Lebada Bucharest

... center (Lipscani area) you have a lot to see.
The City Hall managed to refurbish this area partially, and they are on
the right track. Most of the houses had gypsy families which were
thrown out, and are now in a very serious restauration process.

Most buildings have history written all over both in and out side.

Architecturally speaking, they do resemble to the style in Paris, reason why Bucharest ...

... back to the station and jumped on a train to Brasov. We got talking to a lovely lady who told us alot about Romania and how she used to be a drilling engineer on the oil fields but now she was retraining as a social worker. She also took our detials and informed us she'd get her english teacher daughter to call us so she could speak to real live English people. No phonecall yet...

... lui Vladutz. Sper sa treaca cu bine peste lipsa noastra si sa nu sufere prea mult. I-am explicat deja ca mami si tati vor pleca pentru un timp, dar ca se vor intoarce la el cat pot ei de repede (in cazul asta peste 2 luni...). O sa ne fie groaznic de dor de el!! Ce sa mai zic? Ca asteptam cu nerabdare sa postam pentru prima data din Rio, unde ne asteapta temperaturi de peste 30 grade, cel putin asta e prognoza pt. luni. Somn usor!

... flying into camp within an hour.Great fun but exhausting...who would like to set up my tent whilst i have a nap in the shade?..., oh no we have no shade at this campground...nice! Luckily the sun went down around 9 and I snug into my tent soon after. Unfortunately the dogs decided it was their privilege to give us a nice orchestra of barking dog sounds for hours. I used to throw eggs at them when I lived in Bucharest, which seemed to work. I guess this time it is just ...

... open window, and to bed. Saturday 4 August Went on another strange mission to find internet connection and got told by reception where to go so caught underground. Strange new rolling stock where you could walk from one end to another and also lots of space as wide gauge. Got off at strange station where platform was very narrow and went to find my goal without success, so went into travel office. Eventually after going through 4 people mostly ...

... the Stalinist dictator from 1965 to 1989, when he was finally overthrown, and promptly executed by firing squad. We planned to see inside the palace, but the tour buses got there first, no AC, stifling, and well over an hour wait, so never mind. It took us a little over 2100km to reach Bucuresti, and it would have been another 900 at least to Istanbul - quite a bit further than we had roughly eyeballed off the map. The map eyeball had worked well in Africa - there was only one ...

... m pretty gutsy, but eventually turned around because it was just too scary. I went up to a main street- one of the wide boulevards that were rammed through the old city by Ceaucescu. While heavily foot trafficked and lined with some lights and shops, the spookies pervaded. I went up about a mile to Romanu Square and started back- it was about 8:30. The crowds were changing- beggars were coming out and so were pimps. At first I just walked and ignored everything. As I kept going ...

Hooray! I am in Bucharest, Romania with my wonderful good friend Martin Penner, which is a turn of events I wouldn't have anticipated. Marty came out to part of the Moldova camp to visit his parents (Jake & Marie), and at the last minute we decided to travel as far as Budapest together, as he flies home from Copenhagen and I from Prague. The decision was made quickly, and carried out even more quickly, as camp ended on a Saturday and we were ...

... people with little shiny digital cameras around their necks!!!! We also saw the monastary and went for a meal at a Serbian restaurant which had (for some unknown reason) a heavily sedated lion cub out the front which, for a fee, you could have a photo with. Being stingy Australians (and against animal cruelty ofcourse!) we didn't pay anything, but couldn't help but give the cub a pat. Sinaia was beautiful. All the hills were orange as ...

... wine, you can get a $50 bottle of wine for $8!!!!!! This is our last night in Romania, we leave for Budapest in the morning (we arrive via train at 7 P.M.) and we are quite excited for that despite how sad we are about leaving our Romania. We are going to spend a full day at the Hungarian Baths being steamed, oiled, massaged, and whatever the hell else you do in an Hungarian Bath. Oh yeah, Romanians love their wood folks, woodworking is the thing to do when in Romania.