Join us on our new journey to Monaco and Europe! We are so excited, and want to share with you all of our exciting adventures...and maybe some, not so exciting! Thanks for joining us...

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Randolph Walter Beckmann

It is with great sadness that we had to return to New York in early January. Art's youngest brother, Randy, passed away. He was 45 years old, with three sons, one daughter and three stepsons. Please keep his family in your prayers....
July 12, 1962 to January 9, 2008

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

A Sunday Drive...towards the SNOW Capped Mtns.


The first Sunday in January, Art and I decided to take a drive…we headed towards Sospel, France, which is on the Italian Border to our east, but north away from the Sea. The drive was lovely, through the valleys, with the sea at our backs. All the while, we could see the snow capped mountains in the distance. We arrived in Sospel, a charming medieval village, with the buildings crowded together as always in this historical village. Color, warmth, sunlight on the windows...just a lovely sight. But, still...those snow capped mountains were looming above us...so we needed to drive on.

Next we came upon another little village, Moulinet...another lovely town at the foot of these evasive snow capped mountains. This, too was a medieval village, just not perched high on the mountain top as usual. This little village was more of a farming village, with many olive groves on the mountain side.

We then entered the Parc du National du Mercantour, which was just that, parkland, that was pristine, uninhabited and lovely. We saw some lovely waterfalls, great revines, and lots and lots of land...what a grand site coming from the crowded city of Monte Carlo. But still, not into the snow as yet.

Then, it started...a little snow from the plows on the sides of the winding, uphill road...and more and more and more, til we decided...no, we didn't have four wheel drive in our trusty BMW sedan...so we would enjoy it all from a distance.

We chose a different route coming back, which gave us lovely vistas of the sea heading towards Nice. Very hard to show you these photos, as the sun is so low in the sky and we were heading right into it...but trust us, it's a site that is amazing...high in the mountains, looking out at the seas, with all the villages and city of Nice in the distance...GRANDIOSE...just amazing!

This day, with the warmth of the sun, the chill of the snow, and the vistas from every turn, was a wonderful winter's day drive.

December Tennis Exhibition



In December, Art and I bought tickets to a tennis exhibition, indoors, at the Stadium in Monaco. When we arrived, it was a very nice sized arena…great size for this event. We felt very comfortable, as we met up with many of the gals I play tennis with. This was an exhibition, given by the professional tennis stars that reside in Monaco. Prince Albert even attended this evening. It was 10E per person, and there were no more than 1000 people in the crowd…amazing!!!
The men started off the evening working out with the local talents, the kids. This was great to see, and the men were such great hitting partners with these kids. Some were fabulous players, little guys of 6 – 12…much fun to watch…
The gents were Ivan Ljubicic, with his lovely bald head, and fun disposition, Mario Anjcic, Jonas Bjorkman (we saw him in Davis cup years ago…awesome) and Thomas Johansen. They were great to watch play doubles…having fun with it…a few BIG serves and of course, Bjorkman and Johansen won…GREAT ENTERTAINMENT.
Then the girls took the court, Safin and Henin. They were playing singles, which of course, is much less “social”….but great fun to watch. Henin did not beat Safina easily, but of course, this WAS an EXHIBITION….

Great evening, close and personal, could hear all they were saying…and a fun night of tennis in Monte Carlo!!! NOW...we will wait for the big guns to come...at the Master's of Monte Carlo in April...can't wait for that!!!