Egypt

I made it safely to Egypt and I am having an amazing time unfortunately finding working internet is really difficult and expensive. I will hopefully have my first update within the next day or two.

So Smart

After driving West for two days I am now currently working my way East to Cairo in a series of flights taking me from San Francisco to Salt Lake City to New York City to Yemen, Jordan to Cairo, Egypt. If all goes well I will be in Cairo a mere 28 hours after my flight takes off from San Francisco.

Westward Ho

Destination California

I woke up early Saturday morning and got on the road at 6am. I drove to Victoria’s house in Lawrence Kansas and we headed out. Driving through Kansas is a lot of fun, it’s really flat and has lots of scenic cow pastures and fields of corn. I don’t actually know if it is corn, but it’s some kind of crop. I am a big fan of obscure roadside attractions and when I saw a sign for “World’s Largest Hand Dug Well” I insisted that we stop and check it out. Unfortunately the town with the “World’s Largest Hand Dug Well” had been hit a few years ago by a devastating tornado that took out nearly the entire town and the well is still closed. The gift shop however was open and we learned that there was a giant meteorite in town and we stopped at Town Hall to peer inside the window at the meteorite inside a glass encasement.

We chose to take the southerly route to get to California and the first state we hit after Kansas was Oklahoma quickly followed by Texas and then New Mexico where we spent the night. We stopped at all of the State signs to take pictures and the next morning when we got to the Arizona sign there were giant “No Parking” signs on the side of the road so we quickly hopped out and took pictures of each other as tractor trailers wizzed passed and honked loudly at us. Later we entered an area that was labeled a “Photo Enforcement Zone” and so we put on our best smiles in case they took pictures of us we would look good. I’m not sure if they took any pictures of us, but we took the opportunity to take pictures of ourselves.

When we crossed into California the sign for California was just after a bridge and I told Victoria that she should slow down to get over. Instead she sped up and we didn’t get a picture with the sign but I was able to snap a photo from inside the car. We made it to my Grandpa’s house in Fresno around 10pm where my big sister was waiting for us and we had some time to hang out and I got some presents. My grandpa got me a really nice sweater and a button down dress shirt. My sister got me a gift card and a metal loop puzzle thing. Every year my older sister gets me a gag gift and this year it was the metal loop puzzle. It all started many years ago when I was in high school. My older sister had her own place and I wanted to get her something for her house. I found a snowman candle that I thought was really cute, that she could use to decorate her house. Unfortunately when I gave it to her it had been crushed and no one else thought the snowman was as cute as I did.

The drive to California wasn’t bad at all we passed the time by playing games like “I’m going on a trip and I’m bringing a …” where you work through the alphabet adding a new item every time. I would tell you what we were bringing but someone was bringing inappropriate things that are best not mentioned. I have a terrible memory and it would take me about 5 minutes to get through the list when it was my turn but Victoria could get it done in 30 seconds every time. We also played Categories, the game where you name a category and take turns naming things that fit in that category trying not to repeat. One category was “Things that start with ‘P’” and another was “Numbers between one and thirty”. Victoria pretty much one all of these rounds as well.

Monday we drove through the town that I lived in between 2nd and 9th grades and stopped by our old house. When I dream, I often find myself at this house and in the neighborhood and it was very strange to be back there for the first time in many years. Everything seemed so much smaller in real life than it was in my mind, but everything was still as I remembered it in every other way. Monday night I got to see my Mom and Stepdad for the first time since June, which was really nice.

I'm in Arizona

So is Victoria

Were in New Mexico

Oklahoma!

Near the Giant Well

We are the dark shadows below the sign

Meteorite

Fun Driving Times

Addicted

Plans Update: I am leaving tomorrow morning to drive to California with my sister. Once I get to California I am hopping on several planes to get myself to Egypt where I will be spending two weeks over Xmas and New Years. More details to follow and I will of course be blogging from there. You should be excited, I know I am!

More Bests, Thanks to Prajwal

Funniest moment:
Honorable Mentions: The Guy in India who didn’t understand why we were dancing so far away from him and every minute that I was with Matt in Spain.
Runner Up: When I was trying to squeeze through the “Winnie the Poo” hole while caving in Budapest. I was making all kinds of sounds and thrusting my hips all over the place, trying to get through.
Winner: When Prajwal was walking with a coke in his hand and a monkey approached. Prajwal screamed like a little girl and threw his coke in the street. The monkey chased the coke and picked it up, upside down, and carried it out of the street only to discover that the bottle was now empty.

