Bucharest, Romania - Day 11

First things first... Happy Birthday Daizi!! My littlest baby is 3 years old today. I am so bummed that I missed her birthday party, but I did get to talk to her today and Jennifer put pictures of the party up on her Facebook account. Therefore I at least got to see pictures... It looked like a lot of fun and I can't wait to get home to kiss and hug my big 3 year old!!

Also, Happy Birthday Mom!! Her and Daizi share the same birth date. I joked with Mom 3 years ago that I would never have to get her another present from that day forth. She could just be happy knowing that she shares the same birthday as Daizi; the present of being a Grandma. :)

Ok, now onto the events of the day. Today was a great day. Stefani woke me up around 9 am because she was heading out for a 4 miler around the park and wanted to know if I would like to join her. I got ready and off we went. It was very nice to run with her and get to know her a little mono e chicka. :) We talked about all kinds of stuff and just enjoyed the pretty morning. Towards the end of our run there was a small outdoor festival setup, so we stopped and looked around a little. As it turns our Yiorgo and I couldn't have picked a better weekend to come visit them. There were festivals all over Bucharest this city because it was the 550 year anniversary of Bucharest. We couldn't have planned it any better.

When we got back, Yiorgo was babysitting Henry... AGAIN! :) No, but Volli had left to go get some coffee and various pastries so that we could all have a nice breakfast before we started our "last day" together. Stefani quickly made some scrambled eggs with ham and cheese and we all sat around and had a great breakfast together when Volli got back. It was absolutely delicious and we all just enjoyed each other's company. I sure am gonna miss these guys and this great city...

Shortly after dinner we all gathered around and called Jennifer on Skype. Yesterday, I had called my Mom, and told her to be at my house @ 7am so that we could all get together and talk before we had to part our separate ways. It would be 2pm here in Bucharest and that would give us just enough time to talk and then get Yiorgo on his plane back to Greece. To my surprise, my Dad was in town as well, so it was great that he got to sit and talk with us too. As I said earlier, today was my Mom's birthday and I'm sure having Dad there and being able to talk with Volli and Yiorgo along side me over here in Romania made for quite an excellent birthday present. We sat and talked for almost 45 minutes. We were also able to introduce Stefani and Henry to my parents. Of course, we we talked to the girls for a while as well. Unfortunately I didnt' get to speak to Jennifer too much since we were running pretty late as it was... :(

Talking with Mom and Dad

The 3 malakas talking to my 3 angels

Immediately after the call (and I mean immediately), we scurried out the door to the airport so that Yiorgo could catch his flight back to Greece. We made it to the airport with only 10 minutes to spare before his flight started boarding. We said our good bye's and off he went. I had full intentions on staying at the airport and hanging out until my flight boarded @ 8pm. However, being as good of hosts as Volli and Stefani were, they weren't hearing of it and they took me out of the airport and we hung out some more. We stopped at a local italian restaurant and ordered some dishes to go. While Volli sat in the car waiting on the food, Stefani and I took a walk with Henry near a lake and just enjoyed each others company at a very slow pace. She is such a nice girl and I can totally see why Volli married her. Once the food was done, we took it back back to their place and had a nice dinner on their terrace while Henry sang to us. :) After dinner, we hung out for almost an hour and then they took me back to the airport.

Spending these last 3 days in Bucharest with Volli and Yiorgo has been unbel-ievable. Really. I mean, how often could this be done in a lifetime? 3 friends with crazy lives getting together in Romania to hang out for 3 days. We were able to catch right back up where we left off with one another almost 9 years ago, when they were grooms men in Jennifer and I's wedding. It's like we didn't miss a beat after all these years. It's obvious that Volli and Yiorgo are the best of friends and it's an honor to be hanging out with them over here in Europe. I'm sure they'll be meeting up again in the next year or two. However, for me I don't know when (or if) I'll be able to come back. I can honestly say that this trip to Europe my favorite trips of all time, and these malaka's had a lot to do with it. I've made memories these last three days that will last a lifetime!

Volli, and Stefani: Thank you for a great weekend at your awesome apartment. You have a kick ass little boy and I can't wait for my girls to meet him and shower him with kisses. I now know how hospitable a good host should be; you both set the bar and ensured that Yiorgo and I didn't pay for ANYTHING!!

Volli, it was amazing to see you speak so many languages as freely as you wanted to. As much as you may think I'm kidding, you really inspired me to think about picking up another language or at least mastering my french skills. Great job on using your brain, dumb ass! :)

Stefani, it was great to meet you and I hope to see you again very soon. Thank you again for accepting me into you home and picking on your husband with us. Volli is a lucky man to have you as his wife! You are what us Hardbarger's call "Good People" :)

Yiorgo,.. I mean YIORGO!!! :D I had a blast with you this weekend. It was fun to scream your name from across a restaurant after a few too many drinks... Ok, a lot too many drinks. :) I sure hope that Jennifer and I can come and see you in Larissa soon. I'll never forget how Volli made us babysit Henry that day. He just brought him out and handed him to you and then went back to sleep. :) Too funny!! You guys are such good friends and it shows each moment you're together. I feel lucky to know that your friendship started in my home town... Hell... In my house!! :D Now, you ride my @#$#@% #@*&!!!

