I took Sapphira to Smith and Edwards a few days ago to wander around and take some pictures. Smith and Edwards saw its prime after World War II, where they ran one of the largest (if not the largest) war surplus store west of the Mississippi. Most of the stuff that’s left now is unrecognizable and will likely sit until it rusts away. I had fun wandering around and taking photos, and Saph did too. Hope you enjoy the photos.

Tags: photography, Logos, smith and edwards, utah, ogden

I've been in Monte Carlo for the last few days covering the EPT Grand Final. I added a gallery of photos I took here in Monte Carlo at night. I'll write a different blog post explaining the process I used to make them.

Thoughts on Monte Carlo:

• Everything is very expensive, and that's exacerbated by the terrible exchange rate. No big surprise there. A 20-euro hamburger could never taste good enough to justify the cost.
• Two buttons on the toilet, one for number one and one for number two. The number one is just a quick flush. Great idea for saving water.
• Even at the Monte Carlo Bay hotel, where rooms go for 600-850 euros per night (that's approx. $1000-$1600 per night), they don't have hot water in the bathroom sinks.
• High-fructose corn syrup sucks. How do I know? There's no HFCS in European Coca-cola, and it DEFINITELY tastes different. And by different, I mean 237 times better. Americans are getting ripped off in this category.
• Most people speak English very well and are very accommodating and very patient with my non-franophone-ness.
• Motorcycles and cars run around these streets (very quickly, I might add) in equal numbers. Most of the motorcycles are two-stroke engines, which means they get great gas mileage, have a lot of horsepower, but are very loud. But when fuel is 1.55 euros per liter (around $10 per gallon) you take whatever measures necessary to use as little of it as possible.
• Buses (1 euro) are your friend.
• Baguettes here are amazing. They taste similarly to sourdough and have a great texture. Very tasty.
• The ham in Monte Carlo isn't cured using brown sugar. They use a much milder curing process and the ham is very flavorful, but not so damn sweet as ham in America
• French TV = boring. Three(!) fashion channels, at least eight news channels (that are frequently reporting on fashion shows), soap operas, American movies dubbed with French and a music channel. Boring. I had heard all of these rumors about how racy and sex-filled European television is. I've seen none of that. Makes me wonder if some kind of propaganda machine is at work behind that little myth.
• When you're crossing the street, you better be paying attention, because the margins for error are very slim.
• Evian water doesn't taste any better here.
• If I lived here, I would love the two-hour lunches.
• 64 degrees fahrenheit is warm enough for topless sunbathing for people in Monte Carlo.
• Hope you enjoy the photos! Let me know what you think of them in the comments for this post.

Tags: monte carlo, photography, poker, travel, europe