Trip Reports - Do you want to go to Bucharest tomorrow?

That was the question that I posed to Marsha on Saturday night July 12, 2008. I had been searching award availability to various destinations and there it was. A Sunday afternoon departure in business for two at 100k roundtrip each to Bucharest was available for the next afternoon.

I have wanted to visit Romania since our first visit to Europe over 25 years ago. In fact we had Romanian and Bulgarian visas issued in London which expired unused as we chose to drive to Athens via the former Yugoslavia instead. . Now they are un-needed as a few changes have occurred in that part of the world in the intervening years including the fall of Communism, the schism of the Tito-lead Yugoslavia, some horrendous wars, the European Union and U.S. Air Force planes landing at airbases in Romania.

So I went upstairs and posed the question. The immediate response was, “I cannot possibly do that because I have no time to prepare.” This is the woman who spends two weeks packing for a three day trip and needs to always check at least one bag. No carry on for her because the TSA will not allow her cosmetics, cleanser, shampoo, and most critically hair spray in carry on. Even before 2001, this behavior was in evidence. Always an excuse as to why we have to waste at least an hour per trip waiting for luggage while she obsesses about whether it is lost or why it is the last to arrive even with “Priority” tags.

So back to the office to research other days, Monday had availability. Same question was posed with the consistent answer. There was availability on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. “Ding, Ding”, Thursday might work but her Rhythm would be off. Back to the keyboard, book it before it disappears. It is the middle of the summer booking two seats in business class at Perk Saver level to a European destination trans-Atlantic. BTW, the trip included three airlines, DL, AF and NW. Of course, just like on the last three award bookings when I pushed the “book this itinerary” button, I got the screen telling me that the trip could not be booked and to call the very worthless toll free assistance number. Having learned that the Platinum line can solve this while the worthless number is clueless, I immediately called the Platinum line. As usual, I got a very helpful Chisholm-based agent, she confirmed that space was available but the flight numbers that www.nwa.com was showing into and out of OTP did not exist on her screen. We spent a little less than 2 hours going back and forth between her screens and mine. A good portion of the time was spent on hold while she consulted with the technical assistance people, supervisors and others. Finally, I figured out that the flights shown were actually Tarom operated Air France code shares. She found two AF operated; NW and AF coded flights necessitating a longer stop-over in Paris on the outbound and an over-night in Paris on the inbound.

Please book it, she did her thing and I verified that the flights and some of the seat assignments were correct. The agent actually thanked me for making the two hour “could have been an ordeal” a fun game of “let’s beat the system.” We both actually enjoyed the process of winning the game.

The final itinerary was:

July 17 PDX-SLC (757-200) F, SLC-CDG (767-300ER) C arrival July 18 DL
July 18 CDG-OTP (A318) European C AF
July 25 OTP-CDG (A321) European C AF
July 26 CDG-AMS (A320) European C AF
July 26 AMS-PDX (A330-200) C NW

The next morning before Marsha was up, a brilliant idea struck. Why not change the return to come out of Sofia? After all we had two previously expired visas and visas are not longer required. Also when would we get back to visit Bulgaria? So I called the Platinum line once again to determine if they had Perk Saver availability on the open jaw. They did, so I booked it. A couple of hours later I told Marsha about the change. This is a woman who as she gets older is less tolerant to surprises and change. Despite flying over 100k miles last year she still gets confused when she is not allowed to sit in 1B. A little glitch like a three hour delay on a four hour international connection can result in a complete meltdown. And if her boarding passes cannot be issued in Portland for HNL-OGG she becomes upset especially when mine are handed to me by the Portland agent and she has to pester both NW and HA as to why that can be.

Please note that we do not usually sit together because it easier on both of us. So when I told her of the nice surprise, I got an unexpected reaction. 1. We do not have enough time to see all of Romania (Please see above timeline) and 2. How are we getting to Sofia? Point 1 is correct and with the infrastructure it would be impossible to see much of the country in a couple of months and point 2 was answered with, “by train, of course”. This brought on question 3, “how long is the train ride?” The answer to that is, “9 hours”. The response was, “no way am I spending 9 hours on a filthy train because we will not see anything and it wastes a day.” When we were in Santiago last year we took a crowded commuter train and could not understand since we had bought a ticket at a ticket booth did not have pre-assigned seats. Rather than argue, I again called Northwest and the stars were appropriately aligned so I was able to reinstate the original itinerary at an additional cost of $14 per ticket. Presently Platinum members do not pay change fees but the executive office will eventually figure out that could be a good passenger service enhancement.

Now the next issue was where to stay and how to get around. Having recently read a thread on the Athenee Palace Hilton in Bucharest it sounded like a good option. In the same thread there was a discussion of car rental pricing. www.hilton.com had a low rate of $415 per night or two nights for a point saver of 42,000 points. So I booked the point saver for the first two nights in Bucharest. We had read that there is not that much of interest in Bucharest and from what we saw that is true.

Now the car issue, recent visitors had complained of rates approaching $1000 per week. After multiple searches, the best rate found was approximately $600 for July 20 pickup at OTP and July 25 drop-off. This equates to approximately $100 per day for an economy or slightly less for an Altoid’s box. Now, having driven a mini Kancil in Sabah, experience says that we do not fit in one even with the doors and windows open, so the least acceptable vehicle had to be the economy. The web-sites visited (I visited every one that I knew about and those that www.google.com served up) said the vehicle would be either an Opel Corsa or a Dacia Logan. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automobile_Dacia The Opel is fine for cruising around Europe, but the Dacia might be something else. Research lead to the fact that the Dacia was a Renault with a different marque built in Iran, Columbia, India and Romania http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dacia_Logan. This did not provide a warm fuzzy feeling and the “or equivalent” disclaimer from all the companies meant that we actually would be given what the company had in stock at the time of rental.. , It is also the 10th cheapest car in the world. In the quest for complete disclosure I did find a rate of about $350 from a Romanian company with a name similar to Europcar who wanted a credit card guarantee complete with security code for the vehicle. Having read about the rampant corruption and problems with stolen credit card numbers in Romania, needless to say, I did not book this apparent over-priced bargain.

www.autoeurope.com is one website that I always visit often with good success Auto Europe’s website was not competitive, so a cancelable economy car from Budget was booked at about $600 using the “this does not reduce your rate” Costco discount. Later, I thought of calling Auto Europe’s toll free. Homer in Portland, ME answered the phone. He hunted around for cars and discovered a special that included all insurance for $415, much cheaper than anything without insurance. The negative was a 300 euro CDW deductible while there would be no deductible with my credit card and it had to be prepaid but it was refundable upon cancellation. The car booked, a Dacia Logan or equivalent, diesel “strongly requested” for pickup at Otopeni Airport. Thus the major issues were resolved.

In Romania, Visitor information is a secret

Perhaps this is a remainder from the Ceausescu years. Romania has a tourist office in the U.S. One is able to order a brochure from them and earlier this year one arrived at our home. It had limited information with a small map of the country. Thus we were seemingly armed for our adventure. Further thought prompted a visit to Barnes and Noble which yielded a Frommers Eastern Europe guide with a small section on Romania that actually contained some, it must be emphasized “some”, hotel recommendations. The internet was not of much greater use. There seems to be a paucity of services available for visitors. Frommers also warned that there is no tourist bureau in Bucharest. That can be confirmed.

When is a hotel not a hotel and a CourtYard not a Courtyard?

Marsha who in earlier times lived with never making hotel reservation was very concerned that other than Bucharest hotels had not been booked and she voiced that concern. Thus, as a compromise the Brasov Courtyard was booked 6 days from arrival via www.expedia.com on a 7 day advance cancelable rate of 80 euros for our first driving night. It was not listed on www.marriott.com which was a hint that perhaps points would not be forthcoming and since it was booked on Expedia that probably they would not anyway. Searching around found a picture that looked suspiciously like that on the Expedia site but the name had changed to the Pensiunnea Curtea Brasoveana and it had an address. This becomes important later in the narrative. No further reservations were made since we did not know where we would go other than Transylvania, perhaps, Moldava, across the border to Bulgaria or the Black Sea were in the cards. Please note: a rental car may not be driven outside the borders of Romania. Romania is not much bigger than Oregon and we have much bigger mountains, how tough could it be to see a lot in a short time?

The trip, outbound

Our neighbor Brian picked us up for out trip our 1300 departure to SLC at 1030. It was a quick trip to the airport with our usual conversation about the stupidity of the Portland government with B becoming confused about which of our many governmental entities was responsible for which nonsense that was reported the past week.

Check-in was quick using the Medallion line. Boarding passes were issued all the way to OTP and bags were tagged with “Priority” tags. We schlepped over to the CTP machine and entrusted TSA with our bags. Screening on the way to the gate was the quickest and most pleasant of my numerous trips thru PDX. The screener actually omitted to stupid second pat down that I incur every departure due to the knee implant.

The time spent in the World Club was pleasant despite the paucity of good things to eat... We boarded our flight to SLC. The only incident was when I mistook the FC aisle seat in row 4 for my window. “D” on DL is the window as the guy in “C” pointed out. We had a nice talk about Paris since he saw the next boarding pass in my pocket and soon arrived in SLC.

Of course, our departure for CDG was delayed for approximately 1.5hours due to some issue with the fine 767-300ER used for this flight. Thus our 4 hour connection at CDG dwindled to 2.5. I do not like the seats. They are narrow thus make sleep difficult. I do not like the TV screens designed for the Travelocity gnome. I do like the food better than on NW. The crew was not particularly impressive and in fact spent much of the last part of the flight in the galley refusing to move so that those on the port side could use the starboard lavatory necessitating a long walk to the forward part of the plane and back to the rear of the C cabin. It was a TATL flight on an American carrier, mediocre except for the food. “We are here for your safety.” Marsha had a good time talking with her seatmate so things were fine. The crew did keep throwing water bottles at us during the flight so we had a bunch in case CDG-OTP did not ban water.

The CDG transfer

Many of you complain about LHR. Next time try a DL arrival to an AF non-Schengen departure. We deplaned, stopped to ask about our ongoing gate and were given the gate number. The signage at De Gaulle leaves a lot to be desired, buy unlike the country of Panama, they have signs. If one follows them one is lost whereas in Panama City one becomes lost without signs. We proceeded through immigration where the agent glanced at my passport and threw it back. There was an escalator leading to baggage claim but before it was a directional to our gate. We followed the direction of the sign to a security check-point. I made it through while listening to an American heading to ATL screaming that he had been there for 2 hours and the agent had taken off with his passport. Perhaps he is still there. They were patting me down when they noticed that Marsha was going to OTP and we encountered the Gallic “non” and pointing fingers to go back from whence we came. We trudged and trudged sometimes spotting a sign for the appropriate finger in Terminal 2. I think the term “finger” is appropriate for T2, CDG. It is hereby given to T2. Eventually we reached a long line leading to emigration and the subsequent security check.

Water tastes bad in Paris, the water in Bucharest is worse so we drink yours

Near the head of the line was a table with numerous mostly partially drunk water bottles. I inquired if we could bring full bottles through already knowing the answer. So we unloaded our 8 bottles of purloined Delta water thus eliciting lots of chuckles from those in our immediate vicinity. Passport check got a “Roissy” stamp placed on an appropriate page. My security check was fast while Marsha got the treatment. The upside is that hey did not confiscate the scissors that she insists on carrying.

Chauvinism is a French word

Down stairs to the Lounge which was more than jammed. Finally, a shared table was snagged and we settled in to enjoy the fairly decent items on offer. Later we found two seats in another area. There were two individuals sitting in front of one of the computers enjoying a lengthily chat Wondering if the machines were available for use, I asked the agent at the front desk and she responded, “Certainly”. So I returned into the now mostly empty lounge and asked them if they were using the machine. They responded that there was no place to sit and therefore chose this spot, but would move. I started to sit down and one of them stopped me and said, “That woman has been waiting”. Obviously chivalry is not a French word either. I do not know how long she had been patiently waiting for them to look around and see the now pretty vacant area around them, but obviously since she was female she was of little import.

