First of all, Romania is not near the top of most people's list of must see locations. It moved closer to the top of our list, or rather was added to our list, when we learned that Steve's cousin Daan and his wife Audrey were moving there from Australia on an expat assignment. Bucharest is a lot closer than Perth, so a visit seemed like a great idea. A second reason was that they added baby Ely to their family and we could not resist the opportunity to see the baby. Unfortunately, only a few days, or possibly hours, before we mentioned to Daan that we were thinking of coming to visit on Easter weekend, Audrey had booked flights for her and Ely to go to Australia! We were a little disappointed to be missing out on snuggling the baby, but figured that it was still worthwhile to get to see Daan and the city he now calls home.
Last Friday, we arrived into Bucharest very late at night. By the time we were taxied to Daan's place it was after midnight, but he was still waiting up for us. He also had good/bad news: Audrey and the baby were there sleeping! Good for us: we get to meet Audrey and snuggle Ely! Bad for Audrey and Ely who missed their flight and were not halfway to Australia and family anxiously anticipating their arrival in Perth!
Saturday we were all up in good time. Daan walked us over to their favorite French boulangerie for breakfast. The place was very popular but we managed to find seats at two tables. I noticed through the weekend that there were lots of French cafes and boulangeries all around Bucharest. I did not get around to asking why French food seemed to be the preference of the Romanians. I wasn't going to complain about the ease of finding a warm, buttery pain au chocolate on every other corner.
We left Daan with Audrey and Ely to sort out flight changes to get them to Australia and started our own tour of the city. I had done some research in advance and Daan gave us some advice and directions to get us going. We made out way to Victory Square and started down Kisseleff Blvd which was teeming with museums. Cameron would have liked to have stopped at the Natural History museum, but I was afraid that everything would be written only in Romanian and incomprehensible. Our destination was the Peasant's Museum which the guide books indicated had information in English and was very well put together. We did not pay to have a photo pass, so I do not have photos in this museum. By the way, this is very common in Eastern Europe and, according to Daan, in parts of Asia as well, to charge visitors a fee to be allowed to take photographs. In this museum, the photo pass was effectively £12, which I thought too expensive. I bought two postcards of highlights for £0.40 at the end. One of the highlights for the kids was the schoolroom area. They had fun pretending to lead classes. There was another room where they had rebuilt an entire cabin in the museum and another with half of an Orthodox church rebuilt! One of the highlights for me was a wall covered with over 175 pottery bowls. I love to pick up pottery pieces as souveniers of places I visit so it was all I could do to not snatch one from the wall. Another interesting fact we learned is that 40 days after someone dies, the family places a carved wooden cross in a tree in their yard to remember the family member. The tree becomes filled with these wooden crosses.
After the museum, we headed down the boulevard toward Herestau Park. The road here is flanked by large, beautiful old buildings that are now mostly embassies. We actually passed the U.S. embassy on the way. The Canadian embassy was a modern monstrocity that seemed more typical of what the Americans tend to do. I was happy to see we were traditionalists here! Then we came across another buiding that was so sorely dilapidated that it was depressing. It was symbolic of everywhere we went: some bits revitalized and refreshed, but mostly run down and sad. The road led to the Arcul de Triumf, which looks like the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. From there we headed into Herestau Park. The park was a lively place on a Saturday with plenty of vendors selling treats. Unfortunately, the last weekend in March is a bit early for the park to showing its splendor. There were no leaves yet sprouted nor flowers. In addition, the lake was deperately low which we were told was normal in the winter. You could imagine it being a lively place in summer as people flocked to the tree lined pathways and slipped into boats to refresh themselves on the lake, but on March 30th it was just a bit depressing.
We lightened our mood by stepping into the Hard Rock Cafe on the edge of the park. The kids were looking forward to platters of American food and Jacob was not the least bit disappointed by the rack of ribs. People laugh at us for not eating local fare, but when you are an expat getting American food is a real treat that we don't like to miss. Having been overseas for more than 18 months makes us appreciate a plate of nachos and bottomless glasses of soda!
From here we decided to head back to Daan's place. Our plan had been to go the Palace of Parliament, but we had forgotten to bring along our passports which I had read were necessary to get into the building for a tour. Given the long distance we had already walked we decided to get a taxi. This is the Distressing part of Bucharest, as opposed to the previously noted Depressing parts of Bucharest. It is a 50/50 chance (at best) of getting a proper taxi driver who will charge a proper rate. We are not in NYC anymore! We found a taxi easy enough but ended up being cheated quite a bit; however, he did give the kids a lesson in Romanian, so I guess we could consider it tuition... I think Katie remembers a few words we were taught. Back at Daan's safely, we found that they were still trying to sort out the flights to get Audrey and Ely to Australia after starting the process at 8am and it was now almost 4pm.
