Joe! If you haven't seen this yet, go rent it. Be sure to watch the little making of thing too, very entertaining. :) Such a feel good movie too. Wow. I'm on cloud nine right now.
In other news, but related... Steamboy should be releasing in theatres here anytime now. A new anime from the guy who brought you Akira(Otomo) way back when. The story focuses on a young inventor/adventurer in a steampunk'd version of victorian england. Looks fantastic, see for yourself.
Yes, thats right, I forgot my mom's birthday. Oopsie.
Happy birthday mom!
***
My house is a noah's ark for every different species of spider on the planet. I kill, on average, at least one spider a day in my house. This has been going on for the last 3 weeks+ now. Whats even worse though, is it is not just one type of spider, oh no, instead EVERY single day it has been some different and unique spider that I get to kill. Last nights was some horrible horrible thing as big as my thumb, with giant red legs and a strangely skinless looking body.
I'd really like to hire some sort of exterminator, but that clashes with my nature boy/health nut fear of having dangerous chemicals(nerve toxins, etc) anywhere near me. I wonder if there are any natural solutions...
***
I saw Bourne Identity with Chris, Jen, Chuck and Brian this weekend. I think we were all in agreement that while it was good, it just wasn't AS good as the first one. It was definitely missing a lot of needed Bourne-style ass kicking.
In other media consumption news, the new Stargate spinoff, Atlantis, is shaping up quite nicely. Although, it does have to be REALLY good to make up for the lack of Macgyver.
***
William Shatner, aided and abetted by Ben Folds, singing Pulp's "Common People". Thanks to Neil Gaiman's blog for the link.
My brother linked this below, but worth putting on the front page I think.
***
I saw Spidey 2 again this weekend. Fantastic again! Linda doesn't like it as much as the first one due to the "happy ending" though, hehe. I also saw I, Robot. Mind you, I had pretty low expectations of what a rip off action movie this would be with no correlation to Asimov's writings. However, it turned out to be really great. And while it had no literal relation really to the Asimov stories other than the three laws and a re-imagined character, it still had the spirit of his stories and was just really well done.
"Malek called me with some very useful information, and confirmed by email. If only other vendors were as knowledgeable and helpful "
Gotta love awesome customer feedback. ;)
Still nothing too exciting going on. I watched the opening episodes of the new season of Stargate. Pretty entertaining. Still beta testing WoW, really really fun. This weekend I'm seeing Spidey 2 again with Linda, and seeing a baseball game with a bunch of people on Saturday.
Clicky Click below for Toby Travel letter #4 from this trip:
Subject : Hungry in Hungary
I've been getting behind in these letters because I've been writing so many personal e-mails to individuals that I'm neglecting my duty as a hack story teller. But I've found an Internet cafe here in Sucavea (Su-chava), Romania with a monitor from 1988, a keyboard from 1984 and the main computer from 1965. Ever seen Russian letters spelling a computer's brand name before? Me either. But it putts along, and it's safer than flying Aeroflot, so I'm not complaining.
This is actually about Hungary. After only two days I already have enough stuff from Romania to write two letters, but I shouldn't get ahead of myself.
I didn't go to as many places in Hungary as I had originally planned. I had been moving almost every night, had seen umpteen Medieval towns with their churches, old houses, town squares and drunken gypsies, and wanted to get on to Budapest. So I came over the border from Slovakia into a town called Gyor. It was a pleasant place on a river, and I spent two days there. I took a side trip to ANOTHER Medieval town, bought some gourmet chocolate, got a haircut, climbed ANOTHER tower to look at the view for five minutes and say just to be able to say that I had climbed ANOTHER tower (I think (counting minarets) that made 1,742.), bought some raspberries, raspberry ice cream and then more chocolate. I also broke down again and ate bacon cheeseburgers at McDonald's twice in two days. This is no diet trip. It has occurred to me that it would be very possible to leave the US and never actually have to taste or see anything that even looked foreign if you wanted to. But more on that in a minute.