English should be spoken with a French accent

Our flight was delayed. Next to our gate was an Air Seychelles 767 which was a first sighting for me. Eventually we boarded with Marsha in 2D and me in 2C. (Both pre-booked bulkheads). My seatmate from Toulouse was headed to Brasov with a weekend in Bucharest. She was per my understanding of her heavily French accented English was a Consultant in IT. In Brasov, her company had booked her at the Ambient Hotel. http://www.brasov-hotels.ro/id/12BvH-Ambient_Hotel-Brasov.en.php The purser spoke excellent English with a French accent. At one point my seatmate commented to the purser about something and she responded in English. My seatmate said, “That’s better, I understand you since your English is much better than this gentleman’s”.

Arrival in Bucharest

Otopeni Airport is a small and manageable airport. Immigration was easy with the agent stamping our passports. We proceeded to baggage claim and our two “priority” tagged bags showed up fairly quickly. Since Romania is not in the Euro zone (something about corruption and poor monetary policy), they use the Lei. There was an exchange inside the secure area offering 2 Lei per US$. A poor rate, the real rate is about 2.2 but having no Lei we needed some. So 60 Lei later we had enough to perhaps make it to the Hilton. Otopeni has a taxi monopoly offering only Fly Taxi as the only one authorized to pick up at the airport. According to all sources, they have a booth in the terminal. In fact, they have at least 2 both unmanned. Lots of taxi touts approached us and finally the information desk told us to go outside and look for the “Fly Guy”. We found him and he loaded us in a station wagon-like Dacia with a driver who spoke excellent English learned from his customers . He was from Brasov, but usually spent 2 weeks driving in Bucharest before going home for the weekend. He hates Bucharest, his words, not mine.
Fly Taxi charges 3.3 Lei per kilometer. Taxis in Bucharest charge varied amounts posted on the door. The cheapest we found was 1.69 and the most expensive 3.5. I had read that Fly allows one to use a credit card and indeed they do. They have a wireless reader which our driver had hidden under the seat. Our total bill was 61.52 Lei to the door of the Hilton. So we did not need to be ripped off on the exchange rate. The driver is Ernest and his cell number is 0742060201. I believe he will do private trips. The return was approximately half of that in a 1.69 Lei taxi from a company that the Concierge at the Hilton personally uses.

An aside: On the drive, Ernest whipped out the local scandal sheet during an unsolicited discussion of his feelings about George W. He thinks George is an idiot which is a position strongly supported in our household. According to this publication, the Romanian equivalent of the “National Enquirer”, George and Laura are getting a divorce because she agrees with Ernest’s opinion. Obviously a complete fabrication by the local tabloid (which incidentally is published by the largest publisher in Bucharest. He proudly pointed out their very large building). Ernest insisted that it must be true because it was in the “newspaper” which he held while negotiating the interesting Bucharest traffic patterns. Of course repeated pointing to various Romanian language comments about the impending split added considerable interest to the drive. It seems that long suppressed opinions about politics are now commonplace in modern Romania as we discovered a number of times during the trip.

Athenee Palace Hilton and Bucharest

The bellman got the bags out of the taxi while I paid Ernest and he wrote his private cell number on the back of the receipt. Check in was quick, we were upgraded to a “junior suite” on floor 20 with club access. I inquired as to whether we could have breakfast in the restaurant and the very pleasant clerk responded in the affirmative. The hotel has been discussed and we pretty much agree with the comments. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=417195&highlight=bucharest+athenee+palace&page=2

Luggage was delivered promptly unlike certain properties where luggage handling is similar to handing it over to an American or British airline. Unfortunately, the conversion into Lei did not include small change or bills, so I was forced to tip in US$. The bellman was quite gracious about the use of foreign currency. Extra towels and pillows (foam) were quickly delivered

The lounge staff was excellent. All of them treated us well going out of the way to do small things for us. For example, I had read all the non-British English language newspapers available with the exception of the “Financial Times”. One of the staff noticed that I had run out of things to read so she insisted on calling down to the concierge for more papers. Three British ones arrived quite shortly including two tabloids to sate my need for important news of various heinous doings in Great Britain. Too bad they did not have the “Star” or the “National Enquirer” to round out the selection. The lounge has a terrace that on the somewhat warm and muggy first evening allowed us to enjoy an excellent Romanian wine (no not an oxymoron) while overlooking the parking lot and the much better view of downtown Bucharest. After the sunset, the full moon rose to the left of an impressive building in the distance. Sorry for the lack of a picture. Both evenings we enjoyed unlimited wine, beer, water and soft drinks. Snacks were sufficient to obviate the need for dinner and the conversation the second evening with a retired former civil service couple quite enjoyable. Both evenings the person on duty insisted that we take the remains of the bottle to the room so it would not go to waste. No mention was made about a concern that we might steal the glassware. Note: to Millenium Hilton Bangkok lounge staff, Executive floor guests really have no need to pilfer your glassware-we have our own at home and have no need for more souvenirs.

One lounge host went out of her to make us feel at home although all were excellent. Since there is a lack of visitor information as discussed above, we asked where she would suggest we travel. Among the choices were Transylvania, Constanta, the Danube Delta and Timosoara, all of which she insisted we could do in out six driving days. Helpful as this advice seemed, we only had time for Transylvania. A consistent theme when asking a Romanian (male or female) about driving time is that they have no real idea but will tell you a time anyway... It’s not far so it must not take long. We never received an accurate estimate from the many inquiries we made. Perhaps they all own BMWs? More on this later.

In essence, we had one full day to explore Bucharest which we did after breakfast in the 1st floor restaurant, a reasonable buffet with a good choice of items. Certainly the choice it is not as good as at Hiltons in Frankfurt, Warsaw and Berlin or many of the Asian properties, but good in its own right. The only quibble was that the first morning was that I ordered a ham, cheese and mushroom omelet with “pimiento picante” and ended up with something quite insipid with certainly no bite at all. I even asked for chili in English to reinforce the request. Isn’t Romanian a romance language? Isn’t Romania adjacent to Hungary which has piquant paprika? Where is the Habanera?

Bucharest exploration

We set out to explore the old town portion of Bucharest after receiving directions and a simple map from the concierge. His directions were that one walked about 10 minutes to reach a square with a popular foreign chain restaurant (it might have been Pizza Hut, but probably was Dunkin Donuts) old town was just past it. We walked for more than 20 minutes finally reaching the Radisson. Not seeing anything resembling the described landmark, we retraced our tracks across the street to the Radisson. Approaching the desk clerk and inquiring elicited the normal response of a smile, a map published by In Your Pocket and a pen. He circled the old town and suggested that we go out the door, turn left, turn left again and cross the street towards the requisite landmark. Probably 50 meters away and staring us in the face was the landmark. A couple of hours of wandering around the construction zone identified as the old city left us less than impressed. It is a great place if one is seeking bridal gowns with seemingly about a hundred shops selling them in the small area. The construction and the maze-like quality of the streets meant that we visited the same streets numerous times which probably accounted for the large number of bridal shops that we saw. A few restaurants were in evidence, but none appealed in terms of a dinner return.

So we retraced our steps to the Hilton to use the facilities and rehydrate in the lounge. Now that we had done one of the major activities in Bucharest, what next? Perhaps we should visit the second largest building in the world next to the Pentagon. The former palace of the former dictator is impressive if one is impressed by large governmental edifices. Big buildings do not impress after staying at the former Hotel Rossiya next to Red Square and St. Basils, so that was not high on our must see list. After all in the 80’s it was the largest hotel in the world and possible also the most depressing. Demolition was the perfect solution. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotel_Rossiya Besides, Ernest had already proudly pointed it out on the way from the airport (the building, not the Rossiya). The other recommended sight was the village of houses relocated from various locations in Romania. Skeptics that we are this did not sound like a stellar attraction. Well, we were absolutely wrong!

The concierge suggested taking a taxi. We countered with what about the bus? He gave us directions to get to the bus stop pointing out basically where to find them on our now tremendously useful and faithful sidekick Bucharest in Your Pocket map. Later we discovered that the map and guide were in our room with the literature that most of us ignore. The guide is also an excellent resource and is available for many European cities.

http://www.inyourpocket.com/ http://www.inyourpocket.com/romania/city/bucharest.html

We have used them in the past, but neglected to check the web-site in the rush to plan this trip.

He also said that the bus stops near the village were not actually near the village and might require somewhat of a trek. So after we left the hotel, we flagged down a taxi who delivered us to the village’s front door. The entry fee was nominal and we entered a large grouping of buildings located near a lake and adjacent park. Houses from all over the country, many of them moved here in the 1930’s were scattered over an attractive hillside. Viewing was predominately through windows from the exterior with the houses in many instances displaying original furnishings. Descriptions were available in both Romanian and English. Aside from the houses, there were a number of outbuildings displaying machinery of the various eras. There were also a small number of vendors scattered around selling handicrafts. All-in-all it was a very pleasant afternoon. The weather was nice and quite warm.

After we completed the visit the time was approaching 4 p.m. afternoon tea at the Hilton. There were no taxis at the entrance so we walked to the very busy avenue fronting the village looking for one. Crossing the street in the middle of a very long block (over a mile) seemed to be potential suicide attempt (even if one survived, the thought of a stay in a Romanian ICU was not a pleasant one) so we stayed on our side of the avenue. Unfortunately this was a judgment error as the taxi that eventually stopped was 3.5 lei one headed in the opposite direction from the Hilton. There was no potential to double back until we had gone over a mile to the traffic circle at the end of the park. Our 12 Lei trip to the village ended up costing 26 Lei for the return.

When we got back, it was a quick to the room and immediately to the lounge on 26. Another very helpful hostess was there. She convinced me to try the local beer after I had down a couple of Coke Lights.

When is a bear not a bear?

When it is an Ursus, the local beer. For beer lovers it is truly a very good brew delivered in a liter glass bottle. The lounge even has the appropriate beer glasses.

Pedestrians always have the right-of-way, otherwise the most expensive vehicle wins, with minor exceptions.

All the literature describes Romanian traffic conditions as chaotic, dangerous and crazy. There is one extremely notable exception. The pedestrian always has the right-of-way no matter where the fool may be in the roadway. Ernest changed lanes, bulled his way from lane to lane, and cut off numerous vehicles while waving around the tabloid when we drove from the airport. The notable exception was that every time he saw a pedestrian no matter where he was in the street he screeched to an abrupt stop. Every other vehicle without exception stopped. Well, there was one exception later in the trip when I was unable to stop but it was on the open highway at 110 km/hr. Disclaimer: No one was injured in the making of this trip report. Perhaps the reason for this totally irrational behavior on the part of the Romanian driver is the desire not to dent the vehicle acquired in this recently affluent society?

Reports also stated that one must beware of BMWs anywhere because the have an absolute right to do what they wish. Almost universally true, this elite driver has been recently joined by Audis, Lexi, SUVs of all sorts, VWs and even an Opel or two. Mercedes drivers seem to be brain dead and do not join in the sport. Some Dacia owners have even slapped BMW emblems on their vehicles in order to emulate their heroes. Always drive with an eye on the rearview mirrors so as to be prepared for their antics. More danger lurks in the rear than what is in front.

Hilton hints

There are certain hidden benefits within the walls of the Hilton.

There is a little store located up the stairs across from the front desk. It stocks among other things, the Highway Map of Romania, Abridged Edition (Actually the excellent Highway and Moldavian Monastery map which in English is called “Touristical and Road Map) , prepaid SIMs for Orange and Vodaphone. A warning: Do not buy the Vodaphone if you intend to use it outside Romania. It seems not to work in France. Perhaps there is a way to activate it to roam except all instructions are in Romanian and the little girl who works in the shop does not speak much English. She does know how to activate the SIM but not how to insert it in a cell phone. Orange is a much better choice as was later pointed out by the concierge.

http://www.ghidulturistic.ro/ This site in Romanian has maps for the entire country. There is a large bookstore near old town that may stock maps-ask the concierge.

