I am back in the US and have returned to a life that is rather in shambles, I see. First, my email does not work. In order to contact me via email, most likely email to 1984produkts.com. Zuikis is down for now. Second, my phone is dead. I was half expecting this, but it still sucks. I have no earthly idea when my phone will become undead, but it won’t be soon.
I don’t miss Europe much.
In Amsterdam (3 nights), I spent ~$410. In Berlin (2 nights), ~$200. In Vilnius (8 nights), ~$650. On the rest of the trip (10 nights), ~$300. How on earth I managed a $80 a day habit in Vilnius is completely beyond me. Beer is < $4 a litre there. A date at one of the nicer places in town (Torres) ran me < $12. I bought maybe, maximum, $60 in souvenirs there. What happened? I don’t remember any hookers or casinos.
As for Amsterdam, well, Europe is just expensive. But, seriously, €4,50 should buy a person more at a walkup fryplace than a passable falafel sandwich. Similarly multiple day-old frozen cheese pizza should not be €3,50, even when it is the size of a baby’s face. And tap water, I’m sorry, should never be €2,30 for a half-litre. I’m not trying to say, though, that $410 doesn’t seem a bit on the ridiculous side, too; we rented bikes, rode on boats, paid extortion-level entrances at museums, bought food everywhere, stayed out late at bars, etc.
But this Vilnius business… It’s the fricken second world out there. Who oked this? The highest cover I paid was not even $3. Beers, at their most expensive, were $3.18 a half litre. Sure, maybe food bills occasionally dipped into the $4 and $5 range, but I wasn’t having more than two meals a day. Maybe I was patriarchal to some girls and bought them drinks? That doesn’t feel quite right, though I can name at least one girl who got a lot of drinks bought by me, but even then, “a lot” is like “five.” I dunno. It’s a mystery.
March 17th, 2005 at 21:05
Moacir? Is this you? Have you been to Europa without telling us you m*therf*cker?
How’s life?
March 17th, 2005 at 22:28
I don’t know what to say. It was Kongresas! Where were you?
My next trip out to Europe might not be until dissertation time—if my diss goes as planned, I might be going to Spain to do, um, “research.”