Monte Carlo

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Monte Carlo (French: Monte-Carlo, Occitan: Montcarles, Monégasque: Monte-Carlu) is one of Monaco's administrative areas, sometimes erroneously believed to be a town or the country's capital. The official capital is Monaco-Ville and covers all quarters of the territory. The old town of Monaco-Ville surrounds the palace on the southwest side of the Monaco harbour. To the west is the new suburb, harbour, and marina of Fontvieille. On the other side of the rock and around the harbour is La Condamine and resort of Larvotto with is on the east.

Monte Carlo, which lies in the French Riviera on the Mediterranean Sea in Monaco in the corner of France and Italy is known internationally as a playground for the rich and famous. It is widely known for its casinos, gambling, glamour, luxurious yachts and for sightings of wealthy businessmen and famous people. The permanent population is about 3,000. Monte Carlo quarter includes not only Monte Carlo proper where the famous Le Grand Casino is located. It also includes the neighborhoods of Saint-Michel, Saint-Roman/Tenao, and the beach community of Larvotto. It borders the French town of Beausoleil (formerly known as Monte-Carlo-Supérieur).

Sport and Leisure

Monte Carlo is home to most of the Circuit de Monaco, on which the Formula One Monaco Grand Prix takes place. It also hosts world championship boxing bouts, the European Poker Tour Grand Final and the World Backgammon Championship as well as fashion shows and other events. Although the Monte Carlo Masters tennis tournament is billed as taking place in the community, its actual location is in the adjacent French commune of Roquebrune-Cap-Martin. Monte Carlo has been visited by royalty as well as the general public and movie stars for decades. The Monte Carlo Rally is one of the longest running and most respected car rallies, and marks the start of each rally season as the first event on the World Rally Championship calendar, but the rally takes place outside the Monte Carlo quarter.
Monte Carlo is one of Europe's leading tourist resorts, although many of the key tourist destinations are located in other parts of Monaco, including such attractions as Monaco Cathedral, the Napoleon Museum, the Oceanographic Museum and aquarium, and the Prince's Palace, all of which are located in Monaco-Ville.

Opera

Opéra de Monte-Carlo
The Opéra de Monte-Carlo or Salle Garnier was built by the famous architect Charles Garnier as an exact replica in miniature of the Paris Opera House. The auditorium of the opera house is decorated in red and gold and has frescoes and sculptures all around the auditorium. The ceiling of the auditorium is covered in high quality paintings. It was inaugurated on January 25, 1879 with a performance by Sarah Bernhardt dressed as a nymph. The first opera performed there was Robert Planquette's Le Chevalier Gaston on 8 February 1879, and that was followed by three more in the first season.

With the influence of the first director, Jules Cohen (who was instrumental in bringing Adelina Patti) and the fortunate combination of Raoul Gunsbourg, the new director from 1883, and Princess Alice, the opera-loving American wife of Charles III's successor, Albert I, the company was thrust onto the world's opera community stage. Gunsbourg remained for sixty years overseeing such premiere productions as Berlioz's La damnation de Faust in 1893 and the first appearances in January 1894 of the heroic Italian tenor, Francesco Tamagno in Verdi's Otello, the title role of which he had created for the opera's premiere in Italy.

By the early years of the twentieth century, the Salle Garnier was to see such great performers as Nellie Melba and Enrico Caruso in La bohème and Rigoletto (in 1902), and Feodor Chaliapin in the premiere of Jules Massenet's Don Quichotte (1910). This production formed part of a long association between the company and Massenet and his operas, two of which were presented there posthumously.
Other famous twentieth-century singers to appear at Monte Carlo included Titta Ruffo, Geraldine Farrar, Mary Garden, Tito Schipa, Beniamino Gigli, Claudia Muzio, Georges Thill and Lily Pons.

Apart from Massenet, composers whose works had their first performances at Monte Carlo included: Saint-Saëns (Hélène, 1904); Mascagni (Amica, 1905); and Puccini (La rondine, 1917). Indeed, since its inauguration, the theatre has hosted 45 world premiere productions of operas. René Blum was retained to found the Ballet de l'Opéra. The "Golden Age" of the Salle Garnier is gone, as small companies with small houses are not able to mount productions that cost astronomical sums. Nonetheless, the present day company still presents a season containing five or six operas.