It does not stock the Atlas of Romania with city maps. BTW, these names are solely my creation, not the publishers. The City maps seemingly can only be found in the center of cities and towns after driving through the grim parts with considerable trial and error. Normally one must go backwards down a one-way street to reach the information office. On the final day, it was discovered that gas stations also stock them for at least one Romanian town.

There is an Avis Rental Car booth which appears to be always empty. The cars are parked across the street.

Our best find was the Bancomat (ATM) which the concierge personally showed me after being asked. It is located next to the little shop. It speaks English and dispenses big bills. These bills can be exchanged for smaller ones, sometimes, at the reception.

The rooms come with free bottled water which is good for trips. The lounge also has large amounts available.

Reception has candy on the counter which means that if one is a homeless Romanian who looks like a tourist he will not starve to death. After all it is a primary food group.

The concierge staff actually wears those funny pins that indicate that they are really trained concierge.

If one asks nicely, the concierge will call his personal 1.69 Lei perfectly acceptable taxi for your use.

Budget Car Rental Romania booked through Auto Europe

As mentioned earlier, we ended up with a reservation for a Dacia Logan with Budget booked through Auto Europe with a “strong request for Diesel”. After taking the perfectly acceptable taxi back to OTP, we were dropped off at International Departures. After all people coming from the Hilton are leaving Romania. Car rental booths are actually in the domestic terminal. Many display much lower rates than we paid. Whether they come with insurance and other necessities is a matter of opinion. YMMV. We found our way to the Budget booth and were greeted by a couple of employees who actually knew we expected a car. When asked what the vehicle would be, the response was that it was a Dacia Logan. Diesel was not available. It was quite clearly explained that if the car was damaged or stolen the deductible was 300 Euros. In addition, a form listing all the items in and on the car and their appropriate replacement costs was presented. The agent also handed me the car papers including the Road Tax indicia emphasizing that if they were lost it would cost 300 Euros. I perceptively noted a theme here. After completing the paperwork, we along with our luggage were asked to accompany one of the employees to the parking lot to inspect our car. A red Dacia Logan that required an intensive inspection awaited us. We noted every one of the numerous dents, nicks, scraps and broken items while the employee wrote them on the form. Some that we pointed out, normally worse than the ones written down, he passed over as not serious and did not need notation. He then handed me the form to sign. He looked at me and said, “of course I have written all of this in Romanian which you do not understand” and chuckled. He also noted that the car was to be returned with 2 bars of fuel. The exit was pointed out and we were told to bring the car back to the same place. Luggage loaded, mirrors adjusted, seat adjusted and the Highway Map of Romania, Abridged Edition firmly in the navigator’s hand we set out.

On the way to our first city

We left the lot, reached the exit without incident and turned right on the divided highway toward Brasov, our first destination. Immediately, the two fuel bars became one. “Atta boy” previous driver, way to save money” especially since fuel was $8.00 per gallon. The first gas station was passed because it was very close to the airport and there would be more in a few kilometers. There were, all on the other side of a divided road. Eventually we reached another station. The attendant understood that I wanted to pay with a credit card and emphatically stated that a PIN was required. Fortunately the Master Card has a pin. It seems to be required at all gas stations to charge fuel. Thus the first hurdle was cleared and with a full fuel tank we moved briskly on.

One thing of note is that every few kilometers a police car (Dacia, of course) was stationed with a cop and miscreants surrounding it. Often the cop held something looking suspiciously like a radar gun. We had been warned that the cops are incredibly corrupt in Romania and live by extorting cash from motorists for minor and often imaginary offenses. Therefore I drove quite sedately while numerous vehicles including a few “Altoid Boxes” passed us. As we drove along we noted that signs were posted warning of radar in use. Most towns had a police car parked at the outskirts sometimes with someone in or near it, sometimes unoccupied. They also seemed to hang out near marked cross walks. Also of interest is that often the assigned speed was painted on the pavement rather than on a sign.
It was soon time to join the flow of traffic and drive like a Romanian. The road was good until we reached a detour around Ploesti. Actually it is the bypass route and is under construction with a few one lane, one way stretches. For history buffs, there was a significant allied air raid during WWII on the oil refinery in Ploesti. Yes, Romania has oil. Since it was Sunday, there was little problem with the construction area as traffic was fairly light. Shortly after entering this bypass, we actually missed it and entered by detouring through a gas station, off to the left were a group of “Mama”, “Papa” and “Baby” cooling towers at a large nuclear complex. Yes, Romania has lots of nuclear generation. Hmm, could they have been by the builders of Chernobyl ?
It is the largest grouping of cooling towers that I have seen and indeed the towers varied in height. There were at least 9.
After the bypass, we rejoined the main highway which was still 4 lanes with numerous towns, numerous cops, numerous radar signs and lots of stupid pedestrians. In towns, I made sure to maintain speed limit. Eventually, we reached Siniea where the highway narrows to two lanes with numerous passing lanes whose claim to fame is this castle http://www.flickr.com/photos/dastrix/770996139/ (note: this is not the author’s photo but found courtesy www.google.com posted by Kris Keen)

The other claim to fame for this town on a Sunday afternoon is a huge horde of visitors all crowding every last centimeter of space. During the winter it is one of the bases for the ski resorts in the area. Seeing the crowds, we looked at each other and commented that there had to be better places to be. We did go as far as the lift that goes to the top of the mountain but the parking lot was jammed thus we proceeded to Brasov.

Brasov

Brasov is described as a city with a very pleasant and attractive medieval old town. It actually is a large ugly industrial town with Soviet era apartment blocks designed by the single architect not shipped off to the Gulag. I jest to an extent, but many of the buildings look like they were built from the only copy of drawings approved by the authorities. The center of the city with its old town is actually as described. The problem is finding it and our pre-reserved luxury accommodations adjacent to said old town.

We drove through the increasing unattractive sections of Brasov after leaving the main road and following signs to the city center.

Expedia strikes once again

Recall, that hotel was booked on www.expedia.com for this first night on the road. The confirmation came without an address and telephone number. Note to Expedia users; one can find the address of the hotel in the itineraries section of the web-site but not on the e-mail and only after you return home if you forget to take this extra step. Fortunately, I found the address on another site with that had a comparable picture. This was noted in pen on my Expedia confirmation. Actually, the previous month in Krakow we arrived with a confirmation with no address or phone number. That time the desk clerk at a very nice hotel adjacent to the train station gave us a map and its address. Armed with no map of Brasov and no telephone number for the hotel, we found a section of the city that looked old and wandered around for about a half hour looking for the street name. Please recall my French seatmate on the flight to Bucharest. She told me that she would be at the Ambient Hotel http://www.brasov-hotels.ro/id/12BvH-Ambient_Hotel-Brasov.en.php

Well, in our wanderings we passed that hotel a number of times. On about the fourth pass I. I made a Romanian right turn across four traffic-less lanes (Sunday). 2. Made a U-turn and stopped directly in front of the entrance to hotel parking complete with pole gate and human guard. Also present was a prominent sign that stated “paid parking.” “Hey we are not here to pay, we are here for information”. The Dacia reversed and parked in Romanian style- half in the street, half on the sidewalk blocking the entrance. The guard approached and asked in flawless Romanian which was interpreted as either what do you want or perhaps what do you think you are doing? Responding in English, I showed him my Expedia document. Then German and Spanish were attempted. Shaking his head “no” he let out a long declaration still in Romanian, held up his hand in the universal “stay here” motion and left toward the hotel entrance with us guarding his now unguarded parking lot by partially blocking the entrance. Ten minutes later he returned declaring, “Someone come”. A few minutes later a young man approached and in flawless English asked what was needed. Showing him the Expedia missive he stated, “Yes, we have problems with them all the time”. He went into the hotel and returned in a few moments with a good map of downtown Brasov and a black magic marker. He also declared that he had never heard of the “Courtyard”. Eventually the route was marked in magic marker. I thanked him for all his help. As we were leaving, he proudly explained that he was a manager at the hotel and emphasized that he was Spanish. If we ever return to Brasov, we will stay at the Ambient. It was 8 Euros more than our booked hotel and included guarded parking, breakfast, tax and service and other various hotel amenities in the rate. If our Expedia reservation had been cancelable we would have just parked the Dacia and registered.

Armed with our map eventually we reached a large square where we located a street sign for the appropriate street. There was a tour bus parked in front of a large building that looked suspiciously like it might have a courtyard so I parked the car and went searching. No sign of the “Courtyard”. We have the address, can see the street, so it should be easy to find. Two passes down the street yielded no results except to find every number except 16. The square had a taxi rank so the car was again parked behind the bus. I approached a young driver with my now very rumpled Expedia document, asked if he spoke English. No, “nur Romanie und Deutsch”. Success! So I posed the question and responded in German that he had never heard of the place. He than said to hop in and we would search for it. Less than 50 meters after leaving the square we found the building facing an intersecting street. I thanked him profusely and he took off before I could tip him to make the 75 meter drive back to the taxi rank.

Pensiunea Curtea Brasoveana aka Brasoveana CourtYard or maybe Barasoveana Court Yard

The car safely parked in front we entered our home for the night we entered this Pension. The desk clerk was expecting us. Asking to see the room, we went up. It held a double bed small TV and not much else. The bath was passable. Certainly a room suitable for a $25 a night pension but not for a $125 hotel. I asked Marsha if the room was ok. Her usual response was forthcoming, “well, what do you think?” which when translated into English means “no way am I staying in this room!” So back to reception to see if they have one with 2 single beds. They do but it is in the other building so off we go. The room is not as nice as room one but it has two sway-backed beds and a clean bathroom. Back to reception we went posing the inevitable, “will you let us cancel without penalty”. The answer was as expected. So I then asked where I should park the car. The clerk looked out the side window and told me that where it was perfectly fine. So much for the Expedia website that not once but twice listed “free parking” implying that it was in the Courtyard.

From www.expedia.com

“The hotel is built in a stylish newly renovated mansion with an interior garden, keeping the romantic look of the beginning of this century” It is useful to note that “at the beginning of the this century” refers to impoverished rural Romania where many people even today still keep livestock in the house.

“Standard King Room King Size Bedded Room $117.61” This was the sway-backed double booked

Expedia has adjusted the rate to the correct amount when converted from 260 Romanian Lei. We were quoted $125.71 (80 Euros); we actually paid $117.27 billed on a USAA Master Card.

http://www.expedia.com/pub/agent.dll/qscr=dspv/htid=1550504/crti=2/hotel-information

See the free parking reference; they have removed the second reference to it.

http://www.expedia.com/pub/agent.dll/qscr=dspv/htid=1550504/crti=1/hotel-location-map

Your challenge is to find the hotel on this map.

http://www.expedia.com/pub/agent.dll/qscr=dspv/htid=1550504

This place sounds really good, doesn’t it?

Brasov, old city

Thus ensconced for our one night stay, we set out with our Brasov map to visit the old city. It was filled with people enjoying the nice weather. Beer was available at numerous outdoor venues. Each establishment had umbrellas provided by the beer purveyor of choice. Therefore it is easy to determine the brand you will get. This is true in much of Europe for those of you that may be first time European travelers. Very important information: Beer was never more than 5 Lei in these establishments. A 250 ml bottle of Coke Light (Diet Coke) went for similar prices. In fact a pint was never more than $2.50 in any restaurant we visited. It was free in the executive lounge at the Hilton which was an even better deal. Other hotels including one later in the trip might not be such a good deal.

