Sipping on some Tokaj, feeling breezy in Budapest

A Sunday night not traveling on a train overnight? Weird.

Anyway, I'm not even sure if the last set of pictures work for anybody, and since I don't have a usb hookup visible on this comp, I'm just going to do a ton of picture posts from Moscow. I'll also put up a couple more detailed, essayed looks at some of these cities (Barcelona, Madrid, and especially Prague so far).

But more interestingly, what I've been up to since I last updated 2 countries ago.

Prague: That first night I got in, found my hostel, rested, then walked around the city. As mentioned, Prague is very pretty at night, with nearly gingerbread architecture, all these pale pastel colors and olden town halls and towers. The views across the Vlatava river from the Old Town to the Castle were pretty purty.
My first full day in Prague was spent on the go. A run, an all you can eat breakfast, a shower...actually about showering. Another how to:

How To: Manage without a Towel in Europe

There are a few different strategies if you are too tight for space or too cheap to afford a towel.
A simple one, considering hostel life, is to use one of the two sheets given to you for your bed (see Rome or Madrid). Considering I've never been too big on needing "clean" sheets, this was an easy choice when there, and sheets work well.
In more drastic cases, such as when sheets are not free (and you're not going to bed anyway), turning to your blanket is allowable, if rough. Literally rough in the case of half wool blankets (Barcelona). Again, only really works if you don't need anything to go to sleep with, or you're not sleeping.
If you do need to sleep and do not have extra sheets, and furthermore the front desk has no towels available for rent or any such situation, raiding the closet in your room for someone's long left-behind pajama pants is acceptable (Prague). This works better than the blanket. And I did ask the desk every day.
When ready to use a sheet and granted with the sudden boon of a towel on the floor of the bathroom that isn't excessively wet, go to town (Vienna).
And when renting a towel is only 50 Euro cents, well, then that's no price to quibble with (Vienna after the first shower).
Of course, my hostel here in Budapest is ridiculously kind (free sheets, towel, and laundry, which they do for you (?!)), so no concerns until Poland. Back to Prague...

So for the touring I went down to Wencelas Square, a big strip with a modern sculpture exhibition in the middle for the summer, and the regal looking National Museum on the South end. Then I hunted around and found the Alfonse Mucha Museum, which was short but worth the time and money. He was big on those pale pastels, and I'm curious if that came from Prague design at all.
Next was a trip through Josefov, the Jewish section of town, which had some impressive looking synagogues, narrow streets, and a statue of Franz Kafka. I didn't spend too much time here, but it was pleasant. I continued with the Kafka theme, heading across the river to an exhibit on him. This was the best designed exhibit I've ever seen, with the feel, sound, look, and information of the room all coming together to give a cohesive argument for why Kafka's writing was so dark and crazy and awesome. I understand now.
A sitdown in a Cafe was the final highlight of the day, though I also checked out a Museum of Torture Instruments that was surprisingly uninteresting though expectedly gruesome. Oh yeah, and did I mention that there was indie rock that night in a club, and I went, and it was actually decent? One bartender, explaining why the crowd was so big, said, "It's this indie pop/rock shit, I hate it. I think you either have to like it or hate it, I don't know." I kept my mouth shut.