The hotels I've been staying in have been of a much higher standard than I'm used to on trips like this. Partly it's that the family-run dives I prefer in the Middle East aren't readily found here, but I think it's also a combination of getting a bit older and wanting to watch CNN at night on my own TV, and finally getting some decent money from the school so that I don't cringe as much as I used to when they quote a price. I've only stayed in one total pit this trip. That was in Bratislava when the ONLY thing I could find within 4 km of the bus station was a university dormitory that was rented out as private rooms during the summer. In that place, the elevators only went to every odd floor, there was grafitti on every surface, including the toilet (I just can't relate what was drawn there, but use your imagination and you still won't be close) and the people hanging-out in the halls looked like rejects from the set of "Mad Max." No Tina Turner though. But I went overboard in Budapest. After getting off the bus from Gyor, I bought a subway ticket and went to the center of town. I wanted to be within walking distance (for me) of the main sites. I decided to try a little hostel first, but since I won't share a room with some neo-hippy backpacker who hasn't showered in a month and has a ferret for a pet (this is a real person I met, really.), I told the reception gypsy (yes, another one) that I wanted my own room.
"Ok."
"How much?" (I was expecting maybe $20)
"45 Euros."
"Ahem. Excuse me, I just swallowed my tongue. Does it have a private bath?"
"No. Only one bath. There." (and she pointed to a door across the hall.)
"And you actually get people to pay that? What are you people smoking in this place?"
That is a direct quote that I perhaps I shouldn't have used. No sense stereotyping, but it is a quote that I had in my mind many times in Budapest. Especially when I went to look for a few gifts for people. But I was shown the door in short order and, since I was out of options, I went to the tourist info office. In most places these people aren't always so helpful, but they were in Budapest. They got me a private room with a nice view in a real hotel for less than that nasty woman wanted. And I didn't have to share a bathroom with a ferret.
Budapest itself is one of the more interesting cities I've ever stayed in. Culturally and architecturally it's like most of these East European cities. All Gothic and Baroque. Very classy and stylish. Lots of good restaurants and great musems, castles and palaces. In that regard it's like Prague or Vienna. The Parliament building (the most expensive in the country, and 3 meters longer than the British one the guide proclaimed proudly) is one of the most impressive structures I've ever seen. Right on the Danube, it has just as dramatic a setting as Capitol Hill in Washiington D.C., but the inside is covered from top to bottom in carvings, friezes and statues. It's very in-your-face, but I like that kind of thing. I have to admit here that the entrance fee was ten dollars and I thought that was a bit steep. The woman asked me if I was a student. "Yes. Look at my hair. I'm studying seasoning combinations." But I just happened to have an old illicit ISIC student card that expired two years ago. I did the quick FBI flash and got in for half price. EU members got in for free, so I didn't think I was cheating the system too badly. My ancestors came from EU countries.
Socially, there is quite a difference between Budapest and other cities I've been in. I've never been to the big Western European cities, but I'm guessing that old-fashioned Budapest is a bit more conservative than places like London, Paris or Berlin. And that is scary. The trams become rolling parties after about 10 at night. Half the people are drunk and singing English pop songs, which at least are from the 90's, so they're ahead of Slovakia and Poland. The other half are making out. The passages under the roads are similar, except that the homeless gypsies sleep there too and urinate all over the place. You should really wear rain shoes when using those tunnels. I went through a park that is on an island in the middle of the Danube. From a distance it looks normal, but things change close up. I think there must be some rule that when a woman gets closer than 5 meters to the water, she has to take her top off. Right in the middle of the city. I took a few pictures, but there were other tourists with video cameras spending a bit too long looking down off the bridge onto the bank. I can only guess what kind of fetish website those will wind-up on. In the park itself the women put on their bikini tops, but there were plenty of other things to see. Kids were playing naked in the sprinklers, huge old fat men with their bellies flopping were playing football, an American water polo team was playing a match in a very nice pool, anachranists were playing with swords and armor and a group of lesbians were playing with each other. On top of that, most everyone had a beer in their hands. It was sensory overload.
