It didn't actually take us this long to fly home! Our first flight on the 23rd was delayed by over 2 hours which AA notified us would cause us to miss our connection in PHL to RDU. Clay got the notification on his cell phone before 6 am. He woke me up to get up & ready anyway. He called AA and got rebooked on the last flight of the day. It meant giving up our first class seats for economy. (I did clear the standby for upgrade but Clay was 5 places behind me and rather than sit apart, I passed on the upgrade.) We had a singularly unpleasant but short flight in economy. Clay made a 2nd call locally to reschedule our transfer from Central Basilica Hotel to the airport. They were already aware of the delay but were advising that we keep the 8 am transfer. Clay insisted and they agreed to change our pickup to 10 am which was still plenty of time for a departure after 1pm. Though I wouldn't cut it close in BUD. They had intense security and long lines to prove it. The plane we flew from BUD to PHL had to be 40-50 years old based on the ashtrays. That was a long flight. We got home about midnight Raleigh time. I think Clay said that meant we'd been up a full 24 hours. It was a long and exhausting day. Things seemed OK at home except for AT&T Uverse being out which meant no phone, Internet or TV. They had been in the box out front judging by the work evidence left there. Every time AT&T goes in that box our service gets cut off. That was what happened this time. It was fixed by mid-morning today. So, I can finally report in. We've applied for a refund for the missed first class flight. We'll have to wait and see on that. We've both met the AA challenge that Clay was working on and have both achieved Platinum Pro status. Now that we're planning to stay home or take only road trips! We'll see.
The next trip we have planned is in NC. Hart Square Village. It will be a quick trip right after Clay's b-day.
Little Bob hits the road
Little Bob hits the road
Wednesday, September 25, 2019
Sunday, September 22, 2019
Budapest, Hungary
Photos
We woke up on the far north end of Budapest this morning. A little sad as it is beautiful to sail the Danube between Buda and Pest in the dark with all the magnificent bridges and buildings lit up. Oh well, we have our memories.
We were up early and had breakfast and vacated our cabin a 1/2 hour before the 9 am requirement per the request of our cabin attendant for access to get started. Right at 9:15 am our taxi driver arrived. It was a Mercedes yellow cab. We are staying at the Hotel Central Basilica which is very conveniently located. It was a short drive back down river to get us and our bags here. The ride cost 20 Euros. We got here before 10 am and dropped our bags after the desk girl confirmed our reservation. She told us we could check in after 2 pm. We did and got a small room with an inner courtyard view and a weird bathroom and worst of all NO ICE because the kitchen closed at 11 am. It is in a great location though.
We had a short list of things to do between 10 am and 2 pm. We got our bearings and then started with the basilica. We'd planned to save that for afternoon thinking to stay out of the way of Sunday morning service, but by 10 am it was clear it was all tourists only. We went up. We bought tickets for the Panorama & Treasury. We don't think this was available when we visited before. We may have just missed it, but I think we'd have noticed. It was fascinating to walk around inside and above the basilica's dome as well as the 360 degree views from up there outside. When we left, we went in Gelarto Rosa for their beautiful ice cream cones. It was as delicious as we remembered. Clay had hazelnut, pistachio and chocolate. I had rose and sour cherry. Yum.
Next we walked over about a block away to the Budapest Eye. We rode but didn't love it. We needed to kill time though and it was another great view. We wandered several shops as we meandered away the hours. We ate 2 bowls of Hungarian goulash soup at Basilika Cafe. It was as good as we remembered it. Later we found a place serving chimney cakes and shared one served on a wooden spindle.
There is an orchestra concert at the basilica at 8 pm tonight of Mozart's Requiem. We thought we'd go and stay up late but the cheap seat prices of 32 Euros each put us off. We're still debating going back to Basilika Cafe for dinner or going to the street stall of take-out Langosh we found in our wandering.
Tomorrow we'll have breakfast here at the hotel at 7 am. Our car transfer to the airport should pick us up at 8 am. We should be in the air bound for Philadelphia by 11:30 am.
Photos
We woke up on the far north end of Budapest this morning. A little sad as it is beautiful to sail the Danube between Buda and Pest in the dark with all the magnificent bridges and buildings lit up. Oh well, we have our memories.
We were up early and had breakfast and vacated our cabin a 1/2 hour before the 9 am requirement per the request of our cabin attendant for access to get started. Right at 9:15 am our taxi driver arrived. It was a Mercedes yellow cab. We are staying at the Hotel Central Basilica which is very conveniently located. It was a short drive back down river to get us and our bags here. The ride cost 20 Euros. We got here before 10 am and dropped our bags after the desk girl confirmed our reservation. She told us we could check in after 2 pm. We did and got a small room with an inner courtyard view and a weird bathroom and worst of all NO ICE because the kitchen closed at 11 am. It is in a great location though.
We had a short list of things to do between 10 am and 2 pm. We got our bearings and then started with the basilica. We'd planned to save that for afternoon thinking to stay out of the way of Sunday morning service, but by 10 am it was clear it was all tourists only. We went up. We bought tickets for the Panorama & Treasury. We don't think this was available when we visited before. We may have just missed it, but I think we'd have noticed. It was fascinating to walk around inside and above the basilica's dome as well as the 360 degree views from up there outside. When we left, we went in Gelarto Rosa for their beautiful ice cream cones. It was as delicious as we remembered. Clay had hazelnut, pistachio and chocolate. I had rose and sour cherry. Yum.
Next we walked over about a block away to the Budapest Eye. We rode but didn't love it. We needed to kill time though and it was another great view. We wandered several shops as we meandered away the hours. We ate 2 bowls of Hungarian goulash soup at Basilika Cafe. It was as good as we remembered it. Later we found a place serving chimney cakes and shared one served on a wooden spindle.
There is an orchestra concert at the basilica at 8 pm tonight of Mozart's Requiem. We thought we'd go and stay up late but the cheap seat prices of 32 Euros each put us off. We're still debating going back to Basilika Cafe for dinner or going to the street stall of take-out Langosh we found in our wandering.
Tomorrow we'll have breakfast here at the hotel at 7 am. Our car transfer to the airport should pick us up at 8 am. We should be in the air bound for Philadelphia by 11:30 am.
Photos
Saturday, September 21, 2019
Last Port, Last Excursion, Hungary
Photos
We woke up in Mohacs, Hungary early this morning. Our Daily Cruiser advised us to be ready for a face-to-face passport inspection at 5:45 am to enter Schengen. We set an alarm that went off at 5 am. We were ready. We were the last group called at about 6:55 am. Breakfast started at 7 am. The tours all departed at 8:45 am.
We got pink tour tickets again for the gentle walking tour of Pecs. There hasn't been a lot of consistency with these "Gentle" tours. Some are well done and modified for an easy pace while others seem exactly the same as the regular tours. Today though was exceptional as it really minimized walking hills, steps and cobblestones by offering almost 45 minutes riding around old town on a small sightseeing train! This was never advertised, or even mentioned, before we arrived to meet the pink guide. Our pink groups have been small every time, diminishing in size it has seemed with difficulty and today it was only the 2 of us on a private tour! The guide was obviously disappointed as well as the train driver. AmaWaterways clearly needs to explicitly offer the sightseeing train to everyone. Pecs is a beautiful historic city and there is much to see. We had about 45 minutes of free time before the little train sped us past all the groups walking back uphill to return to the motorcoaches. One of Pecs' claims to fame is as the home of a ceramics factory that makes special color roofing tiles that you see throughout Europe on big important buildings.
We set sail after all aboard at 1 pm as lunch started. We should reach our final stop of Budapest about 4:15 am. It is a 124 mile sail. We've submitted our gratuities and approved our final bill. Tonight is dressy attire requested for the Captain's cocktail hour and dinner at 6:30 and 7:30 pm. We have to be out of our cabins by 9 am tomorrow. Sebastian arranged a taxi for us at 9:15 am to our last hotel of Central Basilica.
It has been a good trip.
Photos
We woke up in Mohacs, Hungary early this morning. Our Daily Cruiser advised us to be ready for a face-to-face passport inspection at 5:45 am to enter Schengen. We set an alarm that went off at 5 am. We were ready. We were the last group called at about 6:55 am. Breakfast started at 7 am. The tours all departed at 8:45 am.
We got pink tour tickets again for the gentle walking tour of Pecs. There hasn't been a lot of consistency with these "Gentle" tours. Some are well done and modified for an easy pace while others seem exactly the same as the regular tours. Today though was exceptional as it really minimized walking hills, steps and cobblestones by offering almost 45 minutes riding around old town on a small sightseeing train! This was never advertised, or even mentioned, before we arrived to meet the pink guide. Our pink groups have been small every time, diminishing in size it has seemed with difficulty and today it was only the 2 of us on a private tour! The guide was obviously disappointed as well as the train driver. AmaWaterways clearly needs to explicitly offer the sightseeing train to everyone. Pecs is a beautiful historic city and there is much to see. We had about 45 minutes of free time before the little train sped us past all the groups walking back uphill to return to the motorcoaches. One of Pecs' claims to fame is as the home of a ceramics factory that makes special color roofing tiles that you see throughout Europe on big important buildings.
We set sail after all aboard at 1 pm as lunch started. We should reach our final stop of Budapest about 4:15 am. It is a 124 mile sail. We've submitted our gratuities and approved our final bill. Tonight is dressy attire requested for the Captain's cocktail hour and dinner at 6:30 and 7:30 pm. We have to be out of our cabins by 9 am tomorrow. Sebastian arranged a taxi for us at 9:15 am to our last hotel of Central Basilica.
It has been a good trip.
Photos
Friday, September 20, 2019
Novi Sad, Serbia in the Morning
Photos
Novi Sad means new plant. Now you know. We were here when we woke up around 6 am. We are the only riverboat docked here today. We have the riverview and can see 2 new bridges since 2000 as well as pylons from the destroyed bridges and the Petrovaradin Fortress across the Danube.
At 8:30 am we went on the "Gentle" Novi Sad Walking Tour. Today's tour was not as gentle as yesterday's. We walked fewer stairs and slopes today but we walked further and faster with a group of 7. We started the walk on the side of the river where we docked. We walked down Danube Street, in Danube Park, through the pedestrian streets visiting St. George Orthodox and the square before St. Mary's Catholic, on to the bus waiting beyond the Serbian National Theater. The bus drove us across the Danube to Petrovaradin Fortress. We changed to 9-passenger vans for the drive to the top where we had another walking tour before returning by van to bus to boat. We turned in our passports as we leave Serbia later.
At 11:30 am we had our disembarkation talk. When we got back to the cabin, tip envelopes awaited. It has been a short cruise. You'd hate to fly all the way to Europe and back for 1 or 2 weeks of these river cruises! AmaWaterways wants 100 Euros each for the crew and 25 Euros each for the Cruise Manager. They've earned it. I feel like I can recommend AmaWaterways. The weakest part for us has been dinners but they have been responsive to our requests and that is the most we can expect.
We left Novi Sad about noon. Two hours after the scheduled time.We are to have lunch at 1 pm. We are scheduled for a wine tasting tour in Ilok this afternoon. The ship stops there to let the tours depart then sails on to Vukovar to pick us up again. The other tour option is about the Yugoslav civil war. We are still dithering about just staying aboard. Stay tuned. If we go, we should expect to be off the boat from 3:30 pm or so until 7:15 pm or so and dinner at 7:30 pm.
I'll try to come back and update this later depending on Internet access and timing. Otherwise check tomorrow.
I need to make a fact correction. I stated earlier that the km markers were only on our starboard side, but they are in fact on both sides. I don't know why I hadn't seen them on our port side view before. I saw 1282 over on port. Right after seeing 4 piglets running along the shore on the starboard side. We really wish we'd brought the binoculars!
We arrived at Ilok on schedule, the ship quickly cleared the border check and tours departed shortly after 3:30 pm. We had one full bus to the wine tasting tour. We drove about 5 minutes through Ilok to Iloki Podrumi where we toured their moldy cellar and then had a nice tasting. They offered 2 whites and a red. All were nice. They had bread, cheese and langos as snacks. We drove maybe 15 minutes next to try a sparkling rose at a beautiful location. We drove maybe 40 minutes through farm land to arrive at Vukovar to see the devastation of war alongside the new construction. We found AmaCerto tied up as the 3rd ship at the Danube dock. We had to cross a Viking and a Grand Circle boat to get to ours. Sebastian bragged that we were the only one serving complimentary cocktails at 7 pm.
Photos
Novi Sad means new plant. Now you know. We were here when we woke up around 6 am. We are the only riverboat docked here today. We have the riverview and can see 2 new bridges since 2000 as well as pylons from the destroyed bridges and the Petrovaradin Fortress across the Danube.
At 8:30 am we went on the "Gentle" Novi Sad Walking Tour. Today's tour was not as gentle as yesterday's. We walked fewer stairs and slopes today but we walked further and faster with a group of 7. We started the walk on the side of the river where we docked. We walked down Danube Street, in Danube Park, through the pedestrian streets visiting St. George Orthodox and the square before St. Mary's Catholic, on to the bus waiting beyond the Serbian National Theater. The bus drove us across the Danube to Petrovaradin Fortress. We changed to 9-passenger vans for the drive to the top where we had another walking tour before returning by van to bus to boat. We turned in our passports as we leave Serbia later.
At 11:30 am we had our disembarkation talk. When we got back to the cabin, tip envelopes awaited. It has been a short cruise. You'd hate to fly all the way to Europe and back for 1 or 2 weeks of these river cruises! AmaWaterways wants 100 Euros each for the crew and 25 Euros each for the Cruise Manager. They've earned it. I feel like I can recommend AmaWaterways. The weakest part for us has been dinners but they have been responsive to our requests and that is the most we can expect.
We left Novi Sad about noon. Two hours after the scheduled time.We are to have lunch at 1 pm. We are scheduled for a wine tasting tour in Ilok this afternoon. The ship stops there to let the tours depart then sails on to Vukovar to pick us up again. The other tour option is about the Yugoslav civil war. We are still dithering about just staying aboard. Stay tuned. If we go, we should expect to be off the boat from 3:30 pm or so until 7:15 pm or so and dinner at 7:30 pm.
I'll try to come back and update this later depending on Internet access and timing. Otherwise check tomorrow.
I need to make a fact correction. I stated earlier that the km markers were only on our starboard side, but they are in fact on both sides. I don't know why I hadn't seen them on our port side view before. I saw 1282 over on port. Right after seeing 4 piglets running along the shore on the starboard side. We really wish we'd brought the binoculars!
We arrived at Ilok on schedule, the ship quickly cleared the border check and tours departed shortly after 3:30 pm. We had one full bus to the wine tasting tour. We drove about 5 minutes through Ilok to Iloki Podrumi where we toured their moldy cellar and then had a nice tasting. They offered 2 whites and a red. All were nice. They had bread, cheese and langos as snacks. We drove maybe 15 minutes next to try a sparkling rose at a beautiful location. We drove maybe 40 minutes through farm land to arrive at Vukovar to see the devastation of war alongside the new construction. We found AmaCerto tied up as the 3rd ship at the Danube dock. We had to cross a Viking and a Grand Circle boat to get to ours. Sebastian bragged that we were the only one serving complimentary cocktails at 7 pm.
Photos
Thursday, September 19, 2019
Belgrade, Serbia
Photos
Country #92! This is the last new country for this trip. We'll be home in less than a week.
We docked here on the Sava River sometime in the middle of the night. Most everyone was up early because of the excessive noise. We have something like the constant buzz of a chainsaw, others hear music. As I type this I hear both. It turns out this morning, the ship cleared without any passenger participation so perhaps I misunderstood the earlier description. We had to pick up our passports before leaving the boat. We were told that Serbia is the only country on the itinerary where we have to have them on us.
