So I made it back in one piece after spending a week in Budapest. To sum up briefly, this is how things went.

On Saturday afternoon I went to the airport with 3 friends and when we got to Budapest, it was Sunday morning. I am not a big fan of flying in general and spending half a day on an airplane is not what I'd consider fun, but I took it pretty well. When we got to Budapest we met with the rest of the group that had already arrived. We stayed at 2 vacation-style apartments downtown. For those of you not familiar with the city, it's divided into two regions - seperated by the Danube river. We stayed primarily on one side and only crossed the bridge once. The city as a whole was beautiful and we spent everyday visiting museums, parks, castles, or other historical places. It was a bit difficult to get around since none of us spoke Hungarian. The people in general were friendly, though, and I was getting a better vibe from them than you would get from Italians or French if you visited those places.

The food wasn't anything to write home about but we tried most of the recommended places and they didn't really disappoint either. Hungary didn't seem to have a lot of true signature dishes and most of their restaurants seemed to offer a mix of Italian, German, and American food. Prices ranged from $15-40 for a dinner meal depending on where we ate. Not as cheap as I expected. Drinks were expensive as hell in general. At a restaurant you would pay like $3-5 for a small bottle of coke or water. Beer was probably cheaper than any other drink. I didn't end up drinking too much but we did have a couple of nights where we went out and had some drinks. No great drunk stories to tell here. On a related note, I do have an interesting story to tell though.

One of the weekday nights we went out looking for some clubs. Since it was a Monday or Tuesday the nightlife was pretty dead, at least in the area we were in. We walked around for a bit and found a small stripclub. We went in and were each treated to a stripper. We stayed for a bit and I played around a little bit with my stripper. After an hour or two we got ready to leave and that's when things got interesting. The owner brings us the bill and the bill was absurdly high. We went in planning not to spend a lot since alcohol could be gotten a hell of a lot more cheaper at the grocery store, so all we drank were a couple of beers each (for 4 people). We also each bought a drink for the strippers, but we weren't expecting to pay a whole lot. The whole joint was a big scam and they had hidden charges all over the place - $30 to get in, $100 mandatory drink charge no matter what to drink, $100 drinks for each of the strippers, etc. It was quite ridiculous since we weren't told about any of this and a lot of the charges weren't explicitly stated anywhere. We actually didn't have much cash on us since we all thought it wouldn't be smart to be carrying around too much at night-time when we could easily get mugged or have our pockets picked. We added up all our money and were well-short. This guy was a real asshole though and would refuse to negotiate with us. I had some emergency US money stashed away in my shoe and ended up paying him and we got out of there. He was threatening us, telling us he had a Russian owner and the mob would be on our ass and so forth. The whole thing got me pretty upset and I would have knocked the guy out cold had there not been several other dudes there as backup. If we were in America the cops would have been on his ass so fast but I don't know the laws in Hungary and I figured they wouldn't do anything about something as petty as this so we didn't do anything about it.

There were also several casinos nearby so we walked around trying to find some table games. Most of the casinos were tiny and only had slots. Some had other electronic games but we couldn't find any table games. I was told there was some poker action around town but we were unsuccessful in finding them. Other than that poker was completely off my mind for the entire week and that should help revive my interest in playing a bit more.

Lastly, we also visited Vienna for a day. Vienna is a stunningly beautiful city and the atmosphere was very familiar as I grew up in Germany. We ate some Giant Wiener Schnitzels and rode the Wiener bus. Stuff was definately more expensive in Vienna and although Austria is definately one of the cheaper countries compared to most of the big touristic places of Western Europe the whole Euro-inflation recently seems to have made everything very expensive compared to America.

Overall I had a great time and it was good to get away for a week. I forgot how much I loved Europe and it felt good to be back. I am interested in making a backpacking trip across Europe over the summer and if anyone has any experience doing that I would like to hear your input.

See you all at the BTP tournament tonight.

