Tp Marques - Smile for the camera ...

More pretty girls at Top Marques and all of them happy to smile for the camera ...

Even tho the first photo is blurry, there's something I like about it - a playful, natural look to her lovely smile - so here it is. 

Top Marques - the Bruichladdich Distillery

Top Marques isn't only glamorous supercars and wildly expensive watches.  Meet the Bruichladdich Distillery from the Hebrides.  Mark Reynier talks of the emotional days when he first broke the padlock on the Bruichladdich gates and took charge of the charismatic but much neglected Victorian distillery on the far west Atlantic coast of Isley. From those early days to now, it's been a hard slog leading to the success story of a spirit, malted from only Scottish barley and slow-fermented for 10 years but click on the website to read more about the process - it's a love story to a dram of whisky.

Prince Albert met Mark and invited him to the American Bar of the Hotel de Paris where the Prince suggested he have an Old Fashioned made with the bar's Bruichladdich Laddick 10.

Top Marques - the Electric Bike

Prince Albert was particuarly interested in this electric bike, made by Austrian company, EH Line as one of his passions is ecology and a clean, green planet.  The majority of public vehicles in Monaco are run on electricity.

Click on the link to read more about these bikes, golf carts and cute small cars - all electric.

Top Marques - Pagani Huayra

This is the flashy inside of a Pagani Huayra.  Perhaps not the first choice of car if you've a muddy dog ...

Click on the link to see more.

Top Marques - Book Your Space Flight Here!

Not only can you buy luxury cars, bikes and watches at Top Marques but you can also book a place on a commercial flight into space.  This is a model of the craft that is currently being built.  Space flights will start on the Island of Curacao in 2014 and already 65 people are signed up at a cost of 72,000 euros per hour.  Each trip takes one passenger with a pilot and reaches an altitude of 104 kilometres from where you'll see a horizon that extends from Florida to Brazil. It seems that passengers only need to have sufficient good health to resist the pressure of the take-off.  A couple aged 84 are included in those already signed up.

A model of this craft sat on the forecourt of the Grimaldi Forum.  This smaller version was displayed inside. 

Click on Space XC to read much and see a video.

Top Marques - the Photographers

At Top Marques, there seemed to be as many photographers as cars.

Note in the last photo, the photographer is using a type of trolley device fixed to his tripod. He was photographing a motorbike.

Top Marques - the NEW 1958 Vespa 400

What is such fun about Top Marques is that you find little gems like this amongst all the super cars.  This is a 1958 Vespa 400 that has had a 35,000 euros facelift that took 400 hours.  The company CMH Luxury Carrosserie is just along the coast in Cagnes-sur-Mer. They have even gone to the trouble of converting this Vespa into an electric car.  Speed is limited to 40 or 50 kilometres per hour - but hey, isn't this just the thing to pop down to the shops to buy that baguette?

Top Marques - Legs Eleven

It's not only the cars that reflect in the shiny floors.

Top Marques - Borat's Armoured Car?

You need an armoured car?  Look no further.  This monster is made by Dartz Combat Cars and is obviously just the thing to pop down to the shops in Monte Carlo when you are running a little low in caviar and champagne.  The cost - $750,000.

The setting was a  hoot: images of Sacha Baron Cohen as Borat, the number plate on the car 'Wadiya' (Republic of Wadiya) and the two girls dressed in appropriate gear.

Click on the video below to see more of this extraordinary vehicle. 

Top Marques - The Prince and the Mansory Girl

Prince Albert opened Top Marques and then toured all the stands.  He sat in some of the sports cars, admired the myriad boys' toys on offer and of course met many of the pretty girls.  I wonder if he noticed that this young lady is holding a brochure for Mansory?  See the Mansory Bentley in the smaller photo.

Top Marques - Red!

Think of a red car and perhaps you thinks of a Ferrari - I do - which shows just how wrong you can be.  This car is made by Soleil Motors.

 

Top Marques - Girl on a Motorcycle

Top Marques doesn't only feature supercars. Remember the film, 'Girl on a Motorcycle' with Marianne Faithfull? 

Silly me - of course, you are all looking at the motorbike ...