It was cold here today with a high maybe above 65 F but not above 70 F. It was also cloudy and breezy all day. We had a good day here. We took the "gentle" version of the Belgrade City Tour and it was good. Our guide was Milos, say Mee-lowsch. He was informative and patient with our group of 10. We shared the bus portion with another bigger group and their guide. We drove to the Kalemegdan Fortress and heard some history and saw the view of the confluence of the rivers Sava and Danube which has been this one of the most contested patches of ground on Earth. We learned it is the boundary between Central Europe and the Balkan Peninsula. We walked back to Prince Michael pedestrian street and the modern shopping mall where we had about 40 minutes of free time. We met back at the bus for a panoramic tour with a stop to visit the unfinished St. Sava Temple. They had us there outside to hear the big bells ring at noon which is the only time they ring every day. Otherwise it is only the little bells. Unlike any other Orthodox church we've seen with their separate free standing bell towers, this one had 2 towers attached. We were back at 12:30 pm for lunch onboard.
AmaCerto was 1 of 5 river boats docked here today. Two left during the day and 1 was replaced. The busiest port so far.
We left for our 2nd tour today at 2:15 pm. It was Quburich Brandy Tasting & Avala Mountain. We got Milos for our guide again! He is a cutie. The trip up a TV tower atop the mountain at the edge of Belgrade was a super bonus and we didn't expect it from the tour description. The brandy was plum and we didn't like it but the tour was interesting and engaging and the snacks were suburb. I especially loved the sugar plum greeting!
Tomorrow morning still in Serbia, port of Novi Sad. Croatia in the afternoon. Sounds busy!
Photos
Country #92! This is the last new country for this trip. We'll be home in less than a week.
We docked here on the Sava River sometime in the middle of the night. Most everyone was up early because of the excessive noise. We have something like the constant buzz of a chainsaw, others hear music. As I type this I hear both. It turns out this morning, the ship cleared without any passenger participation so perhaps I misunderstood the earlier description. We had to pick up our passports before leaving the boat. We were told that Serbia is the only country on the itinerary where we have to have them on us.
It was cold here today with a high maybe above 65 F but not above 70 F. It was also cloudy and breezy all day. We had a good day here. We took the "gentle" version of the Belgrade City Tour and it was good. Our guide was Milos, say Mee-lowsch. He was informative and patient with our group of 10. We shared the bus portion with another bigger group and their guide. We drove to the Kalemegdan Fortress and heard some history and saw the view of the confluence of the rivers Sava and Danube which has been this one of the most contested patches of ground on Earth. We learned it is the boundary between Central Europe and the Balkan Peninsula. We walked back to Prince Michael pedestrian street and the modern shopping mall where we had about 40 minutes of free time. We met back at the bus for a panoramic tour with a stop to visit the unfinished St. Sava Temple. They had us there outside to hear the big bells ring at noon which is the only time they ring every day. Otherwise it is only the little bells. Unlike any other Orthodox church we've seen with their separate free standing bell towers, this one had 2 towers attached. We were back at 12:30 pm for lunch onboard.
AmaCerto was 1 of 5 river boats docked here today. Two left during the day and 1 was replaced. The busiest port so far.
We left for our 2nd tour today at 2:15 pm. It was Quburich Brandy Tasting & Avala Mountain. We got Milos for our guide again! He is a cutie. The trip up a TV tower atop the mountain at the edge of Belgrade was a super bonus and we didn't expect it from the tour description. The brandy was plum and we didn't like it but the tour was interesting and engaging and the snacks were suburb. I especially loved the sugar plum greeting!
Tomorrow morning still in Serbia, port of Novi Sad. Croatia in the afternoon. Sounds busy!
Photos
Wednesday, September 18, 2019
Sailing the Iron Gates
Photos
According to today's Daily Cruiser, we've got to sail 238 miles to get from Vidin (yesterday's port) and Belgrade (tomorrow's port). We passed the Iron Gates dam/lock 2 at about 3 am. It woke Clay. I missed it. I got us up a little after 6 am. What a difference a day makes. Yesterday was our hottest day and today we woke to black clouds, high winds and dropping temps. I was sorry I didn't bring any kind of sweater or jacket today, but they had lots of blankets available outside so I used that. We stayed outside on the outside deck in front of the lounge after breakfast for Iron Gates 1. It was a 2-lock set up. I believe Sebastian said each segment had an 18-meter rise. The lower was twice as long as the upper. We went in behind and pair of barges and then we pulled up beside their starboard side for the 2nd segment. The Danube was really rough with white caps and water sloshing over the top of the dam and the lock gates! We got run out of our spot behind a glass windbreak when water splashed over the bow and the glass windbreak! AmaCerto had a lunch BBQ on the sun deck planned but that was moved indoors when they had to put down everything on the sundeck.
About an hour past the dam, we passed the Tabula Trajan, the head of Decebalus and Mraconia monastery. Several of the things we passed even though ancient, had been moved to where we saw them before the completion of the dam otherwise they'd have been lost underwater. The head of Decebalus is contemporary though.
At 2:15 pm we are signed up in group 2 to visit the wheelhouse. Now we're back. Bob drove the boat. Not really, but the Captain caught him posing by the controls for a photo and was happy surprised. AmaCerto has no rudder by 360 degree propellers with side thrusters. While we were in the wheelhouse, Lepenski Vir came into view and we missed Sebastian's talk about it.
Today we learned about the Danube's Km markers which I don't remember from other sections of the river. The markers are on our starboard side (we are on port) and started at 0 at the mouth of the river at the Black Sea. We first heard about them today at 943 & 944 when we enter the 2nd gate of the Iron Gates power plant. I guess we didn't see them yesterday because they are on the other side. I don't know why we didn't remember them from previous sailings on the Danube.
We are free from now to approximately 6:15 when we pass the Golubac Fortress at the end of the Iron Gates stretch. Then a Chaine des Rotisseurs Dinner is served at 7 pm. I don't know exactly what that will be, but it doesn't sound good for me.
We expect an early morning tomorrow to enter Serbia. We are required to pick up our passports and go through a face-to-face entry process. We are reminded to pack our patience. We will enter (the all-important!) Schengen in Hungary where we evidently have to do the same procedure with less required patience again and for the last time. We will make certain we get our Schengen entry stamps in our passports! Anyway, we have 2 tours booked tomorrow, in Belgrade in the morning and in the Avala Mountain in the afternoon for a brandy tasting.
Photos
According to today's Daily Cruiser, we've got to sail 238 miles to get from Vidin (yesterday's port) and Belgrade (tomorrow's port). We passed the Iron Gates dam/lock 2 at about 3 am. It woke Clay. I missed it. I got us up a little after 6 am. What a difference a day makes. Yesterday was our hottest day and today we woke to black clouds, high winds and dropping temps. I was sorry I didn't bring any kind of sweater or jacket today, but they had lots of blankets available outside so I used that. We stayed outside on the outside deck in front of the lounge after breakfast for Iron Gates 1. It was a 2-lock set up. I believe Sebastian said each segment had an 18-meter rise. The lower was twice as long as the upper. We went in behind and pair of barges and then we pulled up beside their starboard side for the 2nd segment. The Danube was really rough with white caps and water sloshing over the top of the dam and the lock gates! We got run out of our spot behind a glass windbreak when water splashed over the bow and the glass windbreak! AmaCerto had a lunch BBQ on the sun deck planned but that was moved indoors when they had to put down everything on the sundeck.
About an hour past the dam, we passed the Tabula Trajan, the head of Decebalus and Mraconia monastery. Several of the things we passed even though ancient, had been moved to where we saw them before the completion of the dam otherwise they'd have been lost underwater. The head of Decebalus is contemporary though.
At 2:15 pm we are signed up in group 2 to visit the wheelhouse. Now we're back. Bob drove the boat. Not really, but the Captain caught him posing by the controls for a photo and was happy surprised. AmaCerto has no rudder by 360 degree propellers with side thrusters. While we were in the wheelhouse, Lepenski Vir came into view and we missed Sebastian's talk about it.
Today we learned about the Danube's Km markers which I don't remember from other sections of the river. The markers are on our starboard side (we are on port) and started at 0 at the mouth of the river at the Black Sea. We first heard about them today at 943 & 944 when we enter the 2nd gate of the Iron Gates power plant. I guess we didn't see them yesterday because they are on the other side. I don't know why we didn't remember them from previous sailings on the Danube.
We are free from now to approximately 6:15 when we pass the Golubac Fortress at the end of the Iron Gates stretch. Then a Chaine des Rotisseurs Dinner is served at 7 pm. I don't know exactly what that will be, but it doesn't sound good for me.
We expect an early morning tomorrow to enter Serbia. We are required to pick up our passports and go through a face-to-face entry process. We are reminded to pack our patience. We will enter (the all-important!) Schengen in Hungary where we evidently have to do the same procedure with less required patience again and for the last time. We will make certain we get our Schengen entry stamps in our passports! Anyway, we have 2 tours booked tomorrow, in Belgrade in the morning and in the Avala Mountain in the afternoon for a brandy tasting.
Photos
Tuesday, September 17, 2019
Sailing the Danube & Vidin, Bulgaria
Photos
Last night about cocktail hour, we cast off from Rousse and started sailing upstream in earnest. Sebastian, the CD, made the announcement that it would be a nice time to get a drink and take it up to the sun deck. He was right. Clay got the only draft beer onboard, Bitberg. He pronounced it bad. The day's cocktail was cranberry juice and raspberry vodka. I thought just cran juice on the rocks would be good. I only drank half but it must have had citric acid because I was up about 5 times overnight.
Dinner was different last night but not necessarily better. We sat at the front of the room rather than the rear which precluded a table for 2 as they were actively recruiting people to fill up tables. That is understandable. The couple that joined order 3 and 4 courses, so we ordered 3 and it was still a shorter dinner than our 1st night's 2 course. It also helped that it started earlier.
When we got back to the cabin after dinner we got a rude reminder why we generally never book aft cabins. They were running at full engine from probably 8:30 pm to 8:30 am. Our cabin was shaking, rattling and vibrating! It went all night. We were waitlisted a long time to get out of the basement cabins and still count ourselves lucky to have gotten this one. Another reason why historically we've booked early or else last minute to get a better selection. We are still sailing now at 1:50 pm but our next port Vidin is in sight.
We had Sebastian's cruise/port overview talk this morning. He did it 2x. Once in English and once in French so it lasted half the time for each group. Good choice. Roman, the fitness director, gave a presentation about his services as well. I don't think I mentioned we are right beside the fitness room so we see a lot of him. He knows I like ice and don't exercise. We decided to keep all the excursions we'd already booked from home weeks ago.
We spent part of the morning on the sun deck because our breakfast cabin service girl was off duty or elsewhere this morning. We saw her after breakfast and she serviced our cabin right away for us. The late morning, we spent on our "balcony". It was very nice. Tomorrow we sail ALL day but it seems the important landmarks are on the starboard side so we'll have to move around. Sebastian promises to make announcements but so far he's not coming through our TVs on channel 1 as promised.
We are on a special interest tour this afternoon from 3 to 6 pm. It is Banitsa Pastry & Yogurt Making. Since I make my own yogurt and Lactobacillus bulgaricus is a key to that, I am pretty excited about being in the birthplace of yogurt. We had banitsa at lunch as a side dish, not a dessert. Interesting. I don't know if they make it sweet too.
I'm back between the excursion and dinner. So, either the name of the tour changed or I misunderstood. It was banitsa making and yogurt tasting (not making) with a 5-minute discussion of how to find the Bulgarian culture online. The guide said it would be your 1st Google search hit and I got it yesterday but can't find it at all today. Try your luck. She said it is available freeze-dried now, but in her demo she used and said to use existing yogurt. They served commercial cartons of cow's milk and sheep's milk for the banitsa tasting. It can be made sweet or savory and in different shapes. It is versatile. It was better than the one served at lunch. The private home were the cooking demo took place was a short drive east to a village called Ruptsi.
Last note. It must have been at least 6 years since AmaWaterways updated their cruise port information handouts because that is where I got the information about the Friendship Bridge at Giurgiu/Rousse being the only bridge across the Danube between Bulgaria and Romania. We can see a bridge across in front of us where we are docked in Vidin. Our guide today pointed it out as being opened 6 years ago as the 2nd bridge between Bulgaria & Romania. Now you know.
Vidin is our last Bulgarian port. We start cruising again about 11 pm tonight. Tomorrow we cruise all day between Serbia and Romania. It should be scenic. The Iron Gates between the Balkan and Carpathian mountain ranges.
Before dinner there was a loudspeaker announcement that the boat will move the clocks back by 1 hour at 3 am. So not only will tomorrow be a long leisurely sailing day, it will be 1 hour longer. Or as Sebastian suggested, you can sleep in. I'm always afraid of missing seeing something sailing on rivers. Which reminds me, we didn't pack compact binoculars and that was a huge mistake. We've really been wishing for them!
Dinner was a success tonight! The dining room seemed emptier tonight. Maybe because the most strenuous excursion today on our hottest day yet got back at 7pm and showered and changed before dinner. Who knows why. We had a table to ourselves. We ordered a main and dessert each and they were served promptly. We were out of the dining room within 1 hour! It was also the best meal we'd each had. Clay had John Dory fish and I had slow roasted ribeye steak.
Photos
Last night about cocktail hour, we cast off from Rousse and started sailing upstream in earnest. Sebastian, the CD, made the announcement that it would be a nice time to get a drink and take it up to the sun deck. He was right. Clay got the only draft beer onboard, Bitberg. He pronounced it bad. The day's cocktail was cranberry juice and raspberry vodka. I thought just cran juice on the rocks would be good. I only drank half but it must have had citric acid because I was up about 5 times overnight.
Dinner was different last night but not necessarily better. We sat at the front of the room rather than the rear which precluded a table for 2 as they were actively recruiting people to fill up tables. That is understandable. The couple that joined order 3 and 4 courses, so we ordered 3 and it was still a shorter dinner than our 1st night's 2 course. It also helped that it started earlier.
When we got back to the cabin after dinner we got a rude reminder why we generally never book aft cabins. They were running at full engine from probably 8:30 pm to 8:30 am. Our cabin was shaking, rattling and vibrating! It went all night. We were waitlisted a long time to get out of the basement cabins and still count ourselves lucky to have gotten this one. Another reason why historically we've booked early or else last minute to get a better selection. We are still sailing now at 1:50 pm but our next port Vidin is in sight.
We had Sebastian's cruise/port overview talk this morning. He did it 2x. Once in English and once in French so it lasted half the time for each group. Good choice. Roman, the fitness director, gave a presentation about his services as well. I don't think I mentioned we are right beside the fitness room so we see a lot of him. He knows I like ice and don't exercise. We decided to keep all the excursions we'd already booked from home weeks ago.
We spent part of the morning on the sun deck because our breakfast cabin service girl was off duty or elsewhere this morning. We saw her after breakfast and she serviced our cabin right away for us. The late morning, we spent on our "balcony". It was very nice. Tomorrow we sail ALL day but it seems the important landmarks are on the starboard side so we'll have to move around. Sebastian promises to make announcements but so far he's not coming through our TVs on channel 1 as promised.
We are on a special interest tour this afternoon from 3 to 6 pm. It is Banitsa Pastry & Yogurt Making. Since I make my own yogurt and Lactobacillus bulgaricus is a key to that, I am pretty excited about being in the birthplace of yogurt. We had banitsa at lunch as a side dish, not a dessert. Interesting. I don't know if they make it sweet too.
I'm back between the excursion and dinner. So, either the name of the tour changed or I misunderstood. It was banitsa making and yogurt tasting (not making) with a 5-minute discussion of how to find the Bulgarian culture online. The guide said it would be your 1st Google search hit and I got it yesterday but can't find it at all today. Try your luck. She said it is available freeze-dried now, but in her demo she used and said to use existing yogurt. They served commercial cartons of cow's milk and sheep's milk for the banitsa tasting. It can be made sweet or savory and in different shapes. It is versatile. It was better than the one served at lunch. The private home were the cooking demo took place was a short drive east to a village called Ruptsi.
