monaco life, july 2012

JULY 2012 - NUMBER 19

MONACO life

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Better news on economyMonaco’s Government can be pleased with itself on several accounts as the summer holidays approach, although not everything is rosy in the exotic garden.

Certainly, the overall economic situation in the Principality is much improved from two years ago, thanks in part to the closing of a major loophole in the property transfer tax that had allowed offshore com-panies to merely change shareholders to avoid the charge, but largely due to the success of cost-saving measures and the putting on hold or major downsizing of a number of infrastructure projects.

As a result, the damage to the Monegasque economy due to con-tamination from the eurozone crisis and the continuing effects of the global crisis has been kept in check. Where are the problems?

Employees are up in arms over the pensions issue, claiming that it is unacceptable for workers to expect reduced entitlements or pay more into the pensions pot. In fact, it was the Government that raised the issue, pointing out that the pot would run dry unless somthing was done. In France, the election of Francois Hollande has put the day of reckoning on hold, but Monaco may not have that dubious room for manoevre.

Another area of concern is the behaviour of the Societe des bains de mer, operator of most of the top hotels and the Casino. Its financial results are, by its own admission ‘very poor,’ and yet it continues to avoid a number of difficult decisions on staffing levels and capital programmes, including the plan to replace the Winter Sporting on Casino Square with a glorified greenhouse with shops. Surely, a touch of realism is needed.

Ian Brodie, Publisher

MONACO life

COVER: A Hobie Cat enthusiast fights the elements off Port Hercule in early June Celina Lafuente de Lavotha

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MONACO life JULY, 2012


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The Royal British Legion (Nice-Monaco) hosted a large cocktail party to honour the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee at the Yacht Club de Monaco. Both HSH Prince Albert and Her Majesty sent letters of support and appreciation.

Prince Albert sent a letter of greetings to the Nice-Monaco Branch of the Royal British Legion: “Princess Charlene and myself enjoyed the honour of celebrating the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth’s accession at Windsor Castle two weeks ago. I am delighted that the local British and Commonwealth communities have assembled this evening to pay tribute to Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth. Due to prior commitments, I am unable to be among you tonight on this special occasion. Princess Charlene and myself would like to send you all our heart-felt wishes for a most joyful celebration.”

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth also wrote: “Your kind message of loyal greetings, sent on behalf of the Members of the Nice-Monaco Branch of The Royal British Le-gion and the British and Commonwealth residents of Monaco and the Alpes-Mar-itimes on the occasion of the Sixtieth Anniversary of my Accession to the Throne, has been gratefully received. I send my thanks to you all for your loyalty and sup-port, and my warmest good wishes for an enjoyable event which will be held this evening at the Yacht Club de Monaco.”

Commander Michael Healy MBE, who led the celebrations, said the two most note-worthy of Britain’s monarchs of all time were the first Queen Elizabeth and Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

Merville Spiers and Commander Michael Healy MBE at the Jubilee event (right)

Legion honours Queen Elizabeth


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Christopher Foyle was a great success as the guest speaker of the Monaco Life Business Lunch on May 21 (above), during which he recounted some of the highlights of his varied career as a bookseller and an aviation pioneer.

St Pauls, the Anglican church in Monaco, celebrated Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee with a relaxed buffet lunch following Sunday service (below and right).


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CREM, the club for foreign residents of Monaco, celebrated its second birthday in June with a special reception at the Palace with HSH Prince Albert and HSH Princess Charlene. Above, the hard-working CREM team with club president Louisette Levy-Soussan (centre)


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What is it like to follow one of the world’s greatest living explorers into the heart of the Amazon for three weeks? For Alexander Minder, 15-year-old Monaco resident and a student at the International School of Monaco, it was a life changing experience. Alexander was one of 18 young adults between the ages of 15 and 20 to be chosen for the Mike Horn Young Explorer’s Programme. After an inten-sive ten-day selection camp at the Mike Horn center in the Swiss Alps, he became one of ten young adults to take part in the 11th and penultimate Young Explorer expedition.

Also known as Pangaea (Pan Global Adventure for Environ-mental Action), the Young Explorer’s Program was begun by Mike Horn with the aim of bringing young adults from around the world to discover the beauty of the planet and learn how to sustain it. On board the fully equipped expedi-tion vessel Pangaea and under the tutelage of Mike Horn himself, they came together to ‘Explore, Learn, Act.’

Pictured right is Alexander Minder (standing) and the nine other Young Explorers in the Amazon Expedition as Pan-gaea sets sail under the Iranduba Bridge that marks the pas-sage west from Manaus along the Rio Negro. Pangaea was the first sailing boat ever to sail under the newly constructed bridge. Below, Alexander recounts some of his adventures.

