Fête du Citron: Cinema - Rubber Bands and Rotten Lemons

This shows us how the displays are made. First a metal frame is created ....for example the Ben Hur exhibit we saw a couple of days ago. Then wire netting is fixed to the frame. Then teams of volunteers fix one lemon or orange at a time onto the wire netting, each one attached with a rubber band. As I mentioned once before but it's worth saying again - 500,000 elastic bands are used and 145 metric tons of citrus are required.

You see a lemon is missing in the main photo and in the smaller one, one of the lemons is rotten and needs replacing. There are many people working in the Jardin Biovès each day and they walk around replacing any deteriorated citrus and this year, with the endless rain, there has been a lot of rotten fruit.

At the end of the festival (3 March), any fruit that is still in good condition is sold off to be made into jam and wine.

Fête du Citron: Cinema - the Dancer

One of the beautiful dancers in the Corso.

'And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.'

~Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche

Fête du Citron: Cinema - Ben Hur

Yet another type of cinema - this time, ancient Rome.

'It's been quite a ride' ~ Charlton Heston



There's a Caption Competition on Monte Carlo Daily Photo today...

Fête du Citron: Cinema - La Serenissima

Venice comes to Menton! I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw these figures in the carnival. La Serenissima - surely THE most beautiful city in the world.

Fête du Citron: Cinema - Horror (2)

'Where there is no imagination there is no horror.'

~ Arthur Conan Doyle (creator of Sherlock Holmes)

Fête du Citron: Cinema - Horror

Ghouls and ghosties, skeletons that rattle and things that go bump in the night...

Do you like horror movies?

Fête du Citron: Cinema - Sway

The music plays and hips sway sensuously as the girls move along Avenue Carnot - all part of the procession.

'Dancing is moving to the music without stepping on anyone's toes, pretty much the same as life.'

~ Robert Brault

Fête du Citron: Cinema - Waiting for the Parade

Most people who braved the chill to watch the parade stood by the side of the road or had seats in the stands. Those behind the glass of La Cigale, not only get to sip a café or a hot chocolate whilst they watch, but they are also somewhat protected from the unseasonal low temperatures.

A Joyous Update: Thanks to Kim of Seattle Daily Photo for the great news that photo blogger Amir Sadeghi of Tehran 24 and Tehran Live has been freed from Evin prison in Tehran. Amir is free. What fabulous news!

Fête du Citron: Cinema - Jurassic Menton

Each section of the static displays in the Jardin Biovès represents a different genre of film. This one is called Menton Park and represents Jurassic Park.

You can get an idea of the enormous height of this display by looking at the people walking past.

A team of 300 people is involved in the preparation of the floats - citrus fruit growers, gardeners, artists and metal workers who create the frames. They are helped by groups of volunteers from various villages and towns along the coast. 500,000 elastic bands are used and 145 metric tons of citrus are required. The number of hours worked: 20,000.

Fête du Citron: Cinema - the Holes in the Fishnet

It wouldn't be a parade without the girls. This one could have done without the holes in her tights - it was already cold enough! Good for them that they kept up their smiles regardless of the chill in the air.

These shots were taken during an hour of sunshine. Later it disappeared behind the clouds, the wind came up and it was brrrrrrrrrrrr.

Fête du Citron: Cinema - the Movie Camera

Today we are in the Jardin Biovès looking at the static displays. The annual Fête du Citron has been featured on this blog each year since 2007, but for anyone seeing it for the first time, the frame is created in metal, wire covers the frame which forms the shape. Later, volunteers cover the frame with oranges and lemons. Each piece of fruit is fixed with a rubber band. We'll see the details of this in a few days.

Fête du Citron: Cinema - Marilyn

It's that time of year again! The Fête du Citron (Lemon Festival) is upon us. Each year there is a Theme and this year it's 'cinema.' The adverts say 'Menton fait son cinema' which, by way of explanation, has a double-meaning - faire du cinema means to put on an act, to make a song and dance about it, to show off etc.

Here, we see Marilyn Monroe, of course, and a second Marilyn to wave at the crowds.

Happy Valentine's Day!

'Love is all you need' ~ Paul McCartney

Jewels in the Sun

The snow .... going, going, gone! The remains of a vine that hangs from the terrace roof slowly loses its gift of snow.

Come to the Sunny South of France!

Snow! Today is the first day of the Fête du Citron (the Lemon Festival) and yesterday we had 20 centimetres of snow. I'm snowbound in Gorbio. This is most unusual - come to the sunny south of France!

Yesterday, the majority of flights to and from Nice airport were cancelled and the motorways were closed in many sections. When I woke there was no water so the dogs have been drinking bottled Pellegrino.

Update - it's now melting...

The Fisherman

This man is fishing in Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, almost exactly on the border of Roquebrune and Menton. You can see the steeples of the Old Town of Menton in the distance.

He was so involved in his fishing and doing whatever he was doing with the reel, he didn't notice me. He would seem to be a man who is completely comfortable in his skin, and with such a kind face.

