If It's Sunday...It must be Bucharest


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April 17th 2006
Published: May 5th 2006
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Alexander Nevski CathedralAlexander Nevski CathedralAlexander Nevski Cathedral

A beautiful example of an Eastern Orthodox Church.
March 26, 2006 (Sofia, Bulgaria)

Shannon: With less than 14 days to go before we head to Dublin to meet up with family and 2 countries to cover before our plane takes off from Bucharest (Romania), we’ve realized that we’re going to have to pick up the pace to get there. With that in mind, last night we took a sleeper train to Sofia (Bulgaria). It wasn’t exactly our most comfortable ride.

Leaving the station at 10 pm, the Bosfor Expresi crosses the Turkish/Bulgarian border at the insane hour of 2 am, which means a rather bleary-eyed trip through customs. And four hours after that - with a short train ride across the “no man’s land” in between borders - we were finally cleared through both Turkish and Bulgarian customs. Not exactly how I usually spend the 2am-6am time slot.

Arriving in Sofia around mid-afternoon, we stepped off the train with the feeling that we had definitely reached Europe. Where Turkey - particularly Istanbul - straddles the connection between the Middle East and Europe (both physically and psychologically), Bulgaria is firmly planted in the latter. And while we’ve loved our travels through the Middle East, we are feeling
Ivan Vazov TheaterIvan Vazov TheaterIvan Vazov Theater

Bulgaria's national theater and one of the prettiest buildings in Sofia.
a bit ready to leave that chapter behind and start fresh in a new region.


March 27, 2006 (Sofia, Bulgaria)

Sean: Another country, another language. Bulgarian uses the Cyrillic alphabet (like Russian) which makes for a crazy good time as we try to remember that most of the letters we are familiar with have a different sound than we are accustomed to (e.g. the “P” is pronounced as an “R”, the “H” as an “N”, the “B” as a “V”, etc.). It’s not nearly as easy to remember as Turkish (which is a Roman based language), but we’re managing. Mostly we’re just happy that the letters have associated sounds and can therefore be sounded out - albeit badly - into a word (unlike Arabic, which we could never figure out in written form). Of course, often when we do sound things out, it still doesn’t mean anything to us as they have different names for most things, but at least we can try. And thankfully for us, most everyone speaks a little English. Between our mangled Bulgarian and their broken English, we’re getting along.

Shannon: Sofia is a nice town. I guess that’s the best way
St. Nicholas ChurchSt. Nicholas ChurchSt. Nicholas Church

Another beautiful church in Sofia, I actually liked this one better than the more popular Alexander Nevski Cathedral. The 5 gold-plated "onion domes" contrast beautifully with the green tile roof.
to describe it. It’s not exactly thrilling (we were able to see most of the sights in a single day) but it’s not an unpleasant city either, which puts it firmly in that unfortunate “nothing bad to say, but nothing to rave about” category. The food is cheap and the wi-fi cafes are plentiful, which are always a bonus. It has a few very pleasant pedestrian streets and a nice tram system. And the architecture is decent - some nice buildings mixed amongst the more austere Soviet-built ones. Aside from some nice churches, though, there isn’t that much that really draws you in. So if you’re looking for that hidden, Eastern European hauntingly-beautiful-yet-undiscovered gem, Sofia just isn’t it - which is unfortunate, since I was rooting for Bulgaria to be one of those unknown pearls.

One of the things that I do really like (and that you see practically everywhere) are these little basement convenience stores. Recognizable by the “cabinets” located on the sidewalk, they have a small window located about ankle-height. To purchase something you stoop down to the window and tell the clerk inside a small basement room what you want. With space only for the proprietor
Mini Mini-MarketMini Mini-MarketMini Mini-Market

Doritos, anyone?
and no bigger than a large bathroom inside, these rooms seem to hold an amazing array of products for such a tiny area. And at night, they are able to close the hinged cabinets on either side to effectively seal up the shop for the evening. It is a very interesting use of space, one that appeals to my sense of efficiency.

