WHY ROMANIA???
Nov 12th, 2007, 12:15 PM
#21
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The oxymoronhood of methinks aside, I am readin Bill Bryson's monograpgh on Shakespeare. It does not read smoothly, but contains an unbelievable number of arcane factoids. For instance (and perhaps slightly germane to the diversion of this thread), Shakespeare used 2055 words for the first time they appeared in print. I don't know whether methinks was one of them.
Nov 12th, 2007, 01:51 PM
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rhkkmk, I feel your pain re: the surprisingly expensive appetizer. But as a former waiter, I'm careful about ordering the house recommendations without knowing the price - and, in some instances, knowing the house! Anyway, the national specialty might be mac and cheese, but the house version would find a way to work in caviar and foie gras ... and I guess it did.
Nov 12th, 2007, 03:16 PM
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rhkkmk,
Quit crying....didn't you see the signs in Romanian on every table saying:
"A sucker born every minute, eat the appetizer dummy $45.00?"
Enjoying your report.....can't wait for more.
Aloha!
Quit crying....didn't you see the signs in Romanian on every table saying:
"A sucker born every minute, eat the appetizer dummy $45.00?"
Enjoying your report.....can't wait for more.
Aloha!
Nov 12th, 2007, 04:38 PM
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travel2---the country is a building process....the countryside is beautiful but many other things need attention....i am sure you will enjoy your trip...
ingo---you left my house on oct. 14---where is your usa report??
mimi---my ribs are deep under flab...
bc--the stew was tough--maybe it was panda meat...lots of uneatible parts too..
panda--i have a good pic of your grandmother....wait for the pics...
ingo---you left my house on oct. 14---where is your usa report??
mimi---my ribs are deep under flab...
bc--the stew was tough--maybe it was panda meat...lots of uneatible parts too..
panda--i have a good pic of your grandmother....wait for the pics...
Nov 12th, 2007, 05:28 PM
#31
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up about 8:30 on thursday...over to the french bakery again for breakfast....i could get real used to those pastries daily...
off to the 'people's palace' for our 11 AM tour reservation...the hotel had difficulty getting us a taxi for some reason....they tell you not to use the ones on the street....it took over 15 minutes...
the drive was about 10 minutes...we approached the first gate and were waved away...went around to the back and entered... the guard told the driver that the palace was closed since sunday...we left and tried another gate back at the front....this time the guard just yelled at our driver and waved his arms....so we never got to see this horrid building on the inside...
the outside grounds are a mess and the wall is cracking and falling down in places...no money...
about 1/4 of the old part of bucharest was torn down by the dictator to build this building in the 1980's...it was to be a show place and now it is just a laugh....
i instructed the driver to take us to the hilton hotel...this is one of the old buildings that is to be seen....the lobby area that is....the rest has been renovated beyond recognition....the lobby was old world and interesting....there were many pictures of then (1916) and now...taxi was $7 after all this driving around...
directly across the street is the Romanian Anthenum, the city's most famous and beautiful concert hall....it was not open to the public yet so we just walked around the neighborhood a bit...we ended up at the bucharest home of composer george enescu, now a museum....he died in 1955. he was married to a romanian princess so had social status in the country and gained it worldwide with his music...
the museum is not in the best condition....it has many art deco details as well as european elegance of a past era...
enescu was a very simple man....he did not prefer the high life, but rather liked an almost monastic life....to this end he did not live in the palace museum building but rather lived quietly in a far more simple house in the rear of the palace....that too is open to the public....seemed almost original, the way he left it when he emigrated from romania in the 1940's...
from the museum we took a taxi back to the hilton...behind the concert hall and the hotel we found a large wonderfully restored house which now contains a very "in" restaurant called cafe galleron...we had a nice lunch in their bar....afterwards we used their free computer to check e mails for the first time....internet cafes are not abundant in romania...
from there we headed back to the Antheneum to see if perhaps they might have spare tickets for that evening....in fact they had about 6 tickets left.....we purchased two...we were in box #1 just to the right of the stage....karen says we could spit on the first cellist if we wished.... tickets were 60 ron each...less than $30...WOW!!!
the program was Verdi's Requiem with misha katz conducting the george emescu orchestra....what a score for us...
we walked around a bit more and then returned to the hotel for another nap if you can believe it...
again the concert was early, so we decided that we would eat afterwards in one of the newish places in back of the theatre...
the theatre is magnificent in itself....our seats could not be better....slighly elevated so that we could observe the full stage as well as the full audience...