Last note. It must have been at least 6 years since AmaWaterways updated their cruise port information handouts because that is where I got the information about the Friendship Bridge at Giurgiu/Rousse being the only bridge across the Danube between Bulgaria and Romania. We can see a bridge across in front of us where we are docked in Vidin. Our guide today pointed it out as being opened 6 years ago as the 2nd bridge between Bulgaria & Romania. Now you know.
Vidin is our last Bulgarian port. We start cruising again about 11 pm tonight. Tomorrow we cruise all day between Serbia and Romania. It should be scenic. The Iron Gates between the Balkan and Carpathian mountain ranges.
Before dinner there was a loudspeaker announcement that the boat will move the clocks back by 1 hour at 3 am. So not only will tomorrow be a long leisurely sailing day, it will be 1 hour longer. Or as Sebastian suggested, you can sleep in. I'm always afraid of missing seeing something sailing on rivers. Which reminds me, we didn't pack compact binoculars and that was a huge mistake. We've really been wishing for them!
Dinner was a success tonight! The dining room seemed emptier tonight. Maybe because the most strenuous excursion today on our hottest day yet got back at 7pm and showered and changed before dinner. Who knows why. We had a table to ourselves. We ordered a main and dessert each and they were served promptly. We were out of the dining room within 1 hour! It was also the best meal we'd each had. Clay had John Dory fish and I had slow roasted ribeye steak.
Photos
Monday, September 16, 2019
Sailing the Danube aboard AmaCerto
Photos
Well, we're not really sailing yet, but we crossed the Danube River to Bulgaria last night. That was the only thing that went smoothly last night. It turns out this sailing has a large escorted group (50 or more) of French-speaking Canadians. They travel en masse. Everything has to be done in 2 languages so it takes twice as long. Because the CD was returning to the boat with the pre-cruise passengers, all evening activities were delayed by 45 minutes or so. We were all supposed to have our tour requests finalized by 9:30 pm. I asked both the day and night receptions to handle that and both referred me to the CD but he was probably still at dinner at 10 pm. He had his main course when I left the dining room after 9:30 pm. We had a terrible dinner experience waiting an hour for 1 course. We are hopeful that it won't be as bad as that every night. But, the waiter defended himself by saying the kitchen workers would not let him order main courses until they finished serving appetizers, soups and salads. Hopefully, everyone won't arrive at once every night like last night. That couldn't help. They say you can enter the dining room and order any time between opening and 1.5 hours later. If we could stand to eat that late, maybe a late arrival would solve our problem. Tonight dinner is at 7 pm so we'll hope to out by 9 pm. There is a complimentary cocktail hour in the front lounge starting an hour before dinner starts.
Some more notes about AmaCerto. There are adequate outlets because in the desk drawer they provide a power strip. Current is 220 only. Oddly, there is only one 220 volt outlet behind the mirror in the bathroom. They provide a hair dryer but I don't know anyone who'd use it without being able to use the mirror too. Today I found there is an ice machine at the aft lounge/Chef's Table restaurant that is steps from our last cabin on deck 3. A plus. After breakfast, we returned to find our cabin already serviced and gifts on the bed. A ball cap for Clay and a Chinese-made viscose/acrylic large scarf/shawl for me. I should note that Clay complained going to bed last night with only a duvet again (as all over Europe anyway). Today there was a card on the bed that stated he could go to reception to ask for a sheet and blanket instead. He refused to go request it. So.
We were up much earlier than we needed to be today. Since the tour we wanted to cancel was leaving at 8:30 am and the tour we were interesting in was leaving at 9 am, we went to breakfast early. We caught Christian at his desk busy and waited to speak with him. He never asked our names about the cancellation so I guess it wasn't that important. We asked about the Rousse and Ivanovo Rock-Hewn Churches tour. The pre-cruise pdf said it was strenuous to hike at Ivanovo. Since we'd paid for an independent tour that was supposed to go there and didn't early this trip, we assumed the guide substituted a different rock-hewn monastery in the same Lom River valley because he thought I wouldn't be able to do the hike. Clay still wanted to do it (and so did I really, if possible). We asked if there was any flexibility like doing Rousse and not the hike (which the pdf doc had suggested). Christian said no at first, we talked some more and he asked us to check back after the woman guiding it arrived and he'd see and let us know. We told him we'd go to breakfast and check back. After breakfast, he flagged us down at reception and encouraged us to take gray tags (they use a group color code system everyday for each group to sync their QuietVoxs). He said we could stay in town and walk back or go out to Ivanovo and hike or sit at cafe tables. It turned out people in worse shape than me and less appropriate footwear were going to hike so I went. It wasn't easy but I did it and I'm glad. It was amazing and unique. I'm still glad that we also saw the starting monastery & tomb of St. Dimitri earlier too. So that all worked out for the best. After the tour bus returned to Rousse, they dropped off in town those who weren't ready to return to the boat. There is a little Artisan's Street Market at the docking area and our guide led us through for samples of wine and rose candy. Oh, the Rousse walking tour was remarkable for being yet another first day of school! The kids and parents all active and carrying flowers. As today's guide explained, 1st day of school in this region means an opening ceremony where the kids meet their teachers with flowers or gifts and after a few hours they all go sit in cafes and talk. Or as we saw in Brasov, have coffee or drinks and cigarettes!
We went to lunch aboard about 1 pm. I've had chicken breast and potatoes for 2 meals of 3 now. I had yogurt and waffles for breakfast. I won't starve but we were eating better on our own in my opinion.
We are docked here beside Rousse, Bulgaria until 5:45 pm. Assuming the bus with the full-day Bucharest tour returns on schedule. Our guide today told us that 2 days ago the locals shut down the Friendship Bridge in protests over clean air. That bridge is the only Danube border crossing between Bulgaria and Romanian. It was slow the day we crossed with a private tour. I can't imagine it in a bus. Hopefully, they'll have a smooth time of it today.
I'll post this now as we have a restful afternoon and a late night expected.
Photos
Well, we're not really sailing yet, but we crossed the Danube River to Bulgaria last night. That was the only thing that went smoothly last night. It turns out this sailing has a large escorted group (50 or more) of French-speaking Canadians. They travel en masse. Everything has to be done in 2 languages so it takes twice as long. Because the CD was returning to the boat with the pre-cruise passengers, all evening activities were delayed by 45 minutes or so. We were all supposed to have our tour requests finalized by 9:30 pm. I asked both the day and night receptions to handle that and both referred me to the CD but he was probably still at dinner at 10 pm. He had his main course when I left the dining room after 9:30 pm. We had a terrible dinner experience waiting an hour for 1 course. We are hopeful that it won't be as bad as that every night. But, the waiter defended himself by saying the kitchen workers would not let him order main courses until they finished serving appetizers, soups and salads. Hopefully, everyone won't arrive at once every night like last night. That couldn't help. They say you can enter the dining room and order any time between opening and 1.5 hours later. If we could stand to eat that late, maybe a late arrival would solve our problem. Tonight dinner is at 7 pm so we'll hope to out by 9 pm. There is a complimentary cocktail hour in the front lounge starting an hour before dinner starts.
Some more notes about AmaCerto. There are adequate outlets because in the desk drawer they provide a power strip. Current is 220 only. Oddly, there is only one 220 volt outlet behind the mirror in the bathroom. They provide a hair dryer but I don't know anyone who'd use it without being able to use the mirror too. Today I found there is an ice machine at the aft lounge/Chef's Table restaurant that is steps from our last cabin on deck 3. A plus. After breakfast, we returned to find our cabin already serviced and gifts on the bed. A ball cap for Clay and a Chinese-made viscose/acrylic large scarf/shawl for me. I should note that Clay complained going to bed last night with only a duvet again (as all over Europe anyway). Today there was a card on the bed that stated he could go to reception to ask for a sheet and blanket instead. He refused to go request it. So.
We were up much earlier than we needed to be today. Since the tour we wanted to cancel was leaving at 8:30 am and the tour we were interesting in was leaving at 9 am, we went to breakfast early. We caught Christian at his desk busy and waited to speak with him. He never asked our names about the cancellation so I guess it wasn't that important. We asked about the Rousse and Ivanovo Rock-Hewn Churches tour. The pre-cruise pdf said it was strenuous to hike at Ivanovo. Since we'd paid for an independent tour that was supposed to go there and didn't early this trip, we assumed the guide substituted a different rock-hewn monastery in the same Lom River valley because he thought I wouldn't be able to do the hike. Clay still wanted to do it (and so did I really, if possible). We asked if there was any flexibility like doing Rousse and not the hike (which the pdf doc had suggested). Christian said no at first, we talked some more and he asked us to check back after the woman guiding it arrived and he'd see and let us know. We told him we'd go to breakfast and check back. After breakfast, he flagged us down at reception and encouraged us to take gray tags (they use a group color code system everyday for each group to sync their QuietVoxs). He said we could stay in town and walk back or go out to Ivanovo and hike or sit at cafe tables. It turned out people in worse shape than me and less appropriate footwear were going to hike so I went. It wasn't easy but I did it and I'm glad. It was amazing and unique. I'm still glad that we also saw the starting monastery & tomb of St. Dimitri earlier too. So that all worked out for the best. After the tour bus returned to Rousse, they dropped off in town those who weren't ready to return to the boat. There is a little Artisan's Street Market at the docking area and our guide led us through for samples of wine and rose candy. Oh, the Rousse walking tour was remarkable for being yet another first day of school! The kids and parents all active and carrying flowers. As today's guide explained, 1st day of school in this region means an opening ceremony where the kids meet their teachers with flowers or gifts and after a few hours they all go sit in cafes and talk. Or as we saw in Brasov, have coffee or drinks and cigarettes!
We went to lunch aboard about 1 pm. I've had chicken breast and potatoes for 2 meals of 3 now. I had yogurt and waffles for breakfast. I won't starve but we were eating better on our own in my opinion.
We are docked here beside Rousse, Bulgaria until 5:45 pm. Assuming the bus with the full-day Bucharest tour returns on schedule. Our guide today told us that 2 days ago the locals shut down the Friendship Bridge in protests over clean air. That bridge is the only Danube border crossing between Bulgaria and Romanian. It was slow the day we crossed with a private tour. I can't imagine it in a bus. Hopefully, they'll have a smooth time of it today.
I'll post this now as we have a restful afternoon and a late night expected.
Photos
Sunday, September 15, 2019
Farewell Bucharest & Romania
Photos
We've spent our last night in Bucharest. I don't know why but I think neither of us slept well. Weekend breakfast at Europa Royale is from 8 to 11 am so we got a late start anyway. Checkout was noon and we checked out about 20 of and headed out to Starbucks on the corner about 12 of noon. Our driver was already there waiting for us as promised. We booked this transfer to Giurgiu and AmaCerto through Viator. The provider was Go Thor. Our driver was Marius Preda. We paid $127 for the private transfer from Europa Royale to AmaCerto. It was a new 8-passenger Mercedes van. It was good service.
It turned out to be only about a 50 minute drive. Check in onboard did not begin until 3 pm. We had thought the drive would be about twice that long! Anyway, staff from the riverboat immediately came and took our luggage aboard even though all the departing passengers had not left. We showed our passports and were checked on a new passenger manifest and asked to make ourselves comfortable in the forward lounge. I pointed out that we had not gotten our cruise documents before leaving home and our rolling duffels did not have our cabin number. He assured me they'd take care of it and they did. They had a light lunch buffet set up with hot drinks available or iced tea or water. There was a barman on duty but I have no idea if he was selling drinks because we didn't have keycards yet and the departing passengers had closed their accounts. AmaWaterways has complimentary beer, wine and soda at lunch & dinner. There is a welcome cocktail party at 6:30 pm tonight during the mandatory safety briefing where I assume drinks are complimentary. Dinner is served at 7:30 pm. Painfully late for us! The headwaiter approached us in the lounge to try to reserve our place at a special Chef's Table dining room for a fixed 7-course dinner tonight or some other night. I turned him down. We think that is included but can't swear to it. At 7:30 pm the ship sails more or less across the Danube River to overnight at Rousse, Bulgaria. We are scheduled to arrive at 9 pm.
At 3 pm, we went to reception and exchanged our passports for safetycards. They open our door to 332, the last port cabin on the highest cabin deck of 3. They have a barcode that we have to scan to leave and re-enter the boat.
The boat is quite attractive inside. We can't really tell about the outside as it is down an embankment and tied to some metal structure that blocks our view. Our cabin is one of a few cheap seats on this deck here at the aft end. So, it is quite small but seems functionally designed and laid out. It has a sliding glass door in the window side, so the whole cabin becomes a balcony I suppose. We were surprised to find the cabin walls are NOT metal so the magnets we usually organize cruise cabins with are useless. We unpacked everything without any problems. We are happy to have an ice bucket and an ice machine at the far end of the hall. We have a functional minifridge that actually seems to cool things. It was filled with complimentary bottle water though we're told the tap water is potable. Our ice bucket fits in there so that should minimize ice runs. Clay went to a magazin ashore and spent a forgetten 10 lei bill on a stash of Diet Pepsi so he can have a soda when he wants and not just at meals. Oh, and Kleenex in the room for the first time since leaving home!
The Cruise Manager is not here yet. He is with the pre-cruise passengers. We are told we have from his arrival to 9:30 pm to finalize our excursion bookings. We still want to cancel a return to Bucharest and have questions about the Rousse tour as a replacement. Stay tuned. I will post this now with the expectation that after dinner I'll be straight to bed! Any updates will be blogged about tomorrow.
We are on the Gems of Southeast Europe cruise. We paid just under $10,000 for this week so it wasn't cheap compared to the rest of the trip.
So, begins the final leg of our Eastern Europe adventure. The hard part should be over!
Photos
We've spent our last night in Bucharest. I don't know why but I think neither of us slept well. Weekend breakfast at Europa Royale is from 8 to 11 am so we got a late start anyway. Checkout was noon and we checked out about 20 of and headed out to Starbucks on the corner about 12 of noon. Our driver was already there waiting for us as promised. We booked this transfer to Giurgiu and AmaCerto through Viator. The provider was Go Thor. Our driver was Marius Preda. We paid $127 for the private transfer from Europa Royale to AmaCerto. It was a new 8-passenger Mercedes van. It was good service.
It turned out to be only about a 50 minute drive. Check in onboard did not begin until 3 pm. We had thought the drive would be about twice that long! Anyway, staff from the riverboat immediately came and took our luggage aboard even though all the departing passengers had not left. We showed our passports and were checked on a new passenger manifest and asked to make ourselves comfortable in the forward lounge. I pointed out that we had not gotten our cruise documents before leaving home and our rolling duffels did not have our cabin number. He assured me they'd take care of it and they did. They had a light lunch buffet set up with hot drinks available or iced tea or water. There was a barman on duty but I have no idea if he was selling drinks because we didn't have keycards yet and the departing passengers had closed their accounts. AmaWaterways has complimentary beer, wine and soda at lunch & dinner. There is a welcome cocktail party at 6:30 pm tonight during the mandatory safety briefing where I assume drinks are complimentary. Dinner is served at 7:30 pm. Painfully late for us! The headwaiter approached us in the lounge to try to reserve our place at a special Chef's Table dining room for a fixed 7-course dinner tonight or some other night. I turned him down. We think that is included but can't swear to it. At 7:30 pm the ship sails more or less across the Danube River to overnight at Rousse, Bulgaria. We are scheduled to arrive at 9 pm.
At 3 pm, we went to reception and exchanged our passports for safetycards. They open our door to 332, the last port cabin on the highest cabin deck of 3. They have a barcode that we have to scan to leave and re-enter the boat.
