Bucharest, Romania

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May 27 .... Arrived in the city of Bucharest late in the evening and after asking two people, found the IBIS Hotel. There is one of these in almost every city and they can be trusted to be nice.



After a much needed shower, ate peasant veg soup and desert but no coffee after my 18 hour fast... well almost ... cannot count that white bread with one slice ham one slice cheese I bought while the train was standing forever at a spot in Bulgaria.





The room is excellent with TV and WiFi. To get to the room one has to go thru two security locks... one to the corridor and then the one into the actual room ..... shades of Cuba from ages ago .. there in the 70's cubans could not come upstairs at all.





In the morning varified the ticket to Budapest and began my wander. It was a challenge to find the City bus tour although once knowing what to look for it was easy. I went to the Peasant Folk Museum and that was about all the time I had. I was going to go around the city twice but the Museumm was extensive and I saw it all. No pics were allowed which is too bad because they had some wondrous things.





The whole structure of a windmill has been erected in one of the rooms. A house built lovingly by a man in the 1860 was dismantled, put on view and so admired people came from everywhere to see it ...even royalty.Then during the Commi period it was put out in the open to languish in the elements. The beautiful hand hewn delicately decorated house has once again found a safe haven inside the Peasant Museum. Pots,tiles, implements, embroidery, chairs, cradles, a class room from the turn of the 19^th century and a whole room of icons made this a good place to spend my afternoon in Bucharest. Four days in the city would give one a chance to see the other great places that the bus past. The parliament building was impressive. There is a grand fountain in a roundabout in the boulevard that stretches below the Parliament. Regretfully I did not get to the art deco building with a glass dome . The city tour had 14 stops of interest and provided a tape rrecording which highlighted what was being seen during the drive by.





Returned to the hotel to eat a meal. The buffet breakfast had been included in the price of the room... I think? Any way it was good and by afternoon I was ready for more food before my overnight trip to Budapest.





Have eaten a chicken leg ... the smallest leg I've seen in a while. It was very tasty and I even found a vein in it .. the plastic bag chickens from Food Basics don't have that ... if yes have never seen one.



The exchange is 3.5 L for $1 and 4.4L for 1euro. My chicken dinner with a salad starter and a carbonated water came to 39L. . The room cost 49 euro and the breakfast buffet was 9euro.. that makes the breakfast 36L ....should have eaten breakfast a la carte.



I had changed 20euro at the train station and will be saving the 50 romanian lei just to show that Romania had the same type of money that so much hoopla was made about a few months ago in Canada. The plastic touch paper and the little see thru window plus other securiy features the Romanians already had in 2005.
I will buy something for a midnight snack just in case the next train has no food.. . I must confess I broke down and bought carbonated water with my meal ... had beer last night with my soup ... have been drinking tap water ... so far ... all good





An Ibis hotel is always good. Stayed at one in Manaus half way up the Amazon ... only problem there was it was far out from the city ... took taxis ... here in Bucharest the Metro is right outside and I walked to where I had to go.





Worked on the internet while in the restaurant. Then was going to plug in for a while to recharge the battery before going to the train station. To my utter amazement I was no longer in posession of my adapter. I had a small fit. Searched both packs and it could not be found. The man at the desk offered me his but my plugs didn't fit into that. A search was made in lost and found and tanksbetogot the adapter was found. Had not gone farther in my thinking than “finding”. Alternative solutions were not formed.

Ten minutes and I am off to the train station... KFC, Macdonalds, Domino Pizza. H&M, Zara are all here and off course one cannot forget Nescafe, Coca Cola and Pepsi.



Its been a whirl in Bucharest and I did do my best to spend my travel time fruitfully. A return visit is a possibility.

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