If this is what's happened to Hungary in the 15 years since the end of communism, then Turkey is about to be in for one hell of cutlure shock in the next decade. I can only imagine the reactoion of some black-covered ninja woman in Istanbul as she walks through a respectable central city park and is accosted by similar sights.
There's a mega-shopping center called the West End City Center (located in the northeast part of the city) that I saw an ad for and decided to check out. I was impressed by the mall in Bratislava, but this place, complete with 16 large screen multiplex, could compete with the Mall of America for sheer scale. There are four endless floors to this monster with all the shops you would expect to find, from an Oakley store (I controlled myself...barely) to a Bath and Body. Not one shop selling anything Hungarian though. It's been in my head for a while now that, as much of a supporter of globalization I am, there are some things that are being lost. Seeing this shopping center finally solidified my ideas though. It is appealing to have all the things you want under one roof, but at the same time it's quite dull and monotonous. There are no shopkeepers shouting for you to look in their stores, no foot-wide alleys to try to squeeze through with a hundred other people and no real local products. Everything is owned by someone in the US or Germany and all the products are made in China. So is this to the overall detriment of the world's cultures? Possibly, but it is a turning point for sure, and I realized that that's why it's important to see as much of the old ways as possible before they are replaced forever by more efficient and comfortable, if less intereting, modern methods. The change has already happened here in Eastern Europe to a large degree in all but the poorest backwater areas, and I can see it happening in Turkey just in the six years I've been there.
Enough philosophising. One last thing though. I watched a large Hari Krishna parade in Budapest. Lots of people with bald heads chanting Hari, hari, krishna, krishna, etc. They carried their little idol on a litter and another group of them pulled a big wagon with a plastic model of Krishna in it while the followers danced around to drums like some crazy celebration after a soccer goal. They gave me a propaganda brochure, but it was in Hungarian and I didn't see the point in keeing it. Sorry Hari. What I found ironic was that people much less radical than them were burned or strung up for being heretics in the exact spot where they were marching. I wonder if they realized that?
In the end, I liked Hungary, I ate lots of chocolate and continued Pork Quest 2004. Now it's getting dark, so I should get inside before the Count comes out to feed.
later,
T.
I have nothing interesting to regale you with, so click below for letter #3 from Toby, Slovakia edition.
Subject : On the Beautiful Brown Danube
I am writing to from Bratislava, Slovakia. I'm leaving in about two hours for Hungary, but I've got some time to kill so I thought I'd kill you with another letter before I go.
Initially I didn't think I'd have much to say about Slovakia, but as is often the case, when things happen they happen in bunches. This has been the case here, so this will be about a series of small incidences rather than one or two larger ones. I also found a nice Internet cafe where the guy speaks at least ten words of English and I was able to successfully change the keyboard over in order to use the keys normailly. Hence, punctuation and Z's and Y's where they should be. I wrote to a friend saying, "You should spaz your cat to prevent kittens." I can only imagine what that led to.
I spent about a hour today looking through a shopping center that could have been taken right out of Suburbia Central, USA. I would defy anyone who, if they ignored the small signs in Slovak, could tell the difference between that mall and any upscale mall in the US or anywhere in Europe. They had everything from butter dipped, cinnamon (and garlic, LSM) flavored preztels to at least ten stores catering to skateboarding and extreme sports. Everywhere I turned I saw my reflection in blue and red Oakly sunglasses, and I was especially impressed with the 250 pound + guys in shorts, too small t-shirts and sandals pigging out at Pizza Hut and McDonald's. So I got to go to the States this summer after all. I had a pretzel and bought a new English-language book.
