Motivated by BlueOrca’s photos and my recent acquisition of a McLaren-Mercedes MP4-23 #22 1:18 diecast model ($$$), I finally sat down to finish up Monaco.
Monaco’s only geocache is Top of Monaco, although it is technically not within her borders. Situated near a paragliding platform at the top of a hill in France, you get a spectacular view overlooking the city-state. When I saw this cache listing, I knew we had to do it. BlueOrca had acquired the GPS track logs from GeoBear, another geocacher who had recently completed the hike up to the cache. From the track log, the hike didn’t seem too bad - about an 8km hike with a 600m change in elevation.
We bus-hopped from Jardin Exotique (#2 / #4) and eventually arrived at Saint Roman. The first part of the hike was stairs through some residential neighbourhoods - lots and lots of stairs. We had also passed into France and I didn’t even notice. A lot of stray cats were also scurrying along the drainage and walls, which made BlueOrca really happy. Once out of the residential neighbourhoods, the hike turned into dirt paths leading up to different road tiers running across the side of the hill.
The hike turned out to be longer than I expected. Despite setting off at a pretty good pace, every time I studied my GPSr, our progress was a lot slower than I’d expected. It was so demoralizing that I got fed up and put my GPSr away.
Initially, I thought some parts of GeoBear’s hike log were pretty stupid. For example, in one instance, instead of turning left, he made three right turns and did a mini loop. It was not until we got to that section that I realized we had to go through a tunnel, make three right turns in order to reach the trail leading over top of the tunnel. Ugh. GeoBear’s track logs were totally accurate – no shortcutting for us.
It started getting dark as we neared the summit. We ran into a local French resident, who was bewildered that we were scaling this thing at night. We assured him that we had brought flashlights and we’d be okay. :) BlueOrca raced on ahead, while I managed to steal Segamatic’s Canon gear at some point; I don’t know if he’ll let the same happen again with his 5D2 and TS collection. I left a tripod and some secret stone markers at the forks to guide those who followed.
BlueOrca found the geocache quickly enough and we got onto the paragliding platform for some photos. Actually, I didn’t realize the pad was used for paragliding at the time. The green artificial turf resembled the tee off at a driving range. It would have been cool to bring a golf club and get a picture of myself launching a golf ball towards the Monaco backdrop.
I spent some time setting up my tripod to take some night shots. (I’m not sure why I didn’t borrow Amos’s tripod). It was quite windy up at the top (imagine Bay Bridge caliber winds), and my tripod was unfortunately <Too Weak!>. With the slanted slope, I was worried my tripod would topple and pull a RC238. Stupid me also FORGOT to bring my external flash. I’d brought it on the trip just for this one occasion and I left it in Nice.
Ironically enough, I was being rushed to finish taking the photos quickly, so we won’t miss the train back to Nice. This didn’t help me at all as I did not properly set up and check my shots. I did not even get a chance to take a single photo of Cap-Martin. What a wasted opportunity. :(
We soon began our descent. Some geocachers are pretty hardcore in that they go night hiking without bringing a flashlight. We ended up sharing a single headlamp between the three of us. The sky and city lights just kept on getting better and better as we headed down. I manage to drop back a few times to take some photos, before catching up with the group. At least I got one photo that I’m happy with - Click Me To View Larger. :)
I had mentioned in previous posts that I had misplaced our 2L bottle of water somewhere in Monaco - teaches you a lesson about leaving important things with me. :( Anyway, the only water that we had left was whatever I had in my Nalgene, which wasn’t a lot. Feeling partly guilty and seeing that the others needed the water more than I did, I sacrificed my precious water supply for the greater good.
Segamatic knees started to hurt on the way down, so we eased the pace and took more breaks in between. We were also very hungry and had finished our water supply a long time ago. In a yet-another-stupid-thing of the night, I offered Segamatic a granola bar. He accepted the bait and we each took half. Lesson learned. Granola bars are NOT to be consumed when you are thirsty. It just sucks the remaining saliva from your mouth and tastes totally horrible. I cannot think of anything more disgusting that I’ve eaten in my life. Sorry Sega!
We had no idea what time the last train to Nice was leaving, though I was hoping that there will be late ones, given the Grand Prix. It soon became apparent that we were not going to make it back into Monaco by midnight. Segamatic was in quite a bit of pain from the hike; I was trying every trick in my bag to offer some motivation.
It is really tough to know what to say in such situations. We were only about halfway down the mountain. We talked about catching a taxi back to Monaco. In the end, I suggested we hike down to the next major street and look for a taxi there. I really hated myself for saying this at the time, because I knew that we had no chance at catching a cab. I guess it's my "Jack Bauer" decision - to resort to deception for something this serious, since there were no other alternatives. The lie did its trick and Segamatic willed himself to make the heroic hike to the street.
