Free guided tours of Monaco’s Japanese Garden are being offered until May 1 as part of the inaugural Côte d’Azur Garden “OFF” Festival.
The garden, a favourite with visitors, has the various symbolic, immutable elements of a Japanese garden, including a pond, islands, a waterfall, a tea-house and its own garden, lanterns and bridges.
Located next to the Mediterranean, the Garden was for the most part designed in 1994 by Japanese landscape architect Yasuo Beppu, in line with age-old traditions, at the request of Prince Rainier III, and named after the late Princess Grace.
Visits for the free guided tour are by appointment (Mr. Restellini:+377 98 98 83 36), with registration required.
Monaco’s bomb squad was called out on Thursday afternoon after a passenger found a package, the size of a shoebox, apparently left on a seat and raised the alarm.
At about 2:30 pm, police and members of Monaco’s specialist bomb squad boarded the bus, which had pulled over at a bus stop on boulevard d’Italie. Every precaution was taken and the bus evacuated.
Half an hour after the alarm was first raised, the all-clear was given once the security team found that the suspicious box was empty.
In other travel news: Over the Easter weekend, trucks will be banned on French highways from 10 pm on Saturday, April 15, until 10 pm on Monday, April 17.
In Italy, the prohibition will start earlier, from 2 pm until 10 pm on Friday, April 14, from 9 am until 4 pm on Saturday, from 9 am until 10 pm on Sunday and Monday, April 17.
The Mark Challenge, organised by the International University of Monaco (IUM), offers international students and future entrepreneurs the opportunity to present their “Premium” idea in the field of luxury in front of a jury of professionals at the Novotel Hotel on April 25.
To participate in the competition, students must imagine a unique, tailor-made service or present an innovative idea about an already existing service. The project must also include a social dimension in its business model.
The fourth edition of the international competition received applications from 75 teams from 32 business schools based in 16 countries. The grand finale will bring together seven teams representing five universities who will each defend their idea before the jury of professionals.
After studying the submitted business plans, the jury, chaired this year by Nelson Piquet Jr. and composed of potential investors, opinion leaders and influential personalities from the premium and luxury services world, selected the finalists:
Estia of MIP, Politecnico di Milano-Italy; Elysian of IUM; Custamaze IUM; IUM Tailored Men; ID Shield of the LUISS Business School; Sielu of the Munich Business School; and Loox of London Business School.
The winning team will win a €2,000 prize as well as a marketing and communication consulting package offered by the sponsors Money Mail Me, Ambra Ventures, and Ingenium Media. The winner of the “Best Social Entrepreneur” will receive a prize from a Monaco Impact sponsors. The “The Mark Challenge 2017” team also thanks DTF Group and MFO Sarl for their support.
The Embassy of Monaco in Italy participated in a conference organised in Rome by the UN Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) in partnership with the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) and the Italian Ministry of Sport.
All speakers brandished a white card in support of the Peace and Sport #WhiteCard 2017 viral operation to celebrate International Sports Day for Development and Peace and Italy’s commitment to Implementation of the UN’s Development Programme to 2030.
The day before, it was at the CONI headquarters, and in the presence of its President, Giovanni Malagò, that sport and peace were honoured with the support of renowned sportsmen.
It was always going to be an important game, but just 24 hours after the attack on the Dortmund team bus on Tuesday night, there was heightened interest in Monaco’s away game in the first leg of the Champions’ League quarterfinal on Wednesday.
Monaco totally dominated the first half, with an opening goal from Mbappe in the 19th minute and a second, handball own goal, from Bender in the 35th. Commentators agreed that the slow start by the home team was owed much to the previous night’s attack, with morale seriously hit.
Dortmund’s Dembele failed with a free kick in the second minute of the second half, but Dortmund were showing more spirit that paid off handsomely in the 57th minute with a great team goal from Dembele taking the score to 1-2.
The home side kept up the pressure in the second period with most of the action in the Monaco half and Dortmund clearly dominating both possession and attempts. But suddenly 18-year-old Mbappe took advantage of a serious gap in the Dortmund defence in the 78th minute to ram home his second goal of the game. Two minutes later Fabinho was given a yellow card.
Dortmund stayed in the game with a successful shot from Kagawa in the 83rd minute, to bring the scoreline to 2-3. Germain was brought on to replace a tired Falcao, but again most of the action was close to the Monaco goal.
The second leg will be played on Wednesday, April 19, at State Louis II. Will it be another goalfest? Monaco are the favourites, but Dortmund should not be written off.
There has been an outpouring of help from Dortmund football fans for stranded AS Monaco supporters. Following the explosives incident on Tuesday evening just before the match between the two sides in a Champions League quarter-final, which injured Dortmund centre-back Marc Bartra, the game was delayed by 24 hours to 6:45 pm CET on Wednesday.
Dortmund fans opened their homes and hearts to fans of the Monaco-based team, using Twitter hashtags #bedforawayfans and #tableforawayfans, and many Monaco supporters happily took up their offers.
One Dortmund fan, who said he had three beds available at his flat near the stadium, tweeted a photo with the Monaco fans he hosted, captioned: “Football unites.”
On Wednesday German police arrested a suspect with Islamist links following a bomb attack in which three explosive devices containing metal fragments were used on the bus of the Borussia Dortmund football team.
Prince Albert commented to RTL: “We had news of the Dortmund players little by little and we knew there was an injured player, that the other players were safe, and that our players were safe.
“Sport mustn’t be taken hostage by madmen, because there are no words to describe these unbalanced people while we wait to learn of their motives.
“It’s beyond football, it’s disgusting and horrible. It’s perhaps not the best solution to play the day after an incident of such a scale.”
Dortmund CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke in a statement said: “We don’t play only for ourselves today. We play for everyone, no matter your club – Borussia, Bayern or Schalke.
“We want to show that terror and hate will never dictate our actions. And we of course also play for Marc Bartra, who wants to see his team win.”
Free guided tours of Monaco’s Japanese Garden are being offered until May 1 as part of the inaugural Côte d’Azur Garden “OFF” Festival.