Having said that, let me also say that I have no idea how this country got itself into the European Union. I can only guess that the EU negotiators and inspectors never left their five-star hotel rooms in Bratislava and simply took for granted what they were shown on paper as being representative of the country as a whole. If they'd bothered to take a fifteen-minute drive down the road in any direction they may have seen what I did. Notably, people who look like they just stepped off some 16th century feudal estate, right down to the horses they use to plow their fields. That is no joke. That's not to say that I didn't see tractors too, but apart from a few places in Tanzania, Syria and Egypt (and probably Jordan if there was any land there except desert to grow food on) I've never seen animals used for plowing. I didn't expect it here in Europe, but it goes to show what a disparity there still is here.
Slovakia is a pretty country. Rolling foothills of the Carpathians and lots of castles, built mostly to keep Tatars and Turks out. Every town seems to have a Medieval center and feel to it, and that includes the gypsies that are patrolling every corner. I've never seen so many in one place before. Some still offer to buy children, but mostly they just have little street stalls where they sell small household items. There is an abunance of beggars, many more than in Poland, and street performers are the order of the day. Yesterday I saw a whole family singing on a doorstep. I used to take pictures of these performers, but there are just so many of them that I could do a photoessay on them alone.
Slovaks seem to have a huge love of 80's rock. I haven't heard any Slovak music since I got here, unless you count the folk music and dancing I saw on an open-air stage at the 18th Military Cycling Championships in Trencin. Only English rock and pop on the radio though, which is fine with me since I grew up with that, but I wonder if they're just even further behind here than I thought, or if they really like it. You can't escape it either because every place has got at least one small radio, and they're always all tuned to the same station.
Not much happens here at night. Everything is pretty much shut at 9PM, and good luck finding anything to eat after that. I've been so bored at times without anything to read that I started paying attention to the Euro Cup, which I saw Greece win last night. Those guys are such wimpy actors though. I've seen players kick another guy in the back of the leg, the fleshy part, and then roll on the grass for a few minutes crynig and holding their broken leg. After the foul is called they get up and suddenly "recover." Hallelujah! I'd like them to put some pads on and line-up against a few linebackers. We'd see how much they could roll around after that.
I did break down and go to a McDonald's the other night because it was late and because I saw a sign advertising a special McZorba in honor of the Olympics. That was too good to pass up. So I went in, showed them that I did have sufficient body hair to qualify for a McZorba, and got one. Imagine a cheeseburger with goat cheese (beyaz peynir). So I won't be doing that again, but at least I can say I tried.
The food here in general is not as good as in Poland, but I have found some good Chinese places that were nowhere near any peep-show shops. I've been enjoying lots of spring rolls. My first night in the country I went to a nicer place and decided to order some pork roll appetizers. I was expecting some kind of bread with pork stuffing, but what I got were two slices of ham rolled around a center of whipcream and mustard. First I stared, then I laughed and then I figured what the hell? I'm paying 30 cents for these, might as well give it a go. So I won't be trying that again either, but at least I can say I've tried it.
My first morning in country, while I was looking around the old square, bopping along to Toto's "Africa" and checking out gypsy tables, I notived that several bars were open. In fact, upon closer inspection, they were all open and were filling up fast. It was 8:30 AM. Moms, dads, kids all having a morning pick-me-up. When in Rome. So I went to the wine museum and had a glass after I'd looked around a bit. No stigma here. But it's not so good when you get on a bus and everyone smells like a brewery.
After my wine it was time for brunch. Of course, there was no eating establishment open yet. But there was a sandwich shop (bagety they say here) across from the old town hall and the iron "cage of shame" where they used to put harlots after they had shaved their heads and before they banished them. I entered to the tune of "Ghostbusters" and looked at the selection. A few slices of ham, beef and raw bacon with assorted toppings and four huge bowls of some creamy substance.
"Hi"
"*&(*&ska!" (Who you gonna call?)
"Thanks. I want a sandwich. Yes, the big size is fine. (Ghostbusters!)
"Dhoska!"
"Ahh, that. Can you cook that bacon? It's raw."
"Dhoska, dhoska!?" (Ghostbusters!)
