Romania

Hey guys,

I'm in Romania now, but I'll get to that later. I will backtrack a bit first, since I never really did talk about Bulgaria much.

Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria was quite nice. For the stereotypical image of Eastern Europe most people have, it disappoints. The city center where I was was not a decrepit, crumbling, graffiti covered place. It was actually in good repair, with quite a modern look to it. There are plenty of new cars driving around (there is the odd cold war era car, though), all in good shape. Since money is tighter here, though, many can not afford a car. That makes traffic nice and light, and it makes for much fewer fender benders. Unlike the rest of Europe, where most cars are dented, scratched, or otherwise disfigured in some way, all the cars here are good.

There wasn't too much to see in Sofia, and I covered most of it in a few hours. I found some cool street vendors selling something other than the generic tourist souvenir crap you can get in a million different shops. They were acually selling real WWII memorobilia. There were flasks and compasses of faded brass with large swastikas on them, old Russian and German binoculars, and tons of other neat stuff. Unfortunately, they did want a good chunk more for that stuff. I ended up buying a more modern knife, which is still pretty cool. It has a small lamp on top, and the blade moves very easily. If you flick your wrist right it will open like a switch blade. The blade is really sharp, cool looking, and at least 4 inches long. I like knives.

The night train I cought from Sofia to Bucarest (where I am now) was the same train that I cought from Thessalaniki to Sofia. It actually goes straight through from Thessalaniki to Budapest! That means I will probably be on it tomorrow night again. It even had the same conductor, he recognised me! Can you immagine that though? That's a tripple night train trip! I would go nuts! The night trains are okay, but there is a major down side. They always seem to cross borders at 3:00 AM. Since it takes a couple of hours to get used to the train and really fall asleep, it always ends up so that you are just really asleep, then police wake you up with knocking and flashlights wanting to see your passport. The worst thing is that to make sure they get everyone, they go through twice! So you just fall back asleep and they come again. After that they may come over and over, since someone woke me to see my passport at 4:30. I just locked my door, I think they stop coming back then. I don't know what the deal is.

I did a lot of sighseeing here in Bucarest today. Same deal as Sofia: it is in good repair for the most part. However, there are quite a few more visible decaying houses and poor areas. There is a ton more to see here though, especialy since the revolution here was only a bit over ten years ago. If you go to Revolution Square, you can still see bullet marks on some of the walls where militants shot into protesting crowds.

I went to the ATM today; I pulled out a cool 1.5 million. Yup, I beat you all to millionaire-hood. I have 800,000 leu in my pocket right now! It's worse than the yen. It's horrible because you lose all perspective. You have no idea what you are spending. I bought a Fanta for 16500 today. Does that mean anything?!

The massive palace that Francesco built (the former communist leader) is amazing. It is the second largest administrative building in the world. It has over 1000 offices. The ceilings are hight, everything is marble, crystal, and gold encrusted tapestry. They aren't sure how much it cost to build. When it is finally completed in 2007 they will figure out the bill... I wish I could see their faces when they do the math! Haha.

From a balcony in the building, you get an impressive view of a huge boulevard the leader had built. He originally wanted the entire government housed in the one building. When it didn't fit, he brought in the bulldozers and cleared some land. Seriously! Schools, churches, houses, it didn't matter. Down they went for a huge, magnificent boulevard lined on both sides by administrative buildings. Very cool.

The funniest scam attempt (and first, may I add) was tried on me on the way to the internet cafe. There I am, walking down the street. I didn't look lost, I was walking with purpose since I knew where I was going. Still, suddenly there is this guy walking next to me speaking Romanian. I tell him I don't understand and ask if he speaks English. He says yes, and starts walking and talking with me. He asks me where I am going. I tell him the internet cafe, and he offers to lead me... through the park. No thanks, I know where I am going, and it's not in the park. So he keeps following me. When he notices my suspicion he says "just to talk". Whatever I think, so he keeps following me. How do I like Romania? How long am I staying? Where am I from? All that small talk.

Then, he asks, what do I think of Romanian girls. Quite beautiful, I say, becasue they really are. Nice and brown, but not as manly looking as the Italians! He says, "Would you like? I have girls. Are you interested?" Aha, so that's his game. Not interested, I don't do that kind of thing. I thought that would be the end of it, but then another guy steps out in front of us. Before I get to the dialogue, let me describe this guy. He is a little shorter than me, wears a denim jacket, jeans, has quite a beer belly but is not fat, and looks in no way at all like a police officer. Here's the dialogue:

Guy: Hi, I am a police officer. I am checking ID's. May I see yours.
Me: No.
Guy (flashing an ID that doesn't even mention police. I think it was a drivers license): I need this can I see.
Me: I don't have one. I don't live here.
Guy: How about your passport.
Me: Haha! How dumb do you think I am?!
Guy: No for real, see? (asks first guy for ID. He takes it out. "police" officer checks it, hands it back)
Me: Nice try.
Guy: OK, this street has many problems with cocaine. I will check for cocaine now, see? (starts putting hands in first guys pockets) Can I check you now?
Me: Um, no. Bye.

Serisouly, who falls for that. Anyways. That's it for the update. I came to this cafe becasue it said CD burning on the window. However, the PCs are not WinXP so I can't get access to my camera, which means unfortunately, not pics for you. Soon though, I'm bound to get an opportunity for a photo update.

Later.