Mike Horn is perhaps most famous for Latitude Zero, his solo navigation of the earth along the equator – he circum-

Monaco’s Alex Minder recountshis amazing Amazonian adventure

navigated the globe without the use of any motorized trans-port! Then and again with the Young Explorers, his logical choice of transportation were the local pirogues that enabled us to battle upstream along the river’s mighty currents.

Above, next page, Mike instructs me how to navigate the waters of the Rio Negro, how to pivot the boat around the front so as to turn without back paddling and slowing down. Most importantly, we learnt how to paddle efficiently so as to conserve energy on a long day on the river; it is harder than it looks!

Snorkeling in the jungle! Here I am with Mike Horn and the other Young Explorers in the murky, black waters of the Rio Negro. I would be lying if I said it wasn’t a bit scary! But we all had tremendous confidence in Mike, who arguably


knows the Amazon as well as any man alive. The abundant wildlife we saw included enormous insects, spiders that would weave giant webs across two trees and catch birds clean out of the air, as well as piranhas, snakes, and caiman (Amazonian crocodiles). Fortunately all the Young Explor-ers emerged without mishap, fingers and toes intact, and all the richer for the experience.

Certainly the friendliest wildlife we encountered were the Amazon Pink River Dolphins, reputed to be among the most intelligent mammals on earth. They have lived in har-mony with the people of the Amazon for centuries, but are now endangered due to the accelerated commercialization and destruction of the Amazon basin and tropical rainfor-est. Pollution from agriculture, industry and mining, as well as hydroelectric dams and fishing nets contribute to the peril of these beautiful, historic creatures. (pictured below)

The three weeks the Young Explorers spent in the Amazon included various environmental projects as we traveled up the river tributaries into small, indigenous communities. We handed out medical and water purification kits. We met local Amazon ‘safe-keepers’, young adults who cannot tolerate what is happening to the beautiful ecosystem they live in and are doing something to change it. We learned

about sustainable ways locals make a living in the jungle: for example, wood carving instead of logging indigenous trees. Below, handing out pencils and soccer balls to the local children.

Night treks through the heart of the jungle were simply amazing and very intense. Learning survival techniques and jungle ‘DOs and DON’Ts’ from Mike Horn was an invaluable life experience I will never forget. From sim-ple tricks such as tying figure 8 knots when hanging our hammocks (so as to confuse the ants) to how to wield a

machete, from setting traps to protect our campsite from foraging jungle predators to scaling trees without using ropes, we learned the basics of how to survive in one of the more hostile environments known to man.

Of course, there was time for fun as well as learning! We took advantage of being in this tropical paradise and played in the river waters every chance we had. The two rivers are different colors and different temperatures due to the varying silt content in the water and the fact that the Rio Amazonas is fed from glacial sources high in the Andes.

PHOTOS: copyright Dmitry Sharomov for Mike Horn

For more information on Mike Horn and the Young Ex-plorers Programme, as well as the archives from all the

Young Explorers expeditions, please visit:www.mikehorn.com/en/yep/young-explorers-program

MONACO EVENTS - JULY 2012

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Dee Dee Bridgewater


Throughout the year, the Oceano-graphic Museum: Permanent exhibi-tion on the theme “Mediterranean - Splendid. Fragile. Living”. Information: + 377 93 15 36 00 Until November 25, from 11:00 to 19:00, the New National Museum of Monaco (Villa Sauber): Kees Van Dongen exhibition - L’Atelier. Information: + 377 98 98 91 26 Until Monday, October 15, Oceano-graphic Museum of Monaco: Exhibition of paintings and sculp-tures by Marc Quinn. Information: + 377 93 15 36 39 Until Sunday, August 5, Salle Marcel Kroenlein the Exotic Garden: Photo exhibition on “Madagascar” by Nicolas Cegalerba. Information: + 377 93 15 29 80 Until Saturday, July 14, except Sun-days and public holidays from 15:00 to 20:00, House of Latin America: Exhibition of paintings and sculp-ture by Marcos Marino. Information: + 377 93 25 17 51 Sunday July 1, Port Hercule: Powerboating - 170 years of Riva Riva & Trophy (Rapallo-Monaco). Information: + 377 93 10 63 00 Sunday July 1 at 17:00, Monaco Cathedral: 7th International Organ Festival in Monaco in 2012 with Jacques van Oortmerssen (Nether-lands). Information: + 377 98 98 83 03 Monday, July 2, from 19:30 to 22:30, Square Théodore Gastaud: World Music Concert with Charly Vauda-no, organised by the Monaco Town Hall. Information: + 377 93 15 06 02