Saddest Moment:
Runner Up: Going to Auschwitz
Winner: Leaving London

Scariest Moment:
Honorable Mentions: Nearly breaking the wooden ferris wheel in Bucharest.
Runner Up: Being crushed by hordes of people and tomatoes at La Tomatina.
Winner: When I was hiking in Morocco and I was surrounded by dogs that wanted to kill me. Thank goodness for the old woman who saved my life by hurling rocks like a professional baseball player.

Weirdest Drink:

Runner Up: Coke with beer, lemonade with beer, in Germany they mix everything with beer.
Winner: The mixture of coke and red wine, weird but delicious

Best Dinner:

Honorable Mentions: Home cooked meal consisting of: chicken, roasted potatoes, Yorkshire pudding, broccoli, carrots, pumpkin, sweet potatoes and everything covered in gravy.

Runner Up: Korean barbecue in Katmandu.
Winner: Everything Katja cooked for me.

Update

I have been back in Saint Louis for almost two weeks now and I have been staying at my Dad's house in Saint Charles. This past weekend I moved all of my stuff back into my condo, for what will hopefully be my last stint there. I am re-listing the condo officially today at a significantly lower price than I was asking for before in hopes that it will get bought quickly.

I am still looking for a tax season job where I can work 80+ hours a week. I have a couple promising leads but nothing finalized at this point.

I am leaving again this Saturday, very very early, to meet up with my sister in Kansas and road trip to the west coast over her college break. I'm not exactly sure how long I will be gone, but it will probably be for around a month. I'll start blogging again regularly once I hit the road.

Miscellaneous Trip Information

Countries: 23

India, Nepal, United Arab Emirates, Morocco, Spain, Italy, Germany, France, The Netherlands, Belgium, Czech Republic, Poland, Ukraine, Hungary, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Austria, Romania, Turkey, United Kingdom.

Favorite Cities: 24

India: Gangtok, Mumbai, Goa
Nepal: Pokhara
Morocco: Azrue, Merzouga, Todra Gorge, Larache
Spain: Seville, Granada, Madrid, Valencia
Italy: Rome
Germany: Stuttgart, Munich, Berlin
Belgium: Bruges, Brussels
Czech Republic: Prague
Hungary: Budapest
Slovakia: Bratislava
Austria: Vienna
Turkey: Istanbul
London, England

Least Favorite Cities: 7
India: Kolkata
Nepal: Katmandu
Morocco: Casablanca, Tangier, Marrakesh
The Netherlands: Amsterdam
Ukraine: L’viv

Country with the best food: India

Country with the best beer: Belgium

Cheapest Country: India

Most Expensive Country: United Kingdom

Best Hostel Staff: Tulip Guest House (Istanbul, Turkey)

How much did it cost? $12,689

I'll add more categories when I think of more stuff. Let me know what other categories you would like answered.

Weirdness

Being back in America is weird. Since coming back I have been staying at my dad’s house in Saint Charles. I have been spending my days working out, studying Spanish, doing CPE, trying to find a job and trying to get reacclimated to life here. I am so used to having the same things in my pockets that changing that up feels weird and I don’t know which things to put where to make the most sense. I have been used to wearing a money belt under my pants and I check for it all the time and have mini panic attacks that someone has stolen it or I have lost it before I remember that I’m not wearing it anymore. The other day I wanted some water and I went to my room and retrieved my water bottle from my backpack and filled it up at the sink. I forgot that there is a cabinet full of cups that would work equally as well. I will get readjusted in time.

I have always been good at being alone but for the last six months I have never really been alone and I have gotten used to other people being around. Staying at my Dad’s house during this past week, while they have been at work and I have been home alone I have felt really lonely. I know that it is silly to feel that way and that I will soon grow back to enjoying my alone time as much as I have in the past.

In the next couple of days I am going to post some more information about my trip in total so stay tuned.

Things I Learned While Traveling

In no particular order:

People make the difference.

There are amazing people everywhere in the world.

Time flies. No matter how long you have at something it’s over before you know it. Be sure that you are doing what makes you happy because otherwise you may never have the chance to.

Someone else’s opinion is just that, their opinion.

If someone tells you something is closed and they have an alternative where they can profit, the first thing probably isn’t closed.

A facemask and earplugs are amazing things.

McDonalds are everywhere.

A Spoon is the best way to eat rice.

How to use a squat toilet, at least while naked.

Snickers are an adequate breakfast, kebobs are a good lunch and a great dinner.

Rolling bags are NOT meant to be taken off road.

Drinking enough vodka can prevent swine flu.

No one knows where Saint Louis is.

Everyone knows where California is.

Just because I’m wearing headphones doesn’t mean other people cannot hear me fart.

It is best not to look too closely at the people who prepare your food.

Goodbye World, See You Soon?