Old town is nicely maintained and restored. Overall it was a pleasant afternoon and early evening visit. Marsha has unusual culinary requirements when traveling. Chicken, seafood, schnitzel, green salad, and pizza are staples. As she becomes more mature (translation-older) she dislikes a growing list of cuisines including any non-Tempura Asian, Indian, Turkish and numerous others, never an adventurous eater this has become more of a challenge as we travel to more diverse and remote environments. Cuy in Ecuador will definitely not be on her menu. Brasov has a fairly good Italian restaurant on a side street off the main walking street and Italian in certain forms meets her dietary requirements. Those forms that are met with reluctance are primary from the South of Italy. Having grown up in the Sicily of New York state, Binghamton my favorites are her least favorite. We finally decided to have an early dinner; they offered pizza for her (did not see any pollo ala limone, but it may have been on the menu) and pasta for me. She is unable to eat a whole pizza so I always get the remains. This time she ordered pizza ala proscutti. What she got was pizza with boiled ham, a definite disappointment which she has encountered in numerous countries not named Italy. The only safe item for her is Pizza Margarita which is safe in most of the world except Northern British Columbia where they insist that pickling spice is a tomato sauce spice. I also prefer to not to deal with her strange toppings being a cheese and sauce purist for my half of her order. A large pile of boiled ham later the surprisingly reasonable bill was presented and we walked back to our quarters.

All I can say about the beds at the Court Yard is that they were not the most uncomfortable encountered in Romania.

On the way to Sighisoara

Monday dawned differently than Sunday. The weather was still nice but the traffic had returned like a malignant neoplasm. Once we got past old town the streets were a snarl with cars, trucks and busses darting all over. The only thing missing was the ubiquitous Romanian horse drawn cart with which we became almost intimately acquainted later in the journey. This was the first experience with the Romanian driving mentality in its full glory. Our carefully plotted course was displaced when we missed the sign for the city beyond our destination (who would have thought of Targu Mures) forcing a three left turn one right turn course back to the correct street where we ended up in the wrong lane for our right turn. Thus the great circle was repeated this time with us in the correct lanes for all our turns (after parking partially on the sidewalk to consult the map). Romanian drivers do not like to let cars merge unless forced. It took quite a while to get out of Brasov jockeying at every traffic light with the neighboring drivers including the ones who love the right turn lane to bull there way ahead of others. Hey, it is better than Manhattan or Bangkok. Once clear of the city things really calmed down on a good 2 lane highway through the valley all the way to our destination of Sighiosoara. Somewhere I read that this town is a short day trip from Brasov. Well if slightly less than 3 hours one way is a short day trip, then what is a long day trip? Marsha used Frommers to look for a hotel. One that struck her fancy was the Hotel Europa which according to the book was about 5 kilometers north of town. As we were approaching Sighisoara, a nice hotel on a hill to the left of the highway appeared. It was the Hotel Europa. So much for guidebooks! Rather than stopping to inquire about rooms and rates, we proceeded another 7 km. to town.

The driving light

Remember the long list of items that if broken or lost would be charged? Remember the 300 Euro deductible. Well, in Brasov Marsha noticed that the right driving light hidden low on the bumper was broken. The lens was missing and the inside of the light was heavily corroded. Remember the list written in Romanian and the laugh from the check-out guy? Thinking that we had been duped into buying Budget a new lens, I spied a Dacia dealer on the outskirts of Sighisoara. Entering the service area, I enquired as to the cost of replacing the lens. The clerk did not understand me and dragged me along to the sales area. One salesman spoke English and asked another for the cost. 100 Euros for a lens? “Well we have to replace the entire driving light” etc. etc. The thought was that perhaps Budget had noted it or maybe they would not notice it upon return.

Back to our tale

So we drove on.

To reach town one turns obliquely left at a well-signed very short-duration traffic light. It even has a count down clock to tell one the short time remaining. Driving thru town, a tourist information booth was on a street to the right. So following the car in front, I turned right and drove to the parking lot for the information office.

It’s not in my self-defined job description

Upon entering the office, the very nice lady in charge provided us with a Sighisoara map and visitors information. She also had a rack with a number of hotel, pension and B&B brochures. Not seeing one for the Hotel Europa, I asked if she knew if she knew the rate and whether they had availability for that night. Everywhere in Europe one of the best ways to find a place to stay is to go to the I for hotel bookings even in this day of the internet. The response was, “it is not my job to book hotels for you”. Taken aback, I took out my cell phone and asked if she knew the number of the hotel so I could call. She looked at me, smiled, picked up her phone and called the hotel. “It’s not my job, but for you I will do it.” Yes they had availability, no need to book or to know who I was. Since the conversation was in Romanian it can be assumed that she described us.

Sighisoara, Transylvania

http://www.romaniatourism.com/medieval.html

After leaving the information office, we drove further on the main street to encounter a sign indicating the medieval portion of town. We turned right on a street leading to a parking lot and found a spot. Later in the day, I discovered the “do not enter sign” on this street. Immediately in front of the car was a sign above the public toilet that indicated that one must pay to park in this lot with what looked very much like an arrow pointing down. Since there were two female gate keepers to collect the toilet money, I asked for a parking ticket. “Not here, bar across” So to the bar across the street. “Not here, bar with popular beer brand whose name I cannot recall”. The waitress pointed me to the bar tender that indeed had parking tickets. As I recall it was 2 Lei per hour and he graciously filled in all the required information on each ticket for our 2 hour stay. Upon return to the car Marsha was standing with the parking ticket issuer. It was ok that the bartender kept him from doing his job. Automatic ticket dispensers in Romania are often human. Be sure to put them face up on the dashboard. Note: To the city fathers of Portland-hire some of our transients to do this job or perhaps some undocumented workers , fire the non-meter readers and get rid of the very expensive paid –for ticket dispensers which you want to sell to and lease back from some Canadian company at considerable cost to the taxpayers. Additionally perhaps these people could do double duty to replace the $50,000 a month security guards in the City Hall toilets protecting them from the same transients. End of political diatribe. My apologies

We climbed the hill to the interesting portion of the town and wandered around for awhile. Upon return to the parking lot, it was time for a couple of Ursus before going to the hotel. Now, technically this was illegal as Romanian traffic laws do not allow one to drive with any alcohol in their blood. We joined many Romanians quaffing brews at the one of two restaurants with a lesser number of obnoxious children.

Hotel Europa 2000, Sighisoara (well sort of Albesti)

http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g311309-d501268-r2584449-Hotel_Restaurant_Europa_2000-Sighisoara_Transylvania.html

http://www.hotel-europa2000.com/En/

The message here is do not believe everything you read on the internet.

This actually was a fairly good hotel with some notable exceptions. Upon arrival one must climb a number of steps to reach the reception. The clerk seemed to know who we were and after the normal inspection of the room (overlooking the cows and swimming pool, back parking lot and farm equipment) we checked in. Now the room was two floors up from the reception and we had luggage. No elevator was in evidence and help seemed not to be forthcoming. Since the desk clerk did not speak much English beyond “sign here” a young waiter had come to be the translator. This boy’s stature resembled that of a member of the Chinese female gymnastics team only without any muscles. He may have weighed 70 pounds including his rimless spectacles with arms slightly more muscular than a strand of linguini. When I inquired about a bellman, he said that he would carry the bags. “They are heavy”. So he ran off and got someone from the kitchen to help. Bags safely in our room, we wondered what next to do with the balance of the day. Perhaps some exploring of the area around Sighisoara since we had pretty much seen the town. So we proceeded north towards Targu Mures as Marsha plotted a course. Taking secondary roads we made a long loop ending up about two kilometers south of our hotel. About half way, we encountered a market stretching along both sides of the road. There were even banners above the road advertising that the goods were from another part of the country. We spotted a building sporting a tourist information sign. Perhaps they have some maps and a toilet? The kid manning the building informed us that they had no information and certainly no toilets. So much for a nice information building.

Well, so instead it was time to look at what is on offer. Most of the stalls offered poor quality weavings and lots of baskets. Maybe a basket for our cats so they do not have to evict each other periodically from the one in front of the fireplace. None met Marsha’s exceedingly high standards in respect to construction or size. Besides it would be difficult to schlep it home on the plane. Remember, we were in business class. These comments from my wife who bought a large laundry basket in Tangiers many years ago and schlepped it around Europe, Canada and the U.S. for 2 months. But it only cost 2 dollars so it was worth it. The baskets offered had a start price of about $10 so a better deal can be found at Pier One at home. Nobody seemed to interest in selling anything as well.

Many of the stall owners had Hungarian registered vehicles. It appears that this may be a Hungarian vacation area as many of the vehicles had “H” plates.

As a train lover, a couple of interesting passenger trains were seen on this drive including a diesel commuter car of dubious origin. It was actually moving and we had to wait at a crossing for it to pass. Platforms in some of the smaller villages are typically a board set next to the tracks. I did not get a chance to try any trains; In fact we took no public transportation other than taxis on this trip.

Hotel Europa and Dinner

When we checked into the hotel I asked the waiter if the restaurant would be open that evening since I sensed that they were not very busy. He stated that the kitchen was under construction but they had grilled items. “What might they be?” His answer was chicken, pig meat and “moo shi”.

So we decided that we could live with grilled stuff and proceeded later that evening to the restaurant. It actually was fairly busy with one large Romanian group, an English couple and some others. Our slight waiter was busy with the large party finally arriving after about fifteen minutes. He asked us what we wanted for dinner. My response was tell me what you have. “We have grilled things, chicken, pig meat and moo shi. What kind of pig? What is moo shi? “Pig meat” “moo shi” Apparently his English had suddenly failed so I asked for him to take me to the kitchen to see what was available. In neighboring countries such as Greece and the neighboring former Yugoslavian provinces this is quite normal. No way would he allow me to see what they had. Finally I said that I would have the moo shi. “How many do you want, 1, 2, 3 or 4?” What is this moo shi? “You dip it in Moutarde” Aha, the first word of Romanian that I understand, mustard. That just does not sound good so maybe eating here was not a good idea.
And he leaves us sitting there. Frustrated beyond belief, we left to implement the fall back plan. Italian at the Ursus restaurant.

We returned to the restaurant. This is where I finally noticed the “do not enter” sign so we park on the main street and walk. Marsha true-to-form orders pizza without ham. I had some type of not particularly good pasta. Marsha’s pizza was covered with a local cheese on a crust that resembled the consistency of a take out pizza box. She had one slice complaining all the time that the cheese tasted sour and that the crust was over-risen (or was it under-risen?) I tasted it and put it back after one taste. My suspicion is that the crust maker was a visiting Israeli matzos baker working illegally in Romania. Or it was “stuffed with box crust”? At least the beer was good and the bill reasonable.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/matza

The room at the Hotel Europa 2000 was fine. The beds were outrageously uncomfortable resembling narrow bunks with wooden side rails but without the bunk part. Obviously there was no air conditioning. There also were not screens. Coolness came through the open window from outside along with various insects with varying length stinging apparatus. This is the country complete with manure producing cows.

Upon check out, I presented my Master Card per the sign six inches from my left shoulder. The clerk, a different one from yesterdays handed it back stating that the machine did not work. “Well perhaps you can write down the number and expiration to run later”. A very emphatic “no” answer followed by you can drive to town to get money. Again good fortune won as the Bancomat yesterday had spit out sufficient Lei to pay for last nights dinner (?) and today’s hotel bill.

So we schlepped our own luggage-no help that day. Made another Bancomat stop and got


On the road to Sibiu

One of the lounge hostesses had said that Sibiu was an interesting town. So a loop to end there seemed in order. We took secondary roads from Sighisoara via Media and Blaj to join Romania 1 (E81). Romania 1 took us Alba Julia via the bypass to Sebes rejoining the 1 and on to Sibiu. Part of this route is a wine growing region (toward Blaj) but there is little evidence of visitor infrastructure despite signs naming it a wine route along the road.