What followed was me imitating a pan, a fire, a stove, making frying noises, even smelling the air and smiling. She finally said, "Nah." (Who you gonna call?)
So they eat raw bacon in the morning with their beer. I got ham, and she asked me what ceramy substance I wanted on it. I realized one was mayonaise.
"What's this other kind?"
"(()**(@ska." She held up a clove of garlic. Ok. What was that one? She shrugged her shoulders. I didn't even bother to ask about the pink one with chunks in it. Just regular was fine. (Ghostbusters!)
After that I went into a church, but lots of guilty looking people were waiting for confession and my shoes were squeaking on the floor, so I ducked out after a mintue.
I took a six hour bus ride to go about 150 miles. It took so long because the roads are from 1550 and the bus stopped at every hamlet we passed. Along the way we stopped at some mountain town for lunch. There was one bistro, or so they called it, and it served Hambuger, Cheesebuger, Hot doge and Americky hot doge. I decided I'd break my own rule and eat a hot doge, and why not make it an Americky? Well, it was icky, but I can't imagine any American actually putting the kinds of toppings on a hot dog that this place did. There was a hot doge buried under ketchup, cucumber, tomatoes, lettuce, peppers and some hybrid Big Mac sauce, but the only American thing about that whole trip was the big USA flag sticker stuck to the bus driver's mirror. That is also the trip where I wrote my "Alphabet" poem, so if you're thinking that it was particularly bad, blame it on the Amer-icky doge.
That's it for Slovakia. I'll catch ya'll in Budapest.
Tobin
I finally saw Winged Migration this weekend. Amazing & Beautiful. I can only imagine how awesome it would be for someone who actually likes birds. The special features/documentary on how it was filmed etc is even more amazing and I definitely recommend giving it a watch.
Today is a lazy day. I didn't bother to get ready or anything today, I just rolled out of bed, brushed my teeth, threw on a hat and drove to work. Working on Sunday's has its perks.
***
Check out this crazy Japanese open source ad. And then, you can read this for an explanation.
I'm just amazed sometimes by what people can accomplish.
***
Also, the newish Muse album, Absolution, is really kick ass.
Nothing too exciting going on. I have a bunch of random computer equipment that has broken recently that I am finally getting around to fixing. Today I picked up a new video card to replace the broken one in my living room media computer, as well as a couple of wireless routers/access points to get my living room easily networked without cabling. Tomorrow I'll be RMA'ing my other broken video card, hard drive and dvd drive for replacement, at which point I will also finally email Toby's negatives back.(sorry that took so long Toby, I suck).
Some guy has been winning non-stop on Jeopardy for the last 26 days now, for a total of $828,960 so far. I almost wish I had normal TV/cable and a TIVO device so I could watch the rest of the eps until he gets dethroned. Less for that then for the fact that the new Stargates are starting up on Friday, its time to look into the Cable/Sat options and the like. Maybe I'll do that tomorrow. I may even just set up my media computer as a makeshift TIVO for recording purposes. We shall see.
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I don't know if I've posted this link before, but its nice to look at once a month or so. Top 10 asian news stories. Read all about the man killed by exploding toilet or the upskirt picture mafia.
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Brief missive from Toby posted behind the cut.
Subject : "The Alphabet" as a travel guide
I will get to a letter about Slovakia later, but recently I was stuck on a bus for a few hours with no book to read so I got out my notebook. I knew there was a little thing in there that I had started writing about a year ago, but I got bored after about twenty minutes and decided to bag it. Amazing what a long bus trip will motivate a person to do however. I have included most the countries I have been to somehow. I am also not using apostrophes because neither the Slovakian guy running this place nor I are able to find out how to permanently switch the keyboard to English. I may also confuse some of the ys and zs because theyre in opposite places. Deal with it. Also allow a bit of my nationalism to show through here at the beginning.
A is for America. May it be a beacon of light and, no matter the opposition, never give up the good fight.
