10-6-09 Flew on American from DFW to London to Bucharest arriving in Bucharest late afternoon of 10-7-09. Ate at Quatro Spaggiaano in Herastrau Park by Erin & Jon's apartment. Italian food is very predominant. Herastrau is the largest park in Bucharest. Next day spent catching up on missed sleep - I don't understand how anyone in economy can sleep, but I think I was in the sleepless minority.
2nd night Erin & I walked to Hard Rock Cafe on the north end of the park. We encountered typical Romanian logic after switching to a table with more light in order to read our menus. 20 minutes later the man who seated us came up and said we hadn't been waited on because we were sitting in a "closed section". I guess that meant we had lost our appetites.
Did finally manage to order and eat typical Romanian meal of cheese burgers and nachos.
3rd day explored Herastrau Park and visited the Village Museum which I actually thought was the Peasant Museum. No wonder the random person giving me directions to the Peasant Museum pointed me in the wrong direction! I realized this immediately and retraced my steps to the sign pointing to the Village Museum (in Romanian, thus the confusion about peasant & village). The arrows were ambiguously pointing to some bushes behind the sign. Having already taken the wrong direction I headed in the only other direction available to me and found the museum 20 paces away. I had actually already bypassed an earlier shortcut but of course there were no signs! As this was a minor entrance, there was no map available to buy that I could discern but i was encouraged by the availability of a toilet immediately upon entrance putting my mind and other body parts at ease. There were over 60 houses & a few churches brought in from various parts of Romania as well as many varieties of mills. Very interesting - I spent about 2.5 hours there and wilted about 3/4 through. Should have brought food & drink (concession stand closed right before I needed it) but I thought I was going to the Peasant Museum with a small cafe. Upon exit, finally found a Coke Zero - thank you for your world dominance Coca Cola! - and collapsed on the river bank. Romanians love this park and seem to be here all day and night - Erin said there used to be a problem with extreme public display of affection that no longer seems to be an issue.
3rd night Jon and I picked up Mexican food from El Torrito to bring back - Jon is amazingly brave to drive in this traffic with no apparent law abiding drivers. My chicken enchiladas with salsa verde was great; unfortunately, the Mexican food place is not doing well - if you come to Romania be sure and go there.
On Saturday morning we took off to Transylvania. First stop was Sinaia to visit Castle Peles. Built by King Carol in 1866. My gracious tour guides - Jon & Erin - know that to be polite in Romania is to always be last so we stood our ground near the front of the tourist throng - no polite British queues here. Our English speaking castle tour guide was about 5 feet tall and was rather soft spoken with a heavy Romanian accent. Therefore I can't really relate much of what I saw which is lucky for you since there is nothing more boring than a play by play of a museum, castle or church. Suffice it to say that the woodwork was German and very fancy with antique collections, mostly of weapons, from all over the world. Had lunch at a Romanian/Serbian restaurant named Taverna Sarbului. Wonderful inexpensive food - all the food here is inexpensive. I had an eggplant dish similar to babaganoush and bean soup - OK there is something more boring than a play by play of a castle - it's a detailed description of everything I had to eat! Too bad - this is my travel diary. On to Brasov!
By the way I failed to mention we are in the Carpathian Mountains. Very beautiful but a bit hazy at the time. Weather is unseasonably warm - another boring topic but I won't tell you what I was wearing. Brasov is a mid sized Saxon city with a wonderful medieval square (Piata Sfatului). We stayed across the street from the square at Hotel Bella Muzica which also has a wonderful restaurant (trout, mushrooms, greek salad and Ursus - a Romanian beer). Hundreds of people mill about the square - many shops line the streets (I broke and bought my 1st souvenir in one of them) with outdoor bars and restaurants. Ate Mexican food (located next to the KFC) again on the square the next morning and here I thought I would be without it for 3 weeks. Visited another very different castle further up the road - Braun castle, known as Dracula's castle for tourism reasons. The castle was first documented in 1377. Back to Bucharest that evening along with the other 2 million residents on a 2 lane road. Leaving the city on weekends is a national pastime.
Monday - rainy day in Bucharest on Columbus Day. Erin and I took a walk around the lake, joined by one of the 200,000 stray dogs. They are well fed and seem non threatening unless meeting another group of dogs from another territory. It's Jon's birthday and we're off to a Caru cu bere, an historical beerhouse. Here's an excerpt from their web page which is a great example of the translations encountered here so far.