Once there, we sat around waiting for a taxi. After a while, as I had dearly hoped would happen, Segamatic realized the futile nature of our situation and we resumed our hike. I tried to distract the conversation to other topics (BUNNER and LLAMASERY) to make Segamatic feel better. Retracing the path we took to come up, we finally got back to Saint Roman.
We waited at the bus stop for a bit, hoping to catch a bus and/or flag down some taxis. Found out after a while that buses do not run this late on Sundays. Our taxi strategy failed just as spectacularly. The one taxi that had stopped refused to give us a lift when he found out we were going the train station (5-10 min drive). Bastard.
The city was eerily quiet, as we hardly saw anyone on the streets. I thought that was really unusual given the Grand Prix festivities this weekend. It was as if the hordes that amassed earlier in the day just disappeared into thin air. I mistook an elevator sign for WC. I didn’t even realize until we took the elevator and couldn’t find the washrooms. Not that I had much urge, as my body consumed most of my available fluids.
Our quest to catch the last train was superseded by our quest for water. We stopped in a few condos begging for water. Everyone suggested we head to the casino - lots of water there. I wonder if the casino will let us in, dressed and smelling as we were. We finally found a hotel clerk who offered a 500ml bottle for 3 Euros. We drained that bottle pretty quickly. :|
By the time we made our way to the train station and took the long escalator down to the terminal, guards were already clearing people out of the station. The last train to Nice had left at 11:50pm. We were several hours late. :( We begged them to allow us to grab some water from the vending machines before being escorted off the premises.
The first train runs at 6am, so I strongly considered finding a place to just chill for a few hours in Monaco. BlueOrca was adamant about taking a taxi back and Segamatic seemed a bit zoned out from the ordeal still. I couldn't really ask a girl to sleep out in the streets, so it was better that we tried to get back to our hostel in Nice. BlueOrca flagged down a really fancy Mercedes-Benz taxi. The drivers were now very willing to give us a ride… pfft. 130 Euros definitely buys service.
BlueOrca and Segamatic were passed out in the back. I tried mightily hard to stay awake, just in case the taxi driver decided to take us to some other Nice. This experience totally reminded me of trying not to doze off during a boring lecture after a few all-nighters (a nearly impossible task)! The highway from Monaco to Nice was really beautiful - four well-paved, well-lit lanes each way, passing through some really nice scenery. I didn't get a chance to admire the sights on the train ride into Monaco earlier. Once I saw the exit for Nice, my mind succumbed to my body urgings and I dozed off. When I woke up again, we were already back at Nice's train station. This ride may very well go down as the most luxurious international taxi trip I will ever take. :)
We had quite a Monaco experience and got to see some unique aspects of this city-state. I’d have to return one day to check out the more typical Monaco sights and definitely drive or get a ride through the Fairmont tunnel.
Monaco – 5/5.
In a case that has been prorogued for many years, the verdict has finally come. All four must come out. Had a panoramic scan taken on Saturday, which looks super cool. These are the two partially erupted bad boys causing all the problems.
Surgery is set for end of February. I’m not particularly looking forward to the pain, but I am curious as to what my chipmunk face will be like.
I uploaded the rest of the VOV videos to youtube.
First up, a walk through Ka’s store after the show. Some quick recap of my thoughts on Ka. The theatre in MGM was very impressive. As Catnip eloquently put it, the set was like a scene from Final Fantasy. The stage was certainly the most impressive element, which effectively was one giant wall/platform that twisted and turned to simulate various terrain. My favourite part was watching the Chief Archer’s daughter (evil princess girl) juggling the two batons. She was cute and super graceful that her performance was very mesmerizing. I definitely enjoyed being in the first row for this act. I also loved the snow scene with the Mountain’s Tribesmen. The scaling of the wall and flying glider was visually so impressive. This is the first Cirque du Soleil show that I have seen with so many Asians in the production and also the first one with a real story line! lol.
So yeah, after the show, I loved the music so much that I decided to tape a portion of one of the songs while walking through the store. Yes, I was trying to steal the soundtrack. Without further ado, may I present Koudamare…
Second is the Volcano at The Mirage. Apparently they upgraded the volcano recently. As part of the upgrade, the lava now shoots up to an 120ft and erupts for an additional two minutes (up to ~4:30). Well, see for yourself:
The next three are all related. We walked through the Wynn to check out its waterfall. Lo and behold, is that a frog at the top of the waterfall?!?!
So yeah, that frog show was so cool that we waited 30 minutes just so we could WATCH IT AGAIN!! This video is entitled “Wynn WTF” - I haven't had a surprise/shock like this in a long time. lol.
Wow. So after that one, we found out there were 8 different shows. The following one was the least impressive – they used leftover flower props from Le Reve.
