple of days ago that whilst most love his work, one or two found the expressionless faces on his obese figures somewhat disconcerting. I did a search on this and found this:

"Once you get past the size of the figures, though, perhaps the oddest thing about Botero's style is the blank, expressionless looks on his figures' faces. They appear distanced and distracted, providing a tabula rosa upon which viewers can project their thoughts and feelings.

There's this blankness to his figures that functions as a kind of mirror," said Don Bacigalupi, a former contemporary art curator for the San Antonio Museum of Art who is now the director of the Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio."

To read a fascinating article on Botero, including the words above, please click on the link.

There is a notice by the paintings saying that Botero was in Mexico when he saw a circus parading down the street. It wasn't a circus, as in Europe, but a poor circus that reminded him of those he saw as a child in Columbia. It was this that inspired this series of paintings and drawings.

Circus! - the Popcorn, the Dog, the Children & the Tigers

We are outside the tiger enclosure. The dog doesn't take his eyes off a bag held by the child - a bag of popcorn.

No one is holding the dog's lead but then a labrador isn't going anywhere when popcorn is around...

Circus! - Fernando Botero & the Circus

To coincide with this year's Festival of Circus, the Nouveau Musée National de Monaco Villa Sauber has mounted an exhibition of the paintings of Columbian artist, Fernando Botero. His figures, as always, arevwonderfully obese - even the animals. The exhibition is open until the 1st March.

Several of Botero's fabulous sculptures are displayed in the Principality. You can see Adam & Eve and Woman Smoking a Cigarette by clicking on the links.

Circus! - the Supermarket

Part of Carrefour, the big supermarket in Fontvieille. And why show a boring image of a supermarket check-out, I hear you ask? Well, as you see it's decorated in honour of the circus festival, as were many other shops in the Principality. With so many acts from so many different countries coming to Monaco to compete for a prize, it's considered one of the most prestigious circus events in the world.

Circus! - the Big Top

The Big Top in Monaco is actually known as the Espace Fontvieille. That's because it's in Fontvieille, which is the land in Monaco totally reclaimed from the sea.

The Espace Fontvieille (literally the Fontvieille Space) welcomes the Festival of Circus every January but for the rest of the year it's used for exhibitions, for the annual dog show, horse events, trade fairs, church bazaars. Rarely is it out of use.

The Big Top has four poles that support the enormous roof (you see two in the smaller photograph) and it's 58 metres in diameter. It can accommodate just under 4000 people. There are many smaller tents that adjoin the Big Top to give even more space. Click on the link to see a photograph taken from above.

Circus! - the Performing Dogs

The Performing Dogs were kept in three separate exercise areas along the walkway where we saw the catering vans.

Look at the intensity in this little one's eyes.

You are see more of these lovely Circus Dogs on Riviera Dogs today and over the coming days.

The dogs come from Germany and are part of Wolfgang Lauenberger's Performing Dogs. See photo below - not one of mine, but taken, with thanks, from the non-official Festival International de Monte Carlo website. If you want to see photos of other circus acts performing in Monte Carlo, this is the place to go.

Circus! - Coffee and a Cigarette

Outside the Circus Café. Talleyrand wrote this about coffee:

Black as the devil, hot as hell, pure as an angel, sweet as love.

Circus! - the Television Crew

They decided to film in front of the boutique - changed their minds and filmed with the circus van behind the journalist.

This van is used to carry the clowns around, even Princess Stephanie got in at the end of the free outdoor performance on Port Hercule.

Circus! - the Elephants' Home

I wonder if these elephants know that this tent, where they sleep, is alongside one of the most expensive apartment buildings in Monte Carlo?

Circus! - the Elephants

There were three elephants and their accommodation is near to the heliport. You can see the circus tent in the background. We are in Fontvieille - on land reclaimed from the sea.

