Day 7:
Vienna-
Running late in the morning we jet to Vienna, a 6 hour drive. We make it in pretty good time with very few stops. A quick sound check and then we eat dinner. The days that run smoothest are probably the most boring to read about. No sightseeing, just sound check, dinner, show, wifi party, laundry, then sleep.
We have a short drive tomorrow to Budapest, then two shows in Romania, then our first day off after Bucharest. I'm not sure where we're staying for the day off, but it will be nice and relaxing...hopefully.
Day 8:
Budapest-
Stopped off at a local music store. It was a pretty fancy place. Zach and I needed to replace the snare head since it's getting pretty best up already. I also got a new stick bag since mine is already falling apart. I also got locking cymbal...uh, caps? Is that what they're called? I'm not sure. The top screw that keeps the cymbal from flying off the stand.
Anyway, a nice shirt drive today into Budapest.
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The day is beautiful, and we're playing in the bigger room at Dürer Kert, which also has the nicer green room that is attached to the stage.
Our dinner was curry chicken (plus a vegetarian curry option), felafel, and pita to put everything in. We devoured it. And after that, the wifi party began.
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We stayed at a hotel where the wifi was only accessible from the lobby. The rooms were typical dorm style (more like a hostel than a hotel), and the bathroom looked like a cross between a high school bathroom, a psych ward bathroom, and a prison bathroom...but was still pretty nice.
Day 9:
Cluj Napoca-
The drive to Romania was long, hot, and there's only one 2-lane road connecting everything...and it's mostly under construction.
The border entering Romania was fairly easy getting through, it just took longer than we'd have liked it to.
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A single winding 2-lane road is what we took, and there was a lot of construction, but the scenery is beautiful. We also last a time zone, so we lost an hour on our way to the show.
We got to the venue, and it was in the heart of Transylvania across the street from a beautiful monument/castle-type building. The venue itself is an old bomb shelter, built to protect people from American bombs. Ironically, it now is host to 8 dirty American musicians.
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The show was fantastic, though there were some slight snags when it came to dinner and being payed. Apparently the promoter who setup the show didn't bother to show up, so someone else took care of us, and did a pretty good job...till it came time for settling payment.
In big bold letters on our rider it clearly says, "No Pizza" but since this fill-in promoter had probably not ever seen the rider...we got pizza. We were fine with it, kind of. Pizza once on a tour won't kill us, but at the end of the night, instead of settling things the way they needed to be settled, the fill-in promoter handed a stack of cash to one of the girls that greeted us when we arrived (she was taking picture all night, and was also a very big fan). We felt bad for her, because these douches pretty much just stuck her with the bill and peaced out, leaving her €200 (or the Romanian equivalent) short of our guarantee. She felt awful, and we felt bad that she had to work with such crappy people. The show obviously did well, if the amount of people in attendance is any indication.
Despite odd complications, the show was awesome, and it was definitely a place we'd want to play again in the future. And the city was beautiful.
Day 10:
Bucharest-
Not too long a drive today, in theory, but since we're taking the same one 2-lane road, it'll be interesting again.
The scenery is still beautiful, but alas, more construction. I think closer to Bucharest we get highway, and then leaving Bucharest it's all highway, but for now, we have to deal with bumpy back roads.
The mountains are steep, and the turns are sharp, also, the 'gypsies' tried to sell me a bucket of fruit...and pretty much anyone else that rolled into or passed that specific gas station. The scenery is beautiful though.
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Just to give you an idea of how fancy this venue is in Bucharest, the hand soap in the bathroom smells like coconuts, and they have orange slices in the urinals.
The show was incredible, and possibly the best show of tour so far. Everyone was really excited and into, both north and Rosetta played really well, and we're all also completely stoked about our day off tomorrow, so we'll be exploring the city tomorrow.
Day 11:
A day off in Bucharest-
We started the day by sleeping in till noon, and we all got up, dressed, and headed out into the city in search of food.
We happened upon a Turkish restaurant. The food was delicious, and crazy enough, not too expensive. We then made our way to a bar called '100 beers' and sat for a bit having gelato, water, and others had beer and ciders. We also made a quick trip to a Starbucks a couple streets down and got some iced coffee...well, we wanted cold brewed iced coffee, but they were sold out, so we had iced americanos, since apparently Europe doesn't believe in iced coffee.
After the sun started to set, it was a bit cooler out, and we wandered around the city a bit, then finished the day at a very fancy restaurant. I'm not sure exactly what it was called that I ate, but it was little sausage-link type rolls with fries and mustard. They were delicious.
We returned to the hostel and slept the night away. Tomorrow we're off to Bulgaria.
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