EPT Monaco Annotated Picture Trip Report
In our last episode, I had spewed out of the tournament and was now in tourist mode. While in Monaco, we walked across the country 
and visited the Jacques Cousteau Oceanarium
. Thereat did I see jellyfish
, as well as find my inner Nemo
.
One of the highlights of the trip for me was meeting all the other SNEs. One night they had a freeroll for the SNEs to get into the $100,000 celebrity sit n go. It's kind of funny. When your only contact with someone is looking across the monitor begrudging them for taking up the seat of a potential live one, you think of them as an enemy. When Cesar introduces difficult dogs, he does so by walking them. When they meet walking side by side the mentality is compeletely different than when they meet face to face. Partnership vs conflict. I've played thousands of tournaments with bigjoe, and my mental wiring changed literally in one minute talking with him while walking side by side. So, anyhow, there are a bunch of pix on this page from that night. Everyone I met was really cool, even scossett, who sometimes gets a little wiggy online. Next night, we took in the sights
and later I enjoyed a nice Mediterranean dish
.
After jorj busted out of the tournament, Laura and I decided to go to Paris on a whim. The train from Monaco to Nice takes a scenic route along the Riviera
. At midnight, we arrived in Paris with no plan or hotel reservation. To make it interesting, God ordained that the one of us big enough to walk through dubious dark alleys late at night was also the one that did not speak French. After a couple of hours approaching panhandlers and hostelkeepers saying, "Yo quierro un hotel etoile cinque," I found someone who kindly made a reservation for us a few miles away. I gave him $10 or E10, whatever, same thing, right? for his trouble. When we got to the quite nice hotel, they were all smiles to us, but then the manager called the guy up and bitched him out in French (not realizing that Laura speaks it) for giving us a E300 room for E200. Heh.
With less than two days before we were scheduled to fly back (from London), we had a streamlined tourist agenda. Now let me say this. The Metro kicks ass. If every city had such a nice system, no one would drive. We just need gas at $8 a gallon everywhere and the world will be okay. First stop was the Louvre. I don't think I'd ever considered the Met small, but compared to the Louvre it is. When we got to the entrance
and saw it was $9 er, Euros, same thing, I exclaimed, "Nine dollars to see some of the greatest art ever! I love France!" .. "Euros, same thing!" One of the first famous paintings we saw was David's crowning of Napoleon
. In addition to revoultionizing portraiture, I think it's interesting that the picture of Napoleon is bigger than Napoleon himself. This
seemed to be a popular statue, even it was still unfinished. One of the things I was fortunate to learn while visiting an old-world country is that nothing is as new as we think it is. For example, baseball wasn't invented in the 1800s but actually several thousand years ago by Hercules. And back then to help you focus your eye on the ball, they would position several hungry snakes right below your nut sack.
Sez who there's no crying in baseball? Not just sport, but art gets recycled. For example, the Mona Lisa
was actually a derivative of a piece called Dora L'Explorateur
. And Mercury and Psyche
was actually based on a work entitled Producteur d'Argen Seminu
. Heading over to the Richelieu wing to check out the Dutch impressionists, we were turned back because they were closed a couple days of the week due to insufficient financial resources. Exclaimed I, "Why don't they just charge a few more dollars so that people can see all the great stuff?!?! I hate France!" .. "Euros, same thing." We topped off the day with late lunch in a French cafe and a trip to the top of the Eiffel Tower
. The semibrave faces are masking that we were being pelted by a tropospheric Day-After-Tomorrow storm. Paris in spring, um who came up with that idea?
Next day we headed out to the burbs to see Versailles. Walking from the train stop to the palace, we passed a building that I thought looked really cool
. I think it was just a government admin building, but I'd certainly live in it. Versailles from the front
. It's kinda big. This is just some hall
, but I thought it was cool. I thought I had a big organ, but this one might top it
. The backyard requires getting up a little earlier on Saturday to mow
. There was a little fountain on the walk to the pool
. The view from the backyard
. They have a perfect lawn for football. I held an impromptu tutorial for the locals on how to break zone coverage
with a buttonhook and an out. The walk back from the yard was so long, they actually had a "brasserie" at which to stop. What's that in English? Fortunately, the signs were trilingual
.