The elephants look content and well fed, although I have no expertise. They've got a few tree trunks to move about. I remember last year seeing one of the elephants rocking back and forth, which perhaps indicated stress. Not so, this year.

Tomorrow, we see where the elephants sleep during their stay in Monaco.

Circus! - the Boss Man

He has an air of a circus man - a certain swagger. His velvet cord shirt is embroidered with horses, yet he walks comfortably around the tigers.

I got the feeling he's probably the 'boss man.'

Circus! - Pigtails

Some of the horses had long flowing hair in beautiful condition - you could almost see them shake their head and say 'Come up and see me sometime.' This beauty sported several plaits. Isn't she gorgeous? Actually, I've no idea if she is a she or a he or an it but certainly this horse is a beauty. There are 15 horses are part of the Troupe Giona.

The great day has finally arrived! Barack Obama, an intelligent, charismatic, charming, thoughtful man brings change and hope to America and so to the rest of the world. Happy Inauguration Day, Mr President.

Circus! - the Lunch Queue

The circus arrives with its own catering facility. Here you see the circus workers, from those who clean out to the animals to the stars of the show. Each has a lunch ticket and once they've collected their lunch, they'll eat in the tented area beyond.

Every area around the Big Top is used for the circus animals. The elephants are by the Heliport, the tigers and horses are just at the back of the tent itself. Here we've walked past the Columbus Hotel, past the Princess Grace Memorial Gardens and along a walkway by the sea. We are looking towards Italy - you see Cap Martin in the distance. Not a bad place for lunch. Bon appetit!

Circus! - Roger & the house-trained Tigers

Meet Roger Flack, the trainer and tamer of the tigers. Well-fed and in great condition, the seven tigers eat 200 kilos of red meat a day.

You see them playing in the smaller photo. If you enlarge it, you'll see a wooden frame just below the large wheel. The tigers squat over this box to urinate. It stands, presumably, over a drain. Well they are cats, after all and that's what cats do but it hadn't occurred to me that circus tigers would be house-trained. They are!

Circus! - Tiger, Tiger

The circus is in town! This is the 33rd International Festival of Circus at Monte Carlo and it's considered the most prestigious event in the circus world, with acts from all over the world competing for the coveted prizes.

This festival was started by the late Prince Rainier III. Princess Stephanie of Monaco, youngest daughter of Prince Rainier and the late Princess Grace, is known as the Queen of the Festival - she opens it and she takes a massive interest in everything going on, including overseeing the care of the animals. You see her darting about all the time, a big smile and 'Bonjour' to all the Artistes of the Circus.

Today we see the tigers - seven, including three white tigers - in an enclosure just outside the circus tent. (Click small photo to enlarge) They were playing like kittens and all in magnificent condition. I get upset when I read of circus animals living under poor conditions - not so these. They obviously adore their trainer and it was a privilege to be so close to these magnificent creatures.

Do take a look at Tamarindo Daily Photo and David's post on the Las Pumas Rescue Centre. You'll see a marvellous photograph of a beautiful jaguar.

Tomorrow - we meet Roger, their young trainer.

Kermesse Oecuménique - the Snack Bar

So many people giving of their time for this charity event. Loads of tasty snacks for people to buy at a very reasonable price.

And a great group of people willing to pose for a photograph. One called another, 'Come on, time for a photograph,' and in no time everyone was ready. Smile!

Today is the last day of the Kermesse pics. Tomorrow - something large and very dangerous.

Update on Mama Mia and Mistral - please click on the link.

Larvotto Beach - Blue on Blue

We're breaking away from the Kermesse for a day because I want to show you Larvotto Beach taken the day before yesterday. Calm weather, as you see and sunshine, although it's still a little chilly.

High up on the hill and in the distance, you see the luxurious Vista Palace Hotel with its helipad, and further down, you see the Monte Carlo Bay Resort which we saw the other day - from the opposite direction - when we were at the tennis club.

Today though, a deserted beach to enjoy. Blue on blue.