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Post by royalpauper on Apr 21, 2011 11:46:21 GMT -5
Since we have a number of posters from and around Monaco, I think we should have a thread where our posters can write about stories they heard while in Monaco and their personal experiences and observations. This includes not only locals but anyone traveling to Monaco for business or pleasure as well. Also we can post other stories we find about Monaco published by tourists, visitors and residents. Paca, I am still waiting for some juicy stories from you. Will you be singing at Albert and WC's wedding?  |
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Post by refia on Apr 23, 2011 11:18:12 GMT -5
Tulip on Nonsens is missed here!
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Post by pippi on Apr 23, 2011 11:34:33 GMT -5
Tulip on Nonsens is missed here! Wait a while i feel she is coming...when she is getting hot on her fingertops |
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Post by refia on Apr 23, 2011 12:22:00 GMT -5
Tulip on Nonsens is missed here! Wait a while i feel she is coming...when she is getting hot on her fingertops Did I write Tulip ON Nonsense? Stupid me. It´s Tulip OF Nonsense!  |
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Post by refia on May 13, 2011 3:49:14 GMT -5
Does someone met Charlene or Albert?
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Post by MadameConcorde on Mar 23, 2017 5:19:59 GMT -5
This one reads like a fiction novel. I can tell you... this is all real. Death in Monaco The official explanation for the death of multibillionaire banker Edmond Safra, who was asphyxiated a year ago in a locked bathroom of his Monte Carlo penthouse, is that one of Safra's nurses set the fire in order to heroically rescue his employer. But why was the banker without his Mossad-trained guards? If reports of a second fire are true, who lit it? And were there two bullets in Safra's body? With an ear to the jet-set whispers, and an eye on the feud between Safra's brothers and his widow, Lily, the author explores the Riviera's dangerous mystery. On December 3, 1999, in Monte Carlo, Monaco, the multibillionaire banker Edmond J. Safra, along with one of his nurses, died of asphyxiation in a locked, bunker-like bathroom in a conflagration that engulfed his penthouse, atop a building housing the Republic National Bank of New York, which he had made final arrangements to sell a few days previously. Early accounts said that two hooded intruders had penetrated the apartment, which was as solid as a fortress, and stabbed a male nurse. The bizarre death made headlines everywhere and sent shock waves through the banking community, as well as through the principality of Monaco, probably the safest, most tightly controlled tax haven in the world for the very rich. There is one policeman for every 100 of its 30,000 inhabitants. You can barely take a step in Monte Carlo without being monitored by closed-circuit cameras, which are on the streets, in underpasses, in the halls of hotels, and in the casino. Three days after Safra's death, Daniel Serdet, the attorney general and chief prosecutor of Monaco, announced that a male nurse named Ted Maher, from Stormville, New York, had confessed to setting the blaze that killed his employer in order to win favor with the banker. Serdet said that Maher had started a fire in a wastebasket in an effort to draw attention to himself. "He wanted to be a hero," Serdet said. There were no hooded intruders, and the stab wounds in Maher's abdomen and thigh were self-inflicted. Serdet released a statement to the press about Maher, saying that at the time of the fire he was highly agitated, "psychologically fragile and under the influence of medication." Serdet concluded, "From this moment on we can exclude with certainty all [conjectures] of any international conspiracy." Marc Bonnant, the lawyer for Safra's widow, announced in Time magazine, "The fact that Maher is unstable became apparent to us only after the accident." The damnation of Ted Maher, the low man on the nursing staff's totem pole, had begun. In no time the case had been all tied up with a neat bow: the guilty party was in custody, and the principality of Monaco was safe again. From the beginning, very few people believed that the story was as simple as that. It seemed too pat, too quickly resolved. "Monaco wants it all hushed up," observers said. "The Russian Mafia," some suggested. Others whispered, "Palestinian terrorists." Although the Safra name is little known to the public at large, it is very prominent in the worlds of international banking, philanthropy, and society. Several financiers have described Safra to me as the most brilliant banker of his time. At any moment during the catastrophe he might have saved himself, but he was reportedly so fearful of being murdered by the intruders he had been told were in his house that he refused to come out of the locked bathroom, in spite of the pleas of firemen and police. He put wet towels along the