Peace brotha's! See you soon!

Bucharest, Romania - Day 10

Today was another great day. As I said in my last post, I woke up with a pounding headache from the events that took place the night before. Volli and I contemplated another run around the lake to help get rid of our hang overs. However, since Stafani and Henry were both awake, we decided to wake up Yiorgo and take a walk in the park instead.

We got to the park and walked for a bit, and then found a nice little coffee shop with some wicker seating outside under a nice roof. Therefore we all went in and sat down to enjoy some coffee and conversation. While we were sitting in here it began to rain a bit, so we stayed a bit longer and Stefani and I enjoyed listening to Volli and Yiorgo bicker back and forth at each other about various topics.

From the coffee shop we walked back to Volli & Stefani's apartment and did a few things before heading into town to tour a different part of the city. Volli drove us by a lot of cool sites. There was a communist ruler about 20 years ago that really did a lot of damage to the city. His name was Nicolae Ceauşescu and he basically used his power to get whatever he wanted.

If you want details, I encourage you to read the Wikipedia section. However, for me I was able to see first hand what he has done here and Volli told me a lot about how he tore down entire villages and made the people move to blocks so that he could build huge monuments in his honor while making the poor people pay for it all. In the Wikipedia article I read where he would send well fed cows and food to fill local markets so that when he would visit with TV camera's the city appeared to be thriving, when in reality it was completely the opposite. When people would try to write letters or speak up to have change, they were dealt with harshly by the secret security. He was overthrown in 1989 and killed 2 hours after he was captured. The city is still paying the price for what he did to this great city.



Anyway, we had a great time in the city and walked around looking at various buildings and streets. There is actually a bad stray dog problem here in Bucharest. It goes back to Ceauşescu because when he kicked people out of their houses and moved them into blocks, they were not allowed to take their pets with them. Therefore, the dogs and cats were moved out onto the streets to fend for themselves. It was not uncommon to see dogs walking around the city center with no owners. Pretty sad if you ask me...


We shopped at a little market where vendors were setup and they sold various pieces of work. I actually got to change in a 20 euro bill for about 85 ron (Romanian currency). They look very similar to euro in my opinion, but other might argue otherwise. The place was really neat and it was really cool to be in an authentic eastern Europe outdoor market. They were even playing music that sounded Indian and I'll remember how it felt to walk around and not be able to communicate with the locals. One guy told me the price of an item he was selling using his cell phone. :) Very cool!!

We wound up a nice little resaurant and ordered 4 different pizza's to choose from. As if you can't tell, Volli, Yiorgo, and myself can put some food away and I think Stefani will be a bit worried when we all decide to come back in the future. :) It was great to sit around and talk about Volli & Yiorgo's history back on Day Ave, and we all realized how so many things had to come together to form the friendships that we had today. Volli was transfered to the house across the street from my house from another house in Akron, Ohio when he came over from Biberach. Yiorgo was transferred to our house from a broken home in Pataskala. They became friends, and introduced me to my wife, and we're all still very close friends. It's amazing how things like this happen when you really sit back and try to replay the events of the past to see where you are today. Stefani learned a lot at the table today (both good and bad). :)

After dinner we headed back to the house and chilled out for a few hours. Volli and Stefani took a nap and Henry got to hang out with Uncle Luc and Uncle Yiorgo for about and hour and a half. We had a good time and it was great to just hang with ma brotha and our nephew. :) We ound out that Henry has a crush on Yiorgo's girlfriend, Vaso. Yiorgo was talking to Vaso on Skype and Henry would complain until we put him in front of the camera to see her. It was pretty funny. :)

We woke Volli up around 7:15 and we all got ready to go out for our last night on the town together... We headed to a very fancy restaurant called La Cataline. It was the perfect place to eat dinner. We met up with Charles (the crazy french guy) and Yurris, along with his 3 friends from Belgium. The beers were tall, the dishes were exquisite, and the portions were enourmous. We had a great time sitting around laughing and were preparing for a long night at a local Romanian night club.


It was a fun filled night with flaming drinks and crazy techno music. I met some very cool people this night and... well... we all got really drunk. :) Yes, I still love Romania!

A flaming drink for Volker

Volker chugging the flaming drink with a straw (GO GO GO GO)

Yiorgo and I with a flaming shot, compliments of Volli. The women beat us over the head repeatedly until the shots were gone while everyone chanted. :)

Toward the end of the night. :S

Bucharest, Romania - Day 9

Yesterday was great... It's now 10:15 in the morning on Saturday and I feel like a freight train has hit me. Here is what happened during my first full day in Bucharest with my foreign brothers...