Once we reached the intersection with the 1 a right turn was required thru a practically endless stream of traffic in both directions. Finally seeing a slight break using a semi-truck as a shield we headed south. Traffic continued heavy all the way to the turnoff for the bypass road. At the end of the bypass we encountered a “T” intersection in a medium size town. Directly behind us was a black Audi. We had a stop sign with trucks coming from the left and right as well as one attempting to turn in front of us. Finally the truck in front made it and we moved up a bit just a large semi-truck made a right turn onto our road directly into our lane. Suddenly the Audi driver vented his Romanian spleen by leaning on his obnoxious horn. The truck driver looked down at us, shook his head and continued his very wide turn. I gave the Audi driver the finger. All the time the Audi was being exceedingly annoying. Finally we made it through by cutting off an oncoming truck. The Audi caught up shortly as we moved along at about 5km/hr in very heavy traffic. The next intersection indicated a right turn to Sibiu. We turned right, he went straight. About fifteen minutes later in this unmoving jam of trucks we noticed that an Audi was now somehow ahead of us and making a U-turn. It was black, Marsha was sure it was him but we saw another half dozen Audis that day in that town. Hopefully he is still stuck in traffic with his horn inoperative and his fuel tank empty.

Finally the jam cleared one truck at a time. We made our right turn with traffic moving fairly well in our direction. Traffic was stopped in the oncoming lanes and this continued for 7 km. Infrastructure in Romania has not kept up with economic progress.

During this portion of the trip we continued to encounter a cop every few kilometers. Even the larger villages seemed to have a car or two. Only the smaller ones lacked this symbol of national full employment. Then I noticed a police car parked facing traffic in a field not far off the highway. This was the same highway where traffic was stopped in the opposing lanes. Wait, not a police car, but a clever sign cut out to look exactly like a Romanian police car. Later we saw more of these which are very effective in slowing traffic and reducing graft. Sorry there are no pictures.

Before we reached Sibiu it began to rain steadily. It had been a long day traversing a short distance with resultant emotional low especially after the previous 2 hotel experiences. Upon entering Sibiu which is a city of medium size traffic became denser and as usual we had no map. It was too late in the day to continue to Brasov for which we possessed a map and knew of a good hotel. So what to do? Then on a power pole a sign, “Ramada Hotel 4.7 km”. We were in the right lane when a little further along we saw a hotel that looks like a possible but it was across 4 lanes of very heavy traffic so we proceeded further. Incredible as it seemed further signs kept pointing toward the Ramada. Traffic crawled. At one point the number 11 bus took a right while we proceeded straight. A few blocks later the same bus re-entered the traffic in front of us.

Another much more potentially serious incident occurred on this leg. We had just left a village and parked in the road was a motorcycle. Next to it were a cop and a motorist. The car that he had been driving was at a very steep angle on the down slope agent to the road parallel to the road.
The car looked pretty much undamaged but in a definite predicament. We slowed down and pulled around them. BTW: this was the only accident we saw in 6 days of driving in the country. After a few hundred meters we again slowed as there were two horse-drawn wagons approaching while another was proceeding in our direction. A white car was also coming from the opposite direction. Glancing in the mirror here comes the distinctive grill of, you guessed it, a BMW. Now I like BMW cars. They are responsive, handle well, have good crash survivability and good brakes. We even own one. Do I know what this fool will do? Of course! Plenty of room to pass me and pass the wagon going our way. He seemingly does not see the two other wagons or the oncoming white car. I have seen more than I can count of these guys during the days in Romania. In this case this is really serious, so I hit the brakes hard. He passes me, sees the two oncoming carts and stops dead in the road a few feet from the lead horse. The white car has stopped behind the second wagon. I am slightly behind and to the right of the moron. The cart cart moving in our direction is directly in front of me. He decides that I am in his way and he forces his way into my lane. Somehow no one died because of very real problems caused by drivers of expensive cars in Romania.


Hotel Ramada Sibiu

http://www.ramada.com/Ramada/control/Booking/property_info?propertyId=16280&brandInfo=RA

Finally we reached the Ramada, turned right after it and found a parking spot next to its parking lot entrance. In the rain, looking feeling and feeling somewhat dejected, we approached the front desk to ask as to availability and rate. Yes rooms were available and the rate was 140 Euros, not Lei ($221 + tax + service, breakfast included, parking 5 Euro extra for a Ramada?) But he explained that he could offer us a special at of 114 Euro + 5 Euro for parking. $190 for a Ramada was not great but it was a hotel in hand. It was also one year old, seemed to have helpful staff and, did I mention, breakfast for 2 included. So we took it.

Certainly better than our previous Transylvania hotels by several orders of magnitude. Parking was in a fairly empty secure garage. A bellman actually watched me park but we declined his services since we only had two small bags. He did lead us into the hotel to the elevator. The elevator was unique in that insertion of key card got one only to their floor. No other stops were allowed from the lobby level. The modern room can only be described as Hilton light. Nice but not up to most international standards. It is a Ramada but probably one of the nicest. It has been many years since I stepped foot into a Ramada because they always were bad. Worth $190 per night, probably not unless one is feeling tired and it is there which it was.

Oh yes, they have free internet in a locked room behind reception which I used the first evening to catch up on e-mail and look for hotels for the next day.

A brief exploration of Sibiu’s old town

The rain continued to fall, but we were game to explore the old city. Sense the theme of it must be old here? But where is it? The desk helpfully pointed out that it was across the boulevard but they had almost constructed a passageway eliminating the need to brave the traffic. The bellman even led us around the corner so we would not get lost during the 100 meter trek. The passageway was a construction zone but served its purpose. Things were closing so there was not a lot to see so we returned to our room. The guidebook recommended the oldest restaurant in town as the place to go. The bellman thought it had a new name (it didn’t). The hotel had given us a Sibui map. Note the theme that if one wants a map of a Romanian town normally a hotel can provide one. We eventually found the restaurant which is in a cellar.

http://www.sibiulvechi.ro/ Crama Siubul Vechi which means Old Sibiu restaurant they had a table and an extensive menu. Included on that menu was “moo shi” which is actually this Mititei (Romanian Sausage Rolls). Actually in looking up this restaurant in Frommers they say that muschi de pork is pork filet. So muschi may actually be filet, but both of us remember the waiter saying moo shi for what I got.

http://fooddownunder.com/cgi-bin/recipe.cgi?r=166267

They also had a renowned dish on the menu called Shepherd’s Bag which sounded pretty good despite containing chicken. I suffer from “early years of marriage chicken syndrome” and “thrifty mother always orders chicken syndrome” therefore I normally do not like chicken except slathered with BBQ sauce or sometimes broasted.

http://www.fryertuckchicken.com/
http://www.fryertuckchicken.com/Fryer_Tuck_menu.htm yes, these are today’s prices. And their chickens are super sized as are the potatoes.

During the ordering process somehow things got deleted so I ended up with meat ball soup and Mititei without the Bag. It was ok as I could not eat more. Marsha had chicken cordon bleu which was a Romanian version not vaguely resembling the original. The Mititei actually are a poor distant relation to cevapcici from Croatia and other of the former Yugoslavian Republics. The menu actually identified the item served as cevapcici in its description although it was actually turd-shaped ground meat with little garlic taste done on a griddle served with the local version of French’s Mustard. Certainly it was not a sausage except in the vaguest terms. BTW there is a city in Romania called Turda on the E81 highway. It certainly was a disappointment, not Turda that we did not visit but the meat thing. The soup was good but stewed meatballs and fried meat balls were a little over the top. We planned to stop for ice cream but everything was closed.

http://www.croatiatraveller.com/Recipes/Cevapcici.htm omit the garlic powder and substitute copious quantities of minced garlic to be authentic. Be sure to use a charcoal grill for authenticity.

http://www.sibiulvechi.ro/engleza.html

Ramada continued

The next morning we had the “breakfast included in the rate” at the hotel. It was quite a good buffet including the previous evening’s pasta with pesto salad. I had a couple of servings. It tasted great and in short order created severe intestinal distress thus precluding any further exploration of Old Sibiu.

Upon check out, I asked the clerk if he could provide the rate for the Bucharest Ramada for our final Romanian night. His response was to suggest looking it up on the internet which was free to guests. “That hotel is not owned by our owners so we do not know”. Chain hotel obviously does not apply in Romania. There was a note from the manager in the room stating that the hotel had the best trained staff in Romania, unfortunately I did not save this written blatant lie. In fairness, the staff with this one exception was good. He did redeem himself somewhat by chasing us down in the parking garage with a printout from www.tourneo.ro telling us that the site would save money over booking on www.ramada.com

On the road again

We decided to head toward Brasov using very minor roads to visit a fortified church in a small village, our actual destination was Sinaia which the English people at the Hotel Europa convinced us was not a bad place on weekdays. They stated that all the visitors left town on Sunday evening and the week was quite pleasant. They also explained that the local hospital was great when the male half of the trio was hit with an extreme case of dysentery; it even had clean needles for the rehydrating drip.

The rain ceased soon after leaving the city with the day becoming better as it progressed. That was until our arrival in Sinaia when it poured again.

Romanians have an interesting road repair method

They cut out potholes and install rectangular holes instead. No asphalt is needed and they are easier to see at speed. Workers park their equipment in the center of the road with no warnings and seemingly wander off for months. They wander around in the road just like urban pedestrians. As we drove toward the fortified church the road the potholes suddenly became rectangular. Eventually we came upon a crew doing repair work that actually were filling some potholes with asphalt but the holes were not rectangular. The quality of the road surface changes depending upon whose property it fronted.

To continue

During our trip along the minor roads, we encountered several interesting things to add to our adventure. The church seemed to be closed although the tiny village was ready to cash in on visitors. It had a pay parking lot complete with keeper. Only one street was paved.

Before we got to the village we paralleled a river. It was fairly broad with rocky banks. A number of people were walking around on the rocks looking down and periodically picking up small items. There were also a number of horse drawn carts with people throwing rocks into them.

Somewhat further down the road we came to a large village. The village itself seemed quite poor with poorly maintained houses fronting the road. Further back from the road the buildings were even more ramshackle. What was interesting was that every house had stacks of split stone in front. People were unloading carts. People were splitting the stone in order to create veneer. Others were creating stacks in front of various houses. The entire village was involved in this activity except for the chatting housewives and the dogs sleeping in the road not at all bothered by a car passing within inches of their bodies. (Both the chatting housewives and the sleeping dogs.)

Once we reached the church village we had the choice of retracing our steps back to the main road or to continue on a very thin line road on the map. Having been there and seen that we pressed on. The asphalt soon ended and became gravel which deteriorated to dirt and finally mostly ruts. The map showed that this road went through even though it was becoming more mountainous so we drove on. Just before the road really deteriorated, I saw a red Gypsy wagon parked on a knoll. There were a couple of out buildings and animals could be seen near the wagon. We actually looped above it as we climbed the hills but it was soon lost to sight. The drive reminded us of forest road exploration at home except within the confines of a Dacia Logan.

We also decided to visit Dracula’s Castle although he never lived there. It was ok since we never found it. We did however find one of the best stocked visitor offices in all Romania. It even had free postcards one of which hopefully has reached SkiAdcock’s sister. If you are ever in Rasnov, stop in. It only has material for its home province but a wealth of information is available.

From Rasnov we proceeded over the mountain to Zarnesti. On this section we encountered a very sad looking donkey standing in the road next to the dead body of its mate. Romanian highways can be unsafe especially since the people allow their animals to wander at will. The road climbed past a number of ski resorts and finally joined the main Brasov-Bucharest road at Zarnesti. The 25 kilometers to Sinaia took more than an hour and a half. Two bridges were being reconstructed and traffic was limited to one lane. We squeezed into the line at Zarnesti-a line that conceivably could have stretched to Brasov.