Hôtel de Paris

The Hôtel de Paris was established in 1864 by Charles III of Monaco adjacent to the casino. It is a prestigious and luxurious palace style hotel in the heart of Monte Carlo. It belongs to the Société des Bains de Mer Monaco (SBM), It is part of the elite Palace Grand Hotels in Monaco with the Hotel Hermitage, the Monte-Carlo Beach Hotel on Monte-Carlo Bay Hotel & Resort, the Metropole Hotel and Fairmont hotel.

The hotel has 187 rooms including 175 suites with a panoramic view of the Mediterranean, Port of Monaco, Rock of Monaco and Palace of Monaco for the most part.

In popular culture

Due to its lavish buildings and glamorous nature, Monte Carlo has featured in numerous films and television series. The 1930 American film Monte Carlo starring Jack Buchanan and Jeanette MacDonald was set in Monte Carlo. The casino featured in the James Bond films Never Say Never Again (1983) and Goldeneye (1995) which featured Pierce Brosnan going into the casino with a red Ferrari outside in the car park. Monte Carlo was even a location for the late 1960s British London based series Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) where in the eleventh episode of the series, The Ghost who Saved the Bank at Monte Carlo Mike Pratt, Kenneth Cope and Annette Andre went to Monte Carlo to accompany a highly talented elderly woman to gamble inside the casino and layway a group of thugs (amongst them Brian Blessed). In 1970 Chevrolet introduced a car called the Chevrolet Monte Carlo which went through six generations of production until 2007. (Credit: Wikipedia).

France

News Updates

France Caves Into EU Pressure: Will Legalize Online Gambling

France, which has long been against legalized online gambling, has finally conceded to European Union pressures. The country announced Friday it's plans to open the marketplace for external online gambling enterprises.

"The news is likely to help boost share prices in online gambling firms come Monday," expressed Jagajeet Chiba, Business writer for the Gambling911.com website. "These companies are always looking to expand in various markets and France is a lucrative one to be sure."

"[It's] no use denying the reality of online gambling and the expectations of French people," French Budget Minister Éric Woerth said.

While the measure represents the government acquiescing to pressure from the European Union to introduce competition in the sector, the gambling sector said the move does not go far enough, according to a Financial Times report.

Plans for a new online gambling bill are to be submitted to cabinet by the end of March.

The European Union has also been applying pressure on the United States to open its market to outside i-Gaming firms like William Hill and Ladbrokes.

Operators will be required to provide measures that prevent children from gambling online and control addiction. The illegal online industry is worth around €7bn ($9bn) and comprises 25,000 sites, said Mr Woerth. (Credit: Gambling911).

Profile

France (French: IPA: [f??~s]), officially the French Republic (French: République française, IPA: [?epyblik f??~s?z]), is a country whose metropolitan territory is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various overseas islands and territories located in other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean. French people often refer to Metropolitan France as L'Hexagone (The "Hexagon") because of the geometric shape of its territory.

France is bordered by Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Monaco, Andorra, and Spain. In some of its overseas departments, France also shares land borders with Brazil, Suriname, and the Netherlands Antilles. France is also linked to the United Kingdom via the Channel Tunnel, which passes underneath the English Channel.

The French Republic is a democracy that is organised as a unitary semi-presidential republic. It is a developed country with the sixth-largest economy in the world.[12] Its main ideals are expressed in the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. France is one of the founding members of the European Union, and has the largest land area of all members. France is also a founding member of the United Nations, and a member of the Francophonie, the G8, and the Latin Union. It is one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council wielding veto power, and it is also an acknowledged nuclear power. It is considered as one of the post World War II great powers. France is the most popular international tourist destination in the world, receiving over 75 million foreign tourists annually.

The name France originates from the Franks, a Germanic tribe that occupied northern Europe after the fall of the Western Roman Empire. More precisely, the region around Paris, called Île-de-France, was the original French royal demesne.

Another proposed etymology is that in an ancient Germanic language, Frank means free. However, rather than the ethnic name of the Franks coming from the word frank, it is more probable that the word is derived from the ethnic name of the Franks, the connection being that only the Franks, as the conquering class, had the status of freemen. The Merovingian kings claimed descent of their dynasty from the Sicambri, a Scythian or Cimmerian tribe, asserting that this tribe had changed their name to "Franks" in 11 BC, following their defeat and relocation by Drusus, under the leadership of a certain chieftain called Franko, although they had actually come from present day Netherlands, Lower Saxony, and possibly, ultimately Scandinavia. In German, France is still called Frankreich, which literally means "Realm of the Franks". In order to distinguish from the Frankish Empire of Charlemagne, Modern France is called Frankreich, while the Frankish Realm is called Frankenreich.

