Last Day in Europe
Trip Start
Jun 06, 2008
1
18
21
Trip End
Ongoing
Bucharest,
Romania
Monday, June 23, 2008
Actually, during the day, not crowded and the music not so loud, it was not so bad. Just awfully expensive and full of crap memorobilia ike Rod Stewart's and Steve Tyler's stage outfits. Personally, I think Steve Tyler should be drowned to death in an outhouse in front of his children if he ever sings another crummy ballad, but there is no accounting for taste..I guess. My $14 cub sandwich wasn't horrible, and I HAD been missing Heinz real ketchup. The catsup in Europe is all the bitter thin runny stuff like you get at COSTCO by the gallon. It's amazing what you miss after 3 weeks out of the country. I like the fries in Romania and Belgium but next time I come, I am bringing a bottle of Hienz..how is that for product endorsement? If it hadn't been my last day in town I would have had Laura put the bottle in her purse. So it wasn't a total loss...at least the place was air conditioned, as it was 35 outside...even though I know what prices should be in Bucharest, and I knew I was getting swindled. $8 for a margarita in Eastern Europe, indeed! Anyway, after such a great time the night before, I could have sworn I made arrnagements to meet up with the Romanians and the French guy the following night for the game. So i show up fat and happy at the bar for my last night in Europe, only to discover...there is no game! Ugggh. Whose mistake? probably mine, I think. Anyway...I chat with some cute bartenders and some expats (brits again!) for a while and then make my way back to the hotel to pack I was gonna go to the casino and just leave for the airport from there, since I had such an early flight...but I was out of it from too many Ursus beers ($2 for 500ml...yaaaaaa Romania!!!). The casinos in Romania are great. The blackjack dealers actually know how to count (who hasn't had a dealer in Vegas or Laughlin who can't seem to do math...lots of times when you bust, if u just say "20" they will take your word for it and pay you). Everyone in a tuxedo...no free drinks, but plenty of waiters and cute waitresses hovering. The minimum bet is 5 RON, which is about $2. I don't know about you, but just following the rules playing basic blackjack at a $2 table...I can make $20 last about 3 hours at worst. Sometimes I win enough to go over and lose the house's money playing craps (craps is my personal curse...I can't win and I can't stay away). Once the dealer establishes that I'm not a moron, and know how to double, split and hit we get along swimmingly. One thing to note is they don't understand the blackjack hand signals, that i thought were universal. Vegas always wants you to use the hand signals for the cameras, but Europe (Bucharest anyway) always needs to hear the words...and only in English or Romanian...no German or Russian allowed, as I found out from the Russian mafia guy next to me the last time I was at a casino (the diamond on his pinkie ring was the size of Liechtenstein, and his girlfriend, was...stunning is the only word that comes to mind..picture Heidi Klum with long red hair)....even though he kept hitting 16 against a 5.
Anyway I digress...I got back to the room and got about 2 hours of Air Conditioned sleep before hitting the airport..
Last night and not even drunk