we shared the box with an australian couple who had secured their tickets the same way that we had...
there was a very large orchestra, a chorus of over 40 and 4 soloists...
mr katz (age 43, and born in russia) is a cross between abe lincoln and icabod crane (sp)...he is tall and exceptionally thin and makes lavish movements, jumps on the stage up and down, sways back and forth and accompanies this with unbelievable face gestures....alone he is a show in himself....
because of the size of the orchestra and the chorus there was only about 2 feet left at the front of the stage for him to stand along with the soloists.....we expected him to fall off at least 6 times with all his jumping around....he did not....
i would have preferred another piece of music but karen loved it...i enjoyed the theatrics of it all however....a lovely evening....
after the performance we tried to get into one restaurant and it was full...we squeezed into its neighbor, a newly built minimalistic place....the chef greeted us upon entrance because he had seen karen looking at it earlier in the day....we had a chat and he checked back with us to see how we enjoyed our meal....it was delicious...the restaurant is Byblos on str nichlae golescu 14/16...
1/2 bottle of white wine, one beer--local...water, caesar salad which we shared...i had tortellini and karen had pork loin and spuds...dessert was his version of tiramisu---almost like a custard....
149 ron
we had a nice walk back to the hotel along the main street...
did some repacking for our departure in the AM....
the beds were comfortable and the bathroom modern...the hotel is considered 5*, but i would rate it about 3.75*...it is a fairly busy place..i think the new romanian elite class use it quite a bit...
off to the 'people's palace' for our 11 AM tour reservation...the hotel had difficulty getting us a taxi for some reason....they tell you not to use the ones on the street....it took over 15 minutes...
the drive was about 10 minutes...we approached the first gate and were waved away...went around to the back and entered... the guard told the driver that the palace was closed since sunday...we left and tried another gate back at the front....this time the guard just yelled at our driver and waved his arms....so we never got to see this horrid building on the inside...
the outside grounds are a mess and the wall is cracking and falling down in places...no money...
about 1/4 of the old part of bucharest was torn down by the dictator to build this building in the 1980's...it was to be a show place and now it is just a laugh....
i instructed the driver to take us to the hilton hotel...this is one of the old buildings that is to be seen....the lobby area that is....the rest has been renovated beyond recognition....the lobby was old world and interesting....there were many pictures of then (1916) and now...taxi was $7 after all this driving around...
directly across the street is the Romanian Anthenum, the city's most famous and beautiful concert hall....it was not open to the public yet so we just walked around the neighborhood a bit...we ended up at the bucharest home of composer george enescu, now a museum....he died in 1955. he was married to a romanian princess so had social status in the country and gained it worldwide with his music...
the museum is not in the best condition....it has many art deco details as well as european elegance of a past era...
enescu was a very simple man....he did not prefer the high life, but rather liked an almost monastic life....to this end he did not live in the palace museum building but rather lived quietly in a far more simple house in the rear of the palace....that too is open to the public....seemed almost original, the way he left it when he emigrated from romania in the 1940's...
from the museum we took a taxi back to the hilton...behind the concert hall and the hotel we found a large wonderfully restored house which now contains a very "in" restaurant called cafe galleron...we had a nice lunch in their bar....afterwards we used their free computer to check e mails for the first time....internet cafes are not abundant in romania...
from there we headed back to the Antheneum to see if perhaps they might have spare tickets for that evening....in fact they had about 6 tickets left.....we purchased two...we were in box #1 just to the right of the stage....karen says we could spit on the first cellist if we wished.... tickets were 60 ron each...less than $30...WOW!!!
the program was Verdi's Requiem with misha katz conducting the george emescu orchestra....what a score for us...
we walked around a bit more and then returned to the hotel for another nap if you can believe it...
again the concert was early, so we decided that we would eat afterwards in one of the newish places in back of the theatre...
the theatre is magnificent in itself....our seats could not be better....slighly elevated so that we could observe the full stage as well as the full audience...
we shared the box with an australian couple who had secured their tickets the same way that we had...
there was a very large orchestra, a chorus of over 40 and 4 soloists...
mr katz (age 43, and born in russia) is a cross between abe lincoln and icabod crane (sp)...he is tall and exceptionally thin and makes lavish movements, jumps on the stage up and down, sways back and forth and accompanies this with unbelievable face gestures....alone he is a show in himself....
because of the size of the orchestra and the chorus there was only about 2 feet left at the front of the stage for him to stand along with the soloists.....we expected him to fall off at least 6 times with all his jumping around....he did not....
i would have preferred another piece of music but karen loved it...i enjoyed the theatrics of it all however....a lovely evening....
after the performance we tried to get into one restaurant and it was full...we squeezed into its neighbor, a newly built minimalistic place....the chef greeted us upon entrance because he had seen karen looking at it earlier in the day....we had a chat and he checked back with us to see how we enjoyed our meal....it was delicious...the restaurant is Byblos on str nichlae golescu 14/16...