We’re staying at a wonderful hostel here in Sofia, which always makes a city seem more welcoming. They have a great common room that doubles as an eating / conversation area where we’ve met many other travelers and been able to swap stories. They also serve a wonderful breakfast in the morning of hard boiled eggs, a selection of cold cuts and cheese with breads, jams, cereal, juice and tea or coffee. Surprisingly, they also serve a pasta and beer dinner that is included in the price of the room, which makes staying here a very good value. Starved for vegetables, we’ve also found a wonderful vegetarian restaurant where we’ve scarfed down some amazing salads and appetizers. Food, overall, has been a very good value so far in Bulgaria (and beer is ridiculously cheap).


March
Princess Leia StatuePrincess Leia StatuePrincess Leia Statue

24 meters above the city center, this spot used to be occupied by a huge figure of Lenin. This replacement is supposed to represent "holy wisdom" but I think she's actually a little eerie looking.
30, 2006 (Sofia, Bulgaria)

Shannon: After spending a few days here in Sofia (running errands and seeing the sights), we’ve made a decision: with only a bit over a week and a half to go before we have to fly out of Bucharest, we could either split our time evenly between Bulgaria and Romania (and see very little of either) or we could spend it all in one country and see a bit more of one. We’ve chosen the latter alternative and decided to spend our remaining time in Romania. (In fairness to Bulgaria, we should note that this is not a statement on the relative merits of each country - this decision had about as much forethought put into it as a coin toss.) So tomorrow we leave on a train for Bucharest.


April 1, 2006 (Bucharest, Romania)

Sean: Our introduction to Romania was less than a warm embrace as today was the day when our luck ran out; some forgotten bad karma caught up with us; we were in the wrong place at the wrong time. We got scammed. We’ve calmed down a bit, but we were naturally pretty livid, both with the guy
Arcul de TriumfArcul de TriumfArcul de Triumf

Bucharest's homage to those killed in World War I. It's about half the size of its more famous cousin in Paris.
who took our money and with ourselves for succumbing to a rip-off.

Here’s the story: We were walking down a fairly well traversed street on the way to a museum when a young guy started chatting with us. We are a fairly leery lot, so we don’t take too kindly to unanticipated interactions with strangers. This may throw off the odd, sincere gentleman just asking for the time, but in our travels, that man is the rare, rare exception. Most stranger-instigated dialogue is designed to help us part with our money, usually nothing more than to sell us something, but we don’t want to be anyone’s target, which is why it sucks that we were taken.

We ignored the young guy and kept walking. Our hackles were a little raised as he matched our stride (acting nonchalant, as if he were not sure where he was or where he was going) and so we paused at a nearby bus stop to examine a concert poster advertisement, hoping to get rid of the kid as we did so. Just as we stopped, the kid asked us if we wanted to change some money. At that same instant, from out
Decisions, decisions...Decisions, decisions...Decisions, decisions...

Do I hold up this pillar or my pants??
of nowhere, we were approached by a middle aged, plainly dressed man flashing a badge. He was gruff and acted official (very much like you would think a government employee of a former communist country would act). He indicated to us and our “friend” that we should step inside the vacant bus stop and then proceeded to shake the kid down. He asked us if we were with that guy and of course we denied ever meeting him. He then asked us if the kid had wanted us to change some money, which we acknowledged that he had tried, as the gentlemen produced a bevy of foreign and local currency from the kid’s wallet - proof that there would have been a scam underfoot. At this point we didn’t know what to think, and not knowing what else to do, we just waited to see what was going to happen.

The guy then took the kid’s money and set him aside. He then asked to see our passports (we were both a little wary, but we kept control over them the whole time). Then he asked to see my wallet, ostensibly to check for drugs. He proceeded to sniff
The King of Beers?The King of Beers?The King of Beers?

It seems the Czech's have their very own version, though the name and similarity in font style is disarming. It tastes much like you would expect a mass-produced pale lager to taste like...in short, not too far off from our version of Bud.
around in my wallet and every time I acted unsure, he made motions that he understood I was a little guarded with him so close to our cash. He then started to remove the bills from my wallet to check for drug “residue”. I was getting very nervous at this moment, but as we didn’t feel that we had a choice in the matter, Shannon and I just remained very vigilant and watched him intensely. Unfortunately for us, his slight of hand was quicker than our eyes - he folded some bills under as he folded the rest of the bills over and stuffed them back in my wallet.