The boat is quite attractive inside. We can't really tell about the outside as it is down an embankment and tied to some metal structure that blocks our view. Our cabin is one of a few cheap seats on this deck here at the aft end. So, it is quite small but seems functionally designed and laid out. It has a sliding glass door in the window side, so the whole cabin becomes a balcony I suppose. We were surprised to find the cabin walls are NOT metal so the magnets we usually organize cruise cabins with are useless. We unpacked everything without any problems. We are happy to have an ice bucket and an ice machine at the far end of the hall. We have a functional minifridge that actually seems to cool things. It was filled with complimentary bottle water though we're told the tap water is potable. Our ice bucket fits in there so that should minimize ice runs. Clay went to a magazin ashore and spent a forgetten 10 lei bill on a stash of Diet Pepsi so he can have a soda when he wants and not just at meals. Oh, and Kleenex in the room for the first time since leaving home!
The Cruise Manager is not here yet. He is with the pre-cruise passengers. We are told we have from his arrival to 9:30 pm to finalize our excursion bookings. We still want to cancel a return to Bucharest and have questions about the Rousse tour as a replacement. Stay tuned. I will post this now with the expectation that after dinner I'll be straight to bed! Any updates will be blogged about tomorrow.
We are on the Gems of Southeast Europe cruise. We paid just under $10,000 for this week so it wasn't cheap compared to the rest of the trip.
So, begins the final leg of our Eastern Europe adventure. The hard part should be over!
Photos
Saturday, September 14, 2019
Back to Bucharest One More Time
photos
Today was our last intraEurope flight. We flew from Chisinau back to Bucharest on a Tarom 50-passenger prop plane again. This time rather than risk sitting by the propellers again, we kept the auto-assigned seats of 12 C & D. That was a mistake too because it was a smaller row at the back of the plane. Today I got the big guy whose seat leaned into my lap. Again it was rough on ascent and descent. Again they served small ham & cheese sandwiches and Milka cookies with soft drinks, water or coffee. Since it is only a 1 hour flight leaving at 2:20 pm today we thought they would serve lunch but they did. It was a full flight. It was fine, on time and our luggage arrived with us so no complaints. We thought we were ready for the taxi today since we'd learned last time. We went to the same North taxi kiosk to order a car and waited in the same place. Within in minutes our assigned car number arrived. This guy though, asked for the kiosk-issued slip, checked it then wadded it up and threw it on the ground. He didn't run the meter and asked for $20 when Clay tried to pay him in Lei. He was insistent that was what he wanted though it was too much. Clay just gave it to him and considered it another overly generous tip.
We were happy to return to the Europa Royale again. This time we got a different room, 307. It is around the corner from 309 which was one below our first room of 409. It is smaller and faces the traffic street not the pedestrian street entrance. It has a nice shower like City Park Hotel had though so it has that advantage. Oddly, unlike 309 and 409 which had a big empty corner with a floor lamp begging for a chair, 307 has 2 chairs and a table squeezed into a space before the window where nothing should go!
I wanted to return to Caru' cu bere Restaurant for dinner tonight. We were so focused on Clay's crispy pork knuckle last time that we didn't even read the rest of the menu. We got online and decided what we wanted and walked over without a reservation. We knew that was risky but I don't think we appreciated just how busy they'd be. We got there before 6 pm and asked to sit inside. They told us they'd seat us but only for 2 hours. That should be plenty of time! We'd forgotten how slow service was here. We were still out in plenty of time. We shared a main dish that we'd had several other places and a side dish of beans. We had room for dessert after seeing lots of papanasi being served. Big groups were somehow getting single cakes delivered per person. We ordered one and specified a single portion and still got 2 cakes. We managed!
Since we missed the dancing singing fountains show the first weekend we were here, we wanted to go tonight. The view from our 3rd floor room was not as complete as our 4th floor had been so we decided we'd walk over to Unirii Square. Unfortunately, we couldn't get a definitive answer on when the show started. Clay was sure it was 9 pm. I'd read earlier and you should arrive early. It started as we walked across the park about 8 pm. There were thousands of people there. Our guide last week told us it was the biggest show of this kind, dwarfing Bellagio. He was right. We couldn't see the whole thing! We left after a few songs so he could check the view from the room again. Third floor is too low, the trees obstruct too much and you see less than from the park. It was pretty special. We're sorry we missed it the first weekend.
We have a noon transfer scheduled to join AmaCerto in Georghiu tomorrow. The end really is in sight. We looked briefly at the paperwork today and saw that Monday we'd signed up for a full-day tour of Bucharest. After watching huge groups come & go at the restaurant tonight, I told Clay I thought I'd take a ship day instead. He thought about it and agreed if AMA's tour goes to Parliament and the Village Museum, he wasn't going either. We'll see. We know we signed up for it because everything else offered that day was strenuous. I think we'll be experiencing the boat that day.
Photos
Today was our last intraEurope flight. We flew from Chisinau back to Bucharest on a Tarom 50-passenger prop plane again. This time rather than risk sitting by the propellers again, we kept the auto-assigned seats of 12 C & D. That was a mistake too because it was a smaller row at the back of the plane. Today I got the big guy whose seat leaned into my lap. Again it was rough on ascent and descent. Again they served small ham & cheese sandwiches and Milka cookies with soft drinks, water or coffee. Since it is only a 1 hour flight leaving at 2:20 pm today we thought they would serve lunch but they did. It was a full flight. It was fine, on time and our luggage arrived with us so no complaints. We thought we were ready for the taxi today since we'd learned last time. We went to the same North taxi kiosk to order a car and waited in the same place. Within in minutes our assigned car number arrived. This guy though, asked for the kiosk-issued slip, checked it then wadded it up and threw it on the ground. He didn't run the meter and asked for $20 when Clay tried to pay him in Lei. He was insistent that was what he wanted though it was too much. Clay just gave it to him and considered it another overly generous tip.
We were happy to return to the Europa Royale again. This time we got a different room, 307. It is around the corner from 309 which was one below our first room of 409. It is smaller and faces the traffic street not the pedestrian street entrance. It has a nice shower like City Park Hotel had though so it has that advantage. Oddly, unlike 309 and 409 which had a big empty corner with a floor lamp begging for a chair, 307 has 2 chairs and a table squeezed into a space before the window where nothing should go!
I wanted to return to Caru' cu bere Restaurant for dinner tonight. We were so focused on Clay's crispy pork knuckle last time that we didn't even read the rest of the menu. We got online and decided what we wanted and walked over without a reservation. We knew that was risky but I don't think we appreciated just how busy they'd be. We got there before 6 pm and asked to sit inside. They told us they'd seat us but only for 2 hours. That should be plenty of time! We'd forgotten how slow service was here. We were still out in plenty of time. We shared a main dish that we'd had several other places and a side dish of beans. We had room for dessert after seeing lots of papanasi being served. Big groups were somehow getting single cakes delivered per person. We ordered one and specified a single portion and still got 2 cakes. We managed!
Since we missed the dancing singing fountains show the first weekend we were here, we wanted to go tonight. The view from our 3rd floor room was not as complete as our 4th floor had been so we decided we'd walk over to Unirii Square. Unfortunately, we couldn't get a definitive answer on when the show started. Clay was sure it was 9 pm. I'd read earlier and you should arrive early. It started as we walked across the park about 8 pm. There were thousands of people there. Our guide last week told us it was the biggest show of this kind, dwarfing Bellagio. He was right. We couldn't see the whole thing! We left after a few songs so he could check the view from the room again. Third floor is too low, the trees obstruct too much and you see less than from the park. It was pretty special. We're sorry we missed it the first weekend.
We have a noon transfer scheduled to join AmaCerto in Georghiu tomorrow. The end really is in sight. We looked briefly at the paperwork today and saw that Monday we'd signed up for a full-day tour of Bucharest. After watching huge groups come & go at the restaurant tonight, I told Clay I thought I'd take a ship day instead. He thought about it and agreed if AMA's tour goes to Parliament and the Village Museum, he wasn't going either. We'll see. We know we signed up for it because everything else offered that day was strenuous. I think we'll be experiencing the boat that day.
Photos
Friday, September 13, 2019
Chisinau and Milestii Mici
Photos
We got a little later start today. Breakfast is served in the restaurant next door to the City Park Hotel. I have to go over there for ice twice a day too. Breakfast is a combination of buffet and a limited cooked-to-order menu of eggs, omelets and porridges is available.
We began our tour today at 10 am. Our guide Anna came to the hotel lobby and did not know we'd booked a combo tour. She had to call the Hi Moldova office to confirm and coordinate with the driver for later. We set out walking to Cathedral Park and began with everything we'd self--toured yesterday afternoon. Eventually, she crossed the streets to get to Central Park and we walked about 1/2 of it with history and personalities discussed. At the far end of Central Park, we met our driver, Victor. He was across the street from a brand new I ♥ Chisinau sign. We wanted to take a photo over there. Anna suggested we go back on our. She and the driver pointed out souvenir and central markets on our panoramic drive and suggested we return on our own. Huh?
About noon, we just pulled over in traffic and Anna left us. Clay asked to sit up front and did so. We drove over a very rough road to exit Chisinau and visit a winery. Milestii Mici was noteworthy and a complete surprise. Except for vineyards, the whole operation is underground in 55 km of tunnels made by the Soviets mining limestone after WWII. We picked up a guide at the entrance and at 1 pm, a caravan of vehicles drove into the cellars! We'd drive some and get out, drive some more, walk around, drive some more. I was astounded. Then we had a 20-minute or so tasting from pitchers of wine with snacks. The snacks were good. Clay liked the wines and I didn't. I'm not much of a drinker anymore, but I was always picky about wine anyway. The 3 wines offered were in big glass pitchers. A white Sauvignon Blanc and 2 reds, one of the reds was some normal blend of grapes but the other was more like a brandy. It was definitely worth a visit.
We asked Victor to return us to the I ♥ Chisinau sign instead of taking us to the hotel as he'd planned. He did offer to wait for us to take the photo and then take us to the hotel but I wanted to go 3 blocks the other way to the souvenir market to look for a Moldova flag patch so we said no and our goodbyes. Victor spoke English among other languages and was a big plus today. I can recommend him. On Stefan cel Mare Blvd. almost directly across the street from the McDonald's where we'd turned around and headed back to the hotel yesterday, was a Souvenir store next to a tourist info office. I don't know why we didn't notice them yesterday. Anyway, we went in and I found a patch and bought it so we saved ourselves about an extra block of walking to the outdoor sidewalk stalls that were the souvenir market.
We had asked Anna for restaurant recommendations and her first was La Placinte where we'd eaten the past 2 nights. We asked for other recommendations but she never got around to giving us a list and what we thought she'd suggested and pointed out from the car, we deemed too far or iffy. Back to Placinte for us. We ordered something different each time except for cherry placinte for dessert. It was a short walk, inexpensive and reliably good so no complaints.
Tomorrow we can try to sleep in as our airport transfer is at 11:45 am for a 2:20 pm flight back to Bucharest. A final night at Europa Royale. On Sunday we only have to transfer from Bucharest to Giurgiu to AmaCerto river boat. So, hopefully a couple of easy days ahead. Clay is looking forward to having meals on a boat and not having to walk so far.
Photos
We got a little later start today. Breakfast is served in the restaurant next door to the City Park Hotel. I have to go over there for ice twice a day too. Breakfast is a combination of buffet and a limited cooked-to-order menu of eggs, omelets and porridges is available.
We began our tour today at 10 am. Our guide Anna came to the hotel lobby and did not know we'd booked a combo tour. She had to call the Hi Moldova office to confirm and coordinate with the driver for later. We set out walking to Cathedral Park and began with everything we'd self--toured yesterday afternoon. Eventually, she crossed the streets to get to Central Park and we walked about 1/2 of it with history and personalities discussed. At the far end of Central Park, we met our driver, Victor. He was across the street from a brand new I ♥ Chisinau sign. We wanted to take a photo over there. Anna suggested we go back on our. She and the driver pointed out souvenir and central markets on our panoramic drive and suggested we return on our own. Huh?
About noon, we just pulled over in traffic and Anna left us. Clay asked to sit up front and did so. We drove over a very rough road to exit Chisinau and visit a winery. Milestii Mici was noteworthy and a complete surprise. Except for vineyards, the whole operation is underground in 55 km of tunnels made by the Soviets mining limestone after WWII. We picked up a guide at the entrance and at 1 pm, a caravan of vehicles drove into the cellars! We'd drive some and get out, drive some more, walk around, drive some more. I was astounded. Then we had a 20-minute or so tasting from pitchers of wine with snacks. The snacks were good. Clay liked the wines and I didn't. I'm not much of a drinker anymore, but I was always picky about wine anyway. The 3 wines offered were in big glass pitchers. A white Sauvignon Blanc and 2 reds, one of the reds was some normal blend of grapes but the other was more like a brandy. It was definitely worth a visit.
We asked Victor to return us to the I ♥ Chisinau sign instead of taking us to the hotel as he'd planned. He did offer to wait for us to take the photo and then take us to the hotel but I wanted to go 3 blocks the other way to the souvenir market to look for a Moldova flag patch so we said no and our goodbyes. Victor spoke English among other languages and was a big plus today. I can recommend him. On Stefan cel Mare Blvd. almost directly across the street from the McDonald's where we'd turned around and headed back to the hotel yesterday, was a Souvenir store next to a tourist info office. I don't know why we didn't notice them yesterday. Anyway, we went in and I found a patch and bought it so we saved ourselves about an extra block of walking to the outdoor sidewalk stalls that were the souvenir market.
We had asked Anna for restaurant recommendations and her first was La Placinte where we'd eaten the past 2 nights. We asked for other recommendations but she never got around to giving us a list and what we thought she'd suggested and pointed out from the car, we deemed too far or iffy. Back to Placinte for us. We ordered something different each time except for cherry placinte for dessert. It was a short walk, inexpensive and reliably good so no complaints.
Tomorrow we can try to sleep in as our airport transfer is at 11:45 am for a 2:20 pm flight back to Bucharest. A final night at Europa Royale. On Sunday we only have to transfer from Bucharest to Giurgiu to AmaCerto river boat. So, hopefully a couple of easy days ahead. Clay is looking forward to having meals on a boat and not having to walk so far.
Photos
Thursday, September 12, 2019
Outside Chisinau
Photos
So, Chisinau. Mostly sounds like kiz-ee-now. Usually rhymes with kiss-me-now. Sometimes with chiz-me-nev. I think no 2 people pronounce it alike depending on their native language or dialect. In the end though, all the advice we got was 2 days was too long to spend in the city and that the beauty of Moldova lay in the countryside. So, we booked a 2-day overnight tour which you may recall was cancelled on us by the tour operator a couple of weeks ago. We were able to keep our room tonight at City Park Hotel, which left us with filling the 2 days. Today we booked a 1-day tour that visited the area we had originally booked for 2 days. It was a Private Tour to Old Orhei and Curchi Monastery. The tour description is full day with dinner. It was actually 5 hours with lunch. That was fine. We were a little surprised that our guide today brought her mother along to practice her English, navigate and order/organize our lunch while we toured. It was fine. She was also a tour guide in Russian and Turkish and went out of her way to be helpful. We didn't find the countryside to be as impressive as Romania's. The Old Orhei valley area was quite scenic but that was really the highlight. The Curchi Monastery was beautifully landscaped but as Natalia pointed out, it is very rich and had recently been spruced for a visit from the Orthodox Patriach. It seemed like a good substitute for our cancelled tour. The lunch was beautifully presented outdoors by the chickens and roosters. It was way too much food and an early lunch. We'd given up by 12:30 pm. The guide explained they wanted us to be able to try a wide variety of local dishes. We'd had something like almost all of it and of course this was fresher and home made so somehow different and maybe better. We had a red wine in an earthenware pitcher that Clay said wasn't as bad as the Friia family red but bad. We asked for a white too and got a sweet sparkling bottle that was very nice. It was the first wine I'd had in months and I couldn't handle more than a half glass. We both drank all the 1/3 liter bottle of water they provided. In the end, the 5-hours was fine. We got back and toured locally on our own for an hour or so per Natalia's advice. We walked through Cathedral Park and the cathedral at the up hill end of our pedestrian street. Then we took well-earned and long awaited naps. We got up and went back to Placinte for dinner. We had chicken, cheese placinte and cherry placinte tonight. It was slightly less oniony tonight. We need to find somewhere new for tomorrow.
