Some random observations and oddities

For some reason, the walking surfaces in this city (country?) are not level -- there are little steps, crevices all over the place -- completely randomly -- inside homes, and on the street as well -- completely unexpected and without any signs or warning.  Just enough that you constantly have to look at your feet to make sure you don't stumble (which of course is difficult when you are trying to figure out where you are going).

It's been our experience with every that came into our apartment, that without asking and hesitation, they immediately take their shoes off.  I am surmising that this must be a custom here -- b/c none of these people even hesitated for one second -- it was second nature, just like taking their coats off.  There is also a shoehorn hanging right by the front door -- in our apartment, and this must be a custom too, b/c all of our visitors immediately knew where to look for it when they were ready leave to put their shoes on.

Not as much of a shocker for those that traveled in Europe -- drinks are served warm, and without ice. They do not bring you water in restaurants -- anything you want to drink -- you order -- water in a bottle -- "with or without gas" as they ask.   More surprising -- I have not seen any diet soda -- there are plenty of sodas -- some Russian brands, and Coke, Sprite etc. etc. -- but nothing diet.

Again, not a shocker to those that learned Russian -- but all the American brand names are spelled in Cyrillic and of course phonetically -- it's hilarious to see Starbucks and McDonalds, Citibank and Mastercard  written out in the Cyrillic alphabet.  So much so, that we have to take pictures -- immediately identifying ourselves as silly Americans.  And, b/c it's tough to get a good picture of those signs -- zoomed in, without a glare etc. - it's a spectacle that's repeated itself several times since we've been here.

The only American fast food chain I see here is McDonalds.  Maybe if we went around the city more -- but say in Budapest -- you immediately see KFC, Burger King, etc. etc.