Carnaval Parade - "Big Heads"

Here's a sample of the Corso Carnavalesque with its Grosses Tetes ("Big Heads").  The Carnaval has 60 floats, 30 of which are Grosses Tetes.  It has 150 other animated features, 80,000 to 100,000 locally grown flowers, 1,800 employees, 1,500 street artists, and makes between 30 and 35 million Euros for the city.

Fire Breathing Sea Serpent!

Check out the dog!

Carnaval Nice!

 February 18 marked the beginning of the 2011 Carnaval de Nice.  The 127th Nice Carnaval, this year's theme is Roi de la Mediterranee, and here he is.  OK, this funny squid is all over town, but he's the mascot, not the king.  The King, Queen, and her court were installed at the foot of the Place Massena two nights ago with great pomp and ceremony.  These benevolent rulers will remain on their thrones throughout the Carnaval, which continues until Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) March 8.

 

Pictured here, the Royals stand about five stories high and are lighted and guarded 24/7.

 
Carnaval in Nice is, apparently, a lot like Rio!

 
 
The Flower Parade participants had fun with the Mediterranean theme.  We especially enjoyed the array of inflatable sea creatures. 

Kids of all ages are having a great time. We were confetti'd and string'd at least twice yesterday, and apparently the flowers on the floats from the parade are up for grabs at some point, because just about everyone walking by our window later had flowers of some sort.


It's a rainy Sunday today, so the next parade will have to go on without us, but we'll be back into the mix tomorrow.  Right after laundry and shopping. 

Monaco Historic Rally 2011

It's Tuesday, February 1.  On January 26, the participating autos left from five locations: Marrakech, Glasgow, Warsaw, Barcelona, and Reims.  They've been through the Alps and all over southern France, and now they're arriving in Monaco for a brief rest before their final segment which begins at 8:30 p.m. tonight.  They'll arrive back in Monaco sometime between midnight and the wee hours, and those who have enough energy left will attend the gala awards ceremony tomorrow night ("gala", in Monaco terms, means "the Prince is gonna be there, so dress up").

Pati always cheers for the real Mini Coopers.  This one is a 1964 Austin Mini Cooper S.

       This little Fiat 650 TR2 from 1968 won our Cutest In Show award.

Wait...wait!

                                                                   Wiener dog!!

And, as always, the Comas Historic Racing team made a large showing with their fleet of Renault Alpines.  These cars can be rented from Erik Comas, a former Formula 1 driver, and driven in historic racing events.  Comas provides transportation, automobile, mechanics, etc.  All for a price that's within reason...if you don't have to ask the price.  For some reason, we took no pictures of the Comas gang, but it's an impressive operation.  Another impressive group is shown below...some of the large number of Citroens that also compete.

We enjoyed our day in Monaco, and were a bit nostalgic, thinking about good times at the apartment we used to occupy.  The building is shown here, just above the maroon-and-pink Citroen, which was piloted by two ladies, dressed to match their car, who served champagne to their friends upon arrival.

For more information about the Historic Rally, see the Automobile Club of Monaco's website:  http://www.acm.mc/