At 10 am tomorrow we start a new tour. It is a combo city tour with a country side winery added. More later.
Photos
So, Chisinau. Mostly sounds like kiz-ee-now. Usually rhymes with kiss-me-now. Sometimes with chiz-me-nev. I think no 2 people pronounce it alike depending on their native language or dialect. In the end though, all the advice we got was 2 days was too long to spend in the city and that the beauty of Moldova lay in the countryside. So, we booked a 2-day overnight tour which you may recall was cancelled on us by the tour operator a couple of weeks ago. We were able to keep our room tonight at City Park Hotel, which left us with filling the 2 days. Today we booked a 1-day tour that visited the area we had originally booked for 2 days. It was a Private Tour to Old Orhei and Curchi Monastery. The tour description is full day with dinner. It was actually 5 hours with lunch. That was fine. We were a little surprised that our guide today brought her mother along to practice her English, navigate and order/organize our lunch while we toured. It was fine. She was also a tour guide in Russian and Turkish and went out of her way to be helpful. We didn't find the countryside to be as impressive as Romania's. The Old Orhei valley area was quite scenic but that was really the highlight. The Curchi Monastery was beautifully landscaped but as Natalia pointed out, it is very rich and had recently been spruced for a visit from the Orthodox Patriach. It seemed like a good substitute for our cancelled tour. The lunch was beautifully presented outdoors by the chickens and roosters. It was way too much food and an early lunch. We'd given up by 12:30 pm. The guide explained they wanted us to be able to try a wide variety of local dishes. We'd had something like almost all of it and of course this was fresher and home made so somehow different and maybe better. We had a red wine in an earthenware pitcher that Clay said wasn't as bad as the Friia family red but bad. We asked for a white too and got a sweet sparkling bottle that was very nice. It was the first wine I'd had in months and I couldn't handle more than a half glass. We both drank all the 1/3 liter bottle of water they provided. In the end, the 5-hours was fine. We got back and toured locally on our own for an hour or so per Natalia's advice. We walked through Cathedral Park and the cathedral at the up hill end of our pedestrian street. Then we took well-earned and long awaited naps. We got up and went back to Placinte for dinner. We had chicken, cheese placinte and cherry placinte tonight. It was slightly less oniony tonight. We need to find somewhere new for tomorrow.
At 10 am tomorrow we start a new tour. It is a combo city tour with a country side winery added. More later.
Photos
Wednesday, September 11, 2019
Flying to Chisinau, Moldova
Photos
Country #91! After a surprisingly crowded breakfast at the Europa Royale in Bucarest, we checked out and waited outside for our tour-included airport transfer as instructed. After about 10 minutes, our driver talked his way past the police barricade to the pedestrian street and he blew by us with our luggage. We watched him park right in front of the hotel and start inside. We walked back over the cobblestones to him. He expected us in the lobby. We were instructed to be outside in front, which we took to mean the street, not the pedestrian passage outside the door. In any event, we made good time to the airport. The check-in counter was open when we arrived so we got in line. Checked our bags and everyone was left with the boarding pass they brought with them. Security was quick. Clay got a secondary screen this time. Last stop was border control. No problems. We made our way downstairs to gate 26 which was beside a food court. Clay ordered 2 sarmales. I had a banana. I also went to Burger King with my water bottle and asked to buy a cup of ice, They filled it for free! We paid 8 lei for a bottle of water from a vending machine.
All our intra-Europe flights have boarded directly from the tarmac. Today's Tarom flight may have been our smallest plane yet. It was a propeller plane, not a jet. It was fine. We were right beside the propeller and there was a rough ride before and after cruising altitude. It was a short flight and the seats were rows of 2 by 2 so we weren't too crowded. Except Clay who had a monstrously big man seated in front of him, who either broke his seat or else no attendant was willing to tell him to put it upright. Clay could not lower his tray table because the guy was in his lap. We were surprised that they served small ham & cheese sandwiches with Milka cookies and a beverage. We were glad we didn't have a big lunch at the airport. Our hotel pre-arranged driver was not outside baggage claim after we cleared the Moldova border. Clay called them and we were told to wait. He showed up about 10 or 15 minutes after we did. It probably took us an hour from landing to hotel check-in. The hotel is supposed to charge us an extra 15 Euros for the airport transfers each way. Clay got flummoxed by the new currency (still called Lei) and tipped the driver a generous $22 worth by giving him 2 200 lei bills instead of 2 50 lei bills. He figured it out in the grocery store when he found the 2 50s and realized he was missing some 200s. Oops. There goes his budget for this segment.
Romania is an EU country and Moldova is not. Moldova was once part of Romania and they share a language, more or less. But, more recently Moldova was part of Ukraine. The signs are in Latin alphabet and Cyrillic. There is very little English signage and fewer people speak English here so far.
After we got settled into room 501 of the City Park Hotel and got the AC working, we went out. We walked about 2 blocks to a grocery store for water and more hard candies for Clay. We came back and dropped off the sack. We walked about 2 blocks in the other direction to La Placinte, a local restaurant chain. We saw them in Romania too. It was a good choice. Dinner tomorrow night is included in our day-long tour, but we may return there Friday night for different dishes. City Park, like New Montana, is accessed up a long flight of stairs but has an elevator inside thankfully. Also thankfully, the cab driver insisted on carrying our luggage up. He worked for a tip! The room is quiet and comfortable enough. Hard wood floors. Clay says the bathroom is the nicest. I think he means because it has a step-up shower stall with doors. If it doesn't leak on the floor, it will be an improvement. It is the first one in over a week that hasn't had a 110 outlet in the bathroom. I like my nightlight. Actually, the 1st thing we did in our new bathroom was count days and underwear and hang handwashing in there since it is ours for 3 nights.
We start a full-day tour tomorrow at 9 am so off I go.
Photos
Country #91! After a surprisingly crowded breakfast at the Europa Royale in Bucarest, we checked out and waited outside for our tour-included airport transfer as instructed. After about 10 minutes, our driver talked his way past the police barricade to the pedestrian street and he blew by us with our luggage. We watched him park right in front of the hotel and start inside. We walked back over the cobblestones to him. He expected us in the lobby. We were instructed to be outside in front, which we took to mean the street, not the pedestrian passage outside the door. In any event, we made good time to the airport. The check-in counter was open when we arrived so we got in line. Checked our bags and everyone was left with the boarding pass they brought with them. Security was quick. Clay got a secondary screen this time. Last stop was border control. No problems. We made our way downstairs to gate 26 which was beside a food court. Clay ordered 2 sarmales. I had a banana. I also went to Burger King with my water bottle and asked to buy a cup of ice, They filled it for free! We paid 8 lei for a bottle of water from a vending machine.
All our intra-Europe flights have boarded directly from the tarmac. Today's Tarom flight may have been our smallest plane yet. It was a propeller plane, not a jet. It was fine. We were right beside the propeller and there was a rough ride before and after cruising altitude. It was a short flight and the seats were rows of 2 by 2 so we weren't too crowded. Except Clay who had a monstrously big man seated in front of him, who either broke his seat or else no attendant was willing to tell him to put it upright. Clay could not lower his tray table because the guy was in his lap. We were surprised that they served small ham & cheese sandwiches with Milka cookies and a beverage. We were glad we didn't have a big lunch at the airport. Our hotel pre-arranged driver was not outside baggage claim after we cleared the Moldova border. Clay called them and we were told to wait. He showed up about 10 or 15 minutes after we did. It probably took us an hour from landing to hotel check-in. The hotel is supposed to charge us an extra 15 Euros for the airport transfers each way. Clay got flummoxed by the new currency (still called Lei) and tipped the driver a generous $22 worth by giving him 2 200 lei bills instead of 2 50 lei bills. He figured it out in the grocery store when he found the 2 50s and realized he was missing some 200s. Oops. There goes his budget for this segment.
Romania is an EU country and Moldova is not. Moldova was once part of Romania and they share a language, more or less. But, more recently Moldova was part of Ukraine. The signs are in Latin alphabet and Cyrillic. There is very little English signage and fewer people speak English here so far.
After we got settled into room 501 of the City Park Hotel and got the AC working, we went out. We walked about 2 blocks to a grocery store for water and more hard candies for Clay. We came back and dropped off the sack. We walked about 2 blocks in the other direction to La Placinte, a local restaurant chain. We saw them in Romania too. It was a good choice. Dinner tomorrow night is included in our day-long tour, but we may return there Friday night for different dishes. City Park, like New Montana, is accessed up a long flight of stairs but has an elevator inside thankfully. Also thankfully, the cab driver insisted on carrying our luggage up. He worked for a tip! The room is quiet and comfortable enough. Hard wood floors. Clay says the bathroom is the nicest. I think he means because it has a step-up shower stall with doors. If it doesn't leak on the floor, it will be an improvement. It is the first one in over a week that hasn't had a 110 outlet in the bathroom. I like my nightlight. Actually, the 1st thing we did in our new bathroom was count days and underwear and hang handwashing in there since it is ours for 3 nights.
We start a full-day tour tomorrow at 9 am so off I go.
Photos
Tuesday, September 10, 2019
Day 7 Touring Romania
Photos
Here is today & tomorrow's tour descriptions from the website. Not like it matters any more. It is over. We got back to Europa Royale in Bucharest around 2 pm. Vlad dropped us off here with a promise to follow up with Trip2Ro, the Viator tour provider, about tomorrow's included airport transfer and take us to the airport himself tomorrow if necessary. We'll see, our airport ride here didn't show up originally so we know we can take a cab. Day 7: Brasov - Sinaia - Bucharest After breakfast we have a stop in Bran to visit Bran Castle (Dracula's Castle) and depart to Sinaia, with a visit of Peles Castle (considered among the most beautiful in Europe). Later we continue to Bucharest with a visit to the Village Museum. Overnight in Bucharest in a 4* central located Hotel. Day 8: Bucharest - Airport After breakfast we continue the visit of Bucharest, then transfer to the airport.
So, the modifications to the above are that we started in Sinaia, we visited Bran yesterday. Today we visited Peles Castle, a modern castle. We paid 15 lei pp to enter plus 30 lei for a photo permit. We visited Sinaia Monastery after that. It was the only thing in Sinaia before King Carol I built Peles Castle. Carol expanded the monastery. We didn't visit the Village Museum as we did that on day 1. Since we toured Bucharest on day 1, all we expected tomorrow was a transfer to the airport. We'll see.
We've checked in online for our 12:40 pm flight tomorrow to Chisinau, Moldova. We've printed our boarding passes. We had salty and sweet cheese pastries from the corner shop for lunch. We're resting this afternoon. I'm sure shortly we'll regret not doing laundry with this time but it is hot again in Bucharest.
Last time we were here at Europa Royale, we had room 409 and it had a balcony with a nice view of Piata Unirii. Today we got room 309 and expected it to be the same, one floor down. But not quite. It has no balcony and you can't see the park over the trees. It is only 1 night!
Photos
Here is today & tomorrow's tour descriptions from the website. Not like it matters any more. It is over. We got back to Europa Royale in Bucharest around 2 pm. Vlad dropped us off here with a promise to follow up with Trip2Ro, the Viator tour provider, about tomorrow's included airport transfer and take us to the airport himself tomorrow if necessary. We'll see, our airport ride here didn't show up originally so we know we can take a cab. Day 7: Brasov - Sinaia - Bucharest After breakfast we have a stop in Bran to visit Bran Castle (Dracula's Castle) and depart to Sinaia, with a visit of Peles Castle (considered among the most beautiful in Europe). Later we continue to Bucharest with a visit to the Village Museum. Overnight in Bucharest in a 4* central located Hotel. Day 8: Bucharest - Airport After breakfast we continue the visit of Bucharest, then transfer to the airport.
So, the modifications to the above are that we started in Sinaia, we visited Bran yesterday. Today we visited Peles Castle, a modern castle. We paid 15 lei pp to enter plus 30 lei for a photo permit. We visited Sinaia Monastery after that. It was the only thing in Sinaia before King Carol I built Peles Castle. Carol expanded the monastery. We didn't visit the Village Museum as we did that on day 1. Since we toured Bucharest on day 1, all we expected tomorrow was a transfer to the airport. We'll see.
We've checked in online for our 12:40 pm flight tomorrow to Chisinau, Moldova. We've printed our boarding passes. We had salty and sweet cheese pastries from the corner shop for lunch. We're resting this afternoon. I'm sure shortly we'll regret not doing laundry with this time but it is hot again in Bucharest.
Last time we were here at Europa Royale, we had room 409 and it had a balcony with a nice view of Piata Unirii. Today we got room 309 and expected it to be the same, one floor down. But not quite. It has no balcony and you can't see the park over the trees. It is only 1 night!
Photos
Monday, September 9, 2019
Day 6 Touring Romania
Photos
Here are 2 days descriptions of our tour from the website. At this point, it may not even be helpful anymore. The end is in sight. I am posting 2 days again, because we did things from day 7 today. Day 6: Piatra Neamt - Brasov We have breakfast and depart to Brasov on one of the most beautiful scenic roads of Romania, Bicaz Gorges. We continue our journey to the Red Lake and after a stop in Miercurea Ciuc we will arrive in the medieval town of Brasov. Visit the beautiful city of Brasov with its Black Church and overnight in a 3* Hotel close to the old town. Day 7: Brasov - Sinaia - Bucharest After breakfast we have a stop in Bran to visit Bran Castle (Dracula's Castle) and depart to Sinaia, with a visit of Peles Castle (considered among the most beautiful in Europe). Later we continue to Bucharest with a visit to the Village Museum. Overnight in Bucharest in a 4* central located Hotel.
We are actually overnighting in Sinaia at New Montana. It has no air conditioning again. The hotel is so close to the towering mountainside there was no chance of afternoon sun overheating the room, so it isn't too bad. Last night in Miercurea Ciuc, the temperature overnight dropped to 42 F. We're told Sinaia will be just as cold overnight. The number of mosquitoes here tells me it hasn't been that cold here recently.
So we had a pretty bare bones breakfast buffet in Miercurea Ciuc before setting off at 9 am. We drove to Brasov with one potty stop. We parked and walked a pretty big loop of old town Brasov for an hour or more. It was a big area and we didn't cover it all. Though it was around noon as we walked, Vlad discouraged lunch here as it was too early. He suggested drinks and a local dessert specialty for 2 called papanasi. Unfortunately, it would take k45 minutes or more to cook the dessert and that wasn't advisable. We just stayed with the drinks. Since it was his birthday today, Vlad bought us drinks. I declined further touring on foot of Brasov and we set out driving for Bran Castle via Poiana Brasov.
Bran Castle is a medieval fortification, later customs house, later private royal residence and now tourist attraction that an image of served as inspiration for Bram Stoker's Dracula's castle. First we had a quick lunch at one of the many restaurants at the foot of the hill of the castle. We paid 30 lei pp at a senior rate for entry. It was helpful to have our private guide to talk us through it and explain things. Evidently they also have an audioguide option. We were fortunate that it wasn't too crowded this first day back to school in Romania. I should have mentioned that our hotel room overlooked the street entrance of a school and we saw all the boys wearing their ties and all the children carrying bouquets of flowers for their teachers on their first day in Miercurea Ciuc. Meanwhile by 11 am until when we left, old town Brasov was overrun with teenagers in coffee shops and bars drinking and smoking. We never did understand how they could be having a first day of school and be in town by 11 am and still there into afternoon. First Day! Anyway, Bran Castle was impressive.
