Englishman in Monaco

Monday night was the Sting concert at the Sporting Club in Monaco. Every year they have a music festival and invite famous singers and bands to this most stylish setting. After getting completely stuck in a huge traffic jam for an hour on the A8 autoroute on our way to Montecarlo, we thought we'd never arrive on time. As a last resort, we all began chanting the magic affirmation "the traffic is flowing, the traffic is flowing" like maniacs. Well, guess what? It worked! After about 5-10 minutes of that impromptu surge of positivity the roads cleared up and we made it in record time!

We sat at a long table with a group of friends, there were 20 of us in total. The Sporting room is shaped like a half-moon and the huge windows overlook the glittering Montecarlo bay. As soon as we sat down, I eyed the menu being a bit of a gourmande myself.
Here it is:

STING

L'ORCHESTRE DU SPORTING

DIRECTION FRANCOIS LEGRAND

Menu

Monday 3rd July 2006

Lobster salad with cepe mushrooms and rocket salad,
exotic fruit tartare, vodka and lime granita,
strong citrus fruit juice

Beef tournedos on foie gras crouton,
asparagus meunière-style
and Maxime potato with truffle

Raspberries dacquoise,
champagne sorbet, red fruit coulis

Sporting Montecarlo delicacies and chocolates
Coffee

I have to admit that the menu sounds better in French than in English, if you don't believe me here's a little comparison:
"Lobster salad with cepe mushrooms and rocket salad" as opposed to "Salade de homard aux cèpes bouchons et riquette"
OR, "maxime potato with truffle" vs. "pomme maxime à la truffe"... et voilà! Am I right or am I right?

Just as the coffee was being served, the lights went out and all 900 guests grew quiet as Sting appeared propelled by a sliding stage sailing forwards until it reached the very center of the room. IT WAS BEYOND!

He was rather close to where we were sitting. I have to say that he looks unbelievably fit for his age (55), must be all that yoga he and his wife Trudie Styler, do. I keep meaning to make yoga a regular practice but for some reason or other it never sticks, I go through periods where I do yoga everyday and then I won't do it at all. It's strange because I'm usually not an extremist in any sense of the word, maybe it's just yoga-specific.

Anyway, back to the concert. Sting played a lot of songs from The Police. "Every breath you take", "Englishman in New York", "Spirits in the Material World" and of course "Roxanne" were on the repertoire.

Only in Monaco would you see someone with a french manicure, cartier watch and diamond ring in the "mosh pit".


He was ELECTRIC!
Oh, and speaking of electric Sting the day after the concert I went swimming in the sea and got STUNG by a JELLYFISH! It was super painful but now it's all gone, thank Sting!

Here's a pic of the Casino de Montecarlo taken on our way back home to Cannes.