Our last day at the Fête du Citron. The kids, even those in the audience, are part of the parade. They dress up and have a wonderful time. The little girl in the last shot really is part of the parade of course.
Thanks so much to everyone who has come along for the ride. At the moment, I don't ever want to see another lemon or orange but doubtless I'll get over it.
Tomorrow - pastures new...
King Kong! - but where's Fay Wray? Click to read about the 1933 iconic film.
The Fête du Citron ended on the 4th March and whilst I have dozens more photographs it's time to wind up this little series so tomorrow will be the last day.
Catherine asked if there were less huge floats in the parade than usual. Probably there were the usual number but the weather was grim, the light not conducive to a decent photo, so I look more shots of the performers and less of the floats. Here are a couple for you, Catherine.
You don't really expect to see a Wells Fargo coach being pulled by two fine horses down the streets of Menton but when it's festival time, anything can happen.
With cinema as the theme at this year's Fête du Citron, then the Cannes Film Festival had to feature and it did. This poster is from 2007 when the festival celebrated its 60th year.
The smaller photo shows spools of film and editing scissors.
Yesterday's post and the body beautiful brought forth much discussion - so by way of contrast here are two ladies from the Venetian part of the procession - and with their clothes on!
Alright you guys, if you can get beyond the body beautiful, take a look at the facial expressions of the two dressed-up little girls. What are they thinking?
Cowboys and Indians - the good old Western.
The Serre de la Madone is one of Menton's most famous gardens. Created by Lawrence Johnston, an American who owned the famous Hidcote Garden in England, he needed a warmer climate for the sub-tropical plants he collected. His story is fascinating and so is the garden and we will be covering it on Menton Daily Photo soon.
This photo shows a passageway fairly near the entrance to the gardens on the Route de Gorbio.
To see how other City Daily Photo bloggers have interpreted today's theme please click here to view thumbnails for all participants
Sometimes the displays are simple like this tribute to Stanley's Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange.
Of course, the name of the film slots rather nicely into a festival of citrus fruit.
You never know who you'll meet at the Corso!
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.
One of the beautiful dancers in the Corso.
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...
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.
'Where there is no imagination there is no horror.'
Ghouls and ghosties, skeletons that rattle and things that go bump in the night...
Do you like horror movies?
The music plays and hips sway sensuously as the girls move along Avenue Carnot - all part of the procession.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
The snow .... going, going, gone! The remains of a vine that hangs from the terrace roof slowly loses its gift of snow.
