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Published: July 30th 2015
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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 walking tour. I took the metro there and walked around and found them pretty easily. The tour guide was funny and told us the history of the places she showed us, and also pointed out a good authentic lunch place with good prices. As we walked around the city, I found I liked a lot of the buildings. After reading my tour guide last night,
I was convinced Bucharest wasn’t for me and that maybe I should have just done one day instead of two. But I like it so far, and really happy about that.
When the tour ended I went back to the place she recommended for some food. They had a lunch menu for about 5 euros, which is far more than I have been spending on meals, but still so much cheaper than home. It was also way too much food included. I got a first course of polenta and cheese and sour cream that was delicious, but larger than a normal full meal for me. Then I had a cabbage salad, then fried cheese with French fries and then chocolate cake. I didn’t eat everything from any of the courses. But I still ate so much I wanted to die. At least dinner would not be needed. Or desired. After lunch I went to the history museum and then the national art museum, where I saw a lot of religious art and then more modern art, like from the 1800s. There was also one exhibit on more modern art as well. All of this art was by Romanian artists.
An example of the impaling process
He would actually put the rod into the anus and push it along the spine, without breaking the spine. The rod would then come out the neck or mouth. There was also another part of the museum for European artists, but I knew that it would just be too much at one time, so I did not do that part of the museum this time. I’m actually a little concerned that I am going to too many museums on this trip. So much of what I see in all the countries looks the same – historical items, religious icons, and coin hordes, for example. I just can’t get as excited about these things as I used to. They are cool, but sadly, I think I have exhausted my interest. Of course, there are museums on the list for tomorrow but hoping they are different enough. J After the museums, I walked around Chismigiu park, a large park with more benches than I have ever seen. From there I grabbed the metro back and came back to the hostel.
Thursday July 30, 2015 – This morning I printed my boarding pass to go home next week. If I didn’t, the budget airline would charge me to print it for me at the airport. Luckily the guy who runs my hostel could print it for me, making one less thing
to think about. His mom made me a delicious omelet for breakfast when he was out running. I put on my sunscreen and left around 9:30am. I took the metro to the Parliament building. I walked in, had a look at tours offered, and decided I was just not interested enough for a lackluster tour of a place that I will forget about not long afterwards. The building is enormous – smaller only to the US pentagon – but the tour only covers a handful of rooms. I decided to go to the modern art museum which is around the other side of the Parliament house. It took ages to walk there, as that building is so big and I had to walk to the back from the front. So hot outside. I’m not a fan of modern art, for the most part, but I thought I would give this museum a chance. And I’m glad I did. It had plenty of the kind of art that you could confuse with kindergarten art class results, which I’m sure have some extremely deep meaning. But it also had some more interesting things, like an exhibit from expat Romanians on what it
like for them to live abroad, and one that finds similarities in pictures of people from behind, where you can see what they are looking at. It was spread over 4 floors and it was quite nice.
From there I walked to a lunch place that Constantin recommended, but was unable to find it. So I had a kebab. Quick and easy. From there I walked another 45 minutes to the Museum of the Romanian Peasant. It was quite well done and I was disappointed that pictures were not allowed. They had a lot of things from everyday life in the past. From there I walked another 20 minutes or so to the Village museum. This is like the one I saw in Ukraine, an outside museum with old houses and buildings from the past. Another good museum, but it was almost 100 degrees out and 4pm by the time I got there. I spent half my time looking for water to buy, and then saying no because I knew it should cost less. Thanks, Mom, for making me so cheap (and dehydrated). I left around 5:30, and it took at least 15 minutes longer to get to the
Moved tombstones from demolished sites
The previous dictator went on a mad building spree and destroyed many historic buildings. Some things were saved, like these, but also whole buildings were moved to safer areas by others. nearest metro. Inside the station there was nothing to buy, but I had to switch lines and in there I saw a vending machine which actually had cheap cold water. I drink the whole half liter in about one minute and was done before my train pulled up. Felt much better after that. Back at the apartment I watched The Daily Show and The Nightly Show, and was then invited by Constantin’s mom to have some soup and corn. She was preparing it for them for dinner, but they ate later. Still, it was sweet of her to make me some. I was just going to have some yogurt, but will now have some for dessert instead. I am currently deciding which train I will take tomorrow. I’m going to Brasov, but will stop in a town called Sinaia that has a beautiful castle, on the way. I’d like to get there, take the tour (or an audioguide, if possible), possibly visit the second nearby castle, and be done in time to take the 3:30pm train to Brasov, so that I can get there in time to take the 6pm free walking tour. That means taking the 7am train, to
be sure, or the 8:30am train and be not-so-sure. Either way, I’ll need to leave here 90 minutes before the train leaves, to get there, find the ticket office, buy tickets…It’s going to be a long day. The good news is that it will be significantly cooler there for a couple of days. The bad news is that it is likely to rain all day tomorrow, in both places. It’s a shame, because it’s a beautiful castle in Sinaia and I’ll be unlikely to get any good pictures of the outside. And I’ve decided not to take pictures of the inside, because they charge an additional 8 euros for the privilege, and I find that insane. Plus, they say in their website that you are not even allowed to publish those pictures, like on a website. Crazypants.
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