bottom of the bathroom door, but to no avail. When rescuers finally got into the bathroom two hours later, they found the billionaire dead, his body blackened with soot, his skin incinerated. His eyes had popped out of his head. Nearby was a cell phone, on which several calls had been made. Dead along with Safra was one of his eight nurses, Vivian Torrente, an American of Philippine origin. She also had a cell phone, which Ted Maher had given her to call for help. So far it has not been reported that Torrente's neck was allegedly crushed. One thing is certain: Edmond Safra, whose specialty was private banking for wealthy clients and who was said to know "all the secrets of the financial planet," had his enemies. Although he pursued an image of great respectability among the very wealthy and powerful, a taint of scandal and suspicion dogged him. He was accused of having laundered money for Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, as well as for the Colombian drug cartels. And both his bank and his private jet were alleged to have been pressed into service to move money and personnel during the Iran-contra scandal. The rumors of Safra's involvement were found to have been part of a smear campaign by American Express, and Safra ultimately won a public apology and an $8 million settlement, which he donated to charity. Nevertheless, his closest friend in New York has been quoted as saying, "Edmond was no choirboy." -50% read more here: www.vanityfair.com/culture/2000/12/dunne200012 |
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Post by agentf on Mar 23, 2017 11:44:19 GMT -5
He must have fallen out of favour with his own kind. This one reads like a fiction novel. I can tell you... this is all real. Death in Monaco The official explanation for the death of multibillionaire banker Edmond Safra, who was asphyxiated a year ago in a locked bathroom of his Monte Carlo penthouse, is that one of Safra's nurses set the fire in order to heroically rescue his employer. But why was the banker without his Mossad-trained guards? If reports of a second fire are true, who lit it? And were there two bullets in Safra's body? With an ear to the jet-set whispers, and an eye on the feud between Safra's brothers and his widow, Lily, the author explores the Riviera's dangerous mystery. On December 3, 1999, in Monte Carlo, Monaco, the multibillionaire banker Edmond J. Safra, along with one of his nurses, died of asphyxiation in a locked, bunker-like bathroom in a conflagration that engulfed his penthouse, atop a building housing the Republic National Bank of New York, which he had made final arrangements to sell a few days previously. Early accounts said that two hooded intruders had penetrated the apartment, which was as solid as a fortress, and stabbed a male nurse. The bizarre death made headlines everywhere and sent shock waves through the banking community, as well as through the principality of Monaco, probably the safest, most tightly controlled tax haven in the world for the very rich. There is one policeman for every 100 of its 30,000 inhabitants. You can barely take a step in Monte Carlo without being monitored by closed-circuit cameras, which are on the streets, in underpasses, in the halls of hotels, and in the casino. Three days after Safra's death, Daniel Serdet, the attorney general and chief prosecutor of Monaco, announced that a male nurse named Ted Maher, from Stormville, New York, had confessed to setting the blaze that killed his employer in order to win favor with the banker. Serdet said that Maher had started a fire in a wastebasket in an effort to draw attention to himself. "He wanted to be a hero," Serdet said. There were no hooded intruders, and the stab wounds in Maher's abdomen and thigh were self-inflicted. Serdet released a statement to the press about Maher, saying that at the time of the fire he was highly agitated, "psychologically fragile and under the influence of medication." Serdet concluded, "From this moment on we can exclude with certainty all [conjectures] of any international conspiracy." Marc Bonnant, the lawyer for Safra's widow, announced in Time magazine, "The fact that Maher is unstable became apparent to us only after the accident." The damnation of Ted Maher, the low man on the nursing staff's totem pole, had begun. In no time the case had been all tied up with a neat bow: the guilty party was in custody, and the principality of Monaco was safe again. From the beginning, very few people believed that the story was as simple as that. It seemed too pat, too quickly resolved. "Monaco wants it all hushed up," observers said. "The Russian Mafia," some suggested. Others whispered, "Palestinian terrorists." Although the Safra name is little known to the public at large, it is very prominent in the worlds of international banking, philanthropy, and society. Several financiers have described Safra to me as the most brilliant banker of his time. At any moment during the catastrophe he might have saved himself, but he was reportedly so fearful of being