Garden Dreams - Italian Pots

A pot for your garden? Or perhaps a fountain? These are made in Italy.

Garden Dreams - Signs

You could buy a sign, painted on wood and pretend you are an artist. I should probably buy the one shown in the smaller photo but unfortunately not all my dogs can read - it says 'Beware Vicious Owner.'

The flowers are Proteas which are normally found in South Africa and Australia.

Garden Dreams - Deckchairs

How about buying a pretty deckchair, kick back and enjoy the view?

Garden Dreams - the Look

Same lady as yesterday - same wonderful hat. Don't you love the look from the man alongside her?

Garden Dreams - Hats

And some Monte Carlo ladies wore hats...

Garden Dreams - Elegant Ladies

Dressed-up ladies are a feature of this Garden Club event. Some with hats, some without as you see here.

One of the most popular features of Garden Dreams is the competition for the best flower arrangement with prizes handed out by Princess Caroline, who we'll see later in this series.

Garden Dreams - the Velvet Elephant

You want an eight-foot velvet elephant or a friendly cheetah (perhaps it's a leopard?) then you've come to the right place although I can't quite work out how either would cope in the rain. Perhaps they are simply on display as part of this year's theme at Garden Dreams which is an hommage to Africa.

Garden Dreams

This weekend you'll find tents galore on the terraces of the Casino with everything you can imagine for a garden at 'Rêveries sur jardin' which means Garden Dreams.

Do come back tomorrow...

Rent Me!

If you haven't got a Ferrari, you could always hire one of these...

Life's a Beach

Life's a beach, especially for the guys who work on it.

Hidden

Peer through greenery and you might find a nice surprise. This lady hides in a tiny garden at the back of the Hotel Hermitage.

Charlie's Feet

You may well ask the reason for a photograph of a seagull's rear end.

The best I can do is tell you that I was waiting for FNAC, a shop in the Metropole Centre to open - so I wandered down to the area below the Casino and, having nothing better to do, stood there snapping the gulls. This one's feet reminded me of Charlie Chaplin...and he always made me laugh - or cry.

Grand Prix - the Barriers Go Up

It won't be long now...the steel barriers are going up ready for the Monaco Grand Prix. This is the restaurant we saw yesterday - the roses look a little different behind a wire fence. Note: this is simply a light interior barrier - the outer barrier is much tougher.

Roses for Lunch

An spray of roses over your lunch table? This is the Pacific Restaurant in the Metropole building on Avenue des Spelugues.

Mailboxes

It's not easy to find a private mail box in Monaco. Eventually I found these three in a small street at the back of the Hotel Hermitage.

More usual are rows of mailboxes inside the foyers of apartment buildings (which can't, of course, be photographed) or private mail boxes in Monte Carlo's post office which you see left and below.

Please click here to see how others around the world have interpreted today's theme.

Bubble Bath

It's amazing what girls will do for a bit of attention in Monte Carlo...

'Cloclo' - the new Claude François film - the Extras

These actresses had to walk in front of the Casino Gardens in animated conversation. The couple in the last photo are waiting for Claude François to leave the Casino - at which point they will look across and stare at him. See yesterday's post.

'Cloclo' - the new Claude François film

Monte Carlo's famous casino and square was taken over yesterday morning by a film crew who are making 'Cloclo' based on the life of Claude François.

Claude François was an incredibly popular singer in the 1960s and '70s in France. His formula for success was adapting British and American rock and roll hits for the French market. If you've never heard of him, then think of the Frank Sinatra classic 'My Way' which he co-wrote with Jacques Revaux. The song was known in France as Comme d'habitude (As Usual). Paul Anka supplied the words to My Way.

In March 1978 he's returned from a gig in Switzerland to in his Paris apartment in order to appear, the next day, on 'Les Rendez-vous du Dimanche' with TV host Michel Drucker. While standing in a filled bath, he noticed a light bulb that wasn't straight, tried to straighten it with his wet hands and was accidentally electrocuted. His tragic death at only 39 years of age brought a wave of public sympathy for a French national treasure.

The part of Claude François is played by Jérémie Rénier (seen coming out of the casino in this photo) who bears a remarkable resembles to the late singer. However, despite is pretty boy look, Francois was a tortured soul and not always the nicest of people. Well, we'll all have to see the film, won't we?

Mas Provençal - Tomatoes

And if you are still hungry as you leave the restaurant you could always grab a tomato...

Mas Provençal - the Dancer

If you are looking for a beautiful restaurant, where you dine in a forest of flowers, look no further. This is the Mas Provençal at the foot of Eze village.