B is for Budapest and Baku. How different could they be? One has got castles on the Danube, the other has a stuffed-animal zoo and oil derricks for trees.
C is for Carthage. Home of Hannibal and surprisingingly green, and not too far from Luke Skywalkers Tatooine.
D is for Damascus, where the national cult of personality you had better never mock, and site of the worlds oldes housing blocks.
E is for Egypt. Twice was enough for me, for the historys been tainted by ravenous E-gypsies.
F is for Florence, where David shows all, and a trip up the Duomo can end badly with a fall.
G is for Greece, birthplace of Western thought. But ahhh, so many of the women a razor have never bought.
H is for Holland, place of clean streets and vice. Whether its big business or prostitutes, they never think twice.
I is for Istanbul, a city completlely unique. But despite all the good times, it often raises my pique.
J is for Jordan and Jerusalem, inexorably linked. Its been 60 years and they still cant work out the kinks.
K is for Karatas, home of Kayars, crabs and mosquitos at night.
L is for Lebanon, where Hizbollah fights.
M is for Marrakech, where pet monkeys and snake charmers play.
N is for New York. From racist black Muslims to 1000 Gandhi look-a-likes, its different everyday.
O is for Olympia, but how traditions have changed. Try picturing a power-lifting Vestal virgin or Hercules on the driving range.
P is for Prague, where I shot a crossbow, and Medieval times are always on show.
P2 is for Pork. I had to get this in. Too bad for some they think its a sin.
Q is for Quito, shall we have another revolution today?
R is for Rome, what "wisdom" does Papa have to say?
S is for Sophia. Take the hammer and sickle down!
T is for Transylvania, where bloodsuckers of tourists may be found.
U is for Uganda. I wasnt actually there, but I was close. However, I was afraid some rebels might try to cut off my nose.
V is for Vienna, chocolate and culture to spare.
W is for Warsaw, why do I smell kebab in the air?
X is for Xanthos, a pitiful pile of stone all mixed. But you try finding a placename that starts with an X.
Y is for yellow fever, thought I had that once or twice. So listen to your doctors kids, and heed vaccination advice.
Z is for Zanzibar, put some spice in your life. Or just sit on the beach and put an end to your strife.
I could continue this diatribe if I wanted to use
Many foreign letters which most of you would confuse.
And if youve made it this far, your ability I commend
To put-up with bad rhyme schemes from beginning to end.
Ahhhh, thaaaaank ya.
Tobin
Today I learned probably the second most important word I've yet learned in Japanese and its usage, fast or quick. I'll be using that a fuckton when it comes time for my visit. "What? Sorry! You are speaking too quickly. I don't understand, can you repeat please?" <---I can say all of that now, and its almost second nature....although more likely it will just be "Sorry! Too Fast! Repeat please!" Heheh.
Toby is galavanting in Eastern Europe at the moment, so I will share with you the letters that come in for the Travel Letter reader lovers among you.
Letter #1 can be found behind the cut.
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Subject : Polka 'til you drop.
What a start to the summer. I'm spending my fourth and last night in Poland, and I already feel like I've been on vacation for a month. I'm always amazed at how much can be done and seen in only a few days. I thought this may be a bit of a slow vacation in terms of stuff to write about becuase, I mean, how can any country compete with a Middle Eastern country when it comes to all-around crazy and generally messed-up logic? But I've found enough here to get at least one short letter out.
I'll categorize this so I won't wander so much, as I am prone to do.
Lodgings
I arrived in Warsaw at 9:30 at night and did not feel like looking all over for a hotel. I took the tram from the airport to the center of the city and picked a place out of my guidebook that was supposed to be mid-range in price. I walked in and said I needed a room and asked how much it was.
"315 Zloty."
"Oh, thanks. Now let's play some math games. Can we do dollars or Euros?"
So the calculating began. It wound-up being 70 Euros for a night.
"Oh. That's more than I really want to spend. Especially for two nights."
"Ok. Second night free. Good?"
