Blogs from Romania, Europe - page 90

Our last day trip took us to Transylvania, Brasov, and the mountain castles of Romania. The whole country is about half the size of France and is crossed by the Carpathian Mountains, which is famous for its fresh air and springs. We passed several spa resorts, where our guide explained many Romanians and tourist go to for treatment in the fresh air. Quietly to ourselves, the Americans predicted, if they did not all smoke so much, they may enjoy fresh air at home! Traffic leaving Bucharest at 7 a.m. was like any rush hour morning in Atlanta- in fact one our Romanian classmates said rush hour begins at 7 p.m. and ends 7 p.m. and he is not exaggerating. We were told that 80% of the cars on the road did not have parking places, which ... read more

Saturday 6:30 am, Nothing can stop me, clouds, rain...distance.. I need a breath of fresh air.. I love Bucharest, the people, the streets - mix of old and new, the chaos... I cant live without his noisy personality but from time to time I have to run away as far as I can... So got my friends togheter, lots of patience, laughters and drive towards Transylvanian mountains. First stop was to Posada's cinegetic museum where i had a sweet encounter with a friendly bear (lately they are the turists atraction when they come down from woods to Brasov or Sinaia for a meal from garbage). My plan was to go to Bran, at Dracula's castle (I can't get enough of visiting it)... but the weather had other plans... so we stoped in Sinaia, visited Peles castle, ... read more

In the 1960s, under the leadership of Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej and his successor, Nicolae Ceausescu, the Communist Party of Romania began to implement a foreign policy independent of Soviet goals. Socialist state ownership and central planning fostered the rapid growth of heavy industry and forcibly turned Romania from an agrarian into an urban sociey. During the 1970s, Ceausescu attempted to modernise the Romanian economy further, by investing huge amounts of money borrowed from Western credit institutions. Due to his grandiose development projects, the Romanian people were submitted to a rigorous austerity programme in the 1980s since Ceausescu wanted to pay off the country's accumulated foreign debt within a short period. The standards of living plunged considerably as Romania exported much of its food and fuel production. The populace was controlled by the secret police (Securitate) an... read more

The Food The food in Ro is very good and an Akins Dieter’s dream. There is meat at every meal and quite often there is meat-stuffed meat available! It is common to have an assortment of cold cuts in the breakfast buffet each morning. Also found at every meal are red ripe tomatoes, cucumber and potatoes. Lettuce is rare, but cabbage and slaw are plentiful. At the Hotel Cocor at dinner each night, we were entertained by a live band. They had an amazing way of transitioning from Elvis to the Carpenters to Captain & Tenille very smoothly. One evening, the group of students stayed in the hotel café to dance. The band let the students karaoke. It was quite an experience to hear my Romanian teammate singing a beautiful rendition of “Strangers in the Night.” ... read more

Believe it or not, I am back in Romania. I am setting up this TravelBlog so you can keep up with my adventures. Mom and Dad have created a blog for their trip out west and Alaska, and I have enjoyed keeping up with their journey. Mine will not be quite 7 months like theirs, more like 10 days. I am traveling with MBA students from Kennesaw State University as their alumni advisor. I hope to have more time to site-see and send back pictures of this beautiful country. After a long plane ride from Atlanta to Paris, we changed planes in Paris. Charles DeGaulle airport is a logistical nightmare. It took one hour and two buses to change terminals to catch our connecting flight to Bucharest, Romania. It was little surprise that the six passengers ... read more