Christine Franchesini's Exhibition

Last night I went to a gallery opening in the medieval village of Roquebrune.  Meet my lovely, talented  friend, Christine Franceschini with one of her beautiful paintings.

The exhibition is open until the 20th May at the Salle Saint Lucie in Roquebrune village.   Christine will be there each day from 14h00 to 19h00. Do come along ...

Skateboarding at Dusk

The walkway that runs from Portier to Larvotto Beach is a popular place to run or skateboard.

Scoot into Monday ...

Kids on their scooters at Larvotto.  Last ride before nightfall.

Scene at Larvotto

Larvotto Beach at dusk.

Théâtre des Muses

How adorable is this!  A tiny theatre on the Boulevard Jardin Exotique called the Théâtre des Muses.  It has 100 seats and puts on plays and comedies and gives classes in theatre for children and adults.

Dusk

Last rays of the sun before nightfall.

Cruise Liner

This is typical of some of the massive cruise liners that call in to Port Hercule on a regular basis.  This photo was taken from the forecourt of the Grimaldi Forum.

Hotel Hermitage

Part of the facade of the beautiful Hotel Hermitage, overlooking Port Hercule.  This was taken from the terrace of the Restaurant le Saint Benoit.

Blake - Fixing the supports

We're back at Blake's Monaco studio today.  Here he is fixing the metal rods that will hold the various parts of the sculpture together.  When this is completed, it will be sent to the foundry in Italy to be cast in bronze.

Mulberries

We're in Cap d'Ail today at the Pointe des Douaniers.  The restaurant, Le Cabanon, is behind us, the car park off to the right - Monaco is to our left.  I think these are mulberry trees - they form a wonderful horizontal canopy of shade in summer.  I'm not sure of the name though - perhaps someone knows?

The Yacht Club of Monaco rises ...

The new Yacht Club of Monaco is getting nearer and nearer to completion. As you can see it's beginning to look like a yacht iself. It's due to be finished at the end of this year with a grand opening in summer 2014.  You can see another photo by clicking on the link. The design is by Lord Norman Foster.

Bistrot le Bouchon

A table is being prepared at Bistrot le Bouchon on Avenue Princesse Grace.  Super ambiance, good French bistrot food. You can check their 17 euro menu on Facebook each day (click link).

Bikes

A bike is a good way to get around when you crew on a yacht - or if you own one ...

The Buzz of the Port

This is a longer shot of the diveboat we saw yesterday. (see small pic) 

There's something so relaxing about wandering around amongst the boats -  look at their names, look at the reflections in the water, look at the people working on the big yachts.  You don't have to own a yacht to enjoy the buzz of Port Hercule.

Dive Boat

Get the wet suit ready ...

Triplets

Identical boats in Port Hercule.

Watch your Step - 2

We saw this man the other day hanging over the other end of his boat - he's doing it again! Life on the water ... in Port Hercule.

Lunch

Pizza delivery.

Telling Tales: The Art of Creating Stories in Images and Words

Yesterday was the 5th and last day of a superb Photography/Writing Workshop in Monaco called:
 
Telling Tales: The Art of Creating Stories in Images and Words

With Nick Danziger, award-winning photojournalist, author and documentary filmmaker and Rory MacLean, best-selling author.

It was fabulous, inspiring, exhausting - we each worked on a specific project and left with the tools to put it into practice.  This is probably the only course where writing and photography are combined. It was such a privilege to be taught by and work with Nick and Rory - they really cared about us and our projects and that we should learn as grow as the course progressed.  Do click on the links above to read about the work of Nick and Rory.

There will be another workshop, I believe in September, in Monaco, so if anyone gets the chance, I'd say --- don't miss it!   Click on the link where you'll find contact details to reach Nick. Note - the workshop is in English.

Thank you Nick and Rory for a truly great workshop.

And thankyou to my fellow participants, wonderful talented photographer Tiziana from Monaco who cooked a regu to die for one evening.  To Jon (that's going to be a wonderful book!)  and Claire from the UK and her photographs representing poetry and to beautiful Elisa from Hongkong who has an old soul and will enchant us with her future work. 

The first photo was taken by Nick Danziger.  The one below by me.

Watch your Step!

Port Hercule

Careful, Monsieur ...