So that is how I found myself in the Harenda Hotel across the street from the 18th century Palace of Sciences dedicated to Copernicus. My window faced the palace and I have to say it looked pretty good at night, even as the damn bank alarm around the corner blared on and off intermittently throughout the night.
I went out for a walk at 10:00 to get my bearings. I got back around 12:30 and watched CNN and saw the mess happening in Turkey at the NATO summit. It's a good thing I'm such a non-conformist and decided to duck out of school three days early. I'm sure lots of people will be upset by that, but if they want to sit around more than two weeks after school has finished and drink tea and gossip all day instead of leaving, then that's their problem.
I am in Krakow now and am staying in an old army barracks. I've never done military service, but this place is as good as my college dorm room. A bit of a comedown from Warsaw, but it all averages out. Besides, now I've got a special closet to store my Kalishnikov and a woman named Vistunevraskinski guarding the door.
Food
This has got to be my favorite subject. Indeed, it's one of the things I looked forward to most when I knew I would come to Europe. As anyone who knows me knows, I love pork and have developed even a bigger taste for it since I moved to Turkey because I am generally unable to get it. As soon as the plane touched down, everyone else ran as fast as they could to passport control. I ran to the nearest sandwich bar that I saw. A hot chicken and bacon sandwich was waiting for me along with a Cherry Coke. And I looked upon it and said,"Life is good."
Since then I have not missed pork at even one meal. Whether it be spring rolls stuffed with pork, pork fried rice, ham pizza, ham for breakfast, stuffed pork chop fried like schnitzel and even pork enchilladas with aTequila Sunrise, it's all pig all the time. And I say, "Life is good."
As I was walking around Warsaw that first night I had my nose tuned for the smell of swine and thought that I got a whiff from the next street. Imagine my surprise as I turned the corner and there were two kebab shops. They've got to be joking, I thought. I just flew 1000 miles and all I can find that's open is a Turkish kebab place. Allah, allah. Ohh, hah! You can't believe the number of those places here. To all Europeans who are afraid that by letting Turkey into the EU Europe will be overrun by Turks, I have only one thing to say:"They aren't coming. They're here, and they've brought their kebab materials with them. And Poles love to eat this stuff." I went to McD's across the street and had a bacon cheeseburger.
There are no shortage of other ethnic places to eat either. Lots of Chinese and Indian resaurants, especially little kiosks on the street with a few chairs and tables around them. I ate at a Chinese place my second day in Poland where I actually met another American family who was travelling with their three kids (ages between about 6 and 14) and grandpa, who looked just like my late great grandpa Willard. I had started talking to the dad about the menu and how we could figure it out (Polish, you know) and after we had all struggled to order they asked me to sit with them. We were in a strip mall, which apparently has no zoning restrictions because, in order of appearance of shops, was an Indian restaurant, kebab joint, sex shop, peep show place, Chinese kiosk, then us ("Mommy, what does ping-pong ball special show mean?"), then a kebab place then another sex shop. The ambiance was great. A definite four-star experience.
Grandpa was funny because I think he was half-senile and made all kinds of comments. When the food was ready he said, "Gawwd damn!" I thought he had glimpsed a special ping-pong ball trick, but all it was was the size of the portions of food we got. I had ordered a spring roll appetizer and pork fried rice. They gave me three rolls each the size of a large polish sausage and enough rice to choke half of China. Their food was similar. We had ordered way too much. I have to say that Poland can easily compete with the USA for serving sizes. Poles aren't fat, but they are large people, and since that first day I am seeing why everytime I order a meal.
Although there is no lamp meat here in Poland, there is no shortage of badly translated menus. I ate "Pasta with fire spicy racy sauce" in Tanzania, and here at a restaurant called Sioux was an item named "Killed buffalo dancing for his soul to live the meat as a hole." It wasn't the menu that initially attracted me to this place, it was the waiter wearing a green cowboy hat, a bandana and chaps. The only thing missing was his horse and spurs, but I'm guessing they were out back. As for the food item in question, it was a bit difficult to understand the guy's explanation of exactly what it was, but I think it was ground beef. Also, everything in Polish seems to have a long "e" sound on the end of it, similar again to how they spoke English in Tanzania. There we went "Drivy on the roady." Here they "Recordy on kasseties." My conversation with the waiter was quite similar to this.