Winter Wonderland

Saturday I went to a food market and drank gluhwein and ate an amazing brownie, some Turkish delight and all of the free samples I could fit into my mouth. Then I went and saw a play “The woman in the Black Dress” It was an alright play, it was a little slow but it was the first time I have seen a play in a long time and it made me feel cultured.

Sunday I took it easy just walked around to some places I had already been and walked around in some new places. The weather was cold and rainy and I wasn’t too excited about being outside so I stayed in and watched a movie. I did go to a pub and watch Chelsea play Arsenal in a soccer match between the two teams that are in London. The pub was very much pro Arsenal which disappointingly lost 3-0 to Chelsea.

I was thinking about going to Stonehenge on Monday but the weather has really started to get cold and I was worried I would travel out there and there would be fog and rain which would ruin the experience so I decided to check out some free museums instead. I again forgot that on Monday’s many museums are closed and went to one that wasn’t open before going to the Imperial War Museum, which is free and really incredible. The museum was started during World War I to show all of the things that happened there but has since expanded to include World War II and lots of other events. There are tanks and planes and lots of interesting exhibits. I nearly raced through the museum and I was still there for four hours. They have these “experience” exhibits and one was a simulated trench which was interesting and another was a simulation of living in London when it was being bombed by the Germans. The Air Raid Experience was not very informative, exciting or interesting. At the museum there was a whole section on the children of London during WWII about how kids were shipped out into the countryside for fear that London would be invaded and the only way the kids would be safe was in the country. Some children spent years in the countryside and some loved the freedom and the life in the country, which was very much unlike what they were used to in London, while other children were placed with families they didn’t like and had bad experiences.

At the museum I also watched a Disney cartoon from 1942 entitled “Symphony Hour” in which all of the familiar Disney characters, Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and Goofy are in a symphony and are broadcasting their performance over the air. Goofy gets all of the instruments crushed which makes them all sound strange and Donald Duck decides that he has had enough and is leaving in the middle of the performance. Mickey Mouse, who is the conductor, keeps trying to stop Donald and get him to stay and play. Finally Donald has had enough and heads towards the door which prompts Mickey Mouse to produce a revolver and hold it up to Donald’s head as an ultimatum. I can imagine the controversy if that were to air today.

I had an amazing time in London and even looked into staying a few extra days but it was really expensive, it just means I will have to come back that much sooner. I am also looking forward to seeing everyone back at home. My flight leaves London at 8:45am and I need to be out the door by 6:15am, it is going to be one heck of a long day.

CLICK ON THE PICTURE BELOW TO SEE ALL OF TODAY'S PICTURES

11_30_09 London small

Triple Lutz

The American eating The American

On Friday I slept in and didn’t get my free breakfast but I was able to find a roadside dinner where I got beans, eggs, ham, sausage, tea and bread for 3 British pounds. It was a little bit of a shady place, I was the only patron there with the exception of a homeless man who was sleeping on a nearby table. Nevertheless the food was really good and cheap.

I went to Westminster Abbey and happened to arrive at the same time that the Treasury Singers were performing a concert and I sat and listened while they sang songs I had never heard before in Latin. Then I went to Saint James Park, Buckingham Palace and Hyde Park. While in Saint James Park I saw this squirrel following an old man as he walked, like a dog would do begging for food. I thought that the squirrels must be really aggressive until the man turned and produced some food from his pocket and held it up and the squirrel which came up to the man and ate it right out of the man’s hand. This guy must regularly feed the squirrels in the park and they all know him. At Hyde Park they had a Winter Wonderland that was strangely German themed. Upon entering there was a giant moose head that talked and sang but spoke often in German. There were the usual food stalls and lots of rides along with a place to play Wii and an Ice Skating rink. I got myself some chestnuts and Gluhwein and then dominated some little kids at the Wii.

I also made my way to the Tate Modern Museum which was free and very interesting. There was one special exhibit that I thought was especially interesting. The Hague in the Netherlands was constructing a new building and as part of the project commissioned artists to produce artwork. One of these artists was an American woman who met with members of The Hague along with spies in secret locations and took pictures of the meetings. When she submitted her final pieces to The Hague they told her that many of her pictures were too revealing in regards to who the spies were and they couldn’t be used. There was great discussion between the artist and The Hague as to what could or could not be displayed. The artist documented everything that happened and put it into a book. The artist decided to abandon the pictures she had originally planned and instead went forward with the book which she submitted to The Hague for editing as was required by her contract with them. When the artist received the book back there was so much that had been altered that it would have been impossible to do anything with the book. As a consolation the artist was allowed to do a onetime exhibit of her project. After the exhibit everything would belong to The Hague and could never be shown again. The first part of the exhibit shows and explains all of that that I have just described and then there is her one time exhibit. The one time exhibit displays her book under glass with the entire body of the book removed and a letter to The Hague instructing them that it was theirs to take and read and keep. I thought it was really interesting how she decided to resolve the problem and what she presented.