I should say that all of this was happening very, very quickly and that his mannerisms and speech were very authoritative, never giving the impression that he had less than every right to be searching us in this manner. In retrospect there were lots of clues about the whole set up, but at the time all we could do was play the patsy to this slick conman. It was our first day in Romania and the guy was betting on our naiveté in this previous bastion of communism. Also, this
Old Town ChurchOld Town ChurchOld Town Church

Oddly enough, outside this church we saw two drunk guys beating the crap out of one another. Not very Christian, I would say.
was no “crime of opportunity”; this is probably what he does for a living, which is why he was very, very good; a professional just doing his job.

After searching us both, he finally “let us go”. We took a few steps and stopped immediately to count our cash, just to make sure, and that’s when we discovered the missing money. In these few seconds, he and his young accomplice had disappeared completely, leaving no trace; no speeding car escaping the scene, no absconders of cash fleeing on foot, just…gone.

We are not proud of being the recipients of this treatment and it certainly colors our thinking when it comes to this country. It also doesn’t help that when we were eating some chicken shwarma the previous evening - outside enjoying the beautiful spring weather - we were constantly harassed by a couple groups of ratty looking teens, all huffing plastic baggies (I couldn’t smell what the intoxicant was and don’t know if they go for model airplane glue or spray paint in this part of the world). Needless to say, Romania hasn’t won us over.

But this is all a part of our travels. The good
Mushroom and Gruyere CrepeMushroom and Gruyere CrepeMushroom and Gruyere Crepe

mmmm..cheesey bread product.
and the bad occur daily. So far the good has outweighed the bad, but not having a “comfort zone” to retreat to sometimes wears on you. It’s times like these that make you want a place to step back to and regroup; maybe just head to our house (even though we don’t even have one of those) and hunker down with some mindless entertainment in our own comfortable and known surroundings. But in the path we’ve chosen that just isn’t an option so all we can do is soldier on. The Adventures of Sean and Shannon never stop.

In the end, the amount we were taken for on the streets of Bucharest won’t break the bank. We won’t have to cut the trip short and our budgets don’t have to be reworked, but it’s still frustrating when you lose a decent sum of money that you weren’t planning on spending quite so extravagantly. Also, while we weren’t very trusting to begin with, we’re going to be less so in the future (I truly pity the aforementioned, odd and sincere time-requester in our future travels, as he will probably be treated very shabbily). All we can do is “acknowledge and
Huh? Huh? Huh?

An office building in downtown Bucharest. I'm not sure that that this would be termed as an "architecturally sensitive restoration".
move on” and consider this as tuition paid for a class that we were thinking we’d already had credit in. This was a new scam to us and part of me hopes like hell that it will happen again just so I can stop it in its tracks and the guy will understand that we know what’s going on.

Shannon: Today was frustrating, to be sure. The thing was, we were both wary - first of the kid walking next to us, then of the guy who claimed he was police and stole some money. In hindsight (which is always 20-20, as they say) we would have done things a little differently, namely insisted on being taken to a police station instead of being “searched” on the street. That probably would have called his bluff and we wouldn’t be sitting here writing about the experience in the same tone. Lesson learned, I suppose.

It’s been an exasperating week. Back in Sofia, we tried to obtain our Russian visa at the embassy there. No luck. It was the 3rd Russian embassy we’ve been to (Istanbul, Ankara and now Sofia) and each time we’ve had something wrong with our paperwork
Romanian AthenaeumRomanian AthenaeumRomanian Athenaeum

This is Bucharest's main concert hall and home to their Philharmonic.
(of course it was something different each time). So that was one wild goose chase. Then we wanted to mail a package home of miscellaneous stuff we’ve picked up in our travels, not realizing that the vestiges of communism still have a foothold in the postal system of Bulgaria. After no less than 4 visits to the post office (finally with a girl from our hostel in tow to translate), we finally found out that we couldn’t mail a package to the United States from there without jumping through some ridiculous customs hoops. Many more hours wasted. And since we’ve arrived in Romania, we’ve logged several miles walking from one currency exchange house to another trying to find one that will take the remainder of our Bulgarian levas. For a neighboring country, everyone seems about as eager to touch them as a used diaper, something we were unprepared for (and frustrating, since we decided not to exchange them at the border because we were told we would get a better rate once we got to Bucharest.) And after visiting at least a dozen places, they’re still stuck in our wallet. All in all, I would say that it has not
Another Pretty ChurchAnother Pretty ChurchAnother Pretty Church

This one was being renovated when we visited. Lovely interior.
exactly been our most successful week.