2nd night Erin & I walked to Hard Rock Cafe on the north end of the park. We encountered typical Romanian logic after switching to a table with more light in order to read our menus. 20 minutes later the man who seated us came up and said we hadn't been waited on because we were sitting in a "closed section". I guess that meant we had lost our appetites.
Did finally manage to order and eat typical Romanian meal of cheese burgers and nachos.
3rd day explored Herastrau Park and visited the Village Museum which I actually thought was the Peasant Museum. No wonder the random person giving me directions to the Peasant Museum pointed me in the wrong direction! I realized this immediately and retraced my steps to the sign pointing to the Village Museum (in Romanian, thus the confusion about peasant & village). The arrows were ambiguously pointing to some bushes behind the sign. Having already taken the wrong direction I headed in the only other direction available to me and found the museum 20 paces away. I had actually already bypassed an earlier shortcut but of course there were no signs! As this was a minor entrance, there was no map available to buy that I could discern but i was encouraged by the availability of a toilet immediately upon entrance putting my mind and other body parts at ease. There were over 60 houses & a few churches brought in from various parts of Romania as well as many varieties of mills. Very interesting - I spent about 2.5 hours there and wilted about 3/4 through. Should have brought food & drink (concession stand closed right before I needed it) but I thought I was going to the Peasant Museum with a small cafe. Upon exit, finally found a Coke Zero - thank you for your world dominance Coca Cola! - and collapsed on the river bank. Romanians love this park and seem to be here all day and night - Erin said there used to be a problem with extreme public display of affection that no longer seems to be an issue.
3rd night Jon and I picked up Mexican food from El Torrito to bring back - Jon is amazingly brave to drive in this traffic with no apparent law abiding drivers. My chicken enchiladas with salsa verde was great; unfortunately, the Mexican food place is not doing well - if you come to Romania be sure and go there.
On Saturday morning we took off to Transylvania. First stop was Sinaia to visit Castle Peles. Built by King Carol in 1866. My gracious tour guides - Jon & Erin - know that to be polite in Romania is to always be last so we stood our ground near the front of the tourist throng - no polite British queues here. Our English speaking castle tour guide was about 5 feet tall and was rather soft spoken with a heavy Romanian accent. Therefore I can't really relate much of what I saw which is lucky for you since there is nothing more boring than a play by play of a museum, castle or church. Suffice it to say that the woodwork was German and very fancy with antique collections, mostly of weapons, from all over the world. Had lunch at a Romanian/Serbian restaurant named Taverna Sarbului. Wonderful inexpensive food - all the food here is inexpensive. I had an eggplant dish similar to babaganoush and bean soup - OK there is something more boring than a play by play of a castle - it's a detailed description of everything I had to eat! Too bad - this is my travel diary. On to Brasov!
By the way I failed to mention we are in the Carpathian Mountains. Very beautiful but a bit hazy at the time. Weather is unseasonably warm - another boring topic but I won't tell you what I was wearing. Brasov is a mid sized Saxon city with a wonderful medieval square (Piata Sfatului). We stayed across the street from the square at Hotel Bella Muzica which also has a wonderful restaurant (trout, mushrooms, greek salad and Ursus - a Romanian beer). Hundreds of people mill about the square - many shops line the streets (I broke and bought my 1st souvenir in one of them) with outdoor bars and restaurants. Ate Mexican food (located next to the KFC) again on the square the next morning and here I thought I would be without it for 3 weeks. Visited another very different castle further up the road - Braun castle, known as Dracula's castle for tourism reasons. The castle was first documented in 1377. Back to Bucharest that evening along with the other 2 million residents on a 2 lane road. Leaving the city on weekends is a national pastime.
Monday - rainy day in Bucharest on Columbus Day. Erin and I took a walk around the lake, joined by one of the 200,000 stray dogs. They are well fed and seem non threatening unless meeting another group of dogs from another territory. It's Jon's birthday and we're off to a Caru cu bere, an historical beerhouse. Here's an excerpt from their web page which is a great example of the translations encountered here so far.
Along with the beer made after a secret original recipe, Caru' cu bere is also famous for the tastiest culinary recipes. For a long time house specialty was considered to be hot dogs with horseraddish, of wich tonnes were consumed every day, and for the gratered horseraddish many waiters generations wiped. The Frankfurters, boeuf salad, black radish and olives offered for free along with the wine bottle created for many people a pleasant addiction. But no one complained, on the contrary!
The beer was good and could become a pleasant addiction!
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