1/2 bottle of white wine, one beer--local...water, caesar salad which we shared...i had tortellini and karen had pork loin and spuds...dessert was his version of tiramisu---almost like a custard....
149 ron
we had a nice walk back to the hotel along the main street...
did some repacking for our departure in the AM....
the beds were comfortable and the bathroom modern...the hotel is considered 5*, but i would rate it about 3.75*...it is a fairly busy place..i think the new romanian elite class use it quite a bit...
Nov 12th, 2007, 06:07 PM
#32
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the next morning we were packing and taking our showers when the phone rang and it was the car delivery man....it was 9:15 and the car was not to have been delivered until 10....
we told him we would be down in a few minutes...
i found the car rental agency on a google search....the rental prices in romania are exceptionally high...
the agency is called cars4rent (www.cars4rent.ro)...i think it is a couple of guys running their own firm...their cars come with insurance at a mandatory 5 euros per day, although i opted for additional insurance at 8 euros per day to be safe....after day one i was glad that i had...
they delivered to us a dark blue renault megnne wagon disel, which was perfect for us....too big almost...i was glad of the power and some of the accessories, like power front windows....price for the 11 days was 514 euros including the extra 88 euros of insurance....substantially less than any other quote that i received...the car had 12,000 km on it...
i would use them again....no delivery charge and they met us at the international departures for the return of the car....
car delivered so we set to finish our packing and showers...
we went to a small coffee shop behind the hotel for a quick breakfast, packed up and were on the road by 9:30....
the rough guide maps helped us out of the city....we were headed towards pilesti which is north west...
the plot i had laid out resembled a huge light bulb.....starting in the south, heading northwest, then north, then east, then southwest, then south and back to bucherest....the airport is north of the city...
the roads were good and started out as a two lane divided "highway"...
almost immediately i noticed the erratic driver....they dart in and out of traffic and pass at all the wrong times....withing about 2 hours we had seen 4 accidents, one very bad one....i was glad of my additional insurance...
outside the city we encountered our first monestery....
we told him we would be down in a few minutes...
i found the car rental agency on a google search....the rental prices in romania are exceptionally high...
the agency is called cars4rent (www.cars4rent.ro)...i think it is a couple of guys running their own firm...their cars come with insurance at a mandatory 5 euros per day, although i opted for additional insurance at 8 euros per day to be safe....after day one i was glad that i had...
they delivered to us a dark blue renault megnne wagon disel, which was perfect for us....too big almost...i was glad of the power and some of the accessories, like power front windows....price for the 11 days was 514 euros including the extra 88 euros of insurance....substantially less than any other quote that i received...the car had 12,000 km on it...
i would use them again....no delivery charge and they met us at the international departures for the return of the car....
car delivered so we set to finish our packing and showers...
we went to a small coffee shop behind the hotel for a quick breakfast, packed up and were on the road by 9:30....
the rough guide maps helped us out of the city....we were headed towards pilesti which is north west...
the plot i had laid out resembled a huge light bulb.....starting in the south, heading northwest, then north, then east, then southwest, then south and back to bucherest....the airport is north of the city...
the roads were good and started out as a two lane divided "highway"...
almost immediately i noticed the erratic driver....they dart in and out of traffic and pass at all the wrong times....withing about 2 hours we had seen 4 accidents, one very bad one....i was glad of my additional insurance...
outside the city we encountered our first monestery....
Nov 12th, 2007, 07:11 PM
#33
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interesting enclave and well preserved....c. 1388...
stopped along the way at a nice looking restaurant and had a quick lunch...soup and grilled sandwiches..
our goal for the day was to reach sibiu....
the countryside was nice....
we reached sibiu late in the afternoon and found our hotel, the casa moreau in the suburbs.....its a lovely 4* B&B in a neighborhood with no other businesses....the place is spotless and the room very comfortable....275 ron per night including breakfast/tax...they also have a small pool....they have a restaurant during the summer season as well but it was closed for the winter....a perfect spot...
they suggested a very romanian place for dinner called La Dobrun, just on the edge of the old town....
