I don't know what city this is a picture of, but I am nowhere near it or anything that bears a remote resemblance to it.

I'm in Bucharest, capital of Romania and in many ways the least pleasant part of it. Brasov and the surrounding country was all incredibly beautiful- Bucharest is not. Rather, it resembles a standard European city that's been hit with something heavy. There's an interesting palace built by a fairly uninteresting meglomaniac, and some decent open air markets, but that's about it. The highlight is the fact that, since it's the first of March, there are flowers everywhere- it's traditional to buy flowers for females to celebrate the first day of spring. Open markets full of petals, almost enough to hide the ugly tarmac streets.

And, for some inexplicable reason, everyone in Eastern Europe assumes my name is Michael.