By the end of the day, we heard London Calling
and took the Chunnel over, er under, whatever. We arrived on platform 10 at ... Kings Cross Station
My transfer was at platform 9 3/4, but I couldn't seem to find it anywhere
. But that's a completely different story.
and visited the Jacques Cousteau Oceanarium
. Thereat did I see jellyfish
, as well as find my inner Nemo
.
One of the highlights of the trip for me was meeting all the other SNEs. One night they had a freeroll for the SNEs to get into the $100,000 celebrity sit n go. It's kind of funny. When your only contact with someone is looking across the monitor begrudging them for taking up the seat of a potential live one, you think of them as an enemy. When Cesar introduces difficult dogs, he does so by walking them. When they meet walking side by side the mentality is compeletely different than when they meet face to face. Partnership vs conflict. I've played thousands of tournaments with bigjoe, and my mental wiring changed literally in one minute talking with him while walking side by side. So, anyhow, there are a bunch of pix on this page from that night. Everyone I met was really cool, even scossett, who sometimes gets a little wiggy online. Next night, we took in the sights
and later I enjoyed a nice Mediterranean dish
.
After jorj busted out of the tournament, Laura and I decided to go to Paris on a whim. The train from Monaco to Nice takes a scenic route along the Riviera
. At midnight, we arrived in Paris with no plan or hotel reservation. To make it interesting, God ordained that the one of us big enough to walk through dubious dark alleys late at night was also the one that did not speak French. After a couple of hours approaching panhandlers and hostelkeepers saying, "Yo quierro un hotel etoile cinque," I found someone who kindly made a reservation for us a few miles away. I gave him $10 or E10, whatever, same thing, right? for his trouble. When we got to the quite nice hotel, they were all smiles to us, but then the manager called the guy up and bitched him out in French (not realizing that Laura speaks it) for giving us a E300 room for E200. Heh.
With less than two days before we were scheduled to fly back (from London), we had a streamlined tourist agenda. Now let me say this. The Metro kicks ass. If every city had such a nice system, no one would drive. We just need gas at $8 a gallon everywhere and the world will be okay. First stop was the Louvre. I don't think I'd ever considered the Met small, but compared to the Louvre it is. When we got to the entrance
and saw it was $9 er, Euros, same thing, I exclaimed, "Nine dollars to see some of the greatest art ever! I love France!" .. "Euros, same thing!" One of the first famous paintings we saw was David's crowning of Napoleon
. In addition to revoultionizing portraiture, I think it's interesting that the picture of Napoleon is bigger than Napoleon himself. This
seemed to be a popular statue, even it was still unfinished. One of the things I was fortunate to learn while visiting an old-world country is that nothing is as new as we think it is. For example, baseball wasn't invented in the 1800s but actually several thousand years ago by Hercules. And back then to help you focus your eye on the ball, they would position several hungry snakes right below your nut sack.
Sez who there's no crying in baseball? Not just sport, but art gets recycled. For example, the Mona Lisa
was actually a derivative of a piece called Dora L'Explorateur
. And Mercury and Psyche
was actually based on a work entitled Producteur d'Argen Seminu
. Heading over to the Richelieu wing to check out the Dutch impressionists, we were turned back because they were closed a couple days of the week due to insufficient financial resources. Exclaimed I, "Why don't they just charge a few more dollars so that people can see all the great stuff?!?! I hate France!" .. "Euros, same thing." We topped off the day with late lunch in a French cafe and a trip to the top of the Eiffel Tower
. The semibrave faces are masking that we were being pelted by a tropospheric Day-After-Tomorrow storm. Paris in spring, um who came up with that idea?
Next day we headed out to the burbs to see Versailles. Walking from the train stop to the palace, we passed a building that I thought looked really cool
. I think it was just a government admin building, but I'd certainly live in it. Versailles from the front
. It's kinda big. This is just some hall
, but I thought it was cool. I thought I had a big organ, but this one might top it
. The backyard requires getting up a little earlier on Saturday to mow
. There was a little fountain on the walk to the pool
. The view from the backyard
. They have a perfect lawn for football. I held an impromptu tutorial for the locals on how to break zone coverage
with a buttonhook and an out. The walk back from the yard was so long, they actually had a "brasserie" at which to stop. What's that in English? Fortunately, the signs were trilingual
.
By the end of the day, we heard London Calling
and took the Chunnel over, er under, whatever. We arrived on platform 10 at ... Kings Cross Station
My transfer was at platform 9 3/4, but I couldn't seem to find it anywhere
. But that's a completely different story.