By six o'clock we headed to Old Town (Lipscani) for dinner as the tickets were finally set for Audrey and Ely to fly early the next morning. They stayed home to get to bed early and Daan led the way downtown. We first walked around what had been the bourgeois neighborhood 100 years ago and is now chocabloc of restuarants and bars. There is a beautiful old church that we saw from the outside as services had already started. Then we wandered over to Caru cu Bere restuarant for a traditional Romanian dinner. We had to wait at the bar for a table and filled the time with beer! Don't worry, the kids stuck to soda! Two pairs of dancers appeared to entertain us at one point as well. Then we were led to our table which was sadly downstairs. By the way, people can still smoke in restuarants in Romania and if you are in the basement seating area it is as if the room is clouded with cigarette smoke. In addition, the umpah band was down there which meant it was much louder at those table. The food was all very good and Daan helped us to order quite a selection of dishes to get a good flavor of everything. There was still plenty on the table when we were done. One nice thing is that prices are not too expensive at restaurants and we were able to get away with a food bill of only about £50 for all 6 of us.
Sunday morning we parted ways again with the Australian de Waards. A taxi had been arranged to take us to Transylvania for the day. We were excited to get out of the city and into the countryside. My curiosity had been piqued by our visit to the Peasant's museum and some research I had done. Daylight savings time and an early start meant that all of us dozed for some if not most of the trip out of the city and into the mountains. Although it was only 140 kilometers (85 miles) to our first sightseeing stop, it took 2 hours to get there. The speed limits are not very fast, sometimes only about 35mph, as a highway suddenly passes through a village where people are actually crossing the street. Then as you get to the mountains the "fast" road has to switchback up, around and through the area. I was thankful that Cameron did not get carsick! Our driver started by taking us up to one of the highest points in the area for a good view. The roads were still mostly snowcovered with about one clear lane down the middle if the road was even wide enough for two cars. The tops of the mountains were snowy and people were strapping on skis at the top. Returning to the bottom we stopped at a monastery. We actually slipped into the church during Sunday morning service. Having toured Moscow recently, I knew what to expect of an Orthodox church and wanted to show my family how big a difference the church is from a Roman Catholic church. First, there were no pews and everyone stood except for the old or infirm sitting in wooden chairs alond the walls. Next there is so much painting on the walls and ceilings and the space if very dark. In addition, you could not see the priest who was behind the wall but could only hear his voice chanting. It was an interesting Easter morning considering Easter would not arrive in the Orthodox church for more than a month.
Our next stop was not far down the road: Peles Castle. This castle felt more like a royal hunting lodge with all of the decorative wooden details. It had been build in the late 1800's by the king who actually came from Germany, hence the proliferation of German style woodworking detail. This tour was very good and we all really enjoyed seeing as much as we did. The palace has a theater in it and a beautiful concert room because the Queen loved music. We also learned that the entire castle was built by the King using his own funds and not money from the Romania treasury.
From here we headed about 45 minutes though the mountains to Bran Castle. This castle was never a palace but more of a modest defensive structure although the royal family spent much time here during the early part of the 20th century. The castle is most famous however for being rumored to be Dracula's Castle! Bram Stoker's Dracula is set in Transylvania and although he never visited there the description of the castle in the book is very close to that of Bran Castle leading to a rumor that people continued to propigate and the locals embellished. We did learn that Dracula is loosely based upon a real person who was not a vampire but rather a local hero, Vlad Tepes or Vlad the Impaler. He got his name from the way he would torture his enemies, the Ottomans, who the Wallachians were trying keep from expanding their empire further. It was a nice castle, but paled next to Peles.
Finally we stopped for lunch at 2pm at a traditional Romania restaurant. We found that meat and potatoes and pickled vegetables make up the bulk of the diet. There was an option for green beans as side dish which I decided to order an the waitress looked at me in utter disbelief. I had to show her that they were in fact on the menu. I did get some sort of green bean accompaniment with my schnitzel.
After lunch we had to let our driver know how we wanted to finish the day. The original plan had the citadel at Rasnov as well as Brasnov old town. We could do both, or one or the other. Our driver indicated that Brasnov was still an hour further north. It was already after 3pm and we were all getting tired. We asked to just get to Rasnov and then we would head back to Bucharest.
