駕飛機

I talked about my birthday present for 2010 here: http://walao-rayn.blogspot.com/2010/08/thanks-for-birthday-wishes.html. So, a flying experience... rite...

Walking to our plane with Robert. 

坦白說，心中有些許忐忑。這麼多年以來，每當我從高處往下看，LPZ 都會緊張得縮起喔!

 

 

The plane model is Citabria 7GCBC. 1 propeller, 2 seats, very light. Because Robert is in charge of take off and landing, all I got is 1 joystick and 2 pedals (like kayak) at the back seat.

傳說中的 joystick,
and vomit bag in the seat pocket in front of you (in case of fail)

 Robert: "Can you hear me?"

"Roger, Roger, Caleb"

It was very windy, the plane was very bouncy at low altitude. When the plane is bouncy and I am in the plane, and I am holding the joystick, and the joystick is very sensitive, mathematically, the result is BOUNCINESS++.

I did turn left, turn right, go up and go down (Rob turned the engine off for that...). Due to the turbulence earlier, I felt quite sick, and Rob said "Do you want to do some extreme aerobatic now, Rayn?". Well, I guess not, otherwise I will need that vomit bag.

Our first landing attempt was aborted, a strong wind hit the plane as soon as we hit the ground, so Rob pulled the joystick up. We ended up landing on grass instead of the runway, parallel to the wind direction.

That's all for this special flying experience at Camden. The registration of the plane is MWY, in case you want to 買馬票。

Some numbers:
Altitude: around 3500m
Wind speed: 10 knot
Danger wind speed: 35 knot

Lafite

最近留意到一則新聞。事關法國拉菲酒庄在08年酒瓶加上了中文的“八”字，引起中國消費群眾的搶購，造成瘋狂的價格飆升。從 2,000 英鎊一箱升到 10,000 英鎊一箱，而今天（09－02－2011）的價錢是 14,000 英镑。-_-|||

有人說，中國消費者現在還不是很懂紅酒。“拉菲”也是機緣巧合下紅了起來，其他四大法國酒庄的名字不是太難念，就是不好聽。e.g. 拉图 Latour（广东话＝拉倒）。我個人認為，下一個可能會紅的區域，是“教皇新堡” Chateauneuf-du-Pape，名字夠氣派，所在地 Rhone 區的酒也有名。

開始看“神之水滴”漫畫。

偶爾看到故事里講的，跟自己酒櫃里的有類似($15)，感覺非常爽喔。

EUR06-Nice

Nice

Nice, France, is a nice place. I first heard the correct pronunciation from Toff (NEEEESE). I guess I was quite excited because we get to say goodbye to tomato, cheese and olive oil of the Italy. Lisa and I watched "The Killers" the other day and the opening 5 minutes was shot in Nice, we enjoyed that 5 minutes even though it was a really crappy movie.


Hill

Climb, climb, climb and you see nice beach view from top of the hill. Behind is a park with the view of a port.

Beach

No sand, mostly rounded stone. Lisa took 2kg of stone home for her next art design project. Too cold, cannot swim but I enjoyed walking on the promenade, leisure and relax, a good break between intensive traveling.


Food

 

 

The hotel conceirge didn't fail us, both recommendations were excellent. The first one we went was Le Safari near the antique and flower market. Here, we have antipasti, fish and lamb.

someone wanna go here for TRUFFLE menu, but no open cos holiday

So we went to Le Grand Balcon, when the concierge guy read the name of this restaurant in French, I had no fucking idea what he was trying to say, until he wrote the name on our map, I was like OHHH WTF, Grand Balcon. Truffle menu (even for dessert, OMG), god bless the truffle girl. I had fish instead.

 

We stopped by a cafe after some intensive walking, all chairs in the shop were facing the street, very interesting layout. Here we played the "count the passing by Asian" game, we counted only 1 Asian in the end.

very 癡纏 couple (right side)

The Hotel

 

Hotel Palais de la Mediterranee on the English Promenade. We were lucky to get a room with beach view plus free champagne (pro tip: honeymoon upgrade). I drank too much and later cannot eat anything for 2 days...



Random

 pirates candy

bird scissors

OK, now this is cheap

Jaume statue near Massena (Old Town?)

the roof top of contemporary museum, got nice view also

Next stop = Paris!
Other stories are all >> here <<

Bye

EUR05-Venice

Venice

 

I saw buildings with Islamic features from the water bus, quite surprised but later Wikipedia told me it was the impact of the Byzantine empire.

Venice is really hard to navigate without a proper map. I can only go to St Mark and Rialto Bridge from the hotel without looking at the map.

Like what Josh S. said, getting lost in Venice is part of the experience too!


St Mark's Basilica

The Venetian merchants stole Mark the Evangelist's body from Egypt, rumoured to be covered in pork (Muslim cannot check), and missing his head. His symbol is a winged lion holding a book, you will be able to see it everywhere, if you pay attention.

Some mosaics in the church are very cute, the Byzantine influence (maybe Gothic?) made the mosaic quite cartoon-ish. It is definitely worthwhile to go upstairs because you can see the bronze horses, mosaic and many other stuff.


Murano Glass

 factory guy making a glass horse

main street

 

Murano glass, if it is too cheap, it is from China. I bought some cufflinks for myself and a handbag hanger for my mum.


Food

Pizzeria alla Strega (the Witch) offers creative pizza topings. We tried the "Superman" pizza, squid ink spaghetti and the Venezia beer.

We went to Sangal for their NYE menu. The atmosphere was nice, wait staff was nice (guess what happened?) and the food was incredible. However, the pace was a bit slow, and I was really full by course #6.

We dined from 7 pm to 11:45 pm and almost missed the new year count down. The group of 3 opposite us showed up at 8:30 pm and caught up around course #5. So, pro tip: book 9 pm next time.



Count Down

 before dinner, piazza

 after dinner, count down soon

 alrite, private firework is right next to us

the smoke 

I see no official fireworks after the count down, and smoke from private firework were pretty scary. The only thing I want to say is, I saw the Sydney NYE firework on TV later and I cried. I have been away for 4 NYEs, maybe I should stay home this year.


Gondola

The gondola ride is part of the complete Venice experience, our driver (rower?) is quite good looking but he can do with a little bit more hair. He demonstrated his awesome skillz when he 漂移 near the narrow canal. We went pass Marco Polo and Casanova's place too.

see the winged lion or not?

 

omg grand canal

gotta kiss when you pass this bridge

Hotel

 

What can I say? Open the window, we can see the small canal. Wifi in the room. Situated between the two landmarks that I can go without looking at the map (St Mark & Rialto), Aqua Palace is pretty damn nice for sure.


Random

傳說中的"靚仔靚景"

mask, I find them quite scary looking

 Rialto Bridge

OK, from Aeroporto Marco Polo, next stop = Nice (France)!
Other stories are all >> here <<

Bye