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.
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...
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: I want to fly where no seagull has flow before. I want to know what there is to know about life! 
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
She sits in the old cemetery of Menton, forever looking down over the Mediterranean.
We are in the centre of Menton today in the main street that runs up from the sea and the casino. This is where we find the Jardin Biovès and looking down a tiny side street, we see, amongst the palms and orange trees the top of the Résidence du Louvre, which is mostly used for conferences these days.
Once a week in Menton there's an antique/bric-a-brac market outside the main food market and on the Place aux Herbes.
Here's one of the dealers taking advantage of a sofa until he hopefully sells it.
(This was taken in November with my old camera - the Lumix FZ18)