Ive also travelled Europe quite a bit. I was stationed in Germany when I was in the Army and travelled quite a bit. Also, my wife and I went to Europe for an awsome 3 weeks a couple years ago.

I have an interesting story also. We were in Barcalona when I saw some guys playing the shell game in the street. You know, where they have 3 shells and theres a ball under one of them and they move them around and you have to find the ball.

OK, we all know that these street games are scams and I had no intention of falling for whatever scam they were pulling....BUT...I did anyway.

There was a crowd of about 20 people standing around and a few people were betting on the shell they thought the ball was under and they were losing of course. Now, Im standing there watching and its very obvious to me where the ball is so I say "what the hell". I throw down 20 Euros and they start shuffling the shells all around.

We are standing on the median of the major street the runs thru downtown Barcalona. There are people everywhere and there are cops at every street corner. The shells are on the ground (not on a table).

So he starts moving the shells and then stopping, then moving the shells then stopping. I still know where the ball is. He finally stops and says "are you ready?" I say "yes". He then says "do you want to raise your bet". I say "no, Im ready now".

About that time I hear my wife behind me say "get away from me". I say "the ball is there flip it over" as I point to the correct shell.

Now the ruckus behind me is starting to get loud as my wife is yelling things like ' back away from me $%#&&%". My wife is a police officer also and can handle herself quite well, but Im getting worried. But, I now know what the scam is. They want me to turn around so the guy can switch the shell while Im not looking.

I tell the guy to turn the shell over right now and Im yelling now,but hes pretending like hes trying to take bets from other bystanders before he turns it over. My wife is now calling my name and her voice has changed so I can tell something is about to happen and Ive had enough. I turned around and hit the guy and knocked him to the ground.

I turned back around quickly and kicked the correct shell over and low and behold they guy had switched it already. I was 100% sure where the ball was and Im sure he knew that.

Needless to say I was pissed and was ready to take several of these punks on. Ive been in plenty of fights in Europe when I was in the Army. Europeans cant fight.

They started to surround us and I shoved a couple of them back. Its quite obvious now that the entire 20 person crowd is in on the scam. The guys who were betting and losing are part of the scam also, Im sure.

By this time, Im right up in the shell guys face and Im demanding my money back . Then an old lady says "you better leave. They are mafioso" I told her I didnt give a shit and I was going to beat someones ass.

I drew back to hit the main shell guy and they all took off running. Like I said, they are punks!

Meanwhile the cops (who Im sure are getting a kickback) were standing around with their backs to the action pretending like they couldnt hear the disturbance.

Needless to say, this whole experience just reinforced my notion that Spain is still a 3rd world country.

That's pretty intense. If I was up against a crowd of people like that I don't think I would have been so brave. I'd like to think that I would be, but I would probably just walk away. Much respect to you for not backing down. I guess that's why you are a cop and I'm not.

This actually reminds me of the time where I got into this huge altercation with an older Neo-Nazi guy when I was still in Germany, but I think I'll keep that one private.

I'm still waiting on ya'll to win one BTP trn.

I got your back Ice,

6 years USMC although I am only 5'8' 160.


But wait....

As I recall those damn British Royal Marines can hold their own.

Oh well

Speaking of Europeans who can't fight...

I was watching a re-run of an old classic Simpsons episode recently where they are telling the story of Joan of Arc. Lisa (Joan) says, "I have been chosen to lead the French to victory." To which Homer (random soldier) responds, "Victory? The French don't even have a word for that."

And an old Jay Leno joke on Iraq..."And today a French military strategist said xxx. A French Military strategist? What the hell is that? He must be the first one."

A bit off the subject, but then again, there is never a bad time to make fun of the French.

[quote="Still, the Brit Massive will take you on!!! We didn't win two world wars for nothing, you know!

[/quote]

Monk, have you never seen Pearl Harbour? Obviously not, otherwise you'd know that the british weren't in WWII, it was just America vs. the world, with the guy outta Rounders saving the day as always, shame he's divorcing Jennifer Aniston.

I have a feeling I got something a touch wrong in that last sentence.

Molina