Long report of brief Bucharest stay - WillTravel reporting from the road
Aug 20th, 2007, 11:25 AM
#21
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will and flanner:
The "Beer Cart" decor is certainly "Old Romania"...food quite good. We also liked the food and the show at "Terasa Doamnei"....
Back in our earlier pre-revolution travel days, the choices were very limited, because food itself was usually as scarce as tourists!
...but we had some very passable $5 meals at the old inn ("Hanul Lui Manuc")...have been told by Bucharest friends that it has gone decidedly down hill in the past ten years..still an interesting architectural piece to take a look at. Will, you might want to do so.
Stu T.
The "Beer Cart" decor is certainly "Old Romania"...food quite good. We also liked the food and the show at "Terasa Doamnei"....
Back in our earlier pre-revolution travel days, the choices were very limited, because food itself was usually as scarce as tourists!
...but we had some very passable $5 meals at the old inn ("Hanul Lui Manuc")...have been told by Bucharest friends that it has gone decidedly down hill in the past ten years..still an interesting architectural piece to take a look at. Will, you might want to do so.
Stu T.
Aug 25th, 2007, 04:28 AM
#22
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Back in Bucharest - where at 3:20 PM it is 100F (38C).
Nevertheless I am out walking some, but I am currently taking a break in an air-conditioned Internet cafe.
I did see two remarkable art museums today. One is a temporary exhibition of avant-garde Romanian art - but think more in the vein of Picasso and Chagall then anything really contemporary. The other is a museum of Romanian art throughout the centuries, including an incredible collection of religious art that spans several centuries (I think the earliest I saw was from the 14th century). Staff outnumbers visitors by about 10:1. I saw hardly anyone.
Of course part of the reason might be that the air conditioning was only sporadically working throughout the galleries. It was somewhat torturous, although every now and then I'd step into a room that was nice and cool, only to then step back into purgatory.
The avant-garde exhibition is located in what appears to be a beautiful Venetian palazzo, with lots of marble, chandeliers, gilt work, ceiling murals, and so forth. (Maybe I should not say Venetian, but that's what it reminded me of.)
It's very hard to summarize the religious art. Some of it is in not so great shape. But it's still an amazing collection. I will make a banal observation - the icons of St. Nicholas do show definite Santa-Claus-like characteristics. St. George appears to be very important here. As expected with Orthodox works, there is a lot of Cyrillic script.
In addition to the Romanian religious art, there was a fair-sized collection of Romanian artwork through the centuries.
You will have to forgive me, but I simply did not have the endurance to go into the adjacent gallery of European art, although that is no doubt very worth it as well.
If you want to do all three of these - the temporary exhibition, the gallery of Romanian art, and the gallery of European art - you can get a combined ticket for 15 lei, which is less than 5 Euros. I paid 4 lei for the temporary exhibition, and 10 lei for the Romanian one (that combined religious and secular Romanian art).
I arranged for a driver at the airport - and that worked perfectly. Then we had dinner at the hotel because we didn't want to go wandering around at midnight. It was good, but of course at a 5* hotel you can expect to pay more than you otherwise would. Within the past two weeks, they have revised the menu to include a vegetarian section (this was at the Madrigal Steakhouse).
This morning I got brunch items from two adjacent little shops - Snack Attack and French Bakery - and brought them back to the hotel. Both had good food. The French Bakery is indeed very French-like, with lovely pastries.
Our room is practically identical to our last one, except the view is slightly different (it is also on the 12th floor). The air conditioning is working beautifully.
There are not many people walking around today, nor near as much traffic as last time, presumably because it's Saturday and maybe because of the terrible heat (although it was a lot worse earlier in the summer).
Nevertheless I am out walking some, but I am currently taking a break in an air-conditioned Internet cafe.
I did see two remarkable art museums today. One is a temporary exhibition of avant-garde Romanian art - but think more in the vein of Picasso and Chagall then anything really contemporary. The other is a museum of Romanian art throughout the centuries, including an incredible collection of religious art that spans several centuries (I think the earliest I saw was from the 14th century). Staff outnumbers visitors by about 10:1. I saw hardly anyone.
Of course part of the reason might be that the air conditioning was only sporadically working throughout the galleries. It was somewhat torturous, although every now and then I'd step into a room that was nice and cool, only to then step back into purgatory.
The avant-garde exhibition is located in what appears to be a beautiful Venetian palazzo, with lots of marble, chandeliers, gilt work, ceiling murals, and so forth. (Maybe I should not say Venetian, but that's what it reminded me of.)
It's very hard to summarize the religious art. Some of it is in not so great shape. But it's still an amazing collection. I will make a banal observation - the icons of St. Nicholas do show definite Santa-Claus-like characteristics. St. George appears to be very important here. As expected with Orthodox works, there is a lot of Cyrillic script.
In addition to the Romanian religious art, there was a fair-sized collection of Romanian artwork through the centuries.
You will have to forgive me, but I simply did not have the endurance to go into the adjacent gallery of European art, although that is no doubt very worth it as well.
If you want to do all three of these - the temporary exhibition, the gallery of Romanian art, and the gallery of European art - you can get a combined ticket for 15 lei, which is less than 5 Euros. I paid 4 lei for the temporary exhibition, and 10 lei for the Romanian one (that combined religious and secular Romanian art).
I arranged for a driver at the airport - and that worked perfectly. Then we had dinner at the hotel because we didn't want to go wandering around at midnight. It was good, but of course at a 5* hotel you can expect to pay more than you otherwise would. Within the past two weeks, they have revised the menu to include a vegetarian section (this was at the Madrigal Steakhouse).
This morning I got brunch items from two adjacent little shops - Snack Attack and French Bakery - and brought them back to the hotel. Both had good food. The French Bakery is indeed very French-like, with lovely pastries.
Our room is practically identical to our last one, except the view is slightly different (it is also on the 12th floor). The air conditioning is working beautifully.
There are not many people walking around today, nor near as much traffic as last time, presumably because it's Saturday and maybe because of the terrible heat (although it was a lot worse earlier in the summer).
Aug 25th, 2007, 07:10 AM
#23
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WillTravel - What happened to your daughter last year? There is revived interest in your post. 
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...2&tid=34860057
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...2&tid=34860057
Sep 6th, 2007, 07:46 PM
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Sep 23rd, 2007, 06:43 PM
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i happened upon this tonight....i loved hearing a little of what you did...
i am glad that you liked the intercontinental and hope we will as well, thanks to your telling me about the "deal" with points...
did you use a driver at all around bucharest? Karen thinks that maybe we should have one....i have one name but could use some other ideas...
send your replies to: [email protected] if you could....thanks....
bob
i am glad that you liked the intercontinental and hope we will as well, thanks to your telling me about the "deal" with points...
did you use a driver at all around bucharest? Karen thinks that maybe we should have one....i have one name but could use some other ideas...
send your replies to: [email protected] if you could....thanks....
bob
Dec 11th, 2007, 02:35 PM
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