So what is going right these days? Well, we’re staying at another good little hostel that’s really convenient to the train station. The rooms are decent, though nothing to rave about. But it’s the family running the place that makes it stand out. Granted, they are a little flaky and the free pancake breakfast was fine as long as you don’t mind them burnt, but they’re truly good people. The hostel is run by a couple (he’s Romanian, she’s Canadian) and their four teenage children. It is located inside the house his grandparents once owned and which was taken away from the family when the Soviet Union took control of Romania and communism was introduced. Following the revolution in 1989 and the birth of Romania as an independent country, they returned to Romania in 1993 and put in a claim with the new government for the return of the family home, which was finally granted (on paper) 5 years later. It took them another 6 years to move into the house and get all of the tenants to leave. Their story, recounted by Deborah (the Canadian expat), was very interesting to say the
Casa PoporuluiCasa PoporuluiCasa Poporului

The biggest freaking Parliament building in the world.
least. It was the first time in my life that I had ever met someone personally affected by communism, and to hear their story was fascinating. You read about communism in school, but to hear about its effect on the lives of people you meet is something else entirely. It’s true what they say about traveling making history come alive.


April 2, 2006 (Bucharest, Romania)

Sean: Do you need some convention space? How about a room for your next corporate gathering? Or even a place to hold your Krewe’s next Mardi Gras Ball? If you’re interested, the Romanian parliament building has scads of extra rooms for rent to any group in need. That’s right, the place where the laws of this nation are hashed out each day is open for lease to anyone in need of a few square feet to host an event. After all, it is the second largest building in the world (measured by square footage) - the first one to post a comment naming the largest, gets a shout-out in our next blog. It was built in the waning days of Romania’s commie government and the country inherited this monster of an edifice
Brasov ChurchBrasov ChurchBrasov Church

The hills are alive with the sound of music.
after Nicolae Ceausescu’s forced resignation-by-bullet on Christmas day, 1989. It is said that he bulldozed 1/6th of the city to achieve this grand vision of what he called the Casa Poporului - People’s House. What else could the incoming government do with this colossal piece of real estate but utilize a few of the spaces and rent out the rest to make some extra cash? We took a tour of it today and it is quite a stunning building. It is fairly ornate with lots of nice finishes, is made entirely of Romanian materials and, of course, it’s freaking huge. After walking through, it makes sense that the majority of the interior would be for rent as they’ve got to pay those immense heating bills somehow.

Shannon: Sean’s not exaggerating. The building is colossal. And did we mention it’s for rent? Our guide certainly did - it’s perhaps the only tour we’ve ever taken where the person sounds more like a real estate agent than a tour guide. “Over here is the west ballroom. On the floor is inlaid Romanian marble, the walls have walnut wainscoting and the chandelier is crystal - the perfect setting for your next corporate
BrasovBrasovBrasov

A semi-arial view showing the red-roofed houses and churches of Brasov. Truly a lovely little town.
Christmas party.” As Sean mentioned, the man who built this taxpayer-funded 697,500 square foot elephant, Nicolae Ceausescu, drove the country well beyond the brink of poverty in his bid to put on a pretty face for the rest of the world. Having reached pretty much the bottom of the economic abyss during Ceausescu’s reign, though, the country is slowly recovering and will be (hopefully for them) joining the EU in 2007.

