Hungary: A Girl's Best Friend

Salut again,

I'm still not finished with Romania. This trip yielded many thoughts and photographs and there are still some yet to come.

I have concluded that one of the best places in the world to be a dog might be in Romania. When you travel alone like I have been doing, you get lonely, and you notice animals, animal tracks, graffiti, kids in strollers throwing fits that smile at your when you walk by, little things like that which you might not notice if you were with other people.

I must admit, I think being a dog in Hungary must be pretty darn good, but the dogs in Hungary are a pretty orderly lot. Yes, you see a few that are rambunctious, yapping away, tugging at their leashes, but more often than not they are trotting down the street, possibly clad in little doggie coats or vests, obeying their owners commands. Sometimes they aren't even on leashes. This is a most amazing sight. These dogs are trained to walk alongside their owners, to stop at the curbs and wait until their owners walk to cross the street. It's amazing.

In Romania, however, the dogs roamed free. Yes, a few of them were on leashes, but more often than not they were just roaming the streets.

I noticed this the first night I was there when I kept having to run out and check the bank tellers to see if they were working. I'd see huge packs of dogs running down the road. Then I'd see a random dog two blocks later. I'd try to call to it, pet it, but it would just look at me as if to say, "Hell, I've got better things to do than talk to you," and it would run off in the direction of the pack I'd seen go by 5 minutes earlier.

During the day they were laying all over the streets, sunning themselves, or begging in the square. These were not stray dogs. They all appeared to be well-fed and well-cared-for, and most of them had on collars. They were simply not tethered, roaming where ever they wanted to roam.

Here is a friendly fellow I met walking into town the first day. I asked him if I could take his picture and he seemed to think it was okay that I did.

Relaxin'

This next dog was hilarious. I watched him the entire week running around the square begging food off of everybody. In this shot he's getting fed some leg of lamb by some German tourists. The restaurant had a big sign up saying, "NO DOGS." The waiter rushed over and asked the women if he was bothering them, but I think what he was trying to say was, "Stop feeding him." They said, "Oh no, he's not bothering us at all," and the waiter sighed in resignation as they continued to shave off pieces of lamb to feed him. He was living it up.

Begging Dog

You can see the waiter's legs and arm in this picture, but the dog had nothing to worry about. Those Germans love dogs so he was safe with his leg of lamb. See how he's licking his chops. :)

Here are a couple of shots of a friendly dog that actually stopped while he was madly running by me. Usually they would just keep going on their happy way to join the gang.

Friendly Dog Licking his Chops

Please Let Me Go Meet My Friends

One thing I have really missed in Hungary is cats. In Croatia, cats were everywhere. They were relaxing on benches in outdoor cafes, sleeping in doorways and windows. It was the same in the south of France.

I had expected to see lots of cats in Hungary, and to maybe even have a little friend who would come to my window and have a snack at night, but not so. I saw a bob-tailed cat outside a train window, a couple of cats under an old van, and a man walking down the street with a kitten, and that is it.

So you can imagine how happy I was to see this happy kitty sleeping in the sunshine. In fact, it made my whole morning.

Sleepy Kitty

Closeup of Kitty in the Sun

Jimmy and I like to bird watch, and I thought these bird tracks in the fresh cement were funny.

Bird Tracks in Fresh Cement

Jimmy and I love the little finches that take dust baths. I was sipping espresso in a cafe one morning and noticed these little guy hanging out next to a car that was parked by me.