From Wednesday July 4 to Tuesday, July 17, Monte-Carlo Country Club: Tennis: Junior Tournament. Information: 04 93 41 30 15

Wednesday, July 4, from 19:30 to 22:30, Square Théodore Gastaud: Flamenco evening with Philippe Loli, Tchanelas, Lolito and Los Amigos, organised by the Monaco Town Hall.Information: + 377 93 15 06 02 Saturday, July 7 at 20.30, Courtyard of the Palace: Symphony concert by Dee Dee Bridgewater Quintet and the Menuhin Academy Orchestra with Maxim Vengerov, violin and direction and Shani Diluka, piano, for the benefit of the Foundation Prince Albert II. Program: Mendels-sohn, Tchaikovsky and Dee Dee Bridgewater. Information: + 377 98 06 28 28 Sunday, July 8 to 17:00, Monaco Cathedral: 7th International Organ Festival in Monaco in 2012 with Louis Robil-liard (France). Information: + 377 98 98 83 03

Monday July 9 to Wednesday, August 22, Port Hercule: Summer events organised by the Monaco Town Hall. Information: + 377 93 15 06 02 Monday, July 9, from 19:30 to 22:30, Square Théodore Gastaud: Rock concert with Walrus, organ-ised by the Monaco Town Hall. Information: + 377 93 15 06 02 Monday, July 9 at 22:00, Port Her-cule: International Competition of musi-cal fireworks (France), organised by City Hall Monaco. Information: + 377 93 10 12 10 Tuesday, July 10, from 19:00 to 20:30, Place d’Armes: Pop Rock with EPO evening, organ-ised by the Monaco Town Hall. Information: + 377 93 15 06 02 Wednesday, July 11, from 19:30 to 22:30, Square Théodore Gastaud: Flamenco evening with Philippe Loli, Tchanelas, Lolito and Los Amigos, organised by the Monaco Town Hall. Information: + 377 93 15 06 02 Thursday, July 12 at 21:30, Court-yard of the Palace: Symphony concert by the Orches-tre Philharmonique de Monte Car-lo under the direction of Krzysztof Urbanski with Jean-Yves Thibau-det, piano. Programme: Bernstein, Gershwin and Dvořák. Information: + 377 98 06 28 28 Friday, July 13, from 21:00 to mid-night, Port Hercule: DJ Night with Patrick Lemont 80 years, organ-ised by the Monaco Town Hall. Information: + 377 93 15 06 02

MORE listings on pages 12 & 13

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Yelena Isenbaeov

Friday July 13 to Sunday, September 9, from 10:00 to 20:00 (Thursday night until 22:00), Espace Ravel at the Grimaldi Forum Monaco: Exhibition “Extra Large”: Monumental works from the collection of Centre Pompidou. Information: + 377 99 99 3000 Sunday, July 15 to 17:00, Mo-naco Cathedral: 7th International Organ Festival in Monaco in 2012 with James David Christie (USA). Information: + 377 99 99 30 00 Sunday, July 15 at 21:30, Courtyard of the Palace: Symphony concert by the Orches-tre Philharmonique de Monte Car-lo under the direction of Pinchas Zukerman. Programme: Mozart and Tchaikovsky. Information: + 377 98 06 28 28 Monday, July 16, from 19:30 to 22:30, Square Théodore Gastaud: World Music Concert with Charly Vaudano, organised by the Monaco Town Hall. Information: + 377 93 15 06 02 Monday, July 16 at 21:30, Bastion of Fort Antoine: Season 2012 Fort Antoine: “In the Eye of Judas”, puppet show and the Roaring Theatre, organised by the Department of Cultural Affairs in Monaco. Information: + 377 98 98 83 03 Wednesday July 18 to Saturday, Au-gust 4, from 15:00 to 20:00, except Sundays and holidays, House of Latin America:

Painting Exhibition by Pages. Information: + 377 93 25 17 51 Wednesday, July 18, from 19:30 to 22:30, Square Théodore Gastaud: Rumba Latina evening with Mehdi Benaissa, organised by the Monaco Town Hall. Information: + 377 93 15 06 02 Wednesday, July 18 at 21:30, Court-yard of the Palace: Symphony concert by the Orches-tre Philharmonique de Monte Carlo under the direction of Krist-jan Järvi with Gauthier Capuçon, cello. Programme: Brahms and Tchaikovsky. Information: + 377 98 06 28 28 July 19 to August 19, Thursday, Fri-day, Saturday and Sunday at 21:00, Espace Fontvieille: Circus Dinner Show presented by the Monte Carlo Festival du Cirque de Monte Carlo. Din-ner spectacle and entertainment throughout the evening (opening of the tent from 20.30). Information: + 377 97 98 40 09 Thursday, July 19 at 22:00, Port Hercule: International Competition of musi-