Again Marsha had found a likely looking place to stay which, as usual, we could not find. In the main part of town we located the local information office. Parking in my best Romanian fashion, diagonally across two sidewalks at a corner it was an easy stroll to the information office. It was open and staffed by a friendly older gentleman. The request was made for hotel availability to which he responded as expected with a slight modification. He said to go read the board outside that had hotels since his job did not include helping with reservation requests or directions. So outside into the rain I went, scoped out the list and reentered the office where he informed me that there were probably no rooms in town. We chatted for a while wherein he enlightened me about the rampant corruption in Romania. The bridge repairs were announced to be done in 3 months but it would be at least 9 because of the “lousy government”. Everything required permits that would not be issued until the appropriate bribe was paid which was very enlightening coming from a native who had lived through the Communist days. Eventually he picked up the phone and called our desired hotel which did not have rooms. He then called a woman with rooms. She was somewhere in town and would come to lead us to her place. While we were waiting he provided a town map and the discussion continued. Eventually when queried on the cost of the room he said to negotiate. The woman arrived and took us to her place which requires the reader to recall a quote from the hotel in Brasov. I asked Marsha if the room was ok. Her usual response was forthcoming, “well, what do you think?” which when translated into English means “no way am I staying in this room!” The hostess was standing there so it was a pregnant moment but she was perceptive and decided to take us to the “apartment” downstairs. We begged off saying the apartment was way too big for our needs.

On the way down the hill we found the street we so we stopped at the hotel Marsha had spotted. They indeed had not rooms but immediately called the Hotel Mirama who had a room and even at a reasonable price. He told me where to go and we proceeded again up the hill until we found the Hotel.

Mirama Hotel Sinaia

A parking place was open directly in front of the stairs to the lobby. They knew who were and after examining the room we were soon moved in. The room was acceptable and the restaurant was open. They even had cost-effective carafes of acceptable wine. The food was ok but certainly not memorable. We ate there both nights. The beds were better than most in Transylvania. The biggest issue was the two adult dogs and six puppies next door who barked often and loudly during the night. Forcing Marsha to sleep with the window closed the second night helped immensely.

What to do in Sinaia? Maybe a long road trip

After breakfast, the desk clerk suggested that we walk to the castle (Peles Castle). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pele%C5%9F_Castle
It is an impressive building with an opulent interior. Tours in various languages are available. We took the 30 Lei tour which takes one through a number of the rooms. Some castle facts. It was the first building in Romania to have electricity. It has a central vacuum system. It has an operable two person elevator. The 50 Lei tour takes one to additional parts of the castle. Overall IMHO this castle is an ostentatious exhibition of bad taste in furnishings. The interior millwork and finish is absolutely impressive in contrast.

It was 11 am, and we had pretty much seen all of Sinaia so what next? A long leisurely road trip through the mountains and valleys seemed in order so we set out for Targovesti, Moreni, Campina and finally back to Sinaia. The mountains south of Sinaia were similar to the ones we traversed the previous day. Once the lowlands were reached oil wells were in evidence. Nothing spectacular happened on this pleasant drive.

Back to Otopeni

The hotel said to budget at least four hours for the trip back to Bucharest due to the construction around Ploesti. Based on the experience getting to Sinaia this seemed to be a fairly accurate estimate. It was not since there was only a short hold up for construction. Time from Hotel to rental car return was slightly more than 2 hours. What to do until our 1515 departure when we were driving by the airport at 1130? Perhaps a visit to Carrefour might have been in order if I could have found it. Since the fuel gauge went to 2 bars not long after leaving Sinaia and remained there even as we passed the airport entrance perhaps it would be pressing our luck not to return the car and try to get on the earlier Tarom AF code share. Therefore that is what we did without success. One cannot get to the shared lounge without a boarding pass and Air France allegedly does not open check in until 2 hours before departure (we were doubly fortunate; they opened about 2.75 hours before despite the plane being delayed over an hour). First we tried the smoke-filled restaurant where an ice cream costs $15. We left due to both the smoke and pricing. Eventually after exploring everything both terminals have to offer we settle near the windows on the second floor opposite the car rental booths. The security guard who paced back and forth kept looking suspiciously at us but did not force us to move. Other airport staff also periodically gave us the evil eye.

We went downstairs at the 3 hour point to discover that check-in opened soon after we found seats. The luggage was quickly checked in with priority tagged bags to CDG. Another obsession on my wife’s part that she not be separated from things not needed on the way home. Pulling the big bag is my responsibility. We also received two vouchers for refreshments because of the delay. A lounge invitation had to be requested. Security clearance and emigration were swift. There was a pregnant moment as the agent searched for my entry stamp (partially stamped over a 26 Jan 2003 Singapore entry stamp on page four of a passport containing 2 supplements which is ¾ full). I had located it earlier and pointed him in the right direction so he could put his stamp on top of the others.

Shopping is poor at Otopeni’s international terminal not that we had any desire to buy something. The lounge was packed but we found two seats in the non-smoking section. Drink selection was good. Food was snack items only.

Eventually we boarded the AF flight. It was European C. A better meal was served than the outbound. Parked next to our arrival gate was an Air Mauritius 767, another first spotting. We cleared immigration for entry into the Schengen zone. At CDG, the priority bags were quite far back in the queue. Finding the van to the Millenium CDG was somewhat of a chore as there are signs to buses but not hotel vans. A walk down a roadway solved the problem. The van took a long time to arrive but eventually got us to the hotel.

Millenium CDG

We stayed here on a previous trip. It is an acceptable airport hotel perfectly fine for an overnight stay for an early flight. The cost was 85 Euros. I attempted to Price line a hotel but could not get anything at the price so gave up. It appeared that the Hilton was available for a few dollars more since Price line kept countering my bids. Finally, it was not worth the effort.

The flights home

We had a 0720 flight to AMS. The 1st shared hotel van starts at 0530 which the clerk on duty stated was too late for this flight so we ordered a taxi for 0500. You know what happened. The taxi never showed. At 0525 the bell captain stole a van from a group of Americans heading to India and loaded two women and us into it. The travelers to India had ordered two vans but got only one. This was to have been the second trip to pick them up. We left them upset and arguing with the bell captain. 20 Euros later we arrived at T2F at the wrong end of check-in. Walking the entire length of the check-in area took a few minutes. Check-in was quick, bags were priority tagged to PDX and we were off to security and the lounge. No problems were encountered and we spent over 45 minutes in the lounge. The cold breakfast spread was quite good. Some of the best items such as the pan au chocolat arrived too late for us to partake.

We boarded another AF flight. Breakfast of some sort was served. The flight was fine.
Arrival at AMS meant going thru emigration which took considerable time as people kept crowding in. Marsha of course switched lines directly behind a contingent of Middle Eastern men. Obviously this was an error as our line moved like a Romanian traffic jam.
Eventually the passport was stamped and we proceeded to our gate for the A330-200 flight to PDX. At the boarding pass reader we were stopped and directed back to the agent at the desk. Something was wrong with our records. “We do not have any of your information for the U.S. authorities.” My response was that they had my profile and all the information has been there for over 10 years. She insisted on taking my passport and laboriously entering all the data into her computer. Then she did it with Marsha’s. I lost it and told the agent to look up the profiles and they would auto enter. She did not. Marsha finally told me to shut up and move on.

5B in the mini cabin was quite comfortable. Three totally non-memorable films were viewed. I did not order the awful beef with ginger sauce loaded in AMS this time. The chicken was edible. I guess business cabin travel is making us jaded.

We arrived at PDX slightly early and as usual Immigration was not ready. Shortly we deplaned and went swiftly though immigration. The same agent who welcomed us back from Warsaw in June welcomed us again. We had a brief chat and he stamped the Customs Declaration and passport.

My favorite agent was in baggage claim and we had a brief chat about her daughters and her previous supervisor.

Priority tags as usual did no good at PDX.

Brian picked us up after a couple of cell phone conversations and drove us home. The boys were at the door to welcome us home.

Pictures are coming later if I can figure out how to get them in the report.

Great report, especially of interest to me since we visited Bucharest this summer. It was an unexpected pleasure - and it was great to get there before it is discovered by tourists.

Thanks for the great report opushomes ^^^

Fascinating report. Thanks!

Has Marsha read your report?

Has Marsha read your report?

Yes, she read it in its entirety before I posted. She mentioned that some of the characterization of her travel quirks might be somewhat slanted. There was no "roar of disapproval" or attempt to censor the content on her part. :)

Ask her, she is the woman in 1B eating chicken (unless it has peppers or onions) looking concerned about the upcoming 12 hour connection in SCL because the plane left an hour late.

Some time ask me about her hamburger preference.

An absolutely great trip report. One of the most interesting ones I have read. However, remind me never to travel with you. Your method would drive me crazy.

Thanks for an interesting and comprehensive trip report. I really like your style of writing. I bet you're a great raconteur as well.

Very enjoyable report. Thanks.

A few final thoughts while I am still figuring out how to get pictures posted. Unfortunately, LarryU, my resident trip report expert is in Istanbul so this is trial and error. Just error so far

The driving light conclusion

When we returned the Dacia to Budget at Otopeni, they sent one of the employees out with the checklist to check the car for additional damage. He came back and said the car was in excellent condition. They issued a 300 Euro credit for the deposit thus all was good in Romania.

A tribute to Romanian Workmanship

The car ran fine. It attained speeds in excess of 130 km. The seats were quite comfortable. The trunk (boot for the Anglophiles) was spacious and held our gear with lots of space to spare. There were two cup holders if one threw the removable ashtray in the back seat. Map pockets allowed Marsha to stow all the map (sing.) and maps (pl) once we reached Brasov, Frommers and other assorted brochures collected along the way. One oddity is that the keys had a large plastic “T-shaped” thing with 2 round metal things on the end. Anyone know its purpose other than to make the keys easier to find in one’s pocket? Oh, do not expect water in the windshield washer to be provided by Budget-I’m surprised the checklist did not have a charge for empty washer reservoir.

Another tribute to Romanian Workmanship, Opposing View

The second evening of our stay at the Marama Hotel in Sinaia the electronic key cards stopped working. So with aching knees, I made my way to reception where the desk clerk gave me new keys which of course did not work. Another trip back to desk resulted in this interaction, “You can take this master key to your room to open the door.” You must bring it back because all the locks no longer work.” I suggested that he come to the room with the key and he declined with this comment, “I am alone here and besides it is not my job to go to your room and open your door.” So back I went once again. We were now in a room that each time we left required a trip down 2 flights of stairs to the desk to fetch the master key. When I returned the key, he looked at me and uttered the following commentary on the state of Romanian manufacturing. “The original lock made in Germany always works but we only have one. The others are made here in Romania and we have this problem with them not working all the time.” Note to management: get new locks made in Germany and replace the key coder. Your guests will probably recommend your hotel more often.

The first day we were in the room, the remote kept the volume of the English language channels, specifically CNN and BBC on mute. All Romanian channels worked fine with the remote. A different clerk came to the room after a telephone call, stated he knew the problem and reprogrammed the two channels all other foreign language channels remained muted. Good service but poor execution IMHO. Were we to be the only foreign visitors in the hotel for the foreseeable future?

Romania Visitor Infrastructure has a long way to go.

Expensive poor quality lodging choices make this appealing country quite unappealing the visitor. There are a limited number of adequate choices in the country. Romania reminded us of Southern Europe of 25 years ago. Despite recently prosperity services just have not kept up.

The transportation infrastructure is poor. The road system cannot support the level of traffic. Travel times are long for the distances involved. The railways are alleged to be poorly maintained, exceeding slow and filthy. Some of the trains we saw from a distance looked fine. Some looked like rolling wrecks especially the local services. Unfortunately I was unable to see the actual conditions.

I wish I could comment on Tarom but we were unable to get on the service to Paris. Apparently only three business class seats are available on each flight even if others are available on the non-code share portion of the cabin per the Air France office at Otopeni. AF did try to get us on the earlier flight.

A final traffic note

Some two lane highways have decent paved shoulders. On two lane roads in Texas, Thailand and Greece drivers will use the shoulders to allow others to pass thus in effect making a two lane highway into four unofficial lanes. Rural Romania also was this way especially along the E81 which alleviated congestion. Of course this would be called reckless driving in many places but once one becomes used to it it is quite an effective method of keeping traffic moving. Even the cops seem unaffected by this seemingly good revenue producer.