I repeated the run on the second day, except instead of a half hour jog it turned into an hour and a half saunter through the northern parts/suburbs of Prague. Yeah, I got lost. And asked 5-10 people for directions. I think out of that group, one understood/spoke English, and one or two understood my Russian. So a lot of hand gesturing and confusion. And I got a snide comment from the desk at the hostel when I checked out late.
Already off to a shaky start - this was my day to stay up until six in the morning, mind you - I was tired by the time I reached the Prague castle complex around 1300 (1 pm, get on board). The castle was a mixed success: seeing St. Vitus Cathedral made me feel less bad about missing the Sistine Chapel, but the rest of it was not spectacular. And I probably wasn't in my best touring mood, as explained. But I kept my composure and marched off to the National Museum of Music, which had a big exhibit on funky instruments. There were some crazy pianos, keyboards, harmoniums, stringed instruments, etc, but also a tight squadron of strict curators who made damn sure I didn't take any pictures. Sorry.
By this time nearly wiped out, I almost made the smart move and found a hostel for the night, so as to go to bed really early and wake up equally early. But no, I went to an expat cafe, wrote postcards, drank tea, and ate chocolate filled croissants.
Revivified, I went to a Czech movie, Marta, half thinking it would put me to sleep since it was in Czech with subtitles. But, surprisingly, it got me going. Sort of a dark war thriller infused with a bunch of other themes, it started a little slow and ended a little suddenly but was really good.
Anyway, that kept me going through dinner, a mixed success, and then writing/tea/internet carried me to 2 am.
This is where the night got weird. Let's just say between 2 and 6 the following happened: I got offered a free sample of either hashish or coke; A man asked me to go to a "titty bar"; 2 attractive czech girls winked at me at a club but then turned me down on the dance floor (not so weird, I'm a donkey in lion's skin at a club, and need to remember to keep my mouth shut); a group of drunk british kids (I think) got excited about me being a wrestler and then expressed great dismay when I didn't know the story on Batista; a group of sketchy characters got a little too close for comfort while I was playing guitar in the train station, led by a sad, large person of indistinct gender.

Also, the following conversation may or may not be based on real events:
3 characters: A man with white hair in his 50's, full-bodied; A slim, short woman with short black hair, in her 40's; a young male, foreign. The two older people are standing outside the bar, the young man (henceforth known as "Our Man") is wandering the streets and walks by them, mistakenly making eye contact. The hour is about 2:30.
Prague Bartender: You want a ciggy?
Our Man: quietly No thanks.
PB: What, come on, you want one?
Woman: You want blowjob sex?
OM: still walking What?
Prague Woman of Ill Repute: You want blowjobsex?
OM: still not comprehending but stopping What?
Woman pulls Our Man aside a few feet. Exit Bartender from conversation.
PWoIR: You want blowjobsex?
OM: Oh, no thank you.
PWoIR: You like blowjobsex?
OM: Yeah, I like blowjobsex.
PWoIR: 5oo krowns (about $23) blow job, 1000 for sex. Is no problem, is my job, we go to my hotel room.
OM: wondering if he should ask if she accepts euros Sorry, I don't have the...(unclear whether the issue was time or money or desire)
PWoIR: Ok, come back if you like.

Anyway, all this wore me out on Prague, which is still my favorite city of the trip through Vienna. I kinda snapped at a guy on the train who I thought stole my seat but who in fact had it reserved (where as I was just rolling on railpass deal). I slept on the train and for the first few hours in town.

Vienna: By the time I recovered, I had a fever and stomach issues. I walked down to the ring, through the Museum Quarter and the Hofsburg Palace area. The first impression was gorgeous, I must confess, and if I was in a better mood for the weekend I may have gotten more out of the city. I found the local synagogue and thought about attending a service for cultural interest (which would make it one more than I have been to in Massachusetts in 3 years or so), but I had a dinner meeting set up at that time.
Dinner with whom? An actual person from 30music, the website I write for. Marking the first time I met somebody from the organization in person. It was crazy. Interesting too, and it led to me going out to a club with 2 Serbian girls and 2 Viennese girls. The Viennese girls were both 16, by the way, and I was the youngest of 3 males in our group. Ahh Europe.
The second day in Vienna saw me in the Vienna Historical Museum, the key churches (St. Stephans and Karl's Church), the Freud Museum, and a museum that had another Bosch painting. None of them were that satisfying, unfortunately, nor the ferris wheel at night that allowed a view of the whole city. Perhaps that's why I'm sour on Vienna. My hostel did have a piano, however, and Der Mann was as close to a Dunkin Donuts as Europe has provided (short of, you know, Dunkin Donuts, which are here too).

Budapest: Today has been promising, though I got to the baths a bit too late today to indulge. I will be here all day tomorrow and then it's unclear for Tuesday. But my hostel, as mentioned, is ridiculously nice (this internet is free, making me renege on my goal to stay off the web for the day), and I found one of the places recommended to me for dinner, and it was great. So the times are good, long live the times.
Dan