The weather turned out to be absolutely lovely: low 60's and sunny. When we got to the citadel the kids did not even complain about having to walk straight uphill about half a mile or so. The Citadel is mostly in ruins but it was fun to climb around and over the rocks. This fortress was build high on the hill to protect the people below who would move within the wall when various enemies would invade by coming through the mountain pass. From the highest point at the top you could see why it was a strategic location as you gazed down across a wide expansive flat plain area. We made our way back down to our driver exhausted by our day of sightseeing. It had been an education for all of us having never learned much about Romanian history, if anything at all, in school. It was a long ride home and we were happy to see Daan at around 7pm who was ready to make us a homecooked meal of spaghetti bolognese and salad with all fresh vegetables and not one pickled bit to be found.
Monday morning we were slower to rise but quick to get moving. With our bags all packed and ready for our 2:45pm pick up, we headed out for a last chance to catch some of the sights in Bucharest. The Palace of Parliament was a priority for me and the family did not have anything they wanted to see more, so we found two taxis to get us there. Remember that Taxis can be Distressing and Monday morning proved that to be the case yet again. I had Katie and Jacob in a cab with me. I told the driver where we wanted to go and he repeated something back in an incomprehensible language. Worried that he did not understand, I showed him a picture on my iPhone from Triposo tour guide of Romania I had loaded. In the car behind, Steve and Cameron were having the same problem. Unfortunately, I did not know that and Steve did not have the same app on his phone. He went back in to ask the woman at the security desk for the residential complex to write the name of the Palace on a piece of paper. Either the driver did not understand what she wrote or she misunderstood and wrote down the wrong palace because Steve and Cameron were dropped off at some place other than the the Palace of Parliament. Thankful for our mobile phones, we were texting each other throughout the craziness. I had even sent him the name of the palace of Parliament in Romanian because that message was shown to another taxi driver that Steve found and he took him straight to the Second Biggest Building in the World! You wonder how the first driver could misunderstand, but then again I don't speak any Romanian so I really can't complain.
We all made it to the location for the start of tours by 10:15 and we were able to get on a 10:45 English speaking tour. We did have to leave our passports at the front desk during the tour. Our guide was knowledgeable and liked to talk about his country. We spent almost 2 full hours and only saw about 6% of the building. They even take you in to the basement to see a bit of how it was constructed. Jacob and Steve were most impressed to be there because Top Gear filmed an episode here. I was impressed by some of the really grand rooms that actually can be rented out for functions. The one really grand ballroom is used sometimes for weddings (of the very rich!). Nadia Comaneci and Bart Connors celebrated their wedding in that room. Cameron had fun taking pictures with his camera of architectural elements declaring that one day he will be a great architect who designs buildings like that one. We learned that a 28 year-old woman won a design contest to become the architect for the building back in the 1970's. Building construction began in 1983 and took about 10 years during which time the communist regime was ousted, yet the building project was continued as a building by and for the people. We also learned that the biggest chandelier in the building weighs 5 tons!
At the end of the tour we were tired and hungry. A quick lunch, a taxi (another Distressing event) back to Daan's and then to the airport. I was happy to be going back to England. Maybe it is because the Brits hide their impoverished better or do a better job of keeping people from being stuck at such a level. Or because the infrastructure is sounder. Or maybe it is because I can travel on public transportation and not worry that I am being scammed by someone. Or maybe it is just because in Romania the Coca Cola company seems to offer only Coke Zero as its diet option and has pulled Coke Lite (which although it tastes different from Diet Coke it is closer than Coke Zero). I was so happy to have a Diet Coke from the attendant on British Airways that my depression and distress seemed to fizzle away....
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| Looks like the Addams Family house... |
After the museum, we headed down the boulevard toward Herestau Park. The road here is flanked by large, beautiful old buildings that are now mostly embassies. We actually passed the U.S. embassy on the way. The Canadian embassy was a modern monstrocity that seemed more typical of what the Americans tend to do. I was happy to see we were traditionalists here! Then we came across another buiding that was so sorely dilapidated that it was depressing. It was symbolic of everywhere we went: some bits revitalized and refreshed, but mostly run down and sad. The road led to the Arcul de Triumf, which looks like the Arc de Triomphe in Paris. From there we headed into Herestau Park. The park was a lively place on a Saturday with plenty of vendors selling treats. Unfortunately, the last weekend in March is a bit early for the park to showing its splendor. There were no leaves yet sprouted nor flowers. In addition, the lake was deperately low which we were told was normal in the winter. You could imagine it being a lively place in summer as people flocked to the tree lined pathways and slipped into boats to refresh themselves on the lake, but on March 30th it was just a bit depressing.
