French Riviera parades honor pop culture and Paris hosting the Olympics

On the French Riviera, the celebrations are just getting underway as much of Europe enters the solemn weeks leading up to Easter honoring the Olympics in Paris and pop culture.

The celebrations on the French Rivera are just getting underway as the majority of Europe enters the solemn weeks leading up to Easter.

During its Carnival parade on Sunday, the Mediterranean resort of Menton honored the approaching Olympics in Paris and displayed its abundant citrus. The streets were adorned with sculptures of athletes made out of oranges and lemons, which were pulled by enormous floats.

The city of the Rivera, Nice, celebrated the beginning of its annual Carnival season on Saturday night with a pop culture-themed parade of lights and opulent floats that included Marilyn Monroe as his queen and "Star Wars" icon Luke Skywalker as king.

The origins of both festivities on the French Mediterranean coast can be traced back to the medieval Mardi Gras custom of putting on open shows for wealthy European visitors. Over the past century, contemporary Carnivals have made fun of public figures and politicians.

However, the weekend parades in Menton and Nice shied away from contentious politics and depressing incidents in favor of honoring successes in music, movies, art, and sports. "From Olympia to Menton" was the subject of the 90th Lemon Festival. Visitors more than doubled the town's 33,000 inhabitants as ten floats carrying enormous figurines of badminton, rugby, and tennis players, along with a boxer, swimmer, equestrian athlete, and surfer named John Lemon, were paraded down a seaside boardwalk.