inside the restaurant resembles a large barn....they carry the theme throughout...its quite large....there is a huge farm wagon hanging from the ceiling....
at 8PM a band started playing...the locals began to stream in....
we had a bottle or transylvania reisling, water, bread (you have to pay extra and it does not come with butter---ever), grilled mushrooms with garlic, mixed veggies, and the traditional stuffed cabbage leaves with sausages, ham and polenta...way too much food....70 ron....
back to hotel and bed....again very comfortable...reminded me of zimmer frei places in germany....lots of wood ..
stopped along the way at a nice looking restaurant and had a quick lunch...soup and grilled sandwiches..
our goal for the day was to reach sibiu....
the countryside was nice....
we reached sibiu late in the afternoon and found our hotel, the casa moreau in the suburbs.....its a lovely 4* B&B in a neighborhood with no other businesses....the place is spotless and the room very comfortable....275 ron per night including breakfast/tax...they also have a small pool....they have a restaurant during the summer season as well but it was closed for the winter....a perfect spot...
they suggested a very romanian place for dinner called La Dobrun, just on the edge of the old town....
inside the restaurant resembles a large barn....they carry the theme throughout...its quite large....there is a huge farm wagon hanging from the ceiling....
at 8PM a band started playing...the locals began to stream in....
we had a bottle or transylvania reisling, water, bread (you have to pay extra and it does not come with butter---ever), grilled mushrooms with garlic, mixed veggies, and the traditional stuffed cabbage leaves with sausages, ham and polenta...way too much food....70 ron....
back to hotel and bed....again very comfortable...reminded me of zimmer frei places in germany....lots of wood ..
Nov 12th, 2007, 07:24 PM
#34
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rhkmk, I'm glad the Intercontinental deal worked for you as well as it did for me, and I also noticed you visited the French Bakery as well. I wish we had been able to go to theatrical or opera performances, but these were not available in August. I am looking forward to reading the rest of your report outside of Bucharest.
Nov 12th, 2007, 07:31 PM
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the next morning we were up by 7:30...breakfast was in the basement...a nice little buffet plus eggs cooked to order-we were the only guests i think....i ordered an ommelette....my first mistake....it is fried in tons of oil and served sort of like a fried egg.....this continued for the rest of the trip so i stopped ordering that....its no omelette!!
after showering we headed into the old town....stopped at the hagia sophia look alike church....had some trouble finding parking and eventually stopped at the local outdoor market for a walk around...we love markets...
round the block again and back to the cathederal where there was parking....its really only one long block into the first of three squares in the old town....we visited the two smaller squares first, including the evangelical church with its tall climbable tower (we did not climb)....dracular's son is buried in this church....
we observed the stair passageway to the lower town with its lovely surrounding buildings, many of them renovated....
we walked across the so-called "liar's bridge"....it iron and has lovely flowers on it still..
sibiu has been designated as a special european cultural city in 2007...there has been lots of face lifting done...
we next visited the huge main square, called piatra mare....the buildings surrounding it are lovely and some are brightly painted...the old town hall in yellow, the large museum, the catholic church, among others....
we tracked down the hotel imparatul romanilor, considered by many to be the best hotel in town....frankly i think it has seen better days....we were glad we passed on it, but its location is excellent...
back to the car....stopped at the cathedral again and this time there were 4 weddings going on or lined up to go on....
it was raining a bit so we went back to the hotel...
guess what another nap as we were cold and tired...
at 6:30 we drove back into town....parked by the cathedral again and went in during a religious service....interesting...
walked over to the ciao italia restaurant in the piata mare...we had seen it in the afternoon...
55 ron brought us beer, wine, salad, bread, 2 pastas and 2 tiramisu....good but not fabulous...just right really...
we drove around the exterior of the city a bit and looked at the walled fortifications...
back to bed....
after showering we headed into the old town....stopped at the hagia sophia look alike church....had some trouble finding parking and eventually stopped at the local outdoor market for a walk around...we love markets...
round the block again and back to the cathederal where there was parking....its really only one long block into the first of three squares in the old town....we visited the two smaller squares first, including the evangelical church with its tall climbable tower (we did not climb)....dracular's son is buried in this church....
we observed the stair passageway to the lower town with its lovely surrounding buildings, many of them renovated....
we walked across the so-called "liar's bridge"....it iron and has lovely flowers on it still..
sibiu has been designated as a special european cultural city in 2007...there has been lots of face lifting done...
we next visited the huge main square, called piatra mare....the buildings surrounding it are lovely and some are brightly painted...the old town hall in yellow, the large museum, the catholic church, among others....
we tracked down the hotel imparatul romanilor, considered by many to be the best hotel in town....frankly i think it has seen better days....we were glad we passed on it, but its location is excellent...
back to the car....stopped at the cathedral again and this time there were 4 weddings going on or lined up to go on....
it was raining a bit so we went back to the hotel...
guess what another nap as we were cold and tired...
at 6:30 we drove back into town....parked by the cathedral again and went in during a religious service....interesting...
walked over to the ciao italia restaurant in the piata mare...we had seen it in the afternoon...