murdered by the intruders he had been told were in his house that he refused to come out of the locked bathroom, in spite of the pleas of firemen and police. He put wet towels along the bottom of the bathroom door, but to no avail. When rescuers finally got into the bathroom two hours later, they found the billionaire dead, his body blackened with soot, his skin incinerated. His eyes had popped out of his head. Nearby was a cell phone, on which several calls had been made. Dead along with Safra was one of his eight nurses, Vivian Torrente, an American of Philippine origin. She also had a cell phone, which Ted Maher had given her to call for help. So far it has not been reported that Torrente's neck was allegedly crushed. One thing is certain: Edmond Safra, whose specialty was private banking for wealthy clients and who was said to know "all the secrets of the financial planet," had his enemies. Although he pursued an image of great respectability among the very wealthy and powerful, a taint of scandal and suspicion dogged him. He was accused of having laundered money for Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, as well as for the Colombian drug cartels. And both his bank and his private jet were alleged to have been pressed into service to move money and personnel during the Iran-contra scandal. The rumors of Safra's involvement were found to have been part of a smear campaign by American Express, and Safra ultimately won a public apology and an $8 million settlement, which he donated to charity. Nevertheless, his closest friend in New York has been quoted as saying, "Edmond was no choirboy." -50% read more here: www.vanityfair.com/culture/2000/12/dunne200012 |
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Post by tops on Jul 8, 2017 3:31:56 GMT -5
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Post by MadameConcorde on Mar 12, 2019 3:39:41 GMT -5
This is a good documentary. Monte-Carlo, naissance d'un mythe Il y a 150 ans, une aventure sans précédent se déroula dans l'une des plus petites Principautés d'Europe. Un simple plateau de terre cultivé, baigné par la Méditerranée, allait devenir en moins de 20 ans l’endroit le plus célèbre de la planète et le symbole d'une prospérité éclatante: Monte-Carlo. Les deux principaux protagonistes en furent un homme d'affaires français, aventurier de la finance, et une jeune allemande, romantique, douée pour les arts, créatrice de la "Belle Epoque". Ils se nomment François Blanc et Marie Hensel. Ces inconnus seront à l'origine de la création de la célèbre "Société des Bains de Mer" de Monte-Carlo... www.filmsdocumentaires.com/films/708-monte-carlo-naissance-d-un-mythe Un documentaire de François Freynet © Injam Production - Miss Luna Films - 2007 |
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Post by MadameConcorde on Apr 21, 2019 14:40:14 GMT -5
I just bumped into this really nice video. I absolutely love how the place looked without all the fugly skyscrapers and high rises and concrete buildings higher or lower. Quote: Cette bobine de film est l'œuvre d'un amateur qui a visiblement le goût de la mise en scène et un sens très sûr du cadrage. Ces images respirent un certain parfum d'insouciance propre à la fin des années 40 : baignades en mer, plongeons depuis la digue du port, facéties devant la caméra, manœuvres de voiliers dans la baie de Monaco. En observant bien l'arrière-plan, on s'apercevra que les cicatrices de la guerre sont encore bien visibles. Le film s'attarde d'ailleurs dans ces dernières secondes sur les ruines de la Poste de Monte-Carlo dont les travaux de reconstruction commencent à peine. www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uH0VfOnIEY |
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Post by MadameConcorde on Apr 21, 2019 14:48:54 GMT -5
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Post by MadameConcorde on Apr 21, 2019 14:54:22 GMT -5
Best I've seen of Monaco ever! "Fête de l' élégance en Principauté" (silent) 23 mars 1930 : le Fête de l’Elégance bat son plein aux pieds du Casino. Tout le grand monde du luxe et de la mode s’est donné rendez-vous dans les jardins des Boulingrins. Des créatures aux toilettes excentriques se pavanent sur des chars, dans débauche de plumes et de fleurs que notre spectateur, placé aux premières loges, filme d’un œil incrédule. Ces images dont le tremblé témoigne de l’amateurisme se distinguent de celles filmées par les opérateurs de firme Pathé que l’on a cru longtemps uniques. www.youtube.com/watch?v=I_BfL4mnkcw |
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Post by agentf on Apr 22, 2019 10:56:09 GMT -5
These are the kinds of stories that make leaving your roots behind to become Monégasque so much easier in the end. Grace was too big for her pond, but a small yet powerful Principality was the right fit. It's like a swim in the sea after trying to get through tar for some. |
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Post by agentf on Jun 16, 2021 18:05:56 GMT -5
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