We also found the Truckers to be almost universally courteous and professional with one notable Slovenian exception. The same cannot be said of most luxury car drivers who we observed repeatedly narrowly avoiding head on crashes. Authors note; This comment is being provided by an aggressive driver who drives world-wide. BTW: should one see an approaching car flash its lights, there is a cop ahead. Always!

final thoughts

Is Romania on our short list to visit again? No but not because it is uninteresting but because there is a lot of the world to see. I believe it was my 82nd country and a long list remains. We have not been to Australia and New Zealand yet, I have much of Central America and South America to do. One night in Morocco does not count as much of Africa. So many places to see, so little time and even less cash. Sigh.

However, remind me never to travel with you. Your method would drive me crazy.

No reminder needed. An invitation will not be extended. :) Marsha and I long ago realized that our method of traveling does not meet the needs of most people. It works for us which is of prime import. We no longer travel with others after observing the strain it puts them under.

The following is my personal hierarchy of travelers based upon a U.S. perspective. This is from lowest to highest in terms of my perceived level of satisfaction. No offense to those regions mentioned. It is my opinion so please no flames and perhaps a smile or two if you recognize someone you know.

1. I was born in Flatbush and there is no reason to cross the street off my block.
2. I live in Flatbush and crossed the street because my grade school was on the other side.
3. I live in Brooklyn and have been to Manhattan. Do I need a passport?
4. We are taking a trip from our home in Queens to Jones beach for a week's vacation. The corollary is going to the country for the summer. Country = Catskills.
5. We live in NYC and are planning a trip "out west" to Cleveland. Do you know a good travel agent?
6. We have been to Florida.
7. We are from Iowa and are going to Hawaii. Do they speak English?
8. We are taking a tour to (fill in the blank) to in Europe. Our travel agent is unsure how long it will take to get from Paris to Givency.
9. We are experienced travelers our travel agent has sent us on tours to Greece, Spain and France.
As an alternative, the traveler who has been to 7 European countries on his cruise. Eight hours in each port.
10. We're going to London, do they speak English?
11. Now the experienced among us. Passport in hand we have visited Europe all at hotels and transportation booked and paid in advance.
12. The more experienced have been to two or more continents.
13. The few like Marsha and I who are willing to try new and interesting things but with a modicum of convenience and sometimes luxury.
14. The penultimate Seat 2A "I drove my pickup from Fairbanks to Denver to fly in First Class to the Southern End of New Zealand and slept in airports on the way" I think he once did something like that.

So, to each his/her own. It is unfortunate that we have met hordes of people who have never progressed from beyond their perceived level of comfort. The world is a fascinating place just not from a tour bus seat or behind a flag-waving guide.

Last June a friend and I used the $129 mistake fare round trip from Toronto to Bucharest to see Romania. We decided to split our time between the capital and the beach resorts outside Constanta, and took the train to the Black Sea. In preparation, I learned between 500-1,000 words of Romanian.

Enjoyed it, in part because the beer is cheap and good and Romania is the only part of Europe still affordable for Americans. Couldn't afford the McDonalds at the Amsterdam airport transfer on the way back.

Having invested the time to learn some Romanian I plan to go back. Planning to see the parts ofthe country OP visited so your Trip Report was of great value.:)

On a month long journey through mostly eastern Europe from mid-Feb to mid-March 2007, several days each were spend in Brasov and Bucharest. Arriving by night train in Brasov from Budapest, my girlfriend and I took the chance with one of the touts in the train station selling rooms. It ended up being a very nice home stay with private bath, though the bed was a bit hard. It was very near the quaint old town. We took a day trip to Bran and the castle and just generally enjoyed the city.

Bucharest left me wanting. I found the city devoid of soul and uninspiring (and I love big cities in general). In my opinion the city has a long way to go as far as visitor interest goes despite Ceausescu being dead for almost 2 decades and having EU membership for a couple of years now.

The upscale hotel was nice though for the life of me I can't remember the name, though I know precisely where it is on Google Maps. But I'm somewhat biased because I was mugged by a gang of gypsy children. (Use Google Maps and search for Pizza Hut, Bucharest - see item A & J that pop up, it's very near several 4* hotels including where we stayed). Did find a great mediterranean deli / cafe though, and ate there several times over 3 days.

Regarding the mugging: The kids got my Dell PDA I used for Skype calls via WiFi and they got my hearing aid! I was standing outside the pizza hut on a busy corner making a phone call over the restaurant's wifi signal and the kids approached, begging for money. I walk away, they quickly follow and grab at my pockets. Impossible to fend of 4 pair of hands and the whole thing was over in 30 seconds when they scored gear. Hearing aid went when they yanked the cell phone cable attached to it. My fault for flashing "bling" in the form of a PDA, I guess.

All part of the adventure, however. It made for an interesting story about riding in a Romanian squad car to meet with detectives for the police report I thought (incorrectly) that I needed for insurance replacement of my hearing aid. The detectives spoke decent English but the initial contact cops didn't. They had a French translator so cops spoke to him, he translated to my girlfriend who then translated questions for me, and then my answer went back the other direction. :)

We were supposed to continue on to Sofia and eventually to Istanbul. The decision was made after this event in Bucharest to detour. We'd already spent over 3 weeks between Frankfurt, Krakow, Prague, Budapest, day trip to Vienna and then 6 days in Romania that we needed a mental break from changing languages so often! In the winter months one finds an even higher number of non-English speakers so it was a challenge. We went off to Ireland. Galway, Doolin and Derry - my adopted homes away from home and places I always pass through when on that island. :)

I went to Bucharest in 1992 and found it depressing. My mother lived there from 1938 to 1940 and she said that before the war it was fantastic. Also went to Brasov and Sinaia and Dracula's castle but was not enthralled.

However Iasi / Moldova seems somewhat interesting with the coloured monasteries.

Enjoyed it, in part because the beer is cheap and good and Romania is the only part of Europe still affordable for Americans. Couldn't afford the McDonalds at the Amsterdam airport transfer on the way back.

Having invested the time to learn some Romanian I plan to go back. your Trip Report was of great value.:)

First thank you for finding value in my ramblings.

Yes, the beer is still cheap compared to most of the world. But can one live solely on beer and front desk candy? :confused: Seriously food also was reasonable compared to the rest of Europe. One thing that we did not see was a supermarket comparable to those now-appearing in other parts of Europe. The closest we came was in Sibiu that was stocked predominately with canned goods and drinks. The other stores were small and even more poorly stocked.

Hotels, however, are outrageous as I pointed out above. Perhaps the hostels and home stays are more attractively priced but Marsha insists on a private room with private bath, preferably with a fog free mirror and electrical receptacles for the hair drier and curling iron. She also appreciates a club floor.

Funny that you mention McDonalds in Amsterdam. In June, on the way back from Warsaw where we ended up rather than the subject of this trip report, we stayed at the NH Schipol Airport with which we had become acquainted on a mechanical delay some years previously. The only place to eat was the hotel or the McD across the street. Having experienced the hotel food, we chose the latter. In terms of dining preference this fast food chain is last on Marsha's preference list and fairly low on mine. But, they have a chicken sandwich. The place was jammed. Multiple lines taking a half hour or more to be served slowed because every other order seemed to be wrong. 20+ Euros later our partially incorrect order had to be eaten in the hotel lobby.

The cost did beat that of 2 beers, a bratwurst and BLT (don't ask, I did not order it) that came in at over 30 Euros, no credit cards accepted in downtown Amsterdam.

We learned no Romanian in advance and still know no Romanian. It was easy to figure out signs and even to read Ernest's newspaper as the words are similar to Spanish, French and Italian but the pronunciation is impossible. English and German with a bit of Spanglish thrown in here and there worked great! ^

Arriving by night train in Brasov from Budapest, my girlfriend and I took the chance with one of the touts in the train station selling rooms. It ended up being a very nice home stay with private bath, though the bed was a bit hard. It was very near the quaint old town. We took a day trip to Bran and the castle and just generally enjoyed the city.

Bucharest left me wanting. I found the city devoid of soul and uninspiring (and I love big cities in general). In my opinion the city has a long way to go as far as visitor interest goes despite Ceausescu being dead for almost 2 decades and having EU membership for a couple of years now.

The upscale hotel was nice though for the life of me I can't remember the name, though I know precisely where it is on Google Maps. But I'm somewhat biased because I was mugged by a gang of gypsy children. (Use Google Maps and search for Pizza Hut, Bucharest - see item A & J that pop up, it's very near several 4* hotels including where we stayed).
:)

In terms of home stays please see the above response to LegalEagle.

We also found Bucharest as you so aptly put it, "city devoid of soul and uninspiring" with the exception the memorable moments cited in the report. BTW: Our preference is to visit the countryside and smaller towns rather than big cities. Rome. Paris and Bangkok are the notable exceptions.

You appear to have stayed in the area of our landmark. According to the Google Map satellite view, the Pizza Hut was not our landmark, but the corner looks suspiciously familiar. Perhaps your hotel was the Radisson where we received directions. On the satellite view it is across the street

I am sorry for your experience with the kids. Personally, I would not enter a Romanian police car. Was it a Dacia? ;)

No reminder needed. An invitation will not be extended. :) Marsha and I long ago realized that our method of traveling does not meet the needs of most people. It works for us which is of prime import. We no longer travel with others after observing the strain it puts them under.

The following is my personal hierarchy of travelers based upon a U.S. perspective. This is from lowest to highest in terms of my perceived level of satisfaction. No offense to those regions mentioned. It is my opinion so please no flames and perhaps a smile or two if you recognize someone you know.

1. I was born in Flatbush and there is no reason to cross the street off my block.
2. I live in Flatbush and crossed the street because my grade school was on the other side.
3. I live in Brooklyn and have been to Manhattan. Do I need a passport?
4. We are taking a trip from our home in Queens to Jones beach for a week's vacation. The corollary is going to the country for the summer. Country = Catskills.
5. We live in NYC and are planning a trip "out west" to Cleveland. Do you know a good travel agent?
6. We have been to Florida.
7. We are from Iowa and are going to Hawaii. Do they speak English?
8. We are taking a tour to (fill in the blank) to in Europe. Our travel agent is unsure how long it will take to get from Paris to Givency.
9. We are experienced travelers our travel agent has sent us on tours to Greece, Spain and France.
As an alternative, the traveler who has been to 7 European countries on his cruise. Eight hours in each port.
10. We're going to London, do they speak English?
11. Now the experienced among us. Passport in hand we have visited Europe all at hotels and transportation booked and paid in advance.
12. The more experienced have been to two or more continents.
13. The few like Marsha and I who are willing to try new and interesting things but with a modicum of convenience and sometimes luxury.
14. The penultimate Seat 2A "I drove my pickup from Fairbanks to Denver to fly in First Class to the Southern End of New Zealand and slept in airports on the way" I think he once did something like that.

So, to each his/her own. It is unfortunate that we have met hordes of people who have never progressed from beyond their perceived level of comfort. The world is a fascinating place just not from a tour bus seat or behind a flag-waving guide.

Excellent trip report. Extremely entertaining and informative.

If you will allow me, I would like to add one more entry to your list of travelers. Maybe somewhere between 13 and 14.

13.5. Been to many different countries in different continents with nothing more than a plane ticket and a maybe a train pass(Europe) with no set schedule. Slept at airports, train stations, park benches, other random places and hostels. Have relied on touts at train stations and sometimes kindness of strangers for a place to rest our weary bodies.

I miss those days. Come to think of it, it wasn't too long ago.

Time to dig out the trusty 'ol backpack...