There are ice skating rinks set up all over town and I went to one at the Tower of London. It has been a while since I was last ice skating but I had a lot of fun. While skating I decided to skate rather quickly and then rammed myself into one of the walls to stop me and it made a really loud crashing sound. One of the guys working came over and told me to take it easy. I apologized and tried to behave myself. I’m not a great ice skater, but I can skate decently well and I didn’t fall down the whole time. Just before leaving I decided that I should take a fall and built up some speed and then threw myself onto the ice and slid into the wall. It was a lot of fun but I did get wet and cold.

CLICK ON THE PICTURE BELOW TO SEE ALL OF TODAY'S PICTURES

11_27_09 London small

Incredible Beauty

Rainbow Time

I was outside my hostel in Istanbul by 7am waiting for the bus to come and take me to the airport. The hand written ticket I had said that the bus was coming at 7:30 but all of the signs at the various travel agencies said 7:20 and they said to be waiting 15 minutes early. I didn’t want anyone to be able to blame me for not being on the street as they drove by and left me stranded in Istanbul. Shortly after standing on the corner a bus came barreling down the street unfortunately it wasn’t my bus, it was going to the other airport in town. My bus finally came at 7:40 and then drove around and picked up some more people, some of whom were waiting outside their hotels/hostels while others had to be stirred from their rooms to get them outside. Luckily I had planned for there to be delays and I was at the airport in plenty of time.

My flight was delayed an hour but other than that there weren’t any complications. Once in London I got some British Pounds (their currency) and bought a bus ticket to London. As usual I used a low cost airline to get to London and they don’t actually take you to London but a suburb outside of London. I headed toward the bus and checked my pockets as I often do to make sure everything is where it’s supposed to be. I always put my wallet in my front right pocket along with my cell phone and MP3 player. In my front left pocket I carry my camera, notebook, pen and lip balm (Microsoft World doesn’t like the word “chapstick”. What is the appropriate word for what a man uses to keep his lips from drying out?). I noticed that my wallet was missing and started to panic. Had I been pick pocketed in the airport? Someone finally got my wallet! How could I let this happen? Then the girl who sold me my bus ticket came hurrying over with my wallet in her hand, I had left it at the counter.

By the time I made it to my hostel and got checked in it was starting to get dark outside and I had only eaten a banana all day and decided to head to the bar attached to the hostel to grab something to eat. I met some Canadian wildfire fighters and joined them for what turned out to be a night of ridiculousness. When you haven’t eaten all day it only takes a few drinks to do the job.

Thursday I woke up at 9:45am in time to get my free hostel breakfast by 10:00am. The breakfast was only cereal and bread but it was free and held me over until lunch. The first full day in London I knocked out a bunch of tourist attractions. I went to London Bridge, Tower Bridge, Tower of London, Trafalgar Square, National Gallery, Big Ben and the Parliament building. I called my Dad from one of those classic red phone booths and people were taking pictures of the booth while I was in it. While walking around it started to rain and there was a really beautiful rainbow. For dinner I went to an Asian restaurant overlooking the tower bridge at night with all of its lights on and it too was incredibly beautiful.

CLICK ON THE PICTURE BELOW TO SEE ALL OF TODAY'S PICTURES

11_26_09 London small

London

Today is my last day in London, my blogs on London will be forthcoming. I leave tomorrow morning (December 1st) at 8:45am from London to Dublin to Chicago to Saint Louis and I arrive at 6:25pm. Should make for an interesting day.

2 4 1

From the Topkapi Palace

I am so far behind on my blogging that this entry will encompass the last two days of my visit to Istanbul.

On the first day I went to the Topkapi Palace a famous palace that was used by sultans for several hundred years. Outside of the palace was a list of all of the attractions inside the palace but unfortunately the circumcision room was closed. I don’t know why they needed an entire room for that it reminds me of the masterbatoriam from “Running with Scissors”. The palace was full of old valuable jewels, antiques and Islamic relics. Pictures weren’t allowed so I don’t have any included. The weather was fantastic and I sat on a marble slab in the sun soaking the rays and listening to music. If you compared my current music list to that of a 12 year old girl I have a feeling that we would have 80% of the same artists.

To get into the Tokapi Palace you have to go through a metal detector. The metal detector beeps for every person that walks though it because they have metal on them but the guards don’t care they let everyone in anyway.