Bucharest is another town that you want to be so much more than it is. It’s a good sized city with roughly 2 million inhabitants and has a fairly efficient public transportation system that consists of a nice (new) metro line running through the middle of the city (there are older metro lines, as well, but not nearly as nice). Unfortunately, the “Old Town” which features so prominently in the descriptions of Bucharest turned out to be quite a disappointment to me. Bucharest’s version of the French Quarter is very small (perhaps only a few blocks wide), not very cohesive architecturally, with a few nice buildings but nothing to speak of. I knew going into it that I wouldn’t be visiting Prague, but even with minimal expectations I
Brasov LaneBrasov LaneBrasov Lane

The very definition of "quaint".
was disappointed. Again, if you’re looking for an Eastern European gem, you can give this one a miss.


April 4, 2006 (Brasov, Romania)

Sean: Heading out of Bucharest for the Transylvanian countryside, we arrived in Brasov yesterday and it is exactly what you think a small, countryside European town should look like. It is picture perfect with its large central plaza surrounded by beautiful medieval architecture, Bavarian style dwellings, a Gothic cathedral and little cafes spilling out onto cobbled pedestrian alleyways. The area is surrounded by mountains - which only add to the romanticism - the Carpathian range to the East and the Transylvanian Alps to the West. But the idyllic setting belies more infamous implications as well and when in this part of the world you can’t help but visit the castle that (supposedly) Bram Stoker fashioned Dracula’s abode after.

We took a bus out to the little town of Bran which is most known for the castle of the same name. Now is the time when I should clear up a few recently learned items before I go on. Firstly, other than Mr. Stoker’s most famously named character, Vlad III Tepes (a.k.a. Dracula) was
Bran CastleBran CastleBran Castle

Cue the spooky music
never associated with any of the myths surrounding the blood sucking undead. Locally he is seen as a bit of a folk hero as he deftly played the two major super powers that book-ended his little kingdom - the Ottomans to the South and the Hungarians to the West and North - as well as brutally punishing the bourgeoisie that exploited the working class. Of course his posthumous moniker, Tepes - meaning “impaler” - wasn’t just a catchy nickname. He was quite fond of using pointy sticks as a means of dispatching those that fell out of his favor - in the most painful ways possible it seems. There’s controversy as to the extent of his brutality because even in those early days of the mass produced printed media, sensationalism sold better than the alternative. He did use the name Dracula though. It literally translates as “son of Dracul” which was accurate as his father was a member of the order of Dracul (Dragon in Romanian) and used their emblem as his own.

The other point that must be made is that Bran castle, while loosely associated with the famous novel as inspiration, was never associated with Vlad. There
Bran Castle Interior CourtyardBran Castle Interior CourtyardBran Castle Interior Courtyard

Dracula's stomping grounds?
is no record of him ever visiting. You wouldn’t be able to tell this, though, by the plethora of souvenir sales-booths at the entrance which do a tidy business selling everything Dracula.

The most famous resident - boringly - was Queen Maria of Romania, who kept it up until the short lived royalty was forced to abdicate by the communists in 1947 and the house fell into the government’s hands. It was turned into a museum shortly after that and today it’s been restored to the way it was during the Queen’s times. Her pictures are everywhere and all the furnishings reflect her tastes from the 1920’s.

It really is a well restored castle, too (in my opinion, it’s more of a villa with spires). There are lots of rooms and too many nooks and crannies to count. Many low ceiling-ed passageways run off in different directions and appear to have no other design than to make one get lost. After spending time wending through the elaborately obtuse corridors, you really want there to be some nefarious and dark history associated with the castle though. You come all this way to one of the most legendary regions on
Peles CastlePeles CastlePeles Castle

It was such a disappointment that we visited on a cloudy day - the snow covered mountains in the background were beautiful.
a map - Transylvania - and realize all too soberly that…really…Bram Stoker just made up a good story. Sigh. No Virginia, there are no vampires.


April 5, 2006 (Brasov, Romania)

Sean: Happy Birthday to me!

