Central Bucharest

... roam the street, while mostly docile, don't really soothe one's nerves, and the inability to get around the city without getting lost at least once (my Romanian, though never good, was awful at the beginning of the trip) was quite annoying. We did have a wonderful meal at a Spanish restaurant, though, where I could actually speak a language I fully understood. I won't say Bucharest is without certain charms, but I might say the Spanish restaurant is the memory I will keep with me the longest. <br>

... family we have debated this percentage), which were lovely and flavourful. We had tea and we thought we were finished the meal, the chicken I saw sitting on the stove on top of a beer bottle was too be for the evening meal. Naturally with bellies full we were surprised to see Mrs. Radu bring out plates of chicken, pork chops, and stuffed mushrooms to continue with the meal. We did our best to eradicate the lovely tender chicken, and then later to eat ...

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... round to it as well), and the woman was just soooo rude 'That's it, you either take it or leave it' - yep we'll leave it thanks, oh &amp; thanks again for the great customer service!!! Well that was pretty much the extent of our visit to Bucharest, as we spent another half hour driving around looking for the main square to grab a bite to eat &amp; have a wander, and just gave up in the end, as signage here is just shocking! Not the best city as you ...

... seemingly taking the decision to turn every other building in the city into a casino instead. We were seeing the Palace with 25y.o. Ryan from Oregon, who had been in Spain on business and had extended a few weeks in order to see some of eastern Europe. He made the solid observation "Look at all the rubbish Murdoch's paid a billion dollars for, like MySpace. You'd absolutely rather have this than MySpace". A fair point. (I was already jealous that ...

... as the sun sets, ask the last house of the town for camping, which fortunately gets an enthusiastic "Sure!" back again (all this by sign language), so we crash in their cow pasture for the night, which, once the trucks stop rumbling by, is relatively peaceful, except for their dog, who didn't get the memo on us being invited guests and figured if he came out and barked once an hour we'd clear out eventually. Romania is dog country. Forget bears and wolves, the real danger is ...

... written across my forehead and there was no way to change that. I've gotten a lot of stares, but no one has really bothered me. After wandering for a few hours I found a small Romanian restaurant for a beer and dinner. I met Paul there, an older American on business for his company in the oil industry. After dinner with him I headed back to the hostel. Right away I was greeted by almost everyone staying there. I was the only ...

... simply contrary? A rainstorm came and went, the night approached and passed, and we found ourselves scratching our heads in the Bucharest train station. What to do? Where to go? And where were we again? With some effort, we figured out the telephone system to locate suitable lodging, and we navigated the public transportation system to make our way there. The hostel wasn't great, but we were grateful for any room and for the relatively inexpensive price tag. (This is said with ...

Hello hello! Today is my 153rd day away from home! That's FIVE whole months! Meaning that there's just two and a half left until you all have me back in close proximity. You lucky things... The strike ended yesterday, however today is my day off and tomorrow is a public holiday so life isn't too stressful this week. I had to quit my second job (with the European school) because Angry Ana from 'Spiru Haret' was getting narky about me having another placement, and it ...

... but it was over. We didn`t get to keep the slippers either. A little way up the hill was the smaller mock medieval style palace of Pelisor. We didn`t do a tour. The attendant said, `You will have to go alone.` Slippers on again. There were information plaques in all rooms so it was good. It had been completely decorated by the last Romanian Queen and the rooms again had been done with different styles. The ground floor was mostly art deco, which I ...