I went to the Sulyman mosque but got there during a prayer session and as I am not a Muslim I had to wait for the prayer to be over before I could enter. After waiting 20 minutes for the prayer to be over I entered the mosque only to find that it was under construction and the entire mosque with the exception of a 10 foot wide strip had been blocked off.

On the second day I walked north across the river with the intention of climbing a tower to get views of the city but it was foggy again and I didn’t want to pay to only see 20 feet in front of me. Instead I wandered around and found a catholic church. I cannot imagine that there are many of these in Istanbul anymore as 99% of the population are Muslims.

I walked to another palace but I had to pay to get in and decided that I had already spent enough money entering castles and palaces and that this one didn’t hold anything the others didn’t. Instead I walked along the shore watching the fisherman.

When I got back to my hostel the owner was there. There are three people that work at the hostel including the owner and they are all amazing people. The owner invited me to join him at a local hookah bar. I went with him and we had a really good time drinking tea and smoking the hookah pipe with grape flavored tobacco.

Tomorrow (I’m already in London, but at the time it was tomorrow) I head to London and I have to get up really early to catch my flight. I have to meet a bus to take me to the airport at 7:00am.

CLICK ON THE PICTURE BELOW TO SEE ALL OF TODAY'S PICTURES

(NOTE I have 1 link for each day, there are 2 links)

11_23_09 Istanbul small

11_24_09 Istanbul small

Center of the Universe

Centers of the Universe
The other thing in this picture besides me was formally the center of the Byzantine Empire that they used to measure all distances from. I figured it was suitable that I, the center of the current universe, should be in a picture with the former center of the universe.

I made it safely to Istanbul without many problems, my flight was supposed to be delayed for three hours but then was only delayed an hour and a half. The plane was delayed because of immense amounts of fog in Istanbul. When I got to the airport in Istanbul there were a lot of helpful people giving me directions and being helpful without looking for money in return. The fog in Istanbul was very heavy and I just went to my hostel and to bed.

In the morning I had an amazing breakfast of eggs, bread, tomatoes, cheese, fruit, yogurt and more. I headed out of my hostel into the city to walk around and was met with some spectacular views. Just outside my hostel were the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sofia, both are spectacular large historical buildings. Hagia Sofia was originally a church that was then turned into a Mosque but retained its pictures of Jesus, Mary and some angels. There was a section that showed pictures of famous people that have visited and there were pictures of both Presidents Clinton and Obama but neither Bush Presidents.

I wanted to get a haircut and I went to a local shop to get it done. There was a child in the corner who would bring towels and hang coats, child labor at its best. The guy who cut my hair didn’t speak English and so I showed him with my fingers how I wanted my hair to look. He cut my hair much shorter that I would have liked, I look like I am ready to join the military now. Once he had finished cutting my hair he took a lighter to both of my ears to presumably remove the hair there. This gave the entire barbershop a great burning hair smell.

After my haircut I went to a really nice park with wild dogs, cats and parrots. The parrots of course were the coolest, flying around overhead singing songs. I got a girl to take my picture by a small re-creation of a building with me attacking it like King Kong only to delete the picture moments later by accident. This is at least the 3rd time that I have deleted a really great picture and it makes me incredibly mad when I do that.

I spent the rest of the light hours of the day walking along the river watching the local fisherman. Istanbul is the only city in the world that is in two continents, Asia and Europe.

It is good that I have come to Istanbul near the end of my trip because it reminds me in some ways of the negative things about Morocco and India. Such as being hassled on the street because it’s obvious that I am a foreigner. However unlike in India and Morocco it is really clean in Istanbul. There are also wild dogs and cats here but they seem to be much healthier and friendlier than the wild animals from India and Morocco. In the park people were sitting on benches petting the wild animals and the animals were loving it.

CLICK ON THE PICTURE BELOW TO SEE ALL OF TODAY'S PICTURES

11_22_09 Istanbul small

Slacking

I haven't posted anything in a while and I have no one to blame this time except for myself. I have been in Istanbul for the last 3 days and I just arrived in London. I will attempt to get caught up on my blogging and posting as soon as possible.

Mad Props

Palace of Parliament

This morning was another beautiful weather day and I didn’t really need my coat unless I was in the shade with the wind blowing. Lately I have been doing better with the cold, I’m not sure if it’s because it’s getting warmer, I’m getting used to it, or because I am now fat. In the past I never really understood how people let themselves get fat but now I do. From day to day the differences are so small that you don’t even notice them, until you remember preciously how you used to look and look at yourself and realize that you can barely see your toes peeking out beyond your belly. The realization that I am getting fat hasn’t hindered my eating or inspired me to start exercising. I have decided to push all that into the three weeks that I will be in Saint Louis, before I head to the West Coast for Xmas and New Years.

