From traditional crafts to the nation’s celebrated cuisine, the upcoming Japanese Soirée in the Marché de la Condamine will champion all that Japan has to offer.
Planned for the evening of Tuesday 29th November, Japanese Night is being organised by the activities branch of the Monaco town hall in conjunction with the department responsible for commerce, halls and markets in the Principality.
Head down to the Condamine Market any time from 4pm for a range of cultural offerings: ikebana, the art of Japanese floral arrangement; origami, creative paper folding; kintsugi, the art of repairing broken pottery by mending the broken sections with precious metals; and calligraphy.
Japanese cuisine is, of course, on the menu, and visitors can expect tastings of sake, matcha tea and takoyaki. A dinner service will take place later in the evening, accompanied by traditional Japanese music.
10,000 participants, 251,700km covered and €251,700 raised: the 23rd edition of No Finish Line concluded on Sunday in the presence of Roca Team co-captain Yakuba Outtara.
The 2022 edition was the first to take place in its original format since 2019. In 2020, the charitable event was cancelled altogether while last year’s event adopted a hybrid model of in-person and virtual participation. To celebrate its return, 10,000 people turned out over the course of the eight-day event in Fontvieille.
The two Covid-affected No Finish Line events have been bookended by victories for Daniele Juan Alimonti. Having won in 2019, he took home the Prince’s Cup on Sunday, having travelled 886km and raising €886. Robert Miorin came second with 884km and Cédric Chaudet 3rd with 770km.
The top-ranked woman, who also finished third in the overall classification, was Paola Coccato, who racked up 832km. In the team category, Barclays Monaco and Fight Aids finished joint-first having walked 13,211km, Céline finished second and Spécial Olympics Monaco third.
The money raised from the event will go towards financing around 20 projects to help sick and disadvantaged children.
The Monaco Government has made the difficult decision to cancel the ice rink at Port Hercule this winter due to rising energy costs.
“Following consultation with the Monaco town hall, we have decided that there will be no ice-skating rink this year,” the Minister of State, Pierre Dartout, announced at a press conference on Wednesday 16th November. “The rink is too energy-intensive, particularly when it is open-air and often in full sun.”
It was only last year that the Principality invested in a new way of managing the ice rink in order to mitigate its energy usage. Previous to 2021, the cooling system was active from the day of installation to the day the ice rink was taken down. Last Christmas, however, a Swiss ice rink specialist called La Pati was brought in to install probes that would identify if and when the cooling system needed to be turned on. It was managed remotely from the company’s headquarters in Fribourg.
The rink has been an essential part of Monaco’s Christmas Village for over 20 years and many will be sad to see it gone from the programme. In its place, the Monegasque government has promised an activity that will be “just as fun” but “less energy-consuming”.
“It would be unthinkable to shut down the rink and not provide another recreational activity for children over the holidays,” said Céline Caron-Dagioni . That replacement is yet to be revealed, but Monaco Life reported recently that Société des Bains de Mer had already made the decision to introduce in Place du Casino the Principality’s first roller skating rink during the festive period.
Nearby in Nice, residents await to hear if its popular outdoor ice rink will open this Christmas. If not, there’s always the Jean Bouin facility to the north of the Palais Acropolis!
Online and broadcast across six continents, the dancers of the Monte-Carlo Ballet company will be live on YouTube next week in celebration of World Ballet Day.
From 10.30am on Wednesday 2nd November, Monaco’s extraordinary ballet troupe will be using its YouTube platform to stream a day of artistic excellence to viewers around the world, joining the likes of the Australian Ballet, the Royal Ballet and the Opéra of Paris in this unique online experience.
Entirely free to watch, the #worldballetday programme will allow spectators to see behind the scenes of their favourite performances, watch interviews with celebrated choreographers and more.
Four days, 14 constructors, 55 teams, 350km and 100% electric: the sixth edition of the Monte-Carlo E-Rally departed from Valence this Wednesday. The ecological series will conclude in the Principality on Saturday.
55 teams were present for Le Grand Départ in Valence on Wednesday 26th October, including the Daghe Mungeu (Go, Monaco!) team, comprised of Jacques Pastor, assistant to the Mayor of Monaco, and Fulvio Gazzola, Mayor of Dolceacqua in Italy.
At the wheel of their KIA EV6, they joined a handful of other Monégasque competitors that are set to compete in the eco-race, which this year will comprise 15 stages. The challenge for the drivers is three-fold: getting to the destination as quickly as possible, whilst conserving energy in their 100% electric, or hydrogen, vehicles and managing efficiently their pit-stops.
Coming from Valence, the teams will arrive at the Terrasses du Soleil in Monaco on Friday, following a stage that will lead them through the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence. They will then depart the Principality for a stage in the Var, before the ultimate conclusion on Saturday.
The Monte-Carlo E-Rally has quickly become a headline event in the FIA Eco Rally Cup, and this year, the interest has reached fever pitch.
“This is the very first time since 1995 that we need to gather a Selection Committee, which is simply incredible! We really want to thank the competitors for this great sign of confidence,” said Jacques Rossi, the President of the New and Electric Energies Commission at the Automobile Club of Monaco (ACM).
The event is a nexus of historical and modern-day Monaco, bringing together the Principality’s traditional fervor for racing, with its commitment to promoting sustainability and promoting ecological solutions.
Photo by Automobile Club of Monaco
Jeff Beck and Johnny Depp blow fans away in Monaco
Musical legend Jeff Beck and quirky actor Johnny Depp hit the stage together at the Opera de Monte-Carlo Saturday night for a sold-out one-night-only show that went on for four hours to the delight of an enthusiastic crowd.
Actor Johnny Depp, best known for taking on eccentric roles in top Hollywood films, has a not-so hidden talent. Turns out Depp, 59, is quite the musician as well. This was shown to full measure on Saturday night when he hit the stage with Jeff Beck, who regularly appears on lists as one of the greatest rock ‘n roll guitarists of all time.
Depp joined Beck on stage halfway through the 19-song set and played the Link Wray & His Ray Men classic “Rumble” before heading to the microphone to sing on the Dennis Wilson track ‘Time’, followed by the Killing Joke’s, ‘Death And Resurrection Show’. He also performed ‘This is a song for Miss Hedy Lamarr’, a tune of his own making.
The duo announced an upcoming album last month, entitled 18, which is due to come out on 15th July, and have even made a music video for their first single, the aforementioned ‘This is a song for Miss Hedy Lamarr’.
“It’s an extraordinary honour to play and write music with Jeff, one of the true greats and someone I am now privileged enough to call my brother,” Depp said in a release.
“I haven’t had another creative partner like him for ages,” Beck said of Depp. “He was a major force on this record. I just hope people will take him seriously as a musician because it’s a hard thing for some people to accept that Johnny Depp can sing rock and roll.”
The concert seems to show that the actor has moved on from the media circus brought on by the defamation lawsuit between him and his ex-wife, Amber Heard. Depp won all three defamation claims in the case, stemming from an op-ed Heard wrote in 2018 about her being a survivor of domestic abuse.
The trial was widely televised and became must-see TV for millions but did little to portray either party in a noble light.
Now, Depp is turning his energies to music to good effect. “He enjoys performing and has a busy summer ahead,” a Depp insider told People Magazine recently. “He is also looking forward to continue working. He just wants his career back. He loves filming.”
Photo source: Monte-Carlo SBM
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