We lightened our mood by stepping into the Hard Rock Cafe on the edge of the park. The kids were looking forward to platters of American food and Jacob was not the least bit disappointed by the rack of ribs. People laugh at us for not eating local fare, but when you are an expat getting American food is a real treat that we don't like to miss. Having been overseas for more than 18 months makes us appreciate a plate of nachos and bottomless glasses of soda!From here we decided to head back to Daan's place. Our plan had been to go the Palace of Parliament, but we had forgotten to bring along our passports which I had read were necessary to get into the building for a tour. Given the long distance we had already walked we decided to get a taxi. This is the Distressing part of Bucharest, as opposed to the previously noted Depressing parts of Bucharest. It is a 50/50 chance (at best) of getting a proper taxi driver who will charge a proper rate. We are not in NYC anymore! We found a taxi easy enough but ended up being cheated quite a bit; however, he did give the kids a lesson in Romanian, so I guess we could consider it tuition... I think Katie remembers a few words we were taught. Back at Daan's safely, we found that they were still trying to sort out the flights to get Audrey and Ely to Australia after starting the process at 8am and it was now almost 4pm.
By six o'clock we headed to Old Town (Lipscani) for dinner as the tickets were finally set for Audrey and Ely to fly early the next morning. They stayed home to get to bed early and Daan led the way downtown. We first walked around what had been the bourgeois neighborhood 100 years ago and is now chocabloc of restuarants and bars. There is a beautiful old church that we saw from the outside as services had already started. Then we wandered over to Caru cu Bere restuarant for a traditional Romanian dinner. We had to wait at the bar for a table and filled the time with beer! Don't worry, the kids stuck to soda! Two pairs of dancers appeared to entertain us at one point as well. Then we were led to our table which was sadly downstairs. By the way, people can still smoke in restuarants in Romania and if you are in the basement seating area it is as if the room is clouded with cigarette smoke. In addition, the umpah band was down there which meant it was much louder at those table. The food was all very good and Daan helped us to order quite a selection of dishes to get a good flavor of everything. There was still plenty on the table when we were done. One nice thing is that prices are not too expensive at restaurants and we were able to get away with a food bill of only about £50 for all 6 of us.
Sunday morning we parted ways again with the Australian de Waards. A taxi had been arranged to take us to Transylvania for the day. We were excited to get out of the city and into the countryside. My curiosity had been piqued by our visit to the Peasant's museum and some research I had done. Daylight savings time and an early start meant that all of us dozed for some if not most of the trip out of the city and into the mountains. Although it was only 140 kilometers (85 miles) to our first sightseeing stop, it took 2 hours to get there. The speed limits are not very fast, sometimes only about 35mph, as a highway suddenly passes through a village where people are actually crossing the street. Then as you get to the mountains the "fast" road has to switchback up, around and through the area. I was thankful that Cameron did not get carsick! Our driver started by taking us up to one of the highest points in the area for a good view. The roads were still mostly snowcovered with about one clear lane down the middle if the road was even wide enough for two cars. The tops of the mountains were snowy and people were strapping on skis at the top. Returning to the bottom we stopped at a monastery. We actually slipped into the church during Sunday morning service. Having toured Moscow recently, I knew what to expect of an Orthodox church and wanted to show my family how big a difference the church is from a Roman Catholic church. First, there were no pews and everyone stood except for the old or infirm sitting in wooden chairs alond the walls. Next there is so much painting on the walls and ceilings and the space if very dark. In addition, you could not see the priest who was behind the wall but could only hear his voice chanting. It was an interesting Easter morning considering Easter would not arrive in the Orthodox church for more than a month.
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| Sinaia Monastery - Romanian Orthodox |
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| Peles |
From here we headed about 45 minutes though the mountains to Bran Castle. This castle was never a palace but more of a modest defensive structure although the royal family spent much time here during the early part of the 20th century. The castle is most famous however for being rumored to be Dracula's Castle! Bram Stoker's Dracula is set in Transylvania and although he never visited there the description of the castle in the book is very close to that of Bran Castle leading to a rumor that people continued to propigate and the locals embellished. We did learn that Dracula is loosely based upon a real person who was not a vampire but rather a local hero, Vlad Tepes or Vlad the Impaler. He got his name from the way he would torture his enemies, the Ottomans, who the Wallachians were trying keep from expanding their empire further. It was a nice castle, but paled next to Peles.