Your entry is actually a sub-set of our travels. I regret that I was unable to leave upon graduation but President Johnson and the draft intervened. We were too old and too settled to the do the back-pack thing for our first trip.. Out first trip was intended to attend the wedding of a soon-to-be-jilted friend who sold everything and moved to England only to discover that the new girl friend had moved in.

So rather than cancel we took off and she joined us in London. We flew standby on British Air from Seattle because it was the cheapest way. From there we 3 traveled to Amsterdam, used train passes to travel around Holland, took the train to Cologne and eventually ended up in Munich to pickup my new BWM320i. Not exactly backpacker transport, but our hotel budget was not to exceed $10/night which did not get busted until we stayed in one of the nicer Mykonos hotels booked on arrival at the dock. It was $25 with a great view, but one still had to throw the TP into the basket not the toilet.

We decided on Greece as a destination because it sounded like a good idea. Eventually we drove 14000 miles around Europe visiting all of the then West plus a long drive through Yugoslavia (yes, we have been in Pristina), East Germany, Czechoslovakia and Hungary. The hardest part of the trip was identifying the name for "hotel" in each new country. "Zimmer Frei", wow a free room. 3 1/2 months later we shipped the car to Port Newark and flew standby from Luxembourg via Iceland to JFK on Icelandair. I seem to recall the ticket with stop-over for 3 nights on a cramped DC-8 was about $200 OW all stand-by. We also on a whim parked our new car on a dock in Southern Spain and took the hydrofoil to Tangiers.

BTW: That was when I discovered Auto Europe. They used to sell BMWs for factory delivery through travel agencies. It was a big leap of faith to hand the check to our then agent (we stopped using agents soon after) to be forwarded to some company in Portland, ME. Of course eventually BMW made it easier by implementing their European Delivery Program.

Once the car arrived at Port Newark we put on the Oregon license plates and proceeded to take the long way home via the Maine coast to the Trans-Canada Highway in New Brunswick with a slight detour into North Dakota to pick-up friends for the final portion of the Journey via Vancouver. I was scared that the car would be stolen while in front of my mother's house in a dodgy area of Brooklyn so we left quickly. We also were detained for a few hours when seeking breakfast we followed the sign to McDonalds and ended up at the U.S. Customs port of entry.

So we have done your subset just without the back pack. Arrival home required the removal of 5 suitcases and the laundry basket purchased in the Tangier's souk.

Since then we have been back to various parts of Europe many times. About six years ago, I got on a plane and flew to Asia to visit 6 countries in 21 days. Because of uncertainty about hotel availability and a concern that they might not be identifiable all hotels were pre-booked. That behavior for the most part continues despite over 20 arrivals into Singapore and Bangkok in the intervening years.

So we share your reminiscences about the way it was.

Nice list as well. This is what makes trip reports so useful. To see how other folks do what we are just beginning to do. Right now we are down to the “9. We are experienced travelers our travel agent has sent us on tours to Greece, Spain and France. As an alternative, the traveler who has been to 7 European countries on his cruise. Eight hours in each port.” and “11. Now the experienced among us. Passport in hand we have visited Europe all at hotels and transportation booked and paid in advance.” levels. So perhaps we will get to the 12 level, but my OCD will likely prevent any further advance to level 13. Besides my favorite activity is learning. So the meticulous research and planning is half the fun of traveling, which allowed use to skip level 10. Have fun in your future strange wanderings.

I am sorry for your experience with the kids. Personally, I would not enter a Romanian police car. Was it a Dacia? ;)

It's a Romanian problem with the thefts. The government knows about it but there's only so much that can be done. The police have mugshots of many kids but they don't prosecute the young children. Quite often the parents of the children encourage the activity but of course deny this to any police. I have a limited understanding of Roma but it's clear many at least in Bucharest have a distaste for the group judging by their reactions.

The theft happened at dusk. Not knowing where to go that night, we went to the main police station the next morning. The ride in the squad car came about because apparently I had to report the crime in the specific district where it occurred, I think. Hard to tell with the Romanian>French>English and back translations there. So two patrol officers drove us, and they clearly don't like the gypsy people. On the way they stopped a woman on the street selling flowers, treated her rudely and confiscated her tub of roses.

The 3 detectives I spoke to were all early to mid 30's, very polite and spoke reasonable English. One was very fluent and while the report was typed, we had a long conversation comparing Bucharest to other EU capitals and US cities. I felt bad explaining my negative opinion of the city, admitting it was somewhat tainted by my being a stupid victim of crime, but he agreed that Bucharest is still very young in its transformation.

Anyway, I have a half page piece of paper that is the police report abstract in Romanian that makes a lovely souvenir. It was hard getting the point across that I needed the $3000 hearing aid listed as the primary item, the cops were more concerned about the $220 Craigslist special PDA I lost. After that, the local cops guarding the US Embassy wouldn't let me in to seek an official translation. Jerks. Luckily I didn't need it anyway.

A few final thoughts while I am still figuring out how to get pictures posted. Unfortunately, LarryU, my resident trip report expert is in Istanbul so this is trial and error. Just error so far

Hey, they have ınternet access ın Istanbul! Well, at least they do now that I finally purged the Hılton exec lounge of kids. I have been here for four days and it took me that long. :mad:

I dıd manage to defeat the carpet baggers, by the way. They were unable to get me a magic carpet ın the color I needed. That chapter of the trip report ıs tentatively titled "Brothers and Cisterns." :cool:

WOW thanks for writing this up.

No time to do it with email instructions. I thought of emailing you the jpg's and let you do it in your inimitable fashion, but time was not available. We'll talk after Cowdo, Peru and Ecuador. After the 20th but before the 25th-I have jury duty once again.

Glad Istanbul is so interesting that you are just sitting around looking for something to do. Hope the hotel(s) meet your needs spiritual and consumable.

OP sounds like he has the patience of a saint, with respect to Marsha. I'm forwarding this thread to my own husband so that he can appreciate me. Compared to Marsha in our traveling experiences, I have to resemble an angel to him!

Thank you for the very entertaining trip report. It reminds me of our first trip to Poland 11 years ago. Poland is now a much, much better developed country.

Thanks for a great trip report! 18 summers ago a pal and I rented a car in Budapest for two weeks with hopes of driving into Transylvania. We noodled around rural eastern Hungary, having similar seat of the pants experiences (though instead of attitude-driven black BMWs we experienced the tension between the little 25 kpm blue trucks and the drivers on a cross-Hungary rally race. Friends living close to the Romanian border did their best to change out minds: "they will see the Hungarian plates and slash your tires. The Roma will steal you blind. There is a cholera outbreak in the Danube delta...." I chickened out, alas. Your trip sounds a little like what I would have expected to encounter (except for 2008 prices) -- a little hairy but interesting.

My grandmother was from Sighisoara -- sounds like there's no there there, though aren't there plans to build a Dracula theme park? Sure would like to see the painted monasteries, though.

First let me welcome you to your early days at Flyertalk. Hopefully you will gain a great deal of knowledge from this site.

Actually OP is far from a saint. Ask those who know him. The report was written to inject a certain amount of humour in order to keep your interest. I guess that was a success although you seemed to have taken some of my comments literally.

Everything said about Marsha´s travel idiosyncracies are true. She says I embelish. We are presently sitting in the Santiago, Chile Neruda Lounge waiting for our flight to Lima, she has committed at least 7 other idiosyncratic actions since 0800 this morning. It is presently 1815 EDT here in Santiago. So in 10 hours she managed to do 7 annoying things including two minutes ago complaining that she cannot visit the restroom because I am not available to watch her carry on. The stall is too small for her and the bag. Do you repeatedly ask when the plane departs when you have a boarding pass in your hand? Do you complain that row 5 is adjacent to coach on this LAN 767 when the last airplane had a row six between you and coach? Do you ask how long it takes to get from Buenos Aires to Santiago when a week a ago it took 2 hours to go the other way?

BTW she flew over 100000 miles last year and about 70k so far this year yet cannot recognize the difference between a 747, 767 and A320 even with the emergency card in the seat pocket in front. Some of us just think differently. Thus being annoyed by this incessant action is part of our relationship. Yesterday she rushed me to stand in line for our flight from Iguazu to Buenos Aires because the plane was leaving, it just happened to be an earlier flight at another gate on another airline, but we had to be first.

So enjoy being a good wife who probably has her own booklet of annoyances to her husband. Isn´t that marriage. We are year 32.

First, thanks for an enjoyable Saturday morning read. I have printed your report for my files for the day I get to check Romania off my country list.

7. We are from Iowa and are going to Hawaii. Do they speak English?

In college, long ago, I worked for Avis RAC at HNL airport. Many a time I was complimented on how well I spoke English. And many a time I needed to explain there was no place to exchange $$ as it was the currency in all the US! :D

Amusingly funny opushomes !

Thank you, thank you for writing this ^

Opus,

Your accounts was very good. I miss Bucharest. My travels there were for humanitarian purposes and my trips have all been wonderful and warm, even in December.

I can see why some could think of Bucharest as being devoid of spirit but I was fortunate to actually live with people and in an apt reserved for the charity I was volunterring at.

I have a good command of the subways and busses and get around very easily. Romania is a diamond in the rough. I would go back in a heartbeat and this trip report just confirms that fact.

BTW I love Mici, Mamaliga and other foods I cant even remember or pronounce. The little pretzels (couvrige, sic?) near victor gomoiu childrens hospital are delicious.

doa bere te rog!

First let me welcome you to your early days at Flyertalk. Hopefully you will gain a great deal of knowledge from this site.

Actually OP is far from a saint. Ask those who know him. The report was written to inject a certain amount of humour in order to keep your interest. I guess that was a success although you seemed to have taken some of my comments literally.

Everything said about Marsha´s travel idiosyncracies are true. She says I embelish. We are presently sitting in the Santiago, Chile Neruda Lounge waiting for our flight to Lima, she has committed at least 7 other idiosyncratic actions since 0800 this morning. It is presently 1815 EDT here in Santiago. So in 10 hours she managed to do 7 annoying things including two minutes ago complaining that she cannot visit the restroom because I am not available to watch her carry on. The stall is too small for her and the bag. Do you repeatedly ask when the plane departs when you have a boarding pass in your hand? Do you complain that row 5 is adjacent to coach on this LAN 767 when the last airplane had a row six between you and coach? Do you ask how long it takes to get from Buenos Aires to Santiago when a week a ago it took 2 hours to go the other way?

BTW she flew over 100000 miles last year and about 70k so far this year yet cannot recognize the difference between a 747, 767 and A320 even with the emergency card in the seat pocket in front. Some of us just think differently. Thus being annoyed by this incessant action is part of our relationship. Yesterday she rushed me to stand in line for our flight from Iguazu to Buenos Aires because the plane was leaving, it just happened to be an earlier flight at another gate on another airline, but we had to be first.

So enjoy being a good wife who probably has her own booklet of annoyances to her husband. Isn´t that marriage. We are year 32.

I'm hearing Prof. Higgins' (My Fair Lady) questions in my head while reading your list of idiosyncracies. I think he ended up his list with the ultimate question, "Why can't a woman be more like a man?"

Thanks for the welcome. You probably noticed that I did not write very often, unless it's a very compelling case, which is this one. And you probably also noticed that, my name should be properly spelled out as 2 words (Tam Minh). And, in case you haven't noticed, I currently live in Houston (my husband in Ann Arbor) and, yes, have been affected by Ike. Well, actually, I'm at this moment typing my response from a Hampton Inn in San Antonio. I ran away from Ike last Friday. I'm trying to to take advantage of my last few minutes of eletricity here in San Antonio before driving back to Houston and probably days without electricity. But, it could be worse...

By the way, while my husband has a little booklet of annoyances about me, I have a dictionary-size book about him. He's way more saintly than I, due mostly to his small memory capacity. We are in year 12 and, I suppose, the living apart arrangement does help us a lot in having real "quality time" when we are together.

Excellent TR, and great writing. Now I want to go to Bucharest tomorrow, too, but I'll probably have to wait a year or two. ^^