The Budapest KFC restaurant was across from the train station. Francesca and I dined here.

I made reservations on the train, but it did not leave for a few hours. I was very tired, cold, and hungry. In about 1 1/2 days, most of which I had spent on the train, I had had one meal. At the train station I noticed a woman who spoke excellent English. I started a conversation with her. She said she was from England and was on her way to Romania on business. She was hungry, also. I had walked around the train station a little and mentioned to her a few of the restaurants I had seen. When I said "Colonel Sanders Chicken", she jumped on it and that's where we went. We spent about three hours talking and eating there. Even though I ate junk food, I felt like I was regaining some strength.

Francesca was on her way to Romania as I was returning from there. We would meet later on in London. She said she had been kidnapped on her return to England!

Iwona lives in Rzeszow, Poland near the Ukranian border.

I took the night train to Krakow. At the station, Stan met me and we took the trolley to his apartment. He made me some delicious scrambled eggs from eggs that seemed like they were just out of the chicken. Then I took a shower. I looked up at the small gas water heater mounted on the wall and saw the flame increase as I opened up the valve. Water is only heated when water is flowing; it seems much more efficient than our on-all-the-time ones. Stan is a university professor and apparently teaches Iwona English in his spare time. Stan's studio apartment was filled with books. There was a television, a computer (by our standards, an antique), and layer of dirt on the floor. Fortunately, Stan loaned me a pair of slippers to wear while I was there or I would of left with brown feet. Iwona arrived and she and I talked while Stan prepared some lunch. First, he brought out some chicken soup, a huge bowl for me. I was quickly full, but that turned out to be just the appetizer.

A $17.50 a night hotel room - very nice!

Iwona and I took an afternoon train to Rzeszow. I enjoyed Rzeszow very much. The hotel room there was the best and most reasonably priced (350,000 Zlotys or about $17.50 at that time) on the whole trip. It was spacious and had recently been refurbished. There was a sofa bed and love seat, television with remote, boom box, and a tiled bathroom. The water heater was an on-demand one and the toilet paper felt like crepe paper. I watched a little bit of a movie on the television, which apparently was an import, but instead of dubbing or subtitles, it had someone telling you what was happening!

The next day I bought a map and walked all over the town myself. I bought some cassette tapes which were only about 1/8 of the price (20,000 Zlotys or about $1) I would pay in America and I also bought some cigarettes for Gina which were about 1/4 the price in Germany. In the afternoon, I boarded the train for Berlin. I arrived very early Tuesday morning. I had spent four days in eastern Europe.

A toilet with the notorious "shelf" in the bowl. The shelf sometimes had to be cleaned with a brush after performing a #2. (The drain is actually to the front of the bowl and can't be seen.)

An interesting monument to communism.

Some European toilets* are very strange. The drain is to the front of the bowl, with a concave "shelf" out back that holds a small puddle of water. Being white porcelain, the shelf kind of reminds me of a dinner plate. When you release a number-2, it falls to the puddle with a disturbing splat! Even with higher water pressure, flushing the toilet doesn't always remove the evidence from the "shelf". I never received a satisfactory explanation for this design. I saw these toilets throughout Europe.

Gina was very happy to recieve the cigarettes. I spent a few more days with her to total 10 in Berlin. I continued to brave the cold and venture out each morning on the U-bahn or subway and see the local sites, such as the incredible Pergamon Museum, KaDaWe department store (similar to London's Harrod's, but not as crowded), and Berlin Wall.

Friday night I boarded the train to Amsterdam. I spent a very enjoyable day in Amersterdam, even though I did get hailed on. It is the city I would most like to see again. They have bike paths all over and a tour bus driver said about half the people ride bikes. They skate a lot, also. Not to mention that English is spoken quite commonly there. It would be wonderful to skate around there in the summer time.

Old European "shelf" toilet.

American toilet.

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