Oh Paris, sweet Paris. More about her later; what a beauty.

A few pictures from last night and today are now up.

First of all, this train scene is bullshit. The compartments are evenly divided among smoking and non-smoking, which I think is unfair. One could be forgiven for thinking that all Europeans smoke, because there seems to be smoking just about everywhere. I saw folks smoking in a sushi restaurant in Amsterdam and remember thinking, how can you taste the sushi?

Anyway, I choose a smoking compartment because the non-smoking compartments are stuffed full, and I’m hoping to spread out and get some writing done. I am listening to my iPod as I settle in.
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Budapest photos now up.

The last couple of days around Budapest have been interesting in both good and bad ways. Overall, while I’ve seen some great sights and learned a lot, I’ve not enjoyed Budapest as much as my other destinations thus far. Hassles have been a bit easier to come by, I’ve felt hustled more than once, and while I’ve encountered some warm and gracious people, I’ve also encountered quite a few who could give substantially less than a shit.
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Today I visited Budapest’s House of Terror. For decades, this was the location where many who were seen as “disloyal” to the regime were imprisoned, tortured, and killed. Many party operations were conducted from the building (both the Arrow Cross and the Communists.) It was then called the “House of Loyalty.”
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Last night, i decided I would take a train to Budapest in the morning. The plan was to get up early and check the train schedules online. My hotel was one of the very few who offered free Internet access in my hotel room, a nice luxury. But of course when i awoke, the Internet access was down. Oh well, I’ll give it a little time… took a shower, went downstairs for breakfast, and returned to my room to prepare for check-out. Tried the ‘net again, no deal.
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Bratislava picture set now up.

After some inner debate, I decided to take a day trip from Vienna into Bratislava, Slovakia. It would be my first time behind the old “iron curtain,” and I was excited. I took a mid-day train out of Vienna and as we went along I decided to try to snap a few photos out the train window. It’s basically impossible to shoot a decent photograph through a train window because of the interior reflections, but this train had upper windows that slid down. Since there was no one near me who would be bothered by it, I slid the window down and began gawking out and snapped a couple of shots.
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A quick photoset from my walk-around yesterday.

Over the last couple of days I’ve done a lot of walking around Vienna. I visited the Kunsthistoriches Museum, MUMOK, Albertina and KunstHaus Wein. Toured Hofburg and, among other things, learned how neat Empress SiSi was (we’ll talk about her coked-out, obsessive ass later.) Vienna is neat – real culture, an interesting place historically, plenty of things to see and do. The people are friendly, if a bit formal. I’m enjoying my time here, but am eager to move east. On that note, I am considering a day trip to Bratislava, Slovakia tomorrow, which would be my first time behind the old “iron curtain.”