The word "Frank" had been loosely used from the fall of Rome to the Middle Ages, yet from Hugh Capet's coronation as "King of the Franks" ("Rex Francorum") it became used to strictly refer to the Kingdom of Francia, which would become France. The Capetian Kings were descended from the Robertians, who had produced two Frankish kings, and previously held the title of "Duke of the Franks" ("duces francorum"). This Frankish duchy encompassed most of modern northern France but because the royal power was sapped by regional princes the term was then applied to the royal demesne as a shorthand. It was finally the name adopted for all of the Kingdom as central power was affirmed over the entire kingdom.

Contrast and diversity
France is known around the world as a diverse country in its people, architectures and landscapes. About 56% of the French population claim to have foreign background [1] , which makes France one of the most diverse countries in Europe. Old and more recent immigrants came to France from the five continents (Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe and the Americas). China and the United Kingdom contributed most of its immigrants in 2005. France is also home of the highest point in Europe (Mont-Blanc 4,810 m; 15,780 ft) and one of the lowest points in Europe, Delta du Rhone, (-5 m; -15 ft). France is seventeen-times smaller than Brazil and half the size of Ontario, which means that one hour by plane or eight hours by car are enough to cross the whole country from one extremity to the other. Despite its size, France's landscapes are extremely varied from one region to another, ranging from Paris and its suburbs to high alpine territory to oceanfront resort towns.

On the one hand, France is highly densified with old architecture such as the city of Paris or the Centre of Troyes. The French Family Code is 200 years old and has been written under Napoleon. On the other hand, France is a highly developed country with an extensive highway network (for example: France is slightly bigger than California but its highway network is more than twice as long), 32,000 kilometres (20,000 mi) of railways (SNCF), along with modern ski resorts and gigantic malls. France is also the country with the fastest average internet connection speed (ADSL and more recently optical fibre in Paris), and in 2004, for the 3rd time in a row, the French healthcare system has been ranked number one in the world by the World Health Organisation.

History
History of France

Rome to Revolution
The borders of modern France are approximately the same as those of ancient Gaul, which was inhabited by Celtic Gauls. Gaul was conquered for Rome by Julius Caesar in the 1st century BC, and the Gauls eventually adopted Roman speech (Latin, which evolved into the French language) and Roman culture. Christianity took root in the 2nd century and 3rd century AD, and became so firmly established by the fourth and fifth centuries that St. Jerome wrote that Gaul was the only region “free from heresy”.

In the 4th century AD, Gaul's eastern frontier along the Rhine was overrun by Germanic tribes, principally the Franks, from whom the ancient name of "Francie" was derived. The modern name "France" derives from the name of the feudal domain of the Capetian Kings of France around Paris. The Franks were the first tribe among the Germanic conquerors of Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire to convert to Catholic Christianity rather than heretical Arianism (their King Clovis did so in 498); thus France obtained the title "Eldest daughter of the Church" (La Fille Ainée de l'Eglise), and the French would adopt this as justification for calling themselves "the Most Christian Kingdom of France".

Existence as a separate entity began with the Treaty of Verdun (843), with the division of Charlemagne's Carolingian empire into East Francia, Middle Francia and Western Francia. Western Francia approximated the area occupied by modern France.

The Carolingians ruled France until 987, when Hugh Capet, Duke of France and Count of Paris, was crowned King of France. His descendants, the Direct Capetians, the House of Valois and the House of Bourbon, progressively unified the country through a series of wars and dynastic inheritance. The monarchy reached its height during the 17th century and the reign of Louis XIV. At this time France possessed the largest population in Europe (see Demographics of France) and had tremendous influence over European politics, economy, and culture. Towards the end of this era, France played a major role in the American Revolution by providing capital and some military assets to the anti-British rebels. The decisive French victory over Britain at the Battle of the Chesapeake followed by the French-led Siege of Yorktown in 1781 ended the American Revolutionary War and allowed the American independence over the British. (Wikipedia).

Roulette

Roulette is a casino and gambling game named after the French word meaning "small wheel". In the game, players may choose to place bets on either a number, a range of numbers, the color red or black, or whether the number is odd or even. To determine the winning number and color, a croupier spins a wheel in one direction, then spins a ball in the opposite direction around a tilted circular track running around the circumference of the wheel. The ball eventually loses momentum and falls on to the wheel and into one of 37 (in European roulette) or 38 (in American roulette) colored and numbered pockets on the wheel.

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