About 5:10pm, we crossed the line in the Carpathians between Transylvania back into Wallachia where we'll finish touring tomorrow in Bucharest. Vlad says tomorrow we'll tour Sinaia Monastery and Peles Castle. On day 8, we only have breakfast and hotel to airport transfer.
We went out to an apparently nameless corner restaurant near the hotel. Vlad recommended it and it was attractive and served Traditional Romanian Restaurant fare. Per Vlad's advice, we ordered dessert of papanasi when we ordered drinks and dinner. The timing worked out. It was good, again more than we could eat, and cost 76.70 lei or about $17.95.
After dinner, we crossed the street to buy a bottle of water for tonight. We went to a Mega Image which has a logo that looks like our Food Lion. It turns out they have the same parent company, Delhaize.
Photos
Here are 2 days descriptions of our tour from the website. At this point, it may not even be helpful anymore. The end is in sight. I am posting 2 days again, because we did things from day 7 today. Day 6: Piatra Neamt - Brasov We have breakfast and depart to Brasov on one of the most beautiful scenic roads of Romania, Bicaz Gorges. We continue our journey to the Red Lake and after a stop in Miercurea Ciuc we will arrive in the medieval town of Brasov. Visit the beautiful city of Brasov with its Black Church and overnight in a 3* Hotel close to the old town. Day 7: Brasov - Sinaia - Bucharest After breakfast we have a stop in Bran to visit Bran Castle (Dracula's Castle) and depart to Sinaia, with a visit of Peles Castle (considered among the most beautiful in Europe). Later we continue to Bucharest with a visit to the Village Museum. Overnight in Bucharest in a 4* central located Hotel.
We are actually overnighting in Sinaia at New Montana. It has no air conditioning again. The hotel is so close to the towering mountainside there was no chance of afternoon sun overheating the room, so it isn't too bad. Last night in Miercurea Ciuc, the temperature overnight dropped to 42 F. We're told Sinaia will be just as cold overnight. The number of mosquitoes here tells me it hasn't been that cold here recently.
So we had a pretty bare bones breakfast buffet in Miercurea Ciuc before setting off at 9 am. We drove to Brasov with one potty stop. We parked and walked a pretty big loop of old town Brasov for an hour or more. It was a big area and we didn't cover it all. Though it was around noon as we walked, Vlad discouraged lunch here as it was too early. He suggested drinks and a local dessert specialty for 2 called papanasi. Unfortunately, it would take k45 minutes or more to cook the dessert and that wasn't advisable. We just stayed with the drinks. Since it was his birthday today, Vlad bought us drinks. I declined further touring on foot of Brasov and we set out driving for Bran Castle via Poiana Brasov.
Bran Castle is a medieval fortification, later customs house, later private royal residence and now tourist attraction that an image of served as inspiration for Bram Stoker's Dracula's castle. First we had a quick lunch at one of the many restaurants at the foot of the hill of the castle. We paid 30 lei pp at a senior rate for entry. It was helpful to have our private guide to talk us through it and explain things. Evidently they also have an audioguide option. We were fortunate that it wasn't too crowded this first day back to school in Romania. I should have mentioned that our hotel room overlooked the street entrance of a school and we saw all the boys wearing their ties and all the children carrying bouquets of flowers for their teachers on their first day in Miercurea Ciuc. Meanwhile by 11 am until when we left, old town Brasov was overrun with teenagers in coffee shops and bars drinking and smoking. We never did understand how they could be having a first day of school and be in town by 11 am and still there into afternoon. First Day! Anyway, Bran Castle was impressive.
About 5:10pm, we crossed the line in the Carpathians between Transylvania back into Wallachia where we'll finish touring tomorrow in Bucharest. Vlad says tomorrow we'll tour Sinaia Monastery and Peles Castle. On day 8, we only have breakfast and hotel to airport transfer.
We went out to an apparently nameless corner restaurant near the hotel. Vlad recommended it and it was attractive and served Traditional Romanian Restaurant fare. Per Vlad's advice, we ordered dessert of papanasi when we ordered drinks and dinner. The timing worked out. It was good, again more than we could eat, and cost 76.70 lei or about $17.95.
After dinner, we crossed the street to buy a bottle of water for tonight. We went to a Mega Image which has a logo that looks like our Food Lion. It turns out they have the same parent company, Delhaize.
Photos
Sunday, September 8, 2019
Day 5 Touring Romania
Photos
Here is a description of today's program from the website, however we didn't do any of that so I've included day 6 some of which we did do. I'll try to sort it out. Day 5: Radauti - Piatra Neamt We have breakfast in the hotel, then we visit Humor Monastery, then Voronet Monastery (Voronet became famous among art lovers thanks to two features of its painting: blue, made with a formula still unknown, called "blue Voronet" and the magnificent scene depicting "The Last Judgement"). We continue our journey to Piatra Neamt with a visit to the Monastery Agapia. Overnight in a 4* hotel in Piatra Neamt. or Roman. Day 6: Piatra Neamt - Brasov We have breakfast and depart to Brasov on one of the most beautiful scenic roads of Romania, Bicaz Gorges. We continue our journey to the Red Lake and after a stop in Miercurea Ciuc we will arrive in the medieval town of Brasov. Visit the beautiful city of Brasov with its Black Church and overnight in a 3* Hotel close to the old town.
We are actually at the only 3* star hotel on our program in Miercurea Ciuc, at the Hotel Fenyo. What a difference at star makes! There is no air conditioning! It must be another communist built project as it seems fairly dated and of the period. It is across the street from a park adjoining a pedestrian street/plaza so I suppose it is a good location. But, beyond being broiling hot inside, it is just pretty grim. We did get a pretty sunset view over the Carpathian Mountains in the distance this evening. I guess that doesn't happen every day (well unless you live here!) so there is that as a bonus.
So we woke up in Radauti and drove to Piatra Neamt where we saw the little of what remains of its old town center, a church and a clock tower. As we drove, in every little hamlet we drove through there were people dressed up on their way to church this Sunday morning. It turns out that Catholics and Orthodox Christians celebrate the birth of the Virgin Mary on September 8th. That meant the church and square where the service was broadcast were full. We couldn't see inside, only out. We did go in the 1930's building nearby that housed a museum of ancient pottery. We paid 16 lei pp and our tickets say, Complexul Muzeal Judetean Neamt. I couldn't find anything in English. They claimed to have the world's oldest pottery, but Google says that honor goes to China. I found this about the place and pottery. Not a lot known about the Cucuteni who made the pots.
We had the usual 2 gas station potty breaks today. I don't think I've mentioned it but for days we've driven through miles of corn fields. It is like Nebraska out here! We've driven mountain roads to rival switchback roads anywhere. Clay has let me sit in front for the last 2 days. I'm still taking extra meclizine. Romania is primarily involved in agriculture it seems. We've seen loads of horse carts this trip. Today we saw lots of fields of potatoes being manually harvested. We saw one yesterday.
Around noon, we took a left turn and the landscape changed dramatically. We entered the Bicaz Gorges. At the narrowest point, Vlad let us out of the car to join others walking on the edge of the road. He parked what he said was maybe a 1/2 mile ahead and waited for us. We must have been too slow or he couldn't find a place to park where he thought he could, so he walked back to meet us when it widened again. It was pretty spectacular and dangerously scary walking. We got to a State Fair parking situation at Red Lake (which did not appear at all red to me). This was our next stop and where Vlad had planned for lunch. It was around 2pm already. We did after a 2nd pass find a spot and walked down to the lake and found a seat for lunch at Mountain Steak. We paid 2 lei each for using the toilets. We bought 1 huge chimney cake for dessert in the car. We couldn't finish it! Just as well since we couldn't find any where we wanted to eat tonight and had it for dinner in our hot, West-facing hotel room.
So, I am just guessing at this point but I expect the monasteries that have been skipped are just off the program for good and we won't see them tomorrow. The day after that we'll be back in Bucharest. We still have the Dracula-related castles to see.
Looking at the tour itinerary above, you can see we did some things from 2 days and the Voronets Monastery was visited yesterday. I am sure there must be some logistical explanation for the changes. It doesn't matter that much to us as we had no plans for each day except to be guided about and that's happening.
So, we found 2 Italian and 1 Mexican restaurants and a coffee shop open nearby. We went to the local Profi instead and bought a yogurt, ice cream, local cheese puffs, marshmallow cookies and water for a light evening snack tonight. We spent 7.75 lei or about $1.80!
Hotel breakfast buffet starts at 7 am tomorrow and we start driving again at 9 am.
Photos
Here is a description of today's program from the website, however we didn't do any of that so I've included day 6 some of which we did do. I'll try to sort it out. Day 5: Radauti - Piatra Neamt We have breakfast in the hotel, then we visit Humor Monastery, then Voronet Monastery (Voronet became famous among art lovers thanks to two features of its painting: blue, made with a formula still unknown, called "blue Voronet" and the magnificent scene depicting "The Last Judgement"). We continue our journey to Piatra Neamt with a visit to the Monastery Agapia. Overnight in a 4* hotel in Piatra Neamt. or Roman. Day 6: Piatra Neamt - Brasov We have breakfast and depart to Brasov on one of the most beautiful scenic roads of Romania, Bicaz Gorges. We continue our journey to the Red Lake and after a stop in Miercurea Ciuc we will arrive in the medieval town of Brasov. Visit the beautiful city of Brasov with its Black Church and overnight in a 3* Hotel close to the old town.
We are actually at the only 3* star hotel on our program in Miercurea Ciuc, at the Hotel Fenyo. What a difference at star makes! There is no air conditioning! It must be another communist built project as it seems fairly dated and of the period. It is across the street from a park adjoining a pedestrian street/plaza so I suppose it is a good location. But, beyond being broiling hot inside, it is just pretty grim. We did get a pretty sunset view over the Carpathian Mountains in the distance this evening. I guess that doesn't happen every day (well unless you live here!) so there is that as a bonus.
So we woke up in Radauti and drove to Piatra Neamt where we saw the little of what remains of its old town center, a church and a clock tower. As we drove, in every little hamlet we drove through there were people dressed up on their way to church this Sunday morning. It turns out that Catholics and Orthodox Christians celebrate the birth of the Virgin Mary on September 8th. That meant the church and square where the service was broadcast were full. We couldn't see inside, only out. We did go in the 1930's building nearby that housed a museum of ancient pottery. We paid 16 lei pp and our tickets say, Complexul Muzeal Judetean Neamt. I couldn't find anything in English. They claimed to have the world's oldest pottery, but Google says that honor goes to China. I found this about the place and pottery. Not a lot known about the Cucuteni who made the pots.
We had the usual 2 gas station potty breaks today. I don't think I've mentioned it but for days we've driven through miles of corn fields. It is like Nebraska out here! We've driven mountain roads to rival switchback roads anywhere. Clay has let me sit in front for the last 2 days. I'm still taking extra meclizine. Romania is primarily involved in agriculture it seems. We've seen loads of horse carts this trip. Today we saw lots of fields of potatoes being manually harvested. We saw one yesterday.
Around noon, we took a left turn and the landscape changed dramatically. We entered the Bicaz Gorges. At the narrowest point, Vlad let us out of the car to join others walking on the edge of the road. He parked what he said was maybe a 1/2 mile ahead and waited for us. We must have been too slow or he couldn't find a place to park where he thought he could, so he walked back to meet us when it widened again. It was pretty spectacular and dangerously scary walking. We got to a State Fair parking situation at Red Lake (which did not appear at all red to me). This was our next stop and where Vlad had planned for lunch. It was around 2pm already. We did after a 2nd pass find a spot and walked down to the lake and found a seat for lunch at Mountain Steak. We paid 2 lei each for using the toilets. We bought 1 huge chimney cake for dessert in the car. We couldn't finish it! Just as well since we couldn't find any where we wanted to eat tonight and had it for dinner in our hot, West-facing hotel room.
So, I am just guessing at this point but I expect the monasteries that have been skipped are just off the program for good and we won't see them tomorrow. The day after that we'll be back in Bucharest. We still have the Dracula-related castles to see.
Looking at the tour itinerary above, you can see we did some things from 2 days and the Voronets Monastery was visited yesterday. I am sure there must be some logistical explanation for the changes. It doesn't matter that much to us as we had no plans for each day except to be guided about and that's happening.
So, we found 2 Italian and 1 Mexican restaurants and a coffee shop open nearby. We went to the local Profi instead and bought a yogurt, ice cream, local cheese puffs, marshmallow cookies and water for a light evening snack tonight. We spent 7.75 lei or about $1.80!
Hotel breakfast buffet starts at 7 am tomorrow and we start driving again at 9 am.
Photos
Saturday, September 7, 2019
Day 4 Touring Romania
Photos
Here is today's tour description: Day 4: Bistrita - Gura Humorului - Radauti We have breakfast and depart to visit the most important monasteries from Bucovina: Moldovita and Sucevita monasteries. Later we will stop for a demonstration of black pottery at Marginea. Overnight in a 4* hotel The Gerald's Hotel in Radauti.
We were up early this morning. Clay didn't sleep well last night. We had the hotel's restaurant breakfast buffet to ourselves! I got ice again this morning with coffee and yogurt so I'm not complaining. Just saying. It was creepy. We sat outside since those tables were set vs. inside. As well, it was much cooler outside than in. Today was much cooler than the past several days. In line with forecast temps and historical averages for once on this trip. Hopefully that will last and not just be because of we are at our Northernmost point of our Romanian visit and at somewhat of an altitude. Of course, we started much further North and hotter, so hopefully it is a break in the heat wave.
We set off a little after 9 am because Clay misplaced his travel wedding ring. Our 1st stop was unscheduled but Vlad wanted us to see it as we'd ended yesterday in the Golden Crown parking lot reading Bram Stoker's description of Jonathan Harker going to meet Count Dracula's carriage at the Borgo Pass. The communists built Castel Dracula Hotel in the Borgo Pass in the 1980s. We just parked and stretched our legs and admired the views.
Our 2nd stop is listed in tomorrow's description. We stopped at Voronet Monastery. We visited 3 monasteries today and all have been occupied by nuns and not monks. This one has been continuously occupied since it was built in 1488! We had to walk through a long narrow gauntlet of souvenir stalls to get to it but this was our favorite monastery today. Today has been our favorite day too. We've really been liking Romania, the people, the landscapes, the history, the food, the prices... Anyway, we again had to pay the entrance tickets for ourselves (Vlad's tourguide license gets him free admission.) It was 5 lei pp + 10 lei for a photography permit though the inside of the church was prominently posted no photography.
It was about 1pm when we left Voronet. In the gauntlet of stalls they were selling chimney cakes (we didn't have any) and placintes. We bought 2 ham & cheese and 4 cherry. (Vlad dropped the 1st 2 cherry placintes on the ground as he turned around with them! It was a tragedy. But since we were still standing at the front of the line, we could quickly and easily replace them.) We drove to a nearby market for a yogurt drink for Vlad and a Coke Zero for us. Then we found a shady place to park and a log to sit on and enjoyed a picnic. A horse cart clopped by as we ate! It was a great lunch. Clay & I shared our 2 and still couldn't finish them! We ran off a dog at the site when we arrived, so we left the remains for him to return for when we left.
3rd stop was Moldovita Monastery. This one was built by the bastard son of the King Stephen the Great who built Voronets. It was built about 50 years later. All 3 monasteries were walled fortresses as well. We paid 5 lei pp admission fee. All 3 monasteries were posted no photography inside. The last 2 had no extra photography permits.