To celebrate, Shannon and I headed off from Brasov into the Transylvanian countryside to the small town of Sinaia, named for Mt. Sinai in Egypt. There we visited the amazing Peles Castle. Now, admittedly, my exposure to European castles is fairly small, but this is the most amazing one I’ve ever seen. Wow. The exterior is right out of a fairy tale and the interior is so lushly and ornately decorated that you almost think it’s just a little too much…almost, but not quite. The main hall is three stories (with retractable glass ceiling - not only allowing natural light to penetrate, but also letting in the cool mountain air) and is a tactile dream with intricately carved oak figures adorning each square inch of vertical surface. Every room from then on is just as ‘wow’ inducing as that and your neck stiffens from staring up, gape mouthed the entire time. From the immense amount of carved marble to the 15 meter tall mirrors, everything was designed for royalty. Unfortunately, we couldn’t take any pictures of the inside so you will have to settle for my inadequate descriptions, but all I can say is that if you ever get to this neck of the world, you could do a lot worse than spend a few pesos seeing this kingly residence. They are trying very hard to preserve this grand palace for future generations so you can’t go upstairs (structural integrity issues, we were told) and had to wear slippers over our shoes.

This is actually a major issue these days in the tourism industry. As the world is increasingly shrinking and the cost of travel is attainable to more peoples’ budgets, many of the most amazing places on the planet are in danger of being loved to death (I even read an article last year by Steve Ballard - the Titanic discover - who wrote about damage done to this most famous sunken ship by too many well meaning sightseers; proving that no location is too remote). Machu Picchu is another good example - in recent years they’ve had to limit the amount of people trekking on the Inca Trail and the debate is still raging over how to save the site itself from being trampled by the thousands who visit everyday. So what’s the solution? It is a very untenable situation for everyone involved, from the host countries to the tourists themselves. For the countries where these amazing sites are located, they are major revenue generators, not only for the State’s coffers but to the many people making their livelihoods selling services and souvenirs (and even camel rides!). It would also be a shame to deny access to millions of people who only want a chance to learn a little bit more about the world we live in by visiting. Shannon and I don’t pretend to be anything other than a part of this equation - both good and bad.

Getting back to the precautions taken by the docents at Peles Castle who are in a difficult position: they must limit access and take measures to preserve the castle enough to ensure its visit-ability for future generations, but allow enough of it to be seen to make it an attractive place for those of us sightseeing now to stop and spend our dollars. So what happens when the
Bucharest to Brasov TrainBucharest to Brasov TrainBucharest to Brasov Train

Brand-new, clean and efficient. Perhaps the nicest train we've taken thus far.
day comes where the building just can’t take any more visitors? Without the revenue stream for upkeep and maintenance, and no clear purpose of existence, it is difficult to speculate, but this is the reality on the minds of the directors of all the major tourist attractions in the world.


April 9, 2006 (Bucharest, Romania)

Sean: We arrived back in Bucharest yesterday to catch our flight later today to Bratislava (we’ve got a two day layover in Slovakia before we head to Dublin). Then, for the next two and a half weeks, we’ll be visiting with family and showered with love, affection and scads of attention. We’re very excited obviously to be hooking up with my Ma’s family, Cousin Heather, my beautiful sister - Brianne - with hubby, Matt and our Irish relatives. Then we head to London where we’ll ply the picturesque English canals between Bath and Bristol; lazing on a couple of narrowboats enjoying the bucolic countryside and the fabulous company of Shannon’s family, my Dad, Linda and Uncle Joe and Aunt Nancy.

Before our flight though, we had a plan to avenge the demons of our previous time in Bucharest. This morning we trekked over to the area where the ugly, fiendish bandits took advantage of our lapse in good judgment and momentary naivety.

This time we had a plan.

Before we reached the street, we split up (because we’re wily and cunning like that) to see if we could confuse and outsmart any lurking crooks; both of us aimlessly walking, doing our best to look lost and - for once - tacitly screaming, “I’m a rich American tourist, come and take advantage of my gullible and unworldly demeanor. I have large sums of cash just waiting to be parted from my wallet.”

But by the time we reached the far end of the boulevard we realized there were no obvious disagreeable characters lurking nearby, no malcontent misappropriaters of moolah, no lying larcenists of loot, just normal people going about their Sunday morning and paying us no heed. Sigh.


April 11, 2006 (Bratislava, Slovakia)

Shannon: Ok. I admit that my standards probably started out a little higher, but preceding disappointments have lured me into thinking that the hidden gems of Eastern Europe were not to be found on this trip. Until now.