55 ron brought us beer, wine, salad, bread, 2 pastas and 2 tiramisu....good but not fabulous...just right really...
we drove around the exterior of the city a bit and looked at the walled fortifications...
back to bed....
Nov 12th, 2007, 07:50 PM
#36
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up on sunday morning and down for breakfast....this was another travel day....surprise....snow!! there was about an inche of snow---heavy and wet...no problem...
loaded up the car and we were off...the goal today was satu mare....i made a mistake in my planning as i really wanted to go to another city with a similar name, but honestly this worked out just fine too....
it remained cold until about 2PM, when the temp finally rose to about 40 F....it had been 1-2 C all morning...
we travelled through what our map and guidebooks said was very scenic country....hilly and mountaineous...but we saw none of it because of the snow, rain and fog...
there was a fair amount of heavy industry left over from communist days---much of it was abandoned....we saw this all over romania....buildings just sitting idle...
the roads were quite good this day...many have recently been repaved...
people continue to pass at very bad times and in bad weather too....not as safe as i might like, so i took it easy...
we skipped a couple of places that we had intended to stop, like cluj, becasue it was so wet and slippery under foot...
in one village, just outside a very large monestery, we found the alexia cafe/restaurant....
they spoke no english but we eventually ordered....unlike most places we ate in their menu was only in romanian...they found a man that spoke some english for us....this was our first and last experience with the famous romanian tripe soup....but we also had nice warm grilled sandwiches...the soup liquid was good and warming too...
about 4:30 we arrived at our satu mare hotel named Dana....its a newish place outside the town and served us well...
because of the weather we decided to eat in the hotel....we had a very nice young man as our waiter who spoke decent english...in fact he was the nicest person we met in romania.....he loved talking with us...he was a very bright guy...
our dinner was 67 ron....i had my first of many chicken schnitzl....it was the best i had during the whole trip...karen had pork again with au gratin spuds....one of our better meals...
the beds were again comfortable...67 euro per nite for the room including breakfast/tax...
there was a gas station right next door and a huge new superstore...
early to bed...
loaded up the car and we were off...the goal today was satu mare....i made a mistake in my planning as i really wanted to go to another city with a similar name, but honestly this worked out just fine too....
it remained cold until about 2PM, when the temp finally rose to about 40 F....it had been 1-2 C all morning...
we travelled through what our map and guidebooks said was very scenic country....hilly and mountaineous...but we saw none of it because of the snow, rain and fog...
there was a fair amount of heavy industry left over from communist days---much of it was abandoned....we saw this all over romania....buildings just sitting idle...
the roads were quite good this day...many have recently been repaved...
people continue to pass at very bad times and in bad weather too....not as safe as i might like, so i took it easy...
we skipped a couple of places that we had intended to stop, like cluj, becasue it was so wet and slippery under foot...
in one village, just outside a very large monestery, we found the alexia cafe/restaurant....
they spoke no english but we eventually ordered....unlike most places we ate in their menu was only in romanian...they found a man that spoke some english for us....this was our first and last experience with the famous romanian tripe soup....but we also had nice warm grilled sandwiches...the soup liquid was good and warming too...
about 4:30 we arrived at our satu mare hotel named Dana....its a newish place outside the town and served us well...
because of the weather we decided to eat in the hotel....we had a very nice young man as our waiter who spoke decent english...in fact he was the nicest person we met in romania.....he loved talking with us...he was a very bright guy...
our dinner was 67 ron....i had my first of many chicken schnitzl....it was the best i had during the whole trip...karen had pork again with au gratin spuds....one of our better meals...
the beds were again comfortable...67 euro per nite for the room including breakfast/tax...
there was a gas station right next door and a huge new superstore...
early to bed...
Nov 13th, 2007, 04:43 AM
#39
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Ok Bob - now honestly- how many times during this trip did you close your eyes, click your heels and repeat- there no place like BKK, there no place like BKK- hoping that when you opened your eyes your were back in the land of smiles- come on now the truth!
