City Plaza Cluj-Napoca

It is Sunday at everything except the churches are closed. CLuj has several large churches, one of which is broadcasting its sermon into the plaza. 20 people are standing outside, listening to the service while facing the church. Not sure why they don't go in. <br><br>I hike to the top of a hill for a great view. Two of the museums ...

Located out of town, but close to the economic area of the city, BLACK TULIP, a four stars hotel, represents the perfect destination for those wishing to rest. I have appreciated the room atmosphere, the quality of the services...and the high degree of refinement of the cuisine.<br>

... and is Dracula themed. Once settled we went out to see the sights including some Roman ruins and the usual churches. Due to the lack of local restaurants or fast food outlets we decided on using the complimentary room service and ordered our meal from the hotel&#8217;s restaurant. At least this way we save on the drinks and the meal ended up being quite reasonable at about $A20 ... gotta watch the budget!

The train from Sighisoara to Cluj Napoca was another sauna experience. I had opened the window, but the elderly woman in our berth asked me to close it (though she herself was sweating).<br><br>The only good thing about Cluj was a brilliant candy store in which we spent a fair amount of money (for Romania).<br><br>Sighisoara to Cluj: one 2nd class ticket (3 hours) &#8211; 36.70 lei

... ja alempaa tieverkkoa. 80-luvulla päivänsä päättäneen hirmuhallitsijan kädenjälki on yhä surullisesti nähtävissä Romanian tieverkolla. Suuret infra-ajatukset eivät oikein ottaneet huomioon liikenteen kasvua, ympäristöasioita tai ei itse asiassa varmaan mitään muutakaan. Osoittaakseni jälleen, että en ole nukkunut kokousten aikana, voin kertoa täysin Romaniaan liittymättä Intiassa olevan 3,2 miljoonaa kilometriä maanteitä.

... we were cheated a bit by the pro-Hungarian bent of the professor. Obviously, the class being about Hungarian ethnography it makes sense that the focus of the trip was on Hungarian culture, and to be fair we did visit one ethnic Romanian village, but from the way things were presented and the selection of places we visited you'd think that Transylvania was entirely Hungarian, which is a shame really since it downplays the diversity that makes Transylvania such a special region.<br>

... erst um 3:31 Uhr nachts. Unsere restlichen 10 Lei opfern wir dem Kaffeeautomaten am Bahnhof... aber irgendwie scheinen selbst die 5 Kaffee pro Person nicht mehr zu wirken. Als wir endlich im Zug sitzen (ein Achterabteil fuer uns alleine... endlich koennen wir uns breit machen) schlafen wir doch recht schnell ein. -- Eintrag by Susi--

... gathered them in this desolate-feeling site with stories about what they stood for and the crazy things that happened during this time. It's the one tourist attraction you definitely want to see if you visit here...you feel the heaviness of the remembrance of that era. And I also get this sense that a lot of these guys started with some decent ideas about the proletariat and a voice for the workers and equity and all and then somehow things got out of hand. As ...

... relatives, Norman Rockwell tin plates and tattered images of Romanian starlets from the 1950s on the wall. <br><br><br><br>I communicated with her a little in some equally tattered Romanian which I'd pieced together from my phrasebook. Like many landladies I've been stumbling across these past few months, she seemed to have a heart condition and a bittersweet history all folded up into one. But the train ride from Sighisoara had ...

Lots to say, lots to say! Our last night in Budapest, we saw a performance of the Hungarian Folk Ensemble. Obviously a tourist-trap type of thing, but I like seeing any kind of dance and the presentation was fun: instead of just demonstrating the dance, they put it in context, like a country ball or a court dance. They looked like they were enjoying themselves, the women spinning merrily around and the men jumping and slapping ...