I don’t want to
"The Photographer""The Photographer""The Photographer"

Bratislava has some wonderful street art. Note the name of the restaurant.
build Bratislava up into something it’s not. Folks who have left their hearts in Prague or Budapest will probably not be inspired by the cobbled lanes of Old Town Bratislava. But it is a nice place to idle away a few days, with the sort of old European ambiance I was seeking in Bulgaria and Romania.

Sean: Its got a quaint old neighborhood, full of trendy shops, cafes and pubs, and it feels like a very modern European city (read: clean, pleasant and efficient…but a bit on the dull side). To be diplomatic, I’m sure that if we’d had more time to spend, we would’ve gleaned the very best this pretty city had to offer.

So the last two days have been just roaming around, seeing the few sites, eating and drinking lots of beer. I must admit that’s one of the best things about leaving the Middle East - the ubiquity of very good, very cheap beer. Every meal, it seems, is lacking in this part of the world if you don’t have a tall glass of ale to accompany it. Not wanting to stick out ("when in Rome..." and all) we’ve happily obliged to live like
Man At WorkMan At WorkMan At Work

Called "The Peeper" this was another example of street art in Bratislava.
the locals and have been able to sample a wide variety of what’s on tap in each of the countries. It also seems that there is a direct correlation between the amount of liters drunk and our attitudes concerning each locale. Last night for instance, I couldn’t help but feel that Bratislava was the best city we’d visited so far and was looking forward to moving there one day. Thankfully Shannon was there to temper my enthusiasm.

We’re on the plane right now, bound for Dublin and family, so wish us well and we’ll see you soon. Forgive us if the blogs are slow in coming - with family around and good times to be had, we’re not sure how much of our normal “work” will get done. But eventually we’ll get around to publishing…just be patient.

p.s. And while you’re waiting, don’t forget to hop on over to our supplemental video blog site. We’ve switched hosting sites so the videos load a lot faster. If you visited last time and were dismayed at the download speed, pop on over again for not only quicker viewings, but more top quality video content. Click here for more Adventures of Sean and Shannon.




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Workers were refurbishing this house, but it seems as though someone decided to make the vacant windows look a bit more interesting.
Me and The Photographer...Me and The Photographer...
Me and The Photographer...

...stalking all the beautiful people.


5th May 2006

the pentagon
The Pentagon in Washingtion DC is the World's Largest building by square footage.
6th May 2006

Are you sure Rock n roll Rich?
I could be wrong here, but I'm pretty sure I remember reading that the Boeing factory in Seattle is the World's largest building in area. Feel free to tell me where to go if I'm wrong. T
6th May 2006

We're both wrong
Me again Ok, I was wrong before. The Boeing factory is the largest in volume, not floor area. Some flower factory in the Netherlands is actually the largest. The Pentagon comes in 3rd. Check out this website http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World's_largest_buildings Tamara
8th May 2006

the good, bad, ugly!
Sorry to hear about the con, live and learn. Laura's has great grandparents from Romania. Enjoy the security of your loving family. Keep up the whirlwind tour, we're still diggin it.
8th May 2006

Tamara... you were less wrong than I was
Apparently I was way off. I forgot about Boeing. That's a shame because that particular building is only about 3 hours drive from where I'm at... and my step-mom worked there for a long time. And it appears it's not, in fact the largest. I guess millions and millions of flowers require more space than airplanes because the Netherlands wins the title. Anyway... you were more the winner than I was. So... if you are ever up in the U.S. Pacific Northwest... I'll buy you a drink.
9th May 2006

Romanian crooks
We feel bad for what happened to you in Bucharest, be careful in Russia it will worst.
9th March 2008

Budweiser
The Budweiser: when you say it seems the czechs have "their own version" what you actually mean is the americans have "their own version" as czezh budweiser was in production decades before the american copy. the idea was stolen by an american and put into production before the czechs had copyrighted their own original beer and legally no action could be taken. it is far better than the american rip off!
6th October 2008

Parliament Palace, also known as the House of the People
With a surface of 330.000 m², structured on 6 levels and having an 84m height, the building is registered in the Guiness Book of Records as the world’s second building after the Pentagon. They said it..

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