I headed to the Palace of the Parliament which I had heard was beautiful and holds several Guinness World Records. I was able to use my student card to get in for free but it costs 30 LEI to take pictures. I paid the 30 LEI before realizing that it is more than $10 USD. For that I could have used some stock photos from the internet and saved the money to spend on something else. So please be sure to check out my pictures at the end of the post, I know they aren’t very good but I paid $10 so that I could have them. Currently there are presidential campaigns going on in Romania and so some of the parts that are usually shown on the tour were closed off for a debate tonight. This wasn’t mentioned before I paid my money to take pictures, similarly to places that are under construction and don’t tell you or give any kind of discount.

My hostel has a sign in the entryway that instructs all guests to remove their shoes and wear any of the provided sandals to help keep the hostel clean. There is also a large bottle of hand sanitizer that says “please use me”. If the hostel owner were smart he would be like the hostel the Aussies visited in Rome, that moved around the sick people to spread the germs and force people to stay in the hostel longer. The shower in the hostel is amazing, it is one of those with a normal shower head, an over the head shower head and faucets on the wall that shoot at your body. Not only is it the best shower I have ever used at a hostel it is the best shower I have ever used anywhere.

My hostel is pretty much empty, there is a couple or two in private rooms on a different floor from me but in my room it’s only me and one other guy. The guy in my room is the loudest snorer quite possibly ever. My room is on the 1st floor (second floor) and I was in the kitchen on the ground floor (1st floor) and I could hear him all the way down there. I also think he might be schizophrenic because he shouts in his sleep and has conversations with himself. One of the characters speaks English and I think the other guy speaks Russian. I sat up in bed the other night because I thought someone else was in the room but it was just the one guy having an argument with himself complete with f-bombs. Every morning when I woke up, I said a little prayer, thankful that the angry personality didn’t strangle me to death.

I got pizza for dinner at a shop around the corner and while I was waiting for the pizza to be made the cashier was chatting with me. He commented that my Romanian was really good and I laughed and told him I’m sorry that I don’t know anything. He replied quite seriously that my Romanian was good. I have no idea what he was talking about unless he meant the words “pizza” and “salami”.

I also want to give a shout out (I am so gangsta) to all of the guys in Romania who wash their hands in the bathroom. In America maybe 20% of guys actually wash their hands with soap, something I always do. In Romania however I have not seen a single guy who has left the bathroom without washing his hands and I have seen quite a few who have made special trips to the bathroom simply to wash their hands and not even use the toilet.

CLICK ON THE PICTURE BELOW TO SEE ALL OF TODAY'S PICTURES

11_20_09 Bucharest small

Social Observations

Look of Terror

I headed to the far North side of Bucharest to the Hereastrau park to look around. On the way I encountered an elderly woman who was obviously in need of help and was walking in the middle of the street. As cars would pass from each side she would turn towards them and cover her eyes. I remember when I was little and closing my eyes made things disappear. The cars were honking and swerving to avoid her. When I got to the park entrance the woman had also made her way down the street and was also entering the park. I watched as she walked up to every person she could find and seemed to ask for directions. Every person that she talked to seemed very polite and pointed in a direction that she was slowly wandering towards but kept asking every new person she saw. She tried to ask me two times and both times I informed her that I only spoke English and would be of no help.

I have noticed in Europe that there are a lot more old people wandering the streets going about their lives. My theory is that since everything old people in Europe need is within walking distance their children let them stay in their homes. It’s not like in America where you need a car to get anywhere. Without a car the old people can only hurt themselves and if they do they will be a much smaller burden on their children who won’t have to pay for years at an old folks home. Seems like a win-win situation.

The park was very large and undergoing heavy reconstruction and maintenance. During the course of the day I saw several hundred people raking leaves, planting flowers and replacing park equipment. Updating parks seems like a great way to spend those stimulus dollars. I think as part of the American stimulus package we should convert from the English measurement system to metric. Metric makes so much more sense and we could create new packaging, road signs and educate people all to stimulate the economy and move America forward.

Similarly to India there is an immense wild dog population in Bucharest. Some of the dogs seem to have ear tags which are presumably used to keep track of the dogs. If they would simply round up all of the female dogs, they wouldn’t have nearly as many wild dogs for long. If a wild dog gets someone’s house dog pregnant it’s the person’s problem who owns the dog to look after the puppies and without female dogs in the wild there would be no other way for the wild dogs to reproduce.