cal fireworks (Czech Repub-lic), organized by City Hall Monaco. Information: + 377 93 10 12 10 Friday 20 and Saturday 21 to 20:30 and Sunday, July 22 to 16h, Salle des Princes at the Grimaldi Forum: As part of the Monaco Dance Forum: “Sequence 8” of dance per-formances, Dance, Circus and Theatre by The Com-pany “The 7 Fingers”.

Information: + 377 97 70 65 20 Friday, July 20, from 21:00 to mid-night, Port Hercule: R & B and eve-ning Break Dance with Vlad Scala, organised by the Monaco Town Hall. Information: + 377 93 15 06 02 Friday, July 20, from 19:00 to 22:00, Stade Louis II: International athletics meeting Herculis 2012 - Samsung Diamond League, organised by the Mon-egasque Athletics Federation. Information: + 377 92 05 42 60 Saturday, July 21 to 17:00, Monaco-Ville: Monaco City in celebration. Information: + 377 93 15 06 02 Sunday, July 22 from 9:00, Port Hercule: On the 20th anniversary of the Harley-Davidson Club Monaco: Bike Show and Live Music. Information: 06 18 06 42 63 Sunday, July 22 at 17:00, Monaco Cathedral: 7th International Organ Festival of Monaco 2012 with Ludger Lohm-ann (Germany). Information: + 377 98 98 83 03


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Monday, July 23, from 19:30 to 22:30, Square Théodore Gastaud: World Music Concert with Charly Vaudano, organised by the Monaco Town Hall. Information: + 377 93 15 06 02 Monday, July 23 at 21:30, Bastion of Fort Antoine: Season 2012 Fort Antoine: “The Imaginary Cuckold,” comedy by Moliere organised by the Department of Cultural Affairs in Monaco. Information: + 377 98 98 83 03 From Tuesday 24 to Sunday, July 29, Casino Atrium: Exhibition of sculp-tures and paintings “No More Bets With Woleck” by Woleck. Information: + 377 98 06 63 90 Tuesday, July 24, from 19:30 to 22:30, Market Square La Condamine

MonacoUSAIf you are in London over the summer...

MonacoUSA Member Merville Speirs is helping to produce a unique theatre show based on the lives of Noel Coward and Ivor Novello The Two Most Perfect Things, written by Adrian Fisher & Stuart Barham at the RIVERSIDE STUDIOS in Hammersmith during June and July. More info: www.riversidestudios.co.uk

The next Friday Friendship Club meeting at St Paul’s Church Library will be on July 6. The BAM FFC is for members to meet up for afternoon tea twice a month (every 1st and 3rd Friday of each month). This is free to members and friends and is an opportunity to meet with old friends or to make some new ones. Mem-bers can chat and read magazines, exchange books (new titles to choose from), play cards/games or help with the ongoing jigsaw while enjoying complimentary tea, coffee and delicious homemade cakes. We now have an extensive DVD lend-ing library with lots of new titles - help us to increase our ever-growing selection and bring along some DVDs. Also books and magazines are always welcome.


The cast of a US student performance of The Imaginary Cuckold by MolierePHOTO: Chris Dougherty

LISTINGS continued from page 11

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Monte Carlo under the direction of Jesus Lopez-Cobos with Xavier de Maistre, harp. Programme: Mas-senet, and Rodrigo Franck. Information: + 377 98 06 28 28 Monday, July 30, from 19:30 to 22:30, Square Théodore Gastaud: Folklore evening with Italian Man-dolissimo, organised by the Monaco Town Hall.Information: + 377 93 15 06 02 Monday, July 30 at 21:30, Bastion of Fort Antoine: Season 2012 Fort Antoine “Villa Olga” by Catherine Zambon, thriller, organised by the Department of Cultural Affairs in Monaco. Information: + 377 98 98 83 03


Sporting Summer Festival 2012, Sporting Monte-Carlo,

Each night at 20:30Information: + 377 98 06 36 36

Friday 6 and Saturday, July 7: Show with Enrique Iglesias.

Monday, July 9:

Fight Aids Monaco evening with Caravan Palace, Chico & The Gypsies.

Friday, July 13: Show with Pink Martini.

Saturday, July 14: Show with Laurent Gerra.

Monday 16, Tuesday 17 and Wednesday, July 18: Show with Rock The Ballet.