'What is this...thing?"
"*&vedap()#!ski"
"?. I'm sorry, can you say that again? And this time take the kelbasa (sp?) out of your mouth before you answer."
"Beef-oh-lowwww. Soul goneski. &$^@*iiiie! Good. You sittie."
"Oh, thanks, but I'm on an all-pork diet and your costume is scaring me. By the way, where in the world did you get a green cowboy hat?"
"You like? Try!"
"Naw. I could never pull it off like you do, dude. It's all you. Besides, I think I just saw it move. Keep up the beef-oh-lowww soul searching"
I guess the buffalo's soul gave the diner something philosophical to contemplate anyway while awaiting the buffalo's body to make it to the table.
Finally, I have found both Cherry Coke and Mountain Dew. I am in caffeine addict's heaven. So nyahhh to you boys in the States. I'm drinking one of each as I write this. Did you know that Mountain Dew mixes well with vodka? Niether did I. And I say, "Life is good."
Sights
Being the power tourist I am, I set out my first day in Warsaw at 8:30 AM and returned that night at 10:00 PM. In that time I believe I rested for about an hour total, but I saw two palaces, three museums, numerous parks and the botanical gardens, walked the streets of the old town, looked through the area of the Jewish ghetto, went through Parliament, took a stroll along the Vistula River, saw more churches than I thought possible (they collect churches here like Turkey collects mosques. You can't move anywhere without seeing one) and finished off the day with a roast pork dinner on the Old Town Square. It was a little expensive, but the entertainment was good. Lots of people perform in the squares here and I had front row seats to fire-eaters, b-boy rap dancers, guys who dress-up in strange costumes and paint themselves all in gold or silver for photo-ops and even polka bands. Gotta love it. That was a busy day, but I had to do that because the next day I came here to Krakow, which is a great little city.
Yesterday in Krakow I visited another castle, a palace, more churches, walked along the Vistula again and climbed the 500 year old Main Square tower from which I could imagine Nazi machine gun nests scanning the area. Today I got up at 6AM and took the two hour trip to Auschwitz and Birkenau and spent all day looking through old crematoriums, gas chambers and housing blocks filled with displays about the Holocaust. Quite an eerie place. There's not much to say that hasn't already been said, except that with all the historical places I've been to those camps were special because I know that even though the wooden buildings may eventually fall down and grass may overgrow the entire area, people will still be looking at those sites thousands of years from now and learning what happened there. And I was there only 55 years after it happened and the whole thing is still pretty fresh.
So that's what I've been up to for the last few days. Still three more weeks to go. I have to admit that these European cities can grow on a person. Everything is so clean and organized and public transport is never a problem. In the East things are still fairly priced, unlike Western Europe, so I don't spend most of my time getting pissed-off because I think I'm getting screwed evertime I buy a bottle of water. It's good that I'm enjoying that now because it won't be that way in another ten years, but by then they may let me into Iran and I'll have somewhere new to go.
I'm off to Slovakia tomorrow. Some town called Kosice. More castles to see and churches to defile with my presence. Catch you all later,
Tobin
BBQ at Chris's house - Great!
Cirque Du Soleil: Varekai - Fantastic!
Dumped by the woman - Not so great!
hehe, so yeah, if my updates are more somber than usual for a bit, that would be why.
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The Cassini Probe is kicking ass and taking names. What an amazing NASA mission this was, considering the multiple inner solar system slingshots culminating in successfully sliding between Saturn's rings and now bringing us lots of really pretty pictures. For the lazy, Here is one of many stories.
Watch a Japanese promo for Paper Mario 2!