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| On the path up to Bran Castle |
Finally we stopped for lunch at 2pm at a traditional Romania restaurant. We found that meat and potatoes and pickled vegetables make up the bulk of the diet. There was an option for green beans as side dish which I decided to order an the waitress looked at me in utter disbelief. I had to show her that they were in fact on the menu. I did get some sort of green bean accompaniment with my schnitzel.
After lunch we had to let our driver know how we wanted to finish the day. The original plan had the citadel at Rasnov as well as Brasnov old town. We could do both, or one or the other. Our driver indicated that Brasnov was still an hour further north. It was already after 3pm and we were all getting tired. We asked to just get to Rasnov and then we would head back to Bucharest.
The weather turned out to be absolutely lovely: low 60's and sunny. When we got to the citadel the kids did not even complain about having to walk straight uphill about half a mile or so. The Citadel is mostly in ruins but it was fun to climb around and over the rocks. This fortress was build high on the hill to protect the people below who would move within the wall when various enemies would invade by coming through the mountain pass. From the highest point at the top you could see why it was a strategic location as you gazed down across a wide expansive flat plain area. We made our way back down to our driver exhausted by our day of sightseeing. It had been an education for all of us having never learned much about Romanian history, if anything at all, in school. It was a long ride home and we were happy to see Daan at around 7pm who was ready to make us a homecooked meal of spaghetti bolognese and salad with all fresh vegetables and not one pickled bit to be found.
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| The View from the top! |
Monday morning we were slower to rise but quick to get moving. With our bags all packed and ready for our 2:45pm pick up, we headed out for a last chance to catch some of the sights in Bucharest. The Palace of Parliament was a priority for me and the family did not have anything they wanted to see more, so we found two taxis to get us there. Remember that Taxis can be Distressing and Monday morning proved that to be the case yet again. I had Katie and Jacob in a cab with me. I told the driver where we wanted to go and he repeated something back in an incomprehensible language. Worried that he did not understand, I showed him a picture on my iPhone from Triposo tour guide of Romania I had loaded. In the car behind, Steve and Cameron were having the same problem. Unfortunately, I did not know that and Steve did not have the same app on his phone. He went back in to ask the woman at the security desk for the residential complex to write the name of the Palace on a piece of paper. Either the driver did not understand what she wrote or she misunderstood and wrote down the wrong palace because Steve and Cameron were dropped off at some place other than the the Palace of Parliament. Thankful for our mobile phones, we were texting each other throughout the craziness. I had even sent him the name of the palace of Parliament in Romanian because that message was shown to another taxi driver that Steve found and he took him straight to the Second Biggest Building in the World! You wonder how the first driver could misunderstand, but then again I don't speak any Romanian so I really can't complain.
We all made it to the location for the start of tours by 10:15 and we were able to get on a 10:45 English speaking tour. We did have to leave our passports at the front desk during the tour. Our guide was knowledgeable and liked to talk about his country. We spent almost 2 full hours and only saw about 6% of the building. They even take you in to the basement to see a bit of how it was constructed. Jacob and Steve were most impressed to be there because Top Gear filmed an episode here. I was impressed by some of the really grand rooms that actually can be rented out for functions. The one really grand ballroom is used sometimes for weddings (of the very rich!). Nadia Comaneci and Bart Connors celebrated their wedding in that room. Cameron had fun taking pictures with his camera of architectural elements declaring that one day he will be a great architect who designs buildings like that one. We learned that a 28 year-old woman won a design contest to become the architect for the building back in the 1970's. Building construction began in 1983 and took about 10 years during which time the communist regime was ousted, yet the building project was continued as a building by and for the people. We also learned that the biggest chandelier in the building weighs 5 tons!
At the end of the tour we were tired and hungry. A quick lunch, a taxi (another Distressing event) back to Daan's and then to the airport. I was happy to be going back to England. Maybe it is because the Brits hide their impoverished better or do a better job of keeping people from being stuck at such a level. Or because the infrastructure is sounder. Or maybe it is because I can travel on public transportation and not worry that I am being scammed by someone. Or maybe it is just because in Romania the Coca Cola company seems to offer only Coke Zero as its diet option and has pulled Coke Lite (which although it tastes different from Diet Coke it is closer than Coke Zero). I was so happy to have a Diet Coke from the attendant on British Airways that my depression and distress seemed to fizzle away....
