Blogs from Muntenia, Romania, Europe - page 3

12 juillet J'attend mon bagage à l'aéroport de Bucarest, assommé par mon vol Québec-Roumanie et son trop court transit à Londres. L'aéroport international de la capitale roumaine est quelque peu délabré, minuscule et plutôt démodé. Devant les carrousels, quelques étagères longeant les murs remplacent les hors-taxes clinquants des gros hubs. Une pyramide de boîtes rouge en évidence propose aux voyageurs les ''Dracula's Magic Pralines''. C'est donc confirmé: je suis de toute évidence dans le bon pays pour chasser le vampire. Autour de moi, les roumains de l'aéroport m'ignorent. Ça cachent bien leur jeu les vampires! Il est 17h00 à Bucarest et minuit tapant à Montréal. Lorsque vous dormez, les Roumains, eux, s'activent. Vous savez, c'est bien connu, les vampires vivent la nuit. Voilà: moi je dis que c'est louche. Je quitte l'aéroport dans u... read more

We arrived late last night so we spent the afternoon today just transferring from our hotel to our Airbnb and getting our bearings around old town. We had a leisurely lunch at a Lebanese restaurant and then took in the national history museum (robyn mistook it for the natural history museum). It mostly consisted of a reproduction of Trajans column from Rome. Not quite sure how that fits in with Romania's national history, but it was informative at least. Then we saw an exibit of ancient roman gold and silver. And lastly there was an exhibit of polish posters from wwii to present day. Hopefully the other museums will be more focused on Romanian history. Went to Van Gogh restaurant for a light dinner.... read more

Well day 2 of my summer adventures ended up getting off to a late start. I ended up getting to bed around 2am - a combination of the overwhelming head, the snoring Pakistani in the bunk next to me and Louise messaging me kept me up - so after getting dressed and having breakfast I left my accommodation around midday. First stop was the train station to stock up on some more bottled water (I have never drunk so much water before!) and then I was off to figure out how to get a bus ticket. The first lady at the ticket office I approached just ended up yelling at me in Romanian (not she what/why she was yelling?). The next lady was slightly more helpful, and by that I mean was able to get my ... read more

Wednesday July 29, 2015 – The train arrived in Bucharest on time, at 6:15am. I’m not a fan of arriving so early, but this time I had a hostel to go to, so it was not a problem. I got some money at an ATM and then took the metro to the hostel. I had to walk about 10 minutes, but the directions were clear. This hostel is small and is an apartment where the owner and his mom live. There are two rooms, and the one I am in is for four people, but I will have it to myself for both nights, which is great. It also comes with a hot breakfast. I took a shower and relaxed a bit and had breakfast, then headed out at 9:30am to find and meet the 10:30 ... read more

Up early as we wanted to skip Bucharest traffic (which I completely understood now!) had breakfast (they had fresh red peppers slices at breakfast so I grabbed a handful for snacking on the coach later!) and asked Hendrik about the possibility of my clothes. He immediate said no, as clients often leave clothes behind to ‘throw away’ so its company policy to either throw them out or if the staff want they can keep. I was flabbergasted (while understanding at the same time) as I knew mine were neatly folded and tucked away; hopefully NOT looking like garbage or unwanted. But he said he would phone the ship; but little to no chance they still existed. I was crushed; not only at the monetary value lost, but again all my fav long sleeved shirts/dress tops and ... read more