4th stop was Sucevita Monastery. It was the newest, built in the late 16th century. We paid 5 leii pp for entry again. All 3 monasteries today are UNESCO World Heritage sites.
Last stop of the day was a place making and selling black pottery in Marginea. It was much like every other pottery/ceramics place we've visited. Always fascinating to watch.
We arrived at The Gerald's Hotel around 5 pm. We were encouraged to have the hotel restaurant's buffet at 40 lei each but it wouldn't begin before 7 pm, so no. We were encourage to eat a la carte in the same restaurant after 6 pm. We agreed, but didn't. We'd been having complimentary bottles of water in hotels for weeks now, but not here. We also didn't have any water left over today. The water in the room was for sale at 10 lei each, the same bottle chilled in a market would be under 2 lei. That chapped so we went out walking towards the Profi that was 6 minutes away. We checked out food offerings along the way. On the way back, we spoke to a waiter outside Restaurant National and he offered us an English language menu. We went in to eat dinner about 6 pm. It was good and more food than we could eat. It cost 48 lei for the whole meal with drinks. That is about $11.20! I had tochitura (which Clay had a version of for lunch yesterday). It was very different tonight. No stew aspect. A big pile of cheese that looked suspiciously like the sour, inedible stuff I'd had the other night but wasn't and the cheese had a fried egg on top. It was good but it was way too much. Clay picked sarmales again but they were out! He finally chose Ficatei Taranesti which was defined as rustic chicken livers. The waiter said that meant they were cooked with onions and Clay ordered mamaliga on the side. I tried to tell him he could just help eat mine, but no. It was only 2 lei, but still it was wasted food.
I had asked for ice at the bar when we checked in so I made Clay go get it when we came in after dinner. He got a big glassful of at least as much as I'd gotten in my bottle. We'll hope for more at breakfast tomorrow!
Photos
Here is today's tour description: Day 4: Bistrita - Gura Humorului - Radauti We have breakfast and depart to visit the most important monasteries from Bucovina: Moldovita and Sucevita monasteries. Later we will stop for a demonstration of black pottery at Marginea. Overnight in a 4* hotel The Gerald's Hotel in Radauti.
We were up early this morning. Clay didn't sleep well last night. We had the hotel's restaurant breakfast buffet to ourselves! I got ice again this morning with coffee and yogurt so I'm not complaining. Just saying. It was creepy. We sat outside since those tables were set vs. inside. As well, it was much cooler outside than in. Today was much cooler than the past several days. In line with forecast temps and historical averages for once on this trip. Hopefully that will last and not just be because of we are at our Northernmost point of our Romanian visit and at somewhat of an altitude. Of course, we started much further North and hotter, so hopefully it is a break in the heat wave.
We set off a little after 9 am because Clay misplaced his travel wedding ring. Our 1st stop was unscheduled but Vlad wanted us to see it as we'd ended yesterday in the Golden Crown parking lot reading Bram Stoker's description of Jonathan Harker going to meet Count Dracula's carriage at the Borgo Pass. The communists built Castel Dracula Hotel in the Borgo Pass in the 1980s. We just parked and stretched our legs and admired the views.
Our 2nd stop is listed in tomorrow's description. We stopped at Voronet Monastery. We visited 3 monasteries today and all have been occupied by nuns and not monks. This one has been continuously occupied since it was built in 1488! We had to walk through a long narrow gauntlet of souvenir stalls to get to it but this was our favorite monastery today. Today has been our favorite day too. We've really been liking Romania, the people, the landscapes, the history, the food, the prices... Anyway, we again had to pay the entrance tickets for ourselves (Vlad's tourguide license gets him free admission.) It was 5 lei pp + 10 lei for a photography permit though the inside of the church was prominently posted no photography.
It was about 1pm when we left Voronet. In the gauntlet of stalls they were selling chimney cakes (we didn't have any) and placintes. We bought 2 ham & cheese and 4 cherry. (Vlad dropped the 1st 2 cherry placintes on the ground as he turned around with them! It was a tragedy. But since we were still standing at the front of the line, we could quickly and easily replace them.) We drove to a nearby market for a yogurt drink for Vlad and a Coke Zero for us. Then we found a shady place to park and a log to sit on and enjoyed a picnic. A horse cart clopped by as we ate! It was a great lunch. Clay & I shared our 2 and still couldn't finish them! We ran off a dog at the site when we arrived, so we left the remains for him to return for when we left.
3rd stop was Moldovita Monastery. This one was built by the bastard son of the King Stephen the Great who built Voronets. It was built about 50 years later. All 3 monasteries were walled fortresses as well. We paid 5 lei pp admission fee. All 3 monasteries were posted no photography inside. The last 2 had no extra photography permits.
4th stop was Sucevita Monastery. It was the newest, built in the late 16th century. We paid 5 leii pp for entry again. All 3 monasteries today are UNESCO World Heritage sites.
Last stop of the day was a place making and selling black pottery in Marginea. It was much like every other pottery/ceramics place we've visited. Always fascinating to watch.
We arrived at The Gerald's Hotel around 5 pm. We were encouraged to have the hotel restaurant's buffet at 40 lei each but it wouldn't begin before 7 pm, so no. We were encourage to eat a la carte in the same restaurant after 6 pm. We agreed, but didn't. We'd been having complimentary bottles of water in hotels for weeks now, but not here. We also didn't have any water left over today. The water in the room was for sale at 10 lei each, the same bottle chilled in a market would be under 2 lei. That chapped so we went out walking towards the Profi that was 6 minutes away. We checked out food offerings along the way. On the way back, we spoke to a waiter outside Restaurant National and he offered us an English language menu. We went in to eat dinner about 6 pm. It was good and more food than we could eat. It cost 48 lei for the whole meal with drinks. That is about $11.20! I had tochitura (which Clay had a version of for lunch yesterday). It was very different tonight. No stew aspect. A big pile of cheese that looked suspiciously like the sour, inedible stuff I'd had the other night but wasn't and the cheese had a fried egg on top. It was good but it was way too much. Clay picked sarmales again but they were out! He finally chose Ficatei Taranesti which was defined as rustic chicken livers. The waiter said that meant they were cooked with onions and Clay ordered mamaliga on the side. I tried to tell him he could just help eat mine, but no. It was only 2 lei, but still it was wasted food.
I had asked for ice at the bar when we checked in so I made Clay go get it when we came in after dinner. He got a big glassful of at least as much as I'd gotten in my bottle. We'll hope for more at breakfast tomorrow!
Photos
Friday, September 6, 2019
Day 3 Touring Romania
Photos
Here is today's tour description: Day 3: Sibiu - Sighisoara - Bistrita We have breakfast and depart to Biertan fortified church, famous for its divorce prison room and later we will arrive in Sighisoara (Unesco) , the city where Vlad Tepes (The Impaler) was born. We will visit the Unesco citadel and then go to Bistrita through the beautiful city of Targu Mures which we visit shortly. Overnight in Hotel Coroana de Aur 4* where stayed also Jonathan Harker from the novel of Bram Stoker in Bistrita.
Spoiler alert: I am assuming that last sentence is Romanian humor because while the names Golden Crown are similar, the hotel we are in tonight was built by the Communist regime and could not have been standing here when fictional Jonathan Harker stayed.
We set out around 9 am after breakfast and checkout. I have forgotten to note that when we left Ukraine and enter Romania everyone spoke English again. I am reminded because trying to get ice at breakfast, I encountered my first local who wasn't fluent in English at all. The people we encountered on our Monday tour to Bulgaria also all spoke English.
Our 1st stop today was the fortified church at Biertan. It was not the 1st one we saw this morning on our drive. We paid 10 lei pp to enter. This also served as our morning potty break. It was a tough walk over river stone pavements and steep slopes. There were beautiful mountain vistas all day today including from here. The most interesting thing was a room off to the left of the church's altar and it was a lock on an old door because it used to serve as a treasury. The other interesting thing was the divorce prison outside the church.
Next stop was Sighisoara with an entire old town that is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I think we walked the entire old town on cobbled streets after climbing the hill to get there. We did stop for lunch mid-way. I still got a sunburn today! It was a special place but a really hard walk. We ate lunch at Casa Vlad Dracul in the actual house where Vlad (basis for fictional Dracula) was born. It was good food too. I ordered bean soup in a bread bowl and Clay ordered tochitura, a Romanian pork sausage stew over mamaliga, and we switched mid-way.
After lunch we drove to Targu Mures, a city known for an area of Secessionist architecture. We walked for far too long to see too little. The best example was 1 huge building, the Palace of Culture, and the street-dividing plaza along the stretch we walked was made to have been driven down & back to see the buildings. I guess an architect might have wanted more time there, but...
Last potty stop was a gas station in Reghin. New map pin.
We arrived in Bistrita at about 5 pm for rush hour and to find the road beside our hotel was closed. So it was about an hour before we got checked in to Hotel Coroana de Aur. Vlad suggested a place across the roundabout from the hotel. We looked it up on the Internet and couldn't find a menu nor could we find any where else as close to eat. Google said Rapsodie was open so we went. It was closed. There is a small nice looking building that looks like it is built in the hotel's lawn at the corner, it had a huge umbrella covered terrace of outdoor seating and it was clearly open when we walked by. It had no name that we ever saw and it isn't shown on Google maps. Our receipt for our meal has no name! It wasn't great but it was convenient for a quick dinner about 7 pm. Evidently a Lutheran church is the only site of interest in Bistrita and we weren't curious enough to walk there.
We asked for ice at the front desk when we returned. They sent us to the hotel's restaurant which appeared to be close behind the 7 to midnight sign. They told us to open the closed doors and ask. The only light was coming from the kitchen so we waited outside it. Eventually a woman came by. We'd seen a table of men out on the hotel's terrace with a silver bucket of ice so Clay asked for a bucket of ice. She said sure and came back and handed him a plastic grocery sack full of ice! Cold drinks tonight!
Photos
Here is today's tour description: Day 3: Sibiu - Sighisoara - Bistrita We have breakfast and depart to Biertan fortified church, famous for its divorce prison room and later we will arrive in Sighisoara (Unesco) , the city where Vlad Tepes (The Impaler) was born. We will visit the Unesco citadel and then go to Bistrita through the beautiful city of Targu Mures which we visit shortly. Overnight in Hotel Coroana de Aur 4* where stayed also Jonathan Harker from the novel of Bram Stoker in Bistrita.
Spoiler alert: I am assuming that last sentence is Romanian humor because while the names Golden Crown are similar, the hotel we are in tonight was built by the Communist regime and could not have been standing here when fictional Jonathan Harker stayed.
We set out around 9 am after breakfast and checkout. I have forgotten to note that when we left Ukraine and enter Romania everyone spoke English again. I am reminded because trying to get ice at breakfast, I encountered my first local who wasn't fluent in English at all. The people we encountered on our Monday tour to Bulgaria also all spoke English.
Our 1st stop today was the fortified church at Biertan. It was not the 1st one we saw this morning on our drive. We paid 10 lei pp to enter. This also served as our morning potty break. It was a tough walk over river stone pavements and steep slopes. There were beautiful mountain vistas all day today including from here. The most interesting thing was a room off to the left of the church's altar and it was a lock on an old door because it used to serve as a treasury. The other interesting thing was the divorce prison outside the church.
Next stop was Sighisoara with an entire old town that is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I think we walked the entire old town on cobbled streets after climbing the hill to get there. We did stop for lunch mid-way. I still got a sunburn today! It was a special place but a really hard walk. We ate lunch at Casa Vlad Dracul in the actual house where Vlad (basis for fictional Dracula) was born. It was good food too. I ordered bean soup in a bread bowl and Clay ordered tochitura, a Romanian pork sausage stew over mamaliga, and we switched mid-way.
After lunch we drove to Targu Mures, a city known for an area of Secessionist architecture. We walked for far too long to see too little. The best example was 1 huge building, the Palace of Culture, and the street-dividing plaza along the stretch we walked was made to have been driven down & back to see the buildings. I guess an architect might have wanted more time there, but...
Last potty stop was a gas station in Reghin. New map pin.
We arrived in Bistrita at about 5 pm for rush hour and to find the road beside our hotel was closed. So it was about an hour before we got checked in to Hotel Coroana de Aur. Vlad suggested a place across the roundabout from the hotel. We looked it up on the Internet and couldn't find a menu nor could we find any where else as close to eat. Google said Rapsodie was open so we went. It was closed. There is a small nice looking building that looks like it is built in the hotel's lawn at the corner, it had a huge umbrella covered terrace of outdoor seating and it was clearly open when we walked by. It had no name that we ever saw and it isn't shown on Google maps. Our receipt for our meal has no name! It wasn't great but it was convenient for a quick dinner about 7 pm. Evidently a Lutheran church is the only site of interest in Bistrita and we weren't curious enough to walk there.
We asked for ice at the front desk when we returned. They sent us to the hotel's restaurant which appeared to be close behind the 7 to midnight sign. They told us to open the closed doors and ask. The only light was coming from the kitchen so we waited outside it. Eventually a woman came by. We'd seen a table of men out on the hotel's terrace with a silver bucket of ice so Clay asked for a bucket of ice. She said sure and came back and handed him a plastic grocery sack full of ice! Cold drinks tonight!
Photos
Thursday, September 5, 2019
Day 2 Touring Romania
Photos
Here is today's tour description: Day 2: Bucharest - Curtea de Arges - Sibiu We have breakfast and depart to Sibiu. On the way we visit Monastery of Curtea de Arges and continue with a visit to Cozia Monastery. We continue our tour with Sibiu, the city which was chosen as The European Capital of Culture in 2007 along with the city of Luxembourg. Visit the medieval old town and overnight in a central located 4* hotel.
It was raining when we woke up and mercifully cooler. We had breakfast, checked out of the Europa Royale for now and loaded the small VW van Vlad calls Snow White because it is white and seats 7. We were on our way North by around 9 am. About 2 hours out at Bascov we had a potty break and Vlad needed a smoke. The rain had completely cleared. Although we'd cross the Carpathians mountain range the day would just get hotter. At 11:30 am we reached a series of roadside stands alongside the Trans-Europe Motorway. Vlad told us this was the birthplace of Romania's mici, or charcoal grilled skinless sausage. We stopped for brunch. It was a busy place. They were good.
In the early afternoon, we stopped for a guided tour of Cozia Monastery. Our tour description says 2 monasteries but we skipped Curta de Arges without comment. We continued on our route following the scenic Olt River valley.
We drove on North and out of the mountains and into Transylvania. We arrived at the Continental Forum Hotel in Sibiu at about 2:45 pm. Vlad got us checked in and left us to settle in and regroup at 3:30 pm to begin a walking tour of the old town of Sibiu. We walked around as he pointed out architecture and history for 2 hours before we begged off any more. He showed us the place he thought would be best for dinner and offered an alternative but we stayed at Crama Sibiul Vechi. It was perfect for us in an old wine cellar, so quiet, cool and no smoking since it was indoors. Clay had some really good sarmale, or Romanian cabbage rolls. I was nearly ill with exhaustion and overheating and didn't really want to eat and everything with meat sounded overwhelming. I ordered mamaliga cu branza si smantana, which was polenta with sour cow's cheese and sour cream. It was awful. Neither of us liked the really sour tasting melted cheese. I scraped it off and ate about half the polenta and sour cream. With beer and a rare find for us Coke Zero in a restaurant, we paid 75 lei or about $17.50. On the walk back to the hotel, Clay had pistachio gelato and I had a chocolate Langos.
Vlad will pick us up at 9 am after breakfast at the hotel. He says we may not reach tomorrow's hotel until after 7 pm! I hope he doesn't think we'll go on another city walking tour then! It seems that even private and easy paced tours are still too strenuous for us now!
