Monaco Yacht Show

The Monaco Yacht Show started yesterday - wall to wall luxury yachts, thousands of people, a perfect sunny day.

Some of the yachts are so big they reflect several smaller ones.

Classic Week - the Cruise Ship

Even Classic Week doesn't stop the massive great cruise ships arriving in Monaco. This is the Ruby Princess, her decks crammed with passengers getting their first view of Monte Carlo.

Classic Week - the Bubble Car, Audrey Hepburn & 'Monte Carlo Baby'

This BMW Isetta or Bubble Car as they came to be known is moored alongside a yacht that displays a poster for an Audrey Hepburn film. Look behind the car and you can see the poster. Presumably the car appeared in the film?

Monte Carlo Baby was made in English and in French (Nous irons à Monte-Carlo) and Audrey Hepburn, who spoke fluent French, was the only actor who appeared in both versions. It's one of the earliest films Audrey Hepburn made (1953) and on the set she met Colette, who suggested her for a role in the stage production of Gigi, leading to the film version and the rest, as they say, is history.

Classic Week - Hospitality

Organising Classic Week takes a lot of staff. Here we see some of those involved in hospitality at the Yacht Club of Monaco.

Classic Week - 'The Yarn of the Nancy Bell'

How about this! A poem on a piece of kit. 'The Yarn of the Nancy Bell' is a well-known ballad by Sir William Schwenck Gilbert written in 1866 and rejected by the editor of Punch as ‘too cannibalistic.’ It has often been compared to Samuel Taylor Coleridge's 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.' (1798).

You can read the whole poem by clicking on the link, but here's a taste - pardon, the pun...


'And then we murdered the bo'sun tight,
And he much resembled pig;
Then we wittled free, did the cook and me,
On the crew of the captain's gig.'

Classic Week - Flying the Flag on 'Tuiga'

This crew member has climbed Tuiga's massive mast to fly the flag of the Monaco Yacht Club. Tuiga, who celebrated her 100th birthday two years ago, is owned by the Club. You can read about this gaff cutter, a beautiful maritime ambassador for the Principality - HERE. There is even a club in Monaco for her admirers called 'Spirit of Tuiga.'

In the photo below you can see how far the sailor has had to climb - not a job for the scaredy-cats amongst us...

Classic Week - Happy 100th Birthday to Mariquita

Mariquita (Ladybird in Spanish), is a 38 metre gaff cutter and is the only survivor of this class of racing yacht, which disappeared after the Great War. This year she is 100 years old. From 1911 to 1913, Mariquita raced 69 times, winning 35 regattas - no small feat. After the war she went to Norway, was renamed Maud IV, then came back across the North Sea in 1924 to sail under the flag of her new co-owners: Sir Edward Illife and Alan Messer. Then, in 1939, Mariquita's history took a dramatic turn - once again she was sold and literally dismembered and remained for more than fifty years in a boathouse. She was saved from her Pin Mill mud berth in 1991. Restored by Fairlie Restoration, and launched again in 2004, Mariquita immediately took up racing in line with her glorious past and successes.

It takes a dozen strong sailors to haul Mariquita's 500-pound gaff to the top of the mainmast, dragging hundreds of pounds of sailcloth up with it. (see first photo) Today Mariquita is rigged with synthetic fiber rope, but otherwise the yacht is sailed just as she was when she left the Scottish shipyard of William Fife & Sons in 1911.

Classic Week at Port Hercule

Monaco's fabulous Classic Week started yesterday - real boats that sail...

We'll take a closer look over the next few days.

Bang Bang

You'll find this wonderful old cannon on the promenade overlooking the port of St. Jean.

Wedding at Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat - Waiting

A young wedding guest sits at the base of the war memorial outside the Mairie, waiting for the ceremony to be over.

Wedding at Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat

There were two weddings in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat on Saturday - maybe more - I saw two. This one was a relaxed affair with standing room only. It took place at the Mairie (Town Hall) - such a pretty building.

A peek through the window (last pic) shows one of the dignitaries who presided over the ceremony.

Breakfast at Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrrat

Baguette, Nice-Matin, a cigarette - taking home breakfast in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat.

Colour in La Turbie

'Man needs colour to live; it's just as necessary an element as fire and water.' ~ Fernand Leger

La Turbie - Reflections

Reflections in a restaurant window in La Turbie.

Ayrton Senna's McLaren

Not often you see a Formula One car in Monaco, except during the Grand Prix of course. Here's a very special one. This is Ayrton Senna's McLaren in which he won the 1993 Monaco Grand Prix. It's on display in the new McLaren showroom on Avenue Princesse Grace.

I photographed it through the window, hence the reflection of palms and then saw the door was open so was able to get up close and personal.

Scene at Dusk

Early evening on the forecourt of the Grimaldi Forum. The light is fading fast although the sun still shines on Cap Martin in the distance.

And a small boy does what small boys do...

Watersport

Parasailing off Larvotto Beach - have you done this?

The View From...

From the Jardin Exotique you are looking down on much of Monaco.

Sign of the Times

The creation is called Le Signe du Temps and is by sculptor, André Bücher. It stands below the Grimaldi Forum and was given to Prince Rainier III on the occasion of his Jubilee in 2002 by the Swiss community in Monaco.

Touched by the Sun

Night falls over Port Hercule but the sun still touches an enormous cruise ship out at sea. She's too big to enter port, too big to tie up to the relatively new pontoon.

In the smaller photo, another ship spews black smoke as she leaves that pontoon - onward to new playgrounds.

These were taken from the Jardin Exotique - the cacti and succulent garden way above the port and Fontvieille. In the distance you see Cap Martin and beyond that - Italy.