I woke up at 9am to Volli and Henry greeting me. I had never met Henry before, but I've seen pictures of him on Volli's Facebook page. He is 10x cuter in person than in the pictures I've seen. Volli says that he likes me and Yiorgo because he's been really good since we've been around. I think it's because we make crazy faces at him and make him feel like "one of the guys". He is a very quiet and happy baby, and he smiles so much.

Once the nanny got here to take care of Henry, Volli and I took a nice little 4 mile run around a local park. It was a beautiful park named Herastrau and there was a nicely paved bike path that circled a huge lake. There were a few people out on the path and Volli actually wore his old NHS football pants. :) We ran all around the lake and just talked the whole time. It was so great to catch up with him mono-e-mono and there were a lot of very cool areas to this park. The picture on the left was taken around mile 3 while we were running through a garden area. You can see the lake on the left and I'm standing on a bride taking the picture. You can see Volli (in his cool pants) running through the park. Here is the route that we did:


The area that Volli lives in is mixed with a lot of old and new, as well as a lot of rich and poor. For example, while walking toward the park through one of the streets, we saw a pretty plush Rolls Royce car. It was amazing to see so much variety on the streets. We also saw a few Porches and Mercedes Benz cars. Mixed in with all these plush cars were clunker cars too. You might see 4 really nice cars and then 3 broken down cars on the same street. As diverse as it is, it really is a beautiful city. There appears to be graffiti every where, but it doesn't really take away from the beauty of this place. You just have to look past it or else just accept it and consider it part of the scenery. When we got to the park, we picked up the pace and started our run. On our run, we talked about lots of stuff and it was fun to just catch up with one another, mono e mono.

We got back from the run around 10:30 or so and I took a quick shower and by this time Yiorgo was waking up. While we were out, Gena (the nanny) actually cooked an authentic Romanian dish for us guys to all enjoy at the table. The house smelled amazing and I couldn't wait to dig in. There were lots of veggies and a killer corn & egg dish that we had a fun time destroying. :) After dinner, Volli drove us around town to show us some places and get some coffee at a local cafe. The cafe was a newer establishment and the coffee was very good and the owner & waitress were both very friendly. We sat outside on the street and watched the cars zoom around us. It was cool to be sitting around with Volli and Yiorgo again listening to them bicker back and forth. I didn't realize how much I missed that. :) They're like an old married couple that just argue about everything; solid proof that they are great friends.

While we were out we stopped at a local meat market and ordered 1 kg of ham. We at a full 1/2 kg bag of ham last night in record time without even blinking. We're all 3 pretty big dudes and it was nothing for us to go through it while sitting around talking. It was amazing to watch the butcher pile up the ham and keep piling it up and up. Volli told her about how we went through 1/2 kg of ham the night before in about 10 minutes. She laughed at us and watching her try to wrap it up for us was pretty funny to say the least.

From the meat market, we came back here and hung out with Henry for a while waiting around before we had to go pick up Volli's wife, Stefani. Once we picked her up, Volli took us to his office and showed us around. His office was located in a pretty cool area. It was like a quiet little back street and it felt like an old European village. Again, this is such a cool place, and every corner looks different from the last corner. There is a mixture of old Bucharest mixed with a lot of newer Bucharest; very different from everywhere in the United States.

After we visited Volli's office, we headed into the city center and walked around. There was a festival going on so it was pretty crowded. Everywhere in Bucharest is crowded with cars, so the whole time we were navigating through the narrow streets, we were dodging chaos. Cars would drive really fast up to the stop lights and then just stop right in front of you at the last minute it seemed. Even though there are lines on the road, drivers don't pay much attention to them and just the whole street however they can. Again, this is so different from what I'm used to.

From there, we went to a very fancy restaurant and met up with a lot of different foreigners from all over the world. Volli knew that we were coming, and he had some other friends that had company coming in from out of town, so they had scheduled a big multi-cultural dinner outside and there were about 12-13 of us just sitting around drinking and eating. We had so much fun! We sat at this restaurant until 1am drinking and having a great time. I got pretty drunk. :)

When we got back here to Volli's house, we broke out the 1 kg pile of ham and ate it all in record time again. :) We got a kick out of it and decided that tomorrow night we would get 1.5 kg pile of ham to see how much damage we could do to it. :) Yiorgo, Volli, and I all finished the night by drinking some Romanian whiskey and smoking some cuban cigars that I purchased at Charles De Gaulle airport in France before heading over here. We vowed that we will do this again when we meet up again in the future.


What a great time we had today! I love Bucharest.

