(Ro)Mania: (Pea)Cock Fights, Feral Dogs, and Probably More

First off I feel that I owe an apology to André Greipel for dogging him so hard a few posts ago. Herr Greipel won stage 18 of the Giro (the last sprinter's stage) to make up for some of his earlier lack-luster performances. Perhaps I should be giving him a big thumbs up and proverbial pat on the back since he stayed in the race as a sprinter even after the roads turned upwards. Cav, Renshaw, and Boonen can't say that and they were racing in the ATOC, a race that I claimed was inferior to the Giro. Then again, perhaps I should save a spot on the DB Podium for André 'Cold Duck' Greipel because he couldn't win a stage until the best sprinter of the race (Tyler Farrar) had dropped out.

Penny and I have had a very interesting day. When we left the airport outside Bucharest, we were dropped off at this "bus stop":

Which had a paved path to this "train station":

As the train approached, a feral cat thumbed its nose at Romania's public transportation by walking on to the tracks and enjoying its mid-afternoon constitutional. While I don't have any photographic evidence of the cat-train encounter, I can only imagine it would look something like this if the cat was domesticated:

Once into the city, Penny and I walked around a park which contained a small zoo. One of exhibits was a cage of peacocks. No sooner had we walked up, two of the giant birds started a no-holds-barred demonstration that would make GSP crap his tiny shorts.

Feeling hungry and wired due to all the excitement, Penny and I headed to dinner where I sampled some Romanian-brewed beer:

Judging from this label it would seem that the Romanians are a humble people. The beer was kind of what I expected; it smelled like a Heineken and tasted like a Pilsner Urquell.

28 May DB Podium
1. Idiot German Cyclists
2. LA and his gang (take a lesson from Vaughters)
3. Greipel (though I guess he could be included in #1)