Top Marques - the GTA Spano

Top Marques is on at the Grimaldi Forum. Here you'll find the most expensive, luxurious super cars in the world along with dozens of long-legged beautiful girls - seemingly an irresistible combination. So, sit back, turn on the ignition and over the next few days we'll see photos of both ...

This is the GTA Spano - made in Spain.

There is still more to show you at ArtMonaco but we can go back to that another time.

ArtMonaco - Priscille Vincens

Priscille Vincens is a beautiful woman who creates beautiful lyrical art.

She was invited to exhibit at ArtMonaco by Love Life, Love Prevention (see yesterday's post) as she herself was the victim of a terrible accident six years ago, shortly after the birth of her first child. She lost both her legs and her right arm.
This didn't stop her but simply made her art even more important to her and sent her off in a different direction.

What an example to anyone who thinks life stops after such an event. And Priscille is now expecting her second child.

During ArtMonaco, she talked to school children about her work and impressed upon them the need for vigilance on the roads.

Do click on THIS LINK to read about and see more of Priscille's expressionist art. She exhibits all over the world.

ArtMonaco: Love Life, Love Prevention

If you wonder what a bunch of old tyres and a sculpture made of two old cars is doing at ArtMonaco, let me tell you. This is a collaboration between Ladies & the City, l’Éducation Nationale Monégasque and Monaco Dream Art (who we met yesterday) and also the artist, Priscille Vincens (we'll meet Priscille tomorrow - she's a truly amazing lady). Ruvalor compressed the two cars.

The idea is to make young people aware of the dangers of the roads. As we all know, far too many die on them each year. Visitors to the show were invited to sign the sculpture, which was created with two cars involved in accidents. In the larger photo below, you can see the signature of Prince Albert. It will be sold in aid of the charity at a later date.

Meet Johanna Flores (we met her artist mother, Joelle, yesterday) who is the organiser of this charity event.



















In the last photo, artist/sculpture Marcos Marin is signing the squashed cars. Look carefully, you can see my signature too - with three kisses! This photo was taken by Kevin Stec.

ArtMonaco - Monaco Dream Art: Muriel and Joelle

Meet Muriel and Joelle who together create relief paintings of Formula One cars. They work together on each creation which takes approximately one month.

You can read about these artists and their work at Monaco Dream Art by clicking on the link.

Tomorrow - we meet Joelle's daughter who was at ArtMonaco for a totally different reason. All will be revealed...

ArtMonaco - Mirko's Grace Jones

Mirko's latest paintings are portraits with Pop Art accents. This portrait of Grace Jones is one of a series called 'Immortals - 10 Smiles of my Life.'

Click on the link above to read about Mirko, how he paints and to see more of his work.

ArtMonaco - Patrick Lo Guidici

These old photographs of the legendary Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich were wonderful. Swiss artist Patrick Lo Giudice has taken the images and in what is called expressive art photography has used heat and wax on wood. I don't speak German so I can't fully understand the process but I loved them.

ArtMonaco - the One Dollar Bill

Artists and galleries came from all over the world to exhibit at ArtMonaco, including Galeria Salar from Bolivia. This extraordinary painting of a one dollar bill is made of coca leaves created by Bolivian artist Gastón Ugalde. The gallery owner told me that Coco Cola (a symbol of the USA) used to be made with coca leaves (not now of course!) He said he has to have a special permit to bring the artwork to Europe and that if it doesn't sell it will stay in Europe as, because of the coca leaves, it can't go back to Bolivia. You can see more detail in the last photo.

The striped head you see on the left, by Sonia Falcone, is a painting behind glass (hence the reflections) but it looks like a sculpture, doesn't it?

The wool head is part of an exhibit of three. I'm not sure who the artist is but possibly Sonia Falcone.

ArtMonaco - Chris Wake

Chris Wake's art made me laugh out loud. They are such quirky, wonderfully energetic paintings. Chris and her large oils travelled from her home city of Adelaide, Australia.

The painting in the main photo is called 'Diva on the Boat' and the second painting is 'Man with Dog.'

You can read about Chris Wake and her work by clicking on the link.