Jonathan

Jonathan: I want to fly where no seagull has flow before. I want to know what there is to know about life!

Father, Mother: Son, this may not be the best life, but it's all we know.

Jonathan: There's got to be more to life than fighting for fish heads!

~ Jonathan Livingston Seagull

The Russian Orthodox Chapel - the Door Handles

A beautiful but damaged door handle, the wood, the stonework - everything will need restoration.

With 6 Princes of the Russian royal house buried here, it's fascinating to wonder how many hands - amd whose? - have touched these handles. The one of the left is jammed upright. I tried pulling it down so it swung loose to match the other, but it wouldn't budge.

The Russian Orthodox Chapel - Generosity

We saw the newly restored dome yesterday and here it is again - and in the smaller photo you get an idea of the amount of restoration needed on this beautiful Russian orthodox chapel.

It will be undertaken by a private and generous individual, the Russian architect, Andrei Smirnov. The dome was restored by Menton Council but the rest of the work will be at Mr. Smirnov's own expense.

This beautiful chapel contains the remains of Prince Troubetzkoy (1822-1892). It was built in memory of Alexandrine de Tapliakoff, who died in Menton in 1884. No less than 6 princes of the Russian royal house are buried in Menton.

Thanks so much for everyone for 3rd birthday wishes yesterday - I so appreciated it.

3 Years of Menton Daily Photo - Going for Gold!

The beautiful Russian chapel in the Cimetière du Vieux Château of Menton has just had its onion-shaped dome painted gold. It's my favourite building in the cemetery and so today - Menton Daily Photo's 3rd birthday - seems a good day to show it to you as it gleams in the sunshine. The photo below shows it before the paint job.

The chapel was built in 1886 by Count Protassov-Bechmetieff and is the final resting place of several Russian Princes. The building is crumbling in places and becoming dangerous for visitors but happily, the Russian architect Andrei Smirnov will undertake, at his own expense the remains of the restoration.

And so on this 3rd birthday - one post a day for three years and never a day missed and the same on Monte Carlo Daily Photo - I wish I could invite you all for a glass of champers but we'll have to do it 'virtually' - please open that bottle!

Joining the City Daily Photo community has truly changed my life bringing a new field of creativity, so many new and valued friends and even a new job as journalist/photographer for CITYOUT Côte d'Azur. None of this would have happened without our dear Eric Tenin who started it all with Paris Daily Photo - thank you, Eric, and thank you to Demosthenes and Igor who keep us up and running every day.

Thanks to my fellow bloggers, some of whom I've been lucky enough to meet, others are valued friends from afar. So many of you, over these three years, have helped and encouraged me and even more of you inspire me. And thank you to everyone, blogger or not, who takes a look at my photographs each day.

I know I'm lucky to live in such a beautiful place and the pleasure for me in blogging is to share the place I love so much. Photography has changed the way I see the beauty around me. Once I used to just 'look' but now, thanks to seeing my world through the lens of a camera, I really 'see' it. How lucky I am.

Wood: 6 - the Rubbish

Renovating a house in a medieval village is not for the faint-hearted.

Do come back tomorrow when Menton Daily Photo celebrates its 3rd birthday.

Wood: 5 - the Old Gate

This wooden gate in Gorbio village is never opened these days.

Note the tiny 1445 Chapelle des Pénitents Blanc, photographed last summer before it was repainted. Soon, we'll come back here for the Festival of the Pénitents Blancs which takes place at this little chapel in August. The photos have been waiting since then but there is always so much to show you and not enough days! Soon...

Meanwhile do come back on Sunday when Menton Daily Photo celebrates its 3rd birthday.

Wood: 4 - the Musical Instrument

The group is called Les Banès and they played at the Fête de la Branda in Gorbio village last October. I haven't a clue what this instrument is called - it would appear to be made of cowbells inserted into a peice of wood. It sounded good!

Wood: 3 - a Village Washing Line

If you live in a medieval village, you probably won't have a garden and if you don't have a garden, you won't have a washing line. So what do you do? Well it's obvious - you hang your washing out of the window and in this case on wooden shutters.

This post is for Margaret, my friend in Cumbria who paints beautiful water colours - often featuring a line of washing hanging out to dry.

Wood: 2 - the Yellow Door

Following on from yesterday's 'wood' theme, I thought I'd show you a few more.

This is a tiny door tucked away in the village of Gorbio. Note the weathered lintel peeking out from the stone. The door is probably the entrance to a cave or maybe the place where once the family pig was kept.

Theme Day - Wood: Henri's Walking Stick

Once again it's Theme Day in the CDP community and today's theme is 'wood.'

Meet Henri, who couldn't walk without his wooden walking stick. Henri is the last remaining member of the oldest family in Gorbio, the medieval village just above Menton. Henri can trace his family back hundreds and hundreds of years.

Note: Lest you should think that Henri is in need of a square meal and a bed for the night, rest assured - he is one of the biggest landowners in the village.

To see how City Daily Photo Bloggers around the world have interpreted today's theme please click here to view thumbnails for all participants.