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Published: September 13th 2023
Damn this is my third try . The internet appears to be intermittent and I need to get into the habit of saving things regular.ly as I 2rite .
Here goes again .
I am sitting on the sundeck underneath a lovely sun roof enjoying the breeze as we move down the canal that joins tthe Black Sea and the mouth of the Danube . I think it is 83 miles long but saves shipping some 400 miles . It was originally built i, over 9 years in the 1950 by political prisoners . It was a gulag that was noted for its harsh treatment of the men . It had existed in its original form for 20 years but in the 1980's it was modernized and the locks improved to deal with a wider variety of shipping vessals .
It is most pleasant to sit here and watch the activity on EACH side as we move along .
Meanwhile back with the tour . Monday morning we started with a walking tour of the area near our hotel . Many of the buildings here are creditted to King Carlos .The palace , which now houses art museums , the Athenian Theatre and various government buildings our gide referred to as products of the Belle Epoch . Then we did a panoramic bus tour of the city with a very informative dialogue . It is a city of officially 2.5 million but is probably closer to 3.5 million . The population appears to be quite young . The late 1800's, 1918-1947 were it,s time of greatest growth. Mind you city is much older than that . The huge mansions I had noted in the last entry are in many parts of the city . The RUSSIANS did it destroy those buildings but only the party elite could live in them . Not quite true ...the wealthy could and did pay for privileges.
The newest structures , the Parliment and the new Patriarchal church are both huge..monstrous even . The.country was nearly bankrupted with the one and less than 25% of it is used . It reminded me of the Dolmabatche (Sp) Palace in Istanbul. Over the top .
A bit of an aside . The train just passed us going at a good clip . I was amazed when I saw it was electric. Good for Romania . Now we are passing vineyards . I must say I do enjoy the Romanian wines we have been drinking.
Back to the tour .
I the afternoon there was a walking tour of the old town which we were already familiar with but i learned names and functions of some of the huge buildings there.
The rest of the day we walked and gawked, had of meal at a high end restaurant , which was very disappointing.
Tuesday morning we went for breakfast and realized we were exhausted. SO we went back to bed for the morning . We needed it !,
After we had checked out we all went out for lunch to the restaurant we had gone to the first night . Indoors, outside ,upstairs and Down they can sit 700 . A big beautiful place featuring traditional Romanian food . It was very good . Then we were on the bus to drive 2-3 hours to Conastanta and boarded our boat . It is larger than i imagined it would be and their numbers are really down . We are only 73 peòple So we have lots of room . We were actually upgraded from the "duck " level to a picture window room. The food and it's presentation has been wonderful . Dinner appears to be 5 courses and lunch as well . I will be happy with my elastic waist bands.
This morning we did a tour of The city of Constantas and also went to a beach on the Black Sea . The water was surprisingly warm .
Life is good folks .
I must finish today . Keep in touch .
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Brenda
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Thanks for the great description of your travel adventure so far. It makes me want to take a boat trip one day too. And Bucharest sounds over the top. No frost here yet but 20 degree swings some days. And it's dry.