Thursday 19, Friday 20 and Saturday, July 21:

Show with Johnny Hallyday.

Monday, July 23: Show with George Benson.

Tuesday, July 24: Show with Hugh Laurie.

Wednesday, July 25: Show with Duran Duran.

Thursday, July 26: Show with Melody Gardot.

Friday, July 27: Show with Tony Bennett.

Saturday, July 28: Show with Giorgio Panariello.

Sunday, July 29: Show with Earth, Wind & Fire and Kool & The Gang.

Monday, July 30: Show with Jerry Lee Lewis.

Tuesday, July 31: Show with Julien Clerc.

Country Night with Monaco Coun-try Line Dance, organised by the Monaco Town Hall. Information: + 377 93 15 06 02 Wednesday, July 25, from 19:30 to 22:30, Square Théodore Gastaud: Flamenco evening with Philippe Loli, Tchanelas, Lolito and Los Amigos, organised by the Monaco Town Hall. Information: + 377 93 15 06 02 Friday, July 27 at 20:00, Stade Louis II: First game of the new season: Championnat de France Ligue 2 Football: AS Monaco FC - FC Tours. Information: + 377 92 05 74 73 Sunday, July 29 at 17:00, Monaco Cathedral: 7th International Organ Festival in Monaco in 2012 with Bernard Foccroulle (Belgium). Information: + 377 98 98 83 03

Sunday, July 29th at 21:30, Courtyard of the Palace: Symphony concert by the Orchestre Philharmonique de

Please check times and other details directly with the organisers

Monaco DiaryMONACO life JULY, 2012

Handsome adventurersYoung Alex Minder has been sharing his recent adventures with readers of Monaco Life, and partly due to the great pictures I feel I was also wrestling crocodiles and fleeing piranhas on an expedition along the Amazon. The student of the International School of Monaco has had an exceptional experience, and one that will be something he will always remember. At just 15, Alex is living proof of the fact that it’s never too early to start on a life full of challenges and achievements.

I write this from the safety of my ground-floor retirement flat in Cap d’Ail, complete with ramps and handrails, and that’s only between the entrance hall and the living room.

Now I have passed the official French retirement age and run five more laps, it’s time to live my adventures through others, and my wife is a great help. Not only does she have more coffee mornings than you can shake a dead cougar at, but she also goes out in the evenings. She runs a book club that used to meet once a month, and now its twice a week, sometimes three. How can a woman read so much? Part of the answer lies in the fact that every time I want to put the light out and snuggle up she says she has one more chapter to finish.

Last week she went to a meeting of evangelical juice drinkers in Beausoleil, a town of many mystics and strange goings-on. She came home at midnight with a picture of Bear Gryls, an unlikely name for anyone, although I can see that if the same individual was called Nigel Braithwaite the charisma would be problematic. Bear, let’s call him by his Christian name, is indeed, a big believer. He also eats something called Juice+, an organic dietary supplement, although his biggest claim to fame is that he appears regularly on UK television surviv-ing in the jungle by eating worms, insects, and rats, usually dead.

I am reminded constantly of his full c.v. because my wife tore our wedding photo out of its frame and replaced us with Mr Gryls. Now, every morning, the first face I see beyond the back of my wife’s lovely head belongs to this complacent Christian adventurer supplement-eater. My wife tells me he is very handsome.

Jeff Daniels

The views expressed in this column are theauthor’s alone and do not necessarily

represent those of the publisher.

The exhibition Kees Verkade “Circle of Love,” a retro-spective spanning 50 years, has opened its doors at the exhibition hall at Quai Antoine Ier. Born in 1941 in Haarlem (Netherlands), Kees Verkade, studied for five years at the Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague, and has been a resident in Monaco since 1979. Many of his sculptures are installed in the Principality. The show in-cludes sculptures and many sketches by the artist. Public exhibition from June 29 to July 29 daily from 10:30 to 19:00. Free admission.

A Circle of Love

On the Rock, in one of the oldest streets of Monaco at 150 metres from the Palace, very charming studio of 40m2, beautifully

renovated.

This spacious studio is in a building over 500 years old and has original features like authenticbeams and high ceilings.

The internal layout is cleverly organised to keep sleeping, living and kitchen areas

separate.

An ideal pied- a-terre for those whoappreciate peace and character.

Under law 1235.

Price: €750,000

JCC Properties representing Savills in MonacoLe Windsor, 10 Ter Blvd. Princesse Charlotte

T: +377 97704200 F: +377 97704201 M: +377 (6) 80 86 24 91www.monacoestates.net

Studio on the Rock

monaco life, july 2012

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