I went to this outdoor museum that has several hundred village homes from throughout Romania that have been brought to Bucharest to show the history of the different regions. The variety of the homes was very interesting along with back stories as to the climate in the regions and the reasons the homes were built the way they were. There was also a ferris wheel made out of wood and I walked up to it and gave it a little push and it moved. I looked around to see if there was a sign forbidding me from sitting on it and there was not. I pushed down hard with my hands and it seemed like it would hold me. I sat my camera on a bench and set the timer and then ran to jump on the ferris wheel in time. As I went to put my butt on the ferris wheel seat it let out a really loud creek and violently shot backwards. I lurched up in terror that I would break this ancient ferris wheel and be imprisoned in Romania. Luckily nothing broke and the police were not called to investigate.

Old and New, all in one

Michael Jackson Tribute
Mark Twain Statue

The equivalent of plastic on a couch?

CLICK ON THE PICTURE BELOW TO SEE ALL OF TODAY'S PICTURES

11_19_09 Bucharest small

I Thought This Was Going to be Easy

At Parcui Carol (Carol Park)

I had to wake up at 6:30am this morning!! I know for a normal person, who has a job or school, that isn’t insanely early, but for me, that is ridiculous. The weather this morning was really nice and the thermometer read 14 degrees Celsius (57 in Fahrenheit). I was really excited to be heading South to Bucharest where I hoped for the weather to be even warmer. Unfortunately upon arrival in Bucharest the temperature was only 9 degrees (48 in Fahrenheit) and dropping.

Whenever I book a hostel they email me and give me directions on how to get to the hostel and depending on the hostel they are either really descriptive or very vague. Here are the exact directions I was provided by my hostel “From the airport: The Express Bus no 783 from Airport to P-ta Unirii, then the subway for one station until the Tineretului station”. Sounded simple enough. When I landed at the airport in Bucharest I was bombarded by taxi drivers wanting to give me a ride. Here is a conversation I had with one driver:

Driver: Where are you going? I will give you the very best rate.
Shaun: No thank you.
Driver: You don’t even know what I am charging. I will give you the very best rate, I have official documentation I can show you.
Shaun: No thank you.
Driver: How will you get to where you are going if you will not be taking my cab with the very best rate?
Shaun: I’m taking a bus. Thank you but no thanks.
Driver: There are no buses here only taxi’s, I will take you for the very best rate.

I had been walking away from the airport while he was talking at me and away from him the whole time and finally he had gone far enough away from the airport entrance and retreated back to look for another person. As I was walking out to the main street to where I assumed the buses were, the “they don’t exist” line is 99.99% of the time a lie, I passed by at least 20 more taxis. At each taxi the driver would ask if I wanted a ride and I would say no. Then the next driver would ask me the same and I would again repeat no. It makes me wonder do some people eventually give in and take the 8th or even the 14th taxi?

I found a small street magazine store and asked about the bus. The woman pointed nearby to where some people were gathered. I inquired about buying a ticket from her and she sold them but wouldn’t accept my 50 LEI ($17 USD) for a 2 LEI ($.70) ticket. Nearly everywhere I have been no one wants to take “large” bills. I don’t know why the ATM’s don’t give smaller bills so they will be taken by merchants. I decided to chance not getting caught rather than spending a bunch of time finding change or buying enough from the magazine lady to get her to give me change.

When the bus came I hopped on and kept my eyes peeled for anyone that looked like transit authority. I was having a bit of a panic attack that I would get fined and hoped that I could spy transit authority getting on the bus and hop off and then take the next bus to avoid a fine. I had tried to buy a ticket and I would gladly pay the fare, if someone would give me my proper change. I rode the bus to the end and never saw my stop. The directions from the hostel had neglected to tell me the bus ran in two directions from the airport and that I needed to cross the street to catch the bus. As I rode the bus back past the airport, I kept panicking that I was going to get caught without a ticket and get a huge fine. When the bus reached its other end point without reaching my stop, I showed the bus driver where I wanted to go and he told me his bus didn’t go there and I would need to get off.

I asked at an information desk how to get where I wanted to go and was told to take a new bus to a different stop and then take the metro from there to my destination. Again I tried to purchase a ticket and was refused because I still only had the 50 LEI note. On the new bus I was still nervous of being caught and when the bus encountered massive amounts of traffic I decided to get off and walk the rest of the way. My luggage is a small day backpack and a rolling bag that I put most of my stuff in. Back in Morocco the rubber coating came off my wheels and now I only have one wheel left, the other has been ground away. In order to pull my bag I have to tilt it to one side so that it balances on the one good wheel or drag it on the ground which is starting to tear the bag apart.

I figured if I could find any subway entrance I could figure out the trains and make it to my hostel. I was able to find a metro sign but the entrance was blocked by ropes and signs I could not read in Romanian. I headed down the street to another metro in the direction that I believed my hostel to be in. When I got to the next metro station, I found that it was also closed. I later learned that the workers were on strike and as such the metro wasn’t running. I eventually found my hostel in an unmarked house in a residential zone after three hours of wandering around Bucharest with a bag with only one wheel. So much for an easy day of transit.


