Bucharest, Romania
Trip Start
Apr 27, 2006
1
7
110
Trip End
Apr 01, 2008
Bucharest,
Romania
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
That said, there are some really good restaurants and rocking clubs and bars packed until 5:00 a.m. Through sheer luck, the apartment I rented was smack-dab in the middle of the trendy, hip club area. Truly stumbling distance to one of the most popular places there - Planters, The American Bar - where there were no Americans except for Stu and I. You would think we, as Americans, would at least rate a free drink, but no, although it is hard to complain when beers are under $2.00.
The apartment was also pretty cool, as compared to a hotel room. For $50 a night each, it was two-bedrooms with a king and a queen bed, two TVs, internet, balcony, fridge, and the in-unit washing machine, although there was no dryer, so I had to air-dry my clothes like a common Romanian. On the other hand, it was on a main street, loud, and very bright in the morning (which is why I carry eyeshades). The practically unlit stairwell was almost a parody of a what one would expect in a dingy Romanian building, and I was afraid to ride the elevator.
My first couple of days were pretty uneventful.
"B" and "C"
I had a good French dinner and a hearty, if not heart-healthy Romanian dinner at the most popular quasi-chain of restaurants here - La Mama. Yes, it means "Yo Momma" in Romanian and they love it. Huge portions of meat and potatoes-typem meals for cheap. However, it was raining off and on and the town was pretty subdued. I didn't even see many of the stray dogs. I did see a cover band at Coyote Ugly which played the most eclectic mix of songs I think I have ever heard - from "Breakfast at Tiffany's" to the Rolling Stones to Louie Armstrong to "The Bare Necessities" while hundreds of college-age kids danced in the aisles between tables. I also randomly met some cool people at a "rock" club I went to. The death-metal band sucked ass, but I found the quiet spot in the back and hung out with a bunch of twenty-something Romanian rocker chicks and dudes. I have finally found a use for suffering hearing damage at too many metal and punk shows in high school and college. Who knew?Oh, and a hooker with sharp teeth (which, it almost goes without saying is worse than twisted and discolored) brazenly propositioned me in the lobby of the Ramada. Interestingly, the was the only working girl I saw. The others apparently worked at strip clubs or were "represented" by the ubiquitous young men who would ask me on the street if I wanted a girl. These facts are going into a working sociological theory that relates the status of legalized prostitution to the amount of porn available on free cable television. I believe there is an inverse relationship.
Give Piss A Chance
In Amsterdam, prostitution is legal, and they have virtually no porn on late-night TV - just ads for chat and to meet girls, who are probably outcall, but still... In Romania, however, prostitution is illegal and they actively run stings, but the free cable TV shows double-penetration scenes. Slovakia has a mix of illegal prostitution, but only soft-core on cable. My unified field theory on the subject remains in development.Another thing that surprised me was how good everyone's English is, particularly as compared to Slovakia or Poland or Russia. I thought that Slovakia (being relatively westernized and formerly part of Czechoslovakia would blow doors on the poorer, more remote Romania (and Bulgaria from where I am finalizing this), but it was the opposite. Cabbies, waitresses, store clerks, etc. all speak passable English. I am working on another theory as it relates to this - that exposure to TV shows spoken in English and subtitled in the local language (quite common on Romanian TV) is an effective tool for teaching English, whereas a country that dubs most shows into the local language (like Slovakia) has denied its citizens this valuable learning tool. I posit that years of watching, while listening and reading the subtitles effects a language osmosis over time.
On Friday, Stu arrived from work in Budapest, Hungary, and the tenor of the stay here changed. For those who know Stu, you know what that means. We had a nice meal, a couple drinks, and went to "Amsterdam," a well-reviewed bar, where we met "B" and "C - they were listing to our conversation and Stu called them on it.
I can find a festival anywhere
The rest of the night, and all-day Sunday was spent with them. They took us to the hot clubs two nights and a park on Sunday, although it became a running joke that I knew more Bucharest bars and clubs than they did after just couple days here on my own and with a guidebook. I learned four things from the weekend: (1) it is impolite for men to touch women on their arms as a means of emphasizing a comment, but women can do so freely; (2) holding hands between men and women (or women and women) is universal and non-sexual; (3) wearing shorts and Tevas - even to the park - screams "I am an American tourist" and Romanian women will ask you to change out of such an outfit, even though we are on the way to an outside café in the sun on a Sunday; and (4) all these defects in my character and upbringing are ultimately not deal-killers. Lastly, it turned out that "C" owned an apartment overlooking yet another Communist monstrosity of a building. Nicolae Ceaucescu knocked down about 19,000 old buildings in the center of Bucharest to build "The People's Palace," aka "Ceaucescu's House" or "the Parliament" in the middle of a five-square kilometer park. I was told it is the second largest building in the world after the Pentagon (which just seems unlikely to me, but whatever) and that it is mostly unused. They also wanted to blow it up after Ceaucescu was deposed in 1989 (and shot), but the cost of the explosives was too prohibitive. Again, I would think some film company would pay the expense for the right to the shot, like they do when a casino is imploded in Las Vegas, but the entrepreneurial spirit remains weak here. When they blow it up, that is the signal that it is time to invest in this country.
Next Stop: Varna, Bulgaria (the Black Sea)
Comments
Funny story
I was in Muenster Germany at some point, in a bar when I saw a guy wearing a jacket from my high school's rival school.
congrats
On sealing the [first] deal, so to speak.
Re: Funny story
I like muenster cheese. fwiw.
Muenster
Pony, you have lost me somewhere. Penske, thanks, I think.