med cruise part duex

I am going to talk about Dracula… ok not really, but about Vlad the Impaler!

Ok that was a lie more about where he was from!

Transylvania! Ok that's not it… Romania!

What don't think that all makes sense and Dracula isn't real? Go to Wikipedia and come
back… no wait… don't leave you might not come back here:

Vlad III, Prince of Wallachia (1431–1476), more commonly known as Vlad the Impaler or simply as Dracula, was a three-time Voivode of Wallachia, ruling mainly from 1456 to 1462.

Historically, Vlad III is best known for his resistance against the Ottoman Empire and its expansion and for the impaling of enemies.

Vlad III is believed to have inspired the association of his name to that of the vampire Count Dracula in Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula.

Well now that that is out of the way.  Let me tell you about my time there.
I didn't get to go to any of his castles as they are all still standing and all spread out throughout the land. The ship's MWR (Morale, Welfare, and Recreation) crew couldn't get things together to have the entirety of the crew (everyone wanted to go) visit each location especially since it would have been an overnight trip (I think that there are 7 castles each almost half a day to a day drive [imagine years ago!?]).  We had to settle for trips around the area and our own explorative nature to guide us to cool things.
For most that meant find the cheapest bar. For me that meant find the awesome shit and buy the coolest shit!

My friend was going to be having a wedding when I got back and I was the best man so I had to get him that husband/ father gift. Humidor filled with the finest cigars I can get my paws on. (Trade embargos don't happen in most other countries…what? Who said that?!)

We were there for about three to four days. The shopping was ok, but as I have said before Southeast Asia is better.

There were two things that set Romania off from most other places that I have been to. The beach and what happened afterwards.

Let me say this: aside from what others say about the US these other countries do hold us in high regards partly because of the fact that when sailors and soldiers go to those countries we help their economy out in many ways. You really won't find things like that out on the news or on the internet. It is one of those things that you have to learn for on your own. Don't get me wrong though people still don't like us and would wish bad things on us, but people with more than half a brain see how we can truly benefit them.

So what was awesome about the beach? It is a full massive public beach that is beautiful.

The view is awesome. The walk down and up to and from the beach was horrible since it was
so steep, but well worth it.

I wish I had my camera to take pictures of the awesomeness of this beach. Granted there were some things that just were wrong… very wrong…however, that beach was great.

The other was a pick pocket.

How about we take this moment to discuss two things one I am from NY. Not up state. Not out in the Hamptons. No from NY, five boroughs,  tough town, believe the hype, how sweet it is, fuhgeduboutit, New York.  My entire life that I leaved here I have never been mugged, robbed, or pick pocketed.

Second is a flash back to Thailand.

We had just had the most awesome day ever. We went to………… went back to far…. Can't tell that until later….. we were walking down one of the soi (streets) and it was getting late. Some girl went and bumped into me like she had tripped. Now I believe sometimes I am not that dumb to fall for this ploy. First thing I did instinctively was to check and ensure my wallet was still there. Next I pretty much knocked her back and into the street. My Batman voice kicked on and I went off on her "What do you think your doing?!"

All of my friends started to freak out. "Hey man chill out. We know where you're from but you can't do that in these countries. She didn't mean it. Blah blah blah I am a dirty slut," they others started to say. They pulled me away and I told them  what I thought she was trying to do and they all said that as an ambassador of the US and the navy you cant do things like that and what not.

Honestly after some thought I agreed that it would be best not to cause an international incident in a country we liked going to.

And back to Romania. I was walking with two of my good friends at the time. I was
enjoying a juice that I saw in a store on our way back from the beach with the awesome views. And a guy walked up to one of them and shook their hands. Well I saw what he was trying to do. He was about 5'9" and had a sweater in a roll under his arm.

Who the hell does that in the summer?!

It clicked in my head and I ignored it. He paid me no mind and went across the street. Unrolling his sweater he came to me and stopped me. Said this "My friend, my friend, I like your belt!" and he grabbed my belt (which couldn't be seen) and shook the hell out of it. With his leg pressed against my leg he, as I have been putting it, overloaded my sensors for touch through out my leg and restricted my movement so that I didn't feel his left hand go into my right front pocket and start to pull out the money that was in it.

Well he sucked at it. I felt the tug.

With the juice in my left hand I grabbed his left arm with my right and gave it a little twist. Not much but enough to shake his hand loose of all my money and hold him there. I could have dropped the juice, but it was 3 blocks back to the store and that was awesome juice.

I got my money back and held back from putting him in an arm bar and/or dropping his ass on the pavement. My liberty buddies kept walking and didn't even know what happened.
Batman voice "You are going to get across the street and I swear if you come near me or any of my friends I will hunt you down myself and I cant begin to say what I will do to you," I let him go with a shove and he almost busted his ass. He was so scared and confused that he wasn't sure if he should shake my hand or not.

I went to my friends with a jog while drinking that awesome juice and said matter of factually "Hey guys I was almost pick pocketed just now,"

"The fuck?! Why didn't you call out or something,"

I explained the Thailand bit and the whole international incident thing this was their exact words:

"Fuck that! The cops would have helped us and we would have been in the right!"

I was honestly not even fazed by the whole ordeal. I still find it funny.  I went the entire day only upset that here I took all this Aikido in Japan and I miss a chance to use it. Either way I know I scared the shit out of the guy. Apparently I was the fourth sailor that it happened to and he didn't do it again to anyone else that day (at least from the ship). It was the next day that NCIS and the local police caught him because of my description to most of the crew.

And at first I thought it was my liberty buddies that only had that point of view. Nope.
There were chiefs and officers including my department head that said I should have beaten the guy.