Romanian Flags

Parcui Carol Monument

Pipes on the stairs, I tripped on them and almost fell into the lake

Old Skool

New Cars

Church at Night

One of the many ad riddled squares

useless lock, it's upside down!

... And Then I Found 20 Euro

Tight Rope Walking

Jill and Hayley were leaving today to head to someplace else in Austria and I was staying the night and leaving tomorrow morning to Bucharest. Before the girls left they had a few things they needed to do around town and so I joined them on their errands. Hayley wanted to get a small advent calendar and a snow globe for a friend. Jill wanted to get a present for a friend’s birthday and as usual I just wanted more chestnuts. Fail, Fail, Fail and Fail. We wandered around for several hours and accomplished nothing. Eventually the girls decided they needed to catch their train and we all headed back to the hostel for lunch.

I purchased a frozen lasagna at the grocery store and popped it into the oven. When I had bought the lasagna, I was already hungry and didn’t realize that it said it would take 40 minutes on the box. The oven at the hostel was a small countertop type oven and the lasagna ended up taking even longer than that and it wasn’t even that good when I finally did get to eat it. I also bought some garlic bread that was amazing though.

The girls left for the train station and we said our final goodbyes for Europe, I only have 3 cities left on my trip and they are all far from where the girls will be. I had a great time with them and look forward to seeing them again somewhere else in the future.

With the girls gone I could get back to my usual antics of wandering aimlessly with my mp3 player in my ears. I went to an awesome park with all kinds of cool things to climb, walk, balance, dance, swing and jump on. I was having such a good time that I started to get evil looks from the parents there. I guess they didn’t like the big kid running around and jumping on all of the toys with their children so I left. I headed to the Schonbrunn Palace, a beautiful palace with immense gardens. I was listening to my music and looking at all of the lights from the buildings and the park. I stood in the middle of a clearing and just spun in circles and then fell down and sat on the ground laughing, it was a good time.

Back at the hostel I met an American who grew up in Saint Louis and now lives in Los Angeles. I would say he is my arch enemy, except that he was really nice and said he might know someone that could get me a job. I will keep my fingers crossed on that.

Tomorrow I head to Bucharest, not Budapest, in Romania by plane.

CLICK ON THE PICTURE BELOW TO SEE ALL OF TODAY'S PICTURES

11_17_09 Vienna small

Back in Bratislava

A Kid in a Candy Store

When I was in Bratislava last week I knew I was going to meet up with Jill and Hayley in Vienna and that they wanted to go to Bratislava, so I only went hiking and didn’t see much of the city. Today we took the train to Bratislava for the day. There are two train stations in Vienna, that are not connected to each other, that run to the two train stations in Bratislava that are also not connected to each other. Both train stations in Vienna are connected to both stations in Bratislava. I don’t understand why they would set things up like this but they did.

We went to the castle, which is completely closed for renovations and then wandered the streets. I was craving some chestnuts so we located a stand and I was able to buy some from a woman that only had 2 two half teeth that were both black. When she opened her mouth I wanted to walk away and buy them from someone else but I bought them from her anyway, I am that addicted.

I managed to lose the map shortly after arriving in Bratislava, which made locating sights difficult. We walked around for a while and when it started to get dark we headed back to the train station. The next train was going to the South train station in Vienna, not the one close to our hostel, but we took it anyway because the train to the station near our hostel wasn’t coming for another 2 hours. Once back in Vienna, we didn’t have that train station on our map and we wandered the streets in the direction of where we thought the hostel was. We were lucky and found the hostel without going the wrong direction a single time.

When wandering around I usually carry my backpack, which contains a sweatshirt, water bottle, umbrella and snacks. We stopped at a grocery store to look for a bottle of gluhwein to take back to the hostel with us and were able to find a one liter bottle for around €1.5. I also found a bottle of Don Simon sangria that I often drank while in Spain which brought back summer memories and made me smile. When checking out the woman behind the counter said “bag” and I told her “no”, they usually charge for bags and I always put things in my backpack to carry back to the hostel. She said “bag” again and I looked at her and realized she wanted to know if she could look in my bag to make sure I hadn’t stolen anything. I let her look inside and everything looked fine to her, even though I had a bag of chips and salsa that I had bought earlier. I guess she assumed if I was willing to show her the contents of my bag, she didn’t care what was in there.

CLICK ON THE PICTURE BELOW TO SEE ALL OF TODAY'S PICTURES

11_16_09 Bratislava small