Photos
Here is today's tour description: Day 2: Bucharest - Curtea de Arges - Sibiu We have breakfast and depart to Sibiu. On the way we visit Monastery of Curtea de Arges and continue with a visit to Cozia Monastery. We continue our tour with Sibiu, the city which was chosen as The European Capital of Culture in 2007 along with the city of Luxembourg. Visit the medieval old town and overnight in a central located 4* hotel.
It was raining when we woke up and mercifully cooler. We had breakfast, checked out of the Europa Royale for now and loaded the small VW van Vlad calls Snow White because it is white and seats 7. We were on our way North by around 9 am. About 2 hours out at Bascov we had a potty break and Vlad needed a smoke. The rain had completely cleared. Although we'd cross the Carpathians mountain range the day would just get hotter. At 11:30 am we reached a series of roadside stands alongside the Trans-Europe Motorway. Vlad told us this was the birthplace of Romania's mici, or charcoal grilled skinless sausage. We stopped for brunch. It was a busy place. They were good.
In the early afternoon, we stopped for a guided tour of Cozia Monastery. Our tour description says 2 monasteries but we skipped Curta de Arges without comment. We continued on our route following the scenic Olt River valley.
We drove on North and out of the mountains and into Transylvania. We arrived at the Continental Forum Hotel in Sibiu at about 2:45 pm. Vlad got us checked in and left us to settle in and regroup at 3:30 pm to begin a walking tour of the old town of Sibiu. We walked around as he pointed out architecture and history for 2 hours before we begged off any more. He showed us the place he thought would be best for dinner and offered an alternative but we stayed at Crama Sibiul Vechi. It was perfect for us in an old wine cellar, so quiet, cool and no smoking since it was indoors. Clay had some really good sarmale, or Romanian cabbage rolls. I was nearly ill with exhaustion and overheating and didn't really want to eat and everything with meat sounded overwhelming. I ordered mamaliga cu branza si smantana, which was polenta with sour cow's cheese and sour cream. It was awful. Neither of us liked the really sour tasting melted cheese. I scraped it off and ate about half the polenta and sour cream. With beer and a rare find for us Coke Zero in a restaurant, we paid 75 lei or about $17.50. On the walk back to the hotel, Clay had pistachio gelato and I had a chocolate Langos.
Vlad will pick us up at 9 am after breakfast at the hotel. He says we may not reach tomorrow's hotel until after 7 pm! I hope he doesn't think we'll go on another city walking tour then! It seems that even private and easy paced tours are still too strenuous for us now!
Photos
Wednesday, September 4, 2019
Day 1 Touring Romania in Bucharest
Photos
Today we began one of the big components of our trip to Eastern Europe. It is an 8-day privately guided tour of Romania. We paid about $2600 for this tour. Today we met Vlad, our guide for the next week. It was a good beginning in Bucharest. The tour description for today is: Day 1: Bucharest Departure from your hotel or directly from the airport of Bucharest. Visit to the Parliament Building, the second largest building of the world after the Pentagon in the United States, the old town and the romanian Atheneum. Overnight in central located 4* hotel. Europa Royale
We set out walking about 9:15 am. I am slow so it took us at least 30 minutes to reach the Palace of Parliament. We paid 40 lei each for tickets to a guided tour group in English for 10 am. It lasted an hour and we covered 30 rooms and a kilometer and over 177 stairs first up, then down. It was an impressive building and everything used to build and decorate it is proudly Romanian. We did not visit the Romanian Atheneum. Vlad called a taxi and took us to visit the Village Museum. We paid 8 lei each for tickets. It is an interesting and huge park setting with representative vernacular architecture examples from around the countryside from different time periods. Most of it was old. We had a refreshment break there with a late lunch after that visit at the nearby Beraria H. It is Europe's largest beer hall opened in a former basketball gymnasium. They had 3 fixed courses that you could chose 2 of for 24 lei per person. Our drinks cost half that much each! Of course, we had massive 2-course lunches for about $5.60 each.
The tour description linked above states what is included and what is excluded. Since photo fees at museums are excluded and entry fees are not mentioned in either category, we incorrectly it seems assumed they were included in our tour price. It remains to be seen how big an oversight on our part that will turn out to be.
At the end of lunch, Vlad called for a ride and we toured Victoria Avenue by car to return to the hotel in Old Town. We got out and took about another hour's walk circling Old Town with Vlad pointing out highlights and points of interest. It was much more than we had discovered on our own. We went to the corner patisserie for a sour cherry croissant and an apple placinta. They were hearty and big and cost about $.80 each. They served as dinner tonight after our late and large lunch.
Tomorrow after breakfast we'll meet Vlad with his 7-passenger van outside a bit before 9 am to set off for other parts of Romania. The tour description online for day 2 is pasted below.
Day 2: Bucharest - Curtea de Arges - Sibiu We have breakfast and depart to Sibiu. On the way we visit Monastery of Curtea de Arges and continue with a visit to Cozia Monastery. We continue our tour with Sibiu, the city which was chosen as The European Capital of Culture in 2007 along with the city of Luxembourg. Visit the medieval old town and overnight in a central located 4* hotel. Continental Forum
Photos
Today we began one of the big components of our trip to Eastern Europe. It is an 8-day privately guided tour of Romania. We paid about $2600 for this tour. Today we met Vlad, our guide for the next week. It was a good beginning in Bucharest. The tour description for today is: Day 1: Bucharest Departure from your hotel or directly from the airport of Bucharest. Visit to the Parliament Building, the second largest building of the world after the Pentagon in the United States, the old town and the romanian Atheneum. Overnight in central located 4* hotel. Europa Royale
We set out walking about 9:15 am. I am slow so it took us at least 30 minutes to reach the Palace of Parliament. We paid 40 lei each for tickets to a guided tour group in English for 10 am. It lasted an hour and we covered 30 rooms and a kilometer and over 177 stairs first up, then down. It was an impressive building and everything used to build and decorate it is proudly Romanian. We did not visit the Romanian Atheneum. Vlad called a taxi and took us to visit the Village Museum. We paid 8 lei each for tickets. It is an interesting and huge park setting with representative vernacular architecture examples from around the countryside from different time periods. Most of it was old. We had a refreshment break there with a late lunch after that visit at the nearby Beraria H. It is Europe's largest beer hall opened in a former basketball gymnasium. They had 3 fixed courses that you could chose 2 of for 24 lei per person. Our drinks cost half that much each! Of course, we had massive 2-course lunches for about $5.60 each.
The tour description linked above states what is included and what is excluded. Since photo fees at museums are excluded and entry fees are not mentioned in either category, we incorrectly it seems assumed they were included in our tour price. It remains to be seen how big an oversight on our part that will turn out to be.
At the end of lunch, Vlad called for a ride and we toured Victoria Avenue by car to return to the hotel in Old Town. We got out and took about another hour's walk circling Old Town with Vlad pointing out highlights and points of interest. It was much more than we had discovered on our own. We went to the corner patisserie for a sour cherry croissant and an apple placinta. They were hearty and big and cost about $.80 each. They served as dinner tonight after our late and large lunch.
Tomorrow after breakfast we'll meet Vlad with his 7-passenger van outside a bit before 9 am to set off for other parts of Romania. The tour description online for day 2 is pasted below.
Day 2: Bucharest - Curtea de Arges - Sibiu We have breakfast and depart to Sibiu. On the way we visit Monastery of Curtea de Arges and continue with a visit to Cozia Monastery. We continue our tour with Sibiu, the city which was chosen as The European Capital of Culture in 2007 along with the city of Luxembourg. Visit the medieval old town and overnight in a central located 4* hotel. Continental Forum
Photos
Tuesday, September 3, 2019
Laundry day in Bucharest
Photos
We had today designated to do laundry. We Googled it when planning and thought there were some easily accessible laundromats. When we asked our guide for advice yesterday he made a phone call to confirm that there are none except in university housing. Clay Googled one an 11 minute walk from the Europa Royale and Alin called them for us. He confirmed that they were open and they charged a base price of 18 lei to wash 8 kg and 15 to dry. It was not self-service other than you were responsible for separating your loads. They dried and folded and charged for laundry supplies. We took over a duffel bag with 2 loads and got them back about 3.5 hours later fresh and neatly folded for 82 lei. That equals about $19. It would have cost us more than that to have a single outfit laundered at the hotel, so time well spent. Plus it made a more restful day.
The temperature soared over 90F today and the sun was brutal. It also seemed more humid. It was tolerable in the shade with a near constant breeze though. We walked the Google Maps route over to Fourwood Laundry. It was inconvenient. We had hours to kill and needed to stay out of the hotel room so it could be serviced. Following Alin's suggestion, we walked to the Patriarchal Cathedral of Saints Constantine and Helena to see the relic (corpse) of St. Dimitar whose tomb and monastery we'd visited yesterday. The cathedral also has relics (small parts) of Constantine & Helena as a bonus. I visited the relics and Clay didn't. You could not see the parts. St. Dimitar had a waxy hand available to be seen, touched and kissed. I just looked. It was a good suggestion.
We walked back towards the shady park opposite Fourwood Laundry. When we go to the inconvenient part of the walk, I suggested an alternate route in the shade along a parking lane and across some lanes of traffic to the Piata Unirii. I could see some large umbrellas for outdoor seating at the other end of the block. It wouldn't be the shortest walk to Fourwood, but it would be closer to the park where we planned to end our wait. We stopped at Czech In for drinks and killed an easy hour there watching people and the amazing fountains (that we understand on weekend nights dance to light and music). Clay had a beer and I had a caffe frappe which had a scoop of chocolate ice cream! It was 27 lei for an hour's enjoyment plus we used the toilets. (About $6.25.) I noticed the Metro entrance at the corner as we went around the end of the block to our park instead of backtracking to Fourwood. We bought a cold bottle of water at a minimarket nearby and waited. At 1:30 pm, our still warm clothes were turned over to us neatly packed in the nylon bags we'd provided. We headed back towards the Metro, Clay planned to cross the large square and walk along beside Uinrea shopping mall. I pointed out that it was all in traffic and sun and we should try to walk underground because surely the Metro connected to the mall or worst case would just take us across the busy lanes of traffic. It took us to within a block of the hotel! Good orienteering!
We sorted out the laundry then after a short cool down head back out to the mall. Clay wanted more hard candies for his throat plus Coke Zeros for the next 8 days touring remote villages, just in case. We never did find an entrance to the giant mall. Each store with a street front had their own entrance but you couldn't get into the mall. The Metro has access to the Mall according to online news stories but we didn't find that either. We did find the Carrefour grocery store behind and got our shopping done as well as finding a bank ATM.
After we dropped off our shopping, it was near 5 pm and we headed back out for dinner. This was another excellent suggestion from Alin. Caru cu bere was about 5-10 minutes walk through small pedestrian streets. The building was fantastic, we were so glad I asked to sit inside purely to avoid cigarette smoke. Clay had checked the menu last night and found his crispy pork knuckle for 2 so we skipped dinner last night and lunch today to have it. It was huge and we still couldn't finish it! We paid 131.60 lei or $30.65.
When we were in the room before dinner, Clay's phone rang. It was Vlad, our guide for the next 7 days. He wanted to meet us to start touring tomorrow at 9:30 am instead of 9 am. He said he couldn't get tickets to Parliament tomorrow until 10 am. I wasn't part of the conversation but evidently we will walk to tour the world's 2nd largest building behind the Pentagon. Vlad doesn't know yet how slowly I walk and Clay didn't mention it to him. Fingers crossed it won't be a problem tomorrow arriving on time in the 30 minutes Vlad allotted.
I forgot to mention that our Europa Royale Room 409 has a balcony. From the balcony, you can look right and see the dancing fountains of Unirea Plaza. I just looked and though Clay said they only dance and sing on weekend nights. They were specially lit and dancing tonight. We may be too far away to hear music.
Photos
We had today designated to do laundry. We Googled it when planning and thought there were some easily accessible laundromats. When we asked our guide for advice yesterday he made a phone call to confirm that there are none except in university housing. Clay Googled one an 11 minute walk from the Europa Royale and Alin called them for us. He confirmed that they were open and they charged a base price of 18 lei to wash 8 kg and 15 to dry. It was not self-service other than you were responsible for separating your loads. They dried and folded and charged for laundry supplies. We took over a duffel bag with 2 loads and got them back about 3.5 hours later fresh and neatly folded for 82 lei. That equals about $19. It would have cost us more than that to have a single outfit laundered at the hotel, so time well spent. Plus it made a more restful day.
The temperature soared over 90F today and the sun was brutal. It also seemed more humid. It was tolerable in the shade with a near constant breeze though. We walked the Google Maps route over to Fourwood Laundry. It was inconvenient. We had hours to kill and needed to stay out of the hotel room so it could be serviced. Following Alin's suggestion, we walked to the Patriarchal Cathedral of Saints Constantine and Helena to see the relic (corpse) of St. Dimitar whose tomb and monastery we'd visited yesterday. The cathedral also has relics (small parts) of Constantine & Helena as a bonus. I visited the relics and Clay didn't. You could not see the parts. St. Dimitar had a waxy hand available to be seen, touched and kissed. I just looked. It was a good suggestion.
We walked back towards the shady park opposite Fourwood Laundry. When we go to the inconvenient part of the walk, I suggested an alternate route in the shade along a parking lane and across some lanes of traffic to the Piata Unirii. I could see some large umbrellas for outdoor seating at the other end of the block. It wouldn't be the shortest walk to Fourwood, but it would be closer to the park where we planned to end our wait. We stopped at Czech In for drinks and killed an easy hour there watching people and the amazing fountains (that we understand on weekend nights dance to light and music). Clay had a beer and I had a caffe frappe which had a scoop of chocolate ice cream! It was 27 lei for an hour's enjoyment plus we used the toilets. (About $6.25.) I noticed the Metro entrance at the corner as we went around the end of the block to our park instead of backtracking to Fourwood. We bought a cold bottle of water at a minimarket nearby and waited. At 1:30 pm, our still warm clothes were turned over to us neatly packed in the nylon bags we'd provided. We headed back towards the Metro, Clay planned to cross the large square and walk along beside Uinrea shopping mall. I pointed out that it was all in traffic and sun and we should try to walk underground because surely the Metro connected to the mall or worst case would just take us across the busy lanes of traffic. It took us to within a block of the hotel! Good orienteering!
We sorted out the laundry then after a short cool down head back out to the mall. Clay wanted more hard candies for his throat plus Coke Zeros for the next 8 days touring remote villages, just in case. We never did find an entrance to the giant mall. Each store with a street front had their own entrance but you couldn't get into the mall. The Metro has access to the Mall according to online news stories but we didn't find that either. We did find the Carrefour grocery store behind and got our shopping done as well as finding a bank ATM.
After we dropped off our shopping, it was near 5 pm and we headed back out for dinner. This was another excellent suggestion from Alin. Caru cu bere was about 5-10 minutes walk through small pedestrian streets. The building was fantastic, we were so glad I asked to sit inside purely to avoid cigarette smoke. Clay had checked the menu last night and found his crispy pork knuckle for 2 so we skipped dinner last night and lunch today to have it. It was huge and we still couldn't finish it! We paid 131.60 lei or $30.65.
When we were in the room before dinner, Clay's phone rang. It was Vlad, our guide for the next 7 days. He wanted to meet us to start touring tomorrow at 9:30 am instead of 9 am. He said he couldn't get tickets to Parliament tomorrow until 10 am. I wasn't part of the conversation but evidently we will walk to tour the world's 2nd largest building behind the Pentagon. Vlad doesn't know yet how slowly I walk and Clay didn't mention it to him. Fingers crossed it won't be a problem tomorrow arriving on time in the 30 minutes Vlad allotted.
I forgot to mention that our Europa Royale Room 409 has a balcony. From the balcony, you can look right and see the dancing fountains of Unirea Plaza. I just looked and though Clay said they only dance and sing on weekend nights. They were specially lit and dancing tonight. We may be too far away to hear music.
Photos
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