Golden Tulip Times Hotel Bucharest

... br>(on the Travel&Living Channel, Anthony Bourdain) made a mess in all
the viewers' heads.

Long story short: this is where the civilized West meets with the adaptive South East.

Yes, we do tolerate and house the gypsies (rroms) within our boarders!

NO, they are not Romanians!



Yes, we do have an amazing country (I can honestly say that, because I
believe that based on experiences ...

... 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.

... their legs to the sounds of the band. They had a number of different costumes from different regions of the country. We had a huge plate full of spreads, cheese, cold meats and veggies to go with copious fresh bread rolls. Afterward, when we were all full, our main course came, and luckily it was unlike the main course we might have in Canada. It consisted of only the item on the menu, and so we were almost able to eat all of it. Our two hosts ...

... into the centre of Bucharest tomorrow on Winnie, park her up & walk around - sounds easy right - hmmm!! So, Bucharest - all I can say is thank God we were driving in on a Sunday - it would have been absolute chaos otherwise, especially with the way these people drive! We must have drove around for at least an hour before we found somewhere SAFE to plonk Winnie for a few hours, right in front of the Palace, which was the main place we wanted to ...

... You Could Do Yourself. At first they seemed OK, and we thought, hey not bad for 12th or 13th century peasants living in huts. But most of them are twentieth century. Late twentieth century. Two dimensional and out of proportion drawn by a six year old and yet displayed with pride because we are all collectively insane twentieth century. It got better though, much better. We should have been clued in by the $3 admission/ $25 camera ticket that they ...

... time since the mid 1600's! Romania is not yet about tourism however. Hungary was amazingly well set up; we went to the Hungarian tourist agency in Vienna, and walked out with several kg of brochures they tossed at us, including one extremely useful map showing recommended bike routes for the entire country, and all camping areas. Entering Romania, all such useful knowledge came to an abrupt end. Wild camping is just fine in Romania, but without a car we need a water source ...

... a communist creation. Landing there is like going back in time. For whatever bizarre reason when I picture communism it is always in black and white. They grey building with the grey floor and the grey people confirmed this thought. Communism doesn't just have colors though; it also has a smell, stale cigarettes. It smells like that everywhere, even where there is no smoking. I did a rather unbackpackerish thing by having a car from ...

... Steve's brother's best college friends, lives. We were running out of time to see Yiannis, and we needed a solution. Thankfully, just one computer session but several clicks away sat a cheap plane ticket just waiting to be bought. We bought. And then we realized we had no way to get ourselves back to Prague, the origin of the flight. And so we thought. And thought. And boarded several buses. And eventually found ourselves in the Belgrade train station, Lonely Planet guide in hand ...

... scary hat. After a long silence she turned to me and asked "Do you have life insurance?". I told her I wasn't sure if I did, and she went on to explain to me how her husband and daughter both have it. Not only that, but her husbands life is also insured by the army, so if he were to die whilst in Kosovo ("god forbid" she said as she rested her hand on my right knee), she would receive money from two different insurance companies ...

... air conditioning and non-smoking! We jumped off at Sinaia and dumped the bags in left luggage. We made our way up the hill, past the monastery. Up a tree lined road with lots of souvenir sellers and over a little bridge, and there it was. Peles Palace. It was amazing! Foreign tourists had to do a tour and we were made to wear slippers over our shoes. The interior was fantastic, just as a palace should be. OTT. Each room had been decorated in a ...