Strange days: Bucharest, Romania

Argh! Even with all the extra time I've given myself, I'm still at constant war against the clock. I've had this particular post on the back burner for a long time, but my prime writing time (late at night) keeps getting disrupted by my hostel mates. It would seem they find it more interesting to go out for some food and drinks, rather than stare at a text riddled LCD screen for hours. Silly rabbits.

Another interesting thought is that I SHOULD be home by now, stuffing my face with delicious Mohnkuchen, Mr. Sicily pizza, Tim bits, Laurena made steak (maybe breaded chicken too), and macaroni/meat sauce. While at the same time of course, using Canada Dry and Coffee to cleanse my throat for more efficient gluttony. Oh, and this would all take place while watching BSG Season 4.
Mmmmmmm, gluttony. Makes me miss that mediterranean cruise (believe it or not, I gained some weight by the end).

But instead of that, I'm stuck here in Europe. *cough*
Yea yea, poor me huh. My tears must taste delicious.

That, however; is old news (and excellent filler).
New news: East bloc (even better filler).

Zagreb was merely a foot note for my travel log. The city was magnificent in regards to architecture, and much more modern than Ljubljana. On my city map, there were literally 15+ museums/galleries to choose from. I had not been to a museum since-- I can honestly not remember (Berlin maybe?), so I thought that the time was right to break my museum drought. I had some excellent pizza (they looove pizza in Eastern Europe), and I also tried my hand at some "house special (which was awesome. Was some sort of random meat on a bun)."
Yea good times--there was also a cathedral, an awesome medieval old town, a gas shortage, and a flock of seagulls. That's about it (aww great, now I've resorted to movie quotes again).
The highlight of Zagreb (more often than not), was a simple night out on the town. Most of the people at the hostel were just as bored as me (it took 3 hours to explore the city), so we all went out to fill our guts, then retired for a night of Family Guy and Mythbusters.

You see? This is what happens when I upload pictures of a location BEFORE I make a post on the blog. I run out of material and everyone suffers, especially the seagulls (I'm trying so hard, but nothing is working).

Well, after Zagreb (which I did in fact enjoy), was Budapest. If I had one word to describe Budapest, it would be "Prague-ish-ness." They got themselves a river, a classical old town, a large river, a famous bridge, a hilltop castle, and (most importantly) more to do than I had time to do it. I arrived in town quite late. Not being tired, I simply went out on a shooting excursion (it had been a long time since my last). The hostel was awesome, and the guy running the place was one of the best I've ever seen.
You'll be interested to know that on one of my nights out, my company was an 18 year old (waiiiiiit for iiiiiiiit) french guy. He was the only other person at the hostel, so I took my chances. It turned out to be a hilarious night. Not only did the bar/pub rock my socks, but watching inebriated French youngins (yes, I can say that. So sue me) hit on every good looking Hungarian girl in sight (and being shot down just as quickly. They were pretty "female dog" about it too--pardon my French--get it? ohoohohohohoho I made a funny), has its own form off twisted entertainment. Eventually we DID find some females (lots in fact, which made up for the earlier failures), who were super friendly. In fact, we ended up getting along so well, that the whole group of us stayed up throughout the night, and well into the morning. In hindsight, this was a poor decision on my part. I lost all the daylight hours of the next day (due to sleeping through them), and it absolutely killed me for the following day as well. Oh well, it was certainly worth the trouble!

My third "day" in Budapest was my first with actual daylight, so I took to the streets and found all (well almost all) of the "to see" sights. Even with the terrible weather, Budapest was still a wonderful city to explore. Tons of variety kept me interested, and the people were pretty cool too (even the synagogue security guard who gave me attitude). Heading ever further south-east, I found that the locations are in fact getting more unique, exotic, and less "western." That being said, I have yet to be blown away by any culture shock yet.

In almost every Western European country, I have run into some form of gypsy beggar lady (not knowing what else to call them), trying to part me from my precious money. They are normally short, stout, have leathery darkish skin, and absolutely always wear a bandana over their hair (with a corner hanging over their forehead). Some extreme cases are the ones with walking sticks (nice medical ones, that brace at the elbow), or children assistants.

The point is that when I got off the train in Brasov (transylvania area, Romania), I walked into a FLEET of these women. You have to understand. Up until this point, these women have been serious trouble for me. Some of them are thieves, some of them are simply pity cases, and they were having a convention in Brasov. Then I saw something interesting. All these women ran into the arms of their husbands, sons, and friends. I have never seen one of these women smile--ever, until that point. All of a sudden, these women became a little more "real" to me. Sure, they may be incredible jerks when in the Western EU area, but their "job" is one of the worst I could imagine. If they were passive in their begging techniques, they would most likely never get any "charity" at all. Now that they made it home (god only knows how long they are gone for), they got some fancy Euros to spend. Good for them-- I guess.

Interesting note: Nobody has begged for money here.
Another note: I still wouldn't "donate."

Kyle-one! ah ha ha! two! ah ha ha! three! ah ha ha'ing-out