There you go. All the videos from VOV. I’m still going through the photos and continually adding new ones. Check back every now and then. :P
Some of you might remember my Superman roller coaster video from Six Flags. I got this email about the video today:
Dear tochivideo,
Your video, Superman: Ride of Steel @ Six Flags, may have content that is owned or licensed by WMG.
No action is required on your part; however, if you are interested in learning how this affects your video, please visit the Content ID Matches section of your account for more information.
Sincerely,
- The YouTube Team
:( WMG complained about my use of Superman Theme song as background music. This was my most popular video with 12,888 views, and was the subject of some funny comments (a lot of bashing between Wonderland and Darien Lake).
I didn’t particularly like the tone of YouTube’s copyright dispute notices:
There are very few valid reasons for disputing a claim. Submitting an invalid dispute can result in penalties against your account.
Ironically, I can still watch the embedded video from my earlier post. It was a fun run while it lasted.
I have always had bad experiences flying with United, the last of which involved juice being poured onto me. Understandably (word bunny!), I was not at all pleased to find out about this $15 surcharge for checked baggage. Especially when even Air Canada, of all airlines, rescinded their fuel surcharge and reinstated their two free baggage policy. I have since found out UAL lost $5.8B in 2008, but that still doesn’t justify charging for checked baggage.. grr.
Anyway, I was flying UAL back from Vegas, with a stopover at windy, delay-prone, O’Hare. I managed to sleep through most of flight from LAS to ORD, mainly because there was no personal TV monitor. You’d pretty much expect all aircrafts to be equip with these things nowadays, sigh.
Now in Chicago, I got a little nervous when they made repeated announcements about the FAA regulation for allowing only two carry-ons. I had my tripod, camera bag and roller suit case. :( While lining up to go through the gate during boarding, the lady in front of me was forced to stuff her hand bag (3rd item) into one of her other bags before they let her through! Crap! I got up to the agent, and he pointed at my tripod and asked if it was an instrument. I blindly answered yeah! and he waved me through. Even the flight attendants re-juggling the overhead compartment took extra care of my tripod. Tripod bag saves the day! :P
During the flight, the lady (from Hamilton) sitting beside me just came back from a 4 week stint in Japan. She told me about her 30 hour ordeal to get into Osaka due to weather delays (She was offered to be flown to Tokyo, but Osaka has a NEW airport that she wanted to check out!). I too had my share of bad flight stories to tell. She climbed 4 different mountains while travelling through Japan (a bit disappointed that a 90 year old Japanese man could climb faster than she could!), ate tons of food of questionable origins. lol.
So I get to the main point of this post. I’ve never had such an enjoyable time on a flight before. The flight crew on UAL 1112 decided to spice up the traditional intercom exchanges. Every statement was a gem.
Welcome to UAL flight 1112. We’ll be heading head to Toronto tonight, flying over Detroit. The weather in Toronto is pretty much the same as Chicago, only 10 degrees colder. What else would you expect from Canada?
Please sit back and enjoy our quick flight to Detroit, I meant Toronto!!
We are a bit delayed here as a couple late stragglers made this flight. We want to make sure their checked baggage are on this flight. We don’t want them to be grumpy when they find out in Toronto.
Ladies and gentlemen, in preparation for takeoff, please bring your seatbacks up to the most uncomfortable position…
As required by FAA regulations, so I must do this…(sigh). I’ll be playing the safety video…
Please do listen to where the exits are on this plane. It’s one of those things you don’t really need to know, but good to know when you do need to.
(After a 5 minute taxi to the runway, the captain comes on to say) Ladies and Gentlemen, you must be thinking we are driving to Detroit, I mean Toronto. Sorry to disappoint! Flight crew, please be seated. (in really excited voice) We’re number one on the queue for take off!
Ladies and gentlemen, we are going to be keeping the seatbelt lights on for a little longer, as there are some RED STUFF on the radar…
(On his way to collect the passenger’s garbage from the drinks service, one guy handed a dinner (non-plane) container to the flight attendant) Sir, United institute this new policy that came into effect on Jan 1. As part of our environment initiatives to offset our carbon footprint, we now charge $3 per pound to dispose extra garbage. I’ll have to take this box to the back to weigh it, but I’m guessing it’ll cost about $8 to dispose. (The guy grabs the container back and says he’ll keep it!!) I’m kidding I’m kidding! (Everyone bursts out laughing).
(Right after we touched down in T.O., which was not a smooth landing by any means, the flight attendant comes on)… After that AWESOME landing by our captain, WELCOME TO TORONTO!!!
(Captain then comes on) Well, we’re here now. Welcome to DETROIT!!! I mean Toronto! Hope you all had an enjoyable flight, and thank you for flying United!
I forgot so many other good lines. I’d never looked forward to hearing what the flight crew might say next. What a difference a little humour can make to a flight. :)