Beaulieu-sur-Mer - Contre-Jour

Shooting into the sun at Beaulieu-sur-Mer.

Beaulieu-sur-Mer - Painted Ladies

On sale at Saturday's market in Beaulieu-sur-Mer.

And what or who are these ladies?

How about the handle of a nail file!

Beaulieu-sur-Mer - Street Smart

Street fashion in Beaulieu-sur-Mer.

Beaulieu-sur-Mer - the Gran Caffé

The Gran Caffé, opposite the market in Beaulieu-sur-Mer, is a good place for a chat before crossing the road to buy the day's fruit and veggies.

Beaulieu-sur-Mer - the Fish Man

Beaulieu has a really good Saturday market.  Meet the fish man - serving one of his customers with one half of a large fish.

Beaulieu-sur-Mer - Perfection

This is one of the many public gardens in Beaulieu-sur-Mer - an area is in front of the port.  Beautiful pots, perfect flowers, automatic watering.  Beaulieu always seems to me to be what the 'perfect' Riviera town would be if we had to imagine it - Belle Epoque villas, yachts in the bay, classy, (don't you hate that word) pristine, a 'dream' of the Côte d'Azur made real. 

Note: the cyclists - not long now and it will be that time of year again - the Tour de France.  You regularly see the Tour de France cyclists practicing on our roads and hills.

Beaulieu-sur-Mer - the Beach

We're in the beautiful town of Beaulieu-sur-Mer today - it's just along the coast from Monaco towards Nice.  Monaco - Cap d'Ail - Eze - and then Beaulieu.  So let's spend a few days here - and why not start on the beach.  If you look carefully you can see the terrace of the Villa Kerylos, on the left.  Click the link to see photos taken in 2009 when we explored this stunning Grecian villa.

Blake's Phantom - Wax

Many of you know that from time to time I have the immense pleasure of taking photographs in the Monaco studio of Blake, the well-known Canadian sculptor.

Here he is holding his latest 'Phantom.' She has been painstakingly created out of wax and is kept in a large container of water before she goes to the foundry to be cast in bronze. The wax is kept in water to keep it cool in the heat and so that it doesn't deform. This is a very delicate sculpture and it's held together with small rods, all welded together.

Over-dressed

This is a scene you often see on Larvotto Beach.  Nearly everyone in beach gear and suddenly you spot a man in a suit or in a shirt a trousers - doubtless an escapee from one of the many conferences held during the year at the nearby Grimaldi Forum.

Hot Pink

A server at a bar on Larvotto Beach. 

Love the hot pink but it so clashes with the orange parasols ...

Thos lazy, hazy days of summer ...

'Roll out those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer
Dust off the sun and moon and sing a song of cheer ...'

Confusion

If you look at the mirrored pillars inside the Park Palace shopping centre, you can get rather confused - especially when there is  a Rolls Royce and a Triumph sports car on display ...

The Giant and the Passers-By

Here's another 'Giant' sculpture, this time inside the Metropole Centre. I like the delicate summer fabric of the girls' clothes, as they float by, compared to the solidity and weight of the sculpture - and neither aware of the other ...

Tattoos in the Casino Gardens

Not a Monte Carlo lady today but a visiting English couple showing off their tattoos.

Tatoos always fascinate me - body art - and I often wonder what I'd have done if I were brave enough to stand the pain.  But I'm not ...

Monte Carlo Ladies and their Dogs

A Monte Carlo lady walking her dog on the end of that long lead - as you can see in the smaller photo.

The Cruise Liners

The cruise liners get bigger and bigger and on the days they are in Port Hercule, Monaco gets more crowded!  This one, Carnival Legend, takes 2124 passengers, has 930 crew members and is 963 feet long.

This photo was taken from Larvotto Beach.

Six Hands, Two People

Here's half of yesterday's photo but blown up larger.  Count the hands ...

(see small photo below if you missed it)

The Giant and the T-Shirt

There I was photographing this 'Giant' outside the Metropole Centre, when the doors opened and this beautiful couple walked through. Don't you just adore the three hands on the young man's t-shirt?

I assume the sculptor is called Alviati (written in small letters after the title of the piece) but can find no reference to him on the internet.

Is this finally summer?

Oh... let's have a beach scene. The sun is shining, yachts out at sea, pretty clouds hover over the horizon - perhaps summer is finally here. We've keep thinking this and then the wind comes up, it rains, it's cold. But so far, so good...

This was the far end of Larvotto Beach yesterday - La Rose des Vents, which is a private beach and restaurant.

Market - the Queue

In Monaco's market, you'll find individual sellers with their fresh veggies and fruit -  and always a queue of customers.