Ramada Iasi City Center

... to ask the ticket agent if my bus was destined to pass thru this republic. So, in the middle of the night, we stopped at the Ukraine-Moldova border, and I was stamped out of Ukraine. I think I went to sleep, or a light doze, and the next thing I knew, we were landing in the capital city of Moldova. I became pretty concerned, because we had not stopped again for the passengers of the bus to stamp ...

... frescos. Each is surrounded by a fortification and flowers growing around its courtyard. In our last monastery, the nuns are beginning mass. They are chanting. It is only us as observers in the tiny interior. Pretty amazing.

Since the nuns get out rarely and transport costs are very high relative to local salaries, Monica turns out to be the transport provider for many of them as they send goods to/from their ...

... show the colors of fall, towns are fascinating reflections of other worlds …

The bus does not actually go to our destination, Suceava, but drops us off 30 minutes away. An older Romanian couple is doing the same transfer and helps us find the right bus to continue. This bus has to be flagged down from the main street.

In Suceava we are greeted by the owner of the hostel Monica. She does everything off season (reception, cleaning, giving of tours ...

... 2.50 note for a $2.25 charge, that I could cry… almost. It only makes up for the pirates in Bucharest.

The hotel is decent for $25, though no WiFi of course. That’s okay; I’ll gorge on DSTV. They don’t take credit cards, either, nor Euros. They need 100 lei for the first night and I have 90… 95… 96… 97… 98… 99… 99.50… 99.60…

"That’s good enough ...

... some waiting around. So that's exactly what I did. Thanks to the internet I knew I could get a train from Sighet that would get me started towards Iasi (pronounced Yash). The train left Sighet around 7:45 am and got to a place called Viseu de Jos around 9:30am. I then had to wait there until 11am for a train going to another small town (or hole in the ground, depending on your point of view) called Salva. The train arrived in Salva around 12:45pm. Not too bad of a start until you ...

... are both very educated and interesting elderly people. It was also quite an experience for Virginia to experience and for Tavi to reexperience life in one of those Communist era appartments, complete with the old 1960s Russian radios as big as a piece of furniture. We had a good time here and we marvelled at the kindness and generosity of people who were treated quite harshly by life.

... guide. The broth of the soup was spectucular, creamy pale yellow. Then I pull up a spoonful of ........... I hadn't the slighest idea. College there were mystery meats, Romania mystery parts. I eventually figured out that is was tripe. The small pieces were okay. I had the leave the largest in the bowl. If it hadn't been tripe, I would have said the soup was excellent. I might order it again, but this time I'll know what I'm getting when I order ciorba de burta.

... pleasure I did have though was walking out to the three monasteries on the southwestern edge of town. While I visited two of these - Galata and Frumoasa monasteries - last time I was here in 2001, the largest and most distant monastery, Cetatuia, ended up getting skipped. This time I made it a point to hit it no matter what, and I managed to cram it in as my last activity in town today. I'm glad that I did too, because not only is it the most historically significant ...

... in till 10 and showered for the 1st time in 4 days and shaved first time since Budapest, while washing cycle gear in shower. Asked at reception for information, but none so went walkabout and found tourist office with English speaker but no information but while I was messing about a customer Ramona, who was a English translator, walked in and offered some good advice. I asked if she did city tours and she said she was free at 9 so I gave my number ...

... die gleiche Bewegungen, die Statur, das Gesicht...es ist nicht zu fassen. Und im Camp wartet bereits Ariane aus Bruessel, schon 37, aber im Herzen jung, sehr diskutierfreudig, nur leider perfekt im dauernden Wiederholen der gleichen Spaesse. Alle haben kleine Geschenke und Material zum Basteln und Spielen mit. Das Programm dagegen ist frei, und wir als Gruppe setzen unsere Ziele. Doch bereits bei den ersten Planungen zeigen sich Probleme. Wir sind zu viele. Neun Personen ...