Paris, France - Day 8

Today was another great day. I woke up at 10 am and Dariush had already left. I immediately began packing my bags and checked out by 11am. I had the guy at the front desk hold my bags while I ran a few errands and just hung out in Paris for a few hours by myself before heading to the airport (flight left @ 7pm). In the picture on the right, our room was the window where the guy is walking. As you can see, we had "front row seats" to the Paris street life. We heard everything from here. If I was with Jennifer or my girls I would have been pretty upset, but it was perfect or this trip. Dariush and I really only used our room to keep our luggage in and then to sleep at night. Therefore, it was perfect!

From the hotel, I walked up a small little cobble stoned street that was full of souvenir shops and stopped at a little place to order a chocolate crepe. My sister said it's one of her favorite things in Paris and (sorry sis), I hadn't had one since I've been here yet. I bought it along with a piping hot cup of "American" coffee and walked up to a small little park beneath the Sacre Couere. I found a bench and sat there for almost 45 minutes watching the tourists snap photos and keeping a close eye on the pigeons so that I didn't get pooped on. The crepe was amazing and the coffee was pretty good too. Though, I can't wait to get back to my Bunn coffee maker. I'm sure it misses me too. :)

From the Sacre Couere, I ran a few errands around my area and then bought 3 metro tickets. I got a ticket to the airport, and then two one-way tickets inside "Zones 1 & 2" (which is everything within the main part of Paris really). The reason for the two 1 way tickets was so that I could go visit my buddy, Jim. :)

I hopped on the metro and got off at Pere Lachaise. I had totally forgot how big this place was. I never remembered it being this enourmous the last time I was here (~15 years ago). It is amazing to think that such a huge and beautiful place can be preserved and peaceful inside the busy streets of Paris. I walked very slow and was in no hurry. I took about 50 pictures, and just killed time for the most part. Instead of trying to explain how huge it was, allow me to just do a photo link to my online web album: Pere Lachaise

From Pere Lachaise, I headed back to my exit and grabbed a quick bite of lunch before heading out to Carles De Gaulle international airport. I sat out on the street of course and took my time to enjoy my last bite to eat in Paris. It was great and I actually saw one of the drunk russian chicks while sitting there. I told her goodbye and that I was leaving today.

After I finished my lunch I headed back to my hotel and got my bags so that I could make my way to the airport. It's not fun carrying so much luggage through the busy metro system. My suite case was very heavy and I had to literally pick it up to carry it up and down the steps through the various metro systems. In order to get to Charles de Gaulle, I had to go through Gare du Nord and ended up missing my exit at one point. I didn't mind though because I knew that I left in plenty of time, so I casually went all the way to the end of RER B and turned fixed my problem at Aulnay-sous-Bois.

By the time I got to Charles de Gaulle, it was about 5:30 and my flight didn't leave until 7pm. I had plenty of time to chill, so I did just that.

I was actually looking forward to my departing flight today. It has been pretty hard to keep it from slipping on my blog, but I wasn't going back to Val D'Europe to work. I was actually waiting on a flight to Bucharest, Romania to visit my other brothers from other mothers: Volli and Yiorgo. We are all planning to spend the weekend together at Volli's house.

Who is Volli and Yiorgo you ask? Well, Yiorgo was an exchange student from Larissa, Greece that lived with me during my senior year of high school, and Volli was an exchange student from Hamburg, Germany (oops, I think) that lived across the street from us that same year. We hung out on the front porch of Day Ave every night and we created a pretty tight bond that year. We were all very different from one another in every way, but it worked. They have been very close friends ever since and actually visit each other pretty regularly.

Another great story about these two is that they are who introduced Jennifer and I to one another my senior year. Volli and Yiorgo were friends with Jennifer and her friend, Crystal. One day they were all hanging out in the basement of my house and I had come home to get something out of the basement and saw her down there. I thought she was cute, and apparently she thought I was cute too... The rest is history. There's actually a full write up on our website that tells the whole story.


So, when I got off the plane in Bucharest, Volli and Yiorgos were waiting for me. No words were said, and we immediately just started laughing out loud because we couldn't believe we were all together again. I snapped a horrible picture, but I'll use it anyway because it shows exactly how excited we were to see each other. The drive back to Volli's house was a lot of fun. We each took turns asking questions and answering about various things that have happened over the last 10 or so years; it was just like old times. When we got to Volli's place, he had a dish of some authentic Romanian dinner waiting on me. It was 11:30, but I had no problem eating it. It was delicious! We of course drank a few beers and ended up talking until about 1:30 am.

I'm very excited to spend the weekend here in Romania with my two other foreign brothers. It's like having the "gang" back together again. We have a full weekend of beer drinking and fun ahead of us and it's gonna be a blast! Be sure to check in tomorrow to see what we get into...

Oh yeah, as you can imagine, the title of the series will change tomorrow, so don't be alarmed. :P