Online Workshop Communities 2-8 Dec 2001 e-Learning Centre UK Timsoft Romania

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Traseul se poate modifica in functie de cum ne simtim doar nu mergem in Pampas. As vrea sa mergem in partea asta din 2 motive : drumuri bune si mai ales libere fata de ce inseamna Romania. Eu am fost saptamana trecuta la Veliko Tarnovo. … Go to S...

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Romania

Hmm where do I start.After taking shelter from the storm I decided to goback over to Romania and see Cristina.It was a surprise visit, only a few days to wait beforegoing over - my fourth time since November.Well the flights were not too bad I guess flying with CSA,with only a little bit of time to wait in between flights,actually the plane was 30 mins late heading off. So not muchtime to catch the connecting flight to bucharest.Not many people lose their passport in the airport toiletonly to be tapped on the shoulder with some grey haried manasking you is this yours? Hell yes that's mine,thank you very much ;) That saved alot of inconvenience.Phew!!So a quick chat with a Romanian gentleman who is working inWicklow while waiting to board, I always meet people goingto Romania. So I land at Otopeni Airport once again, Icould tell by the custon officers face that he was surprisedthat I had three previous stamps.If i was wearing a suit maybe it would have been different,How many people do you know that have been to Romania thatmany times? Actually hang on, don't answer that.So on I walk through to the arrivals area.Hmm where is Cristina? Nowhere to be seen, I brush past theusual middle aged men shouting taxi? taxi?I get comfortable at the Bureau de Change and start changing somemoney, just as I'm checking my receipt (Ive learned the hard way tocheck prices just before I hand over my cash) - Cristina arrives,kinda sneaking up on me really ;)Wow I think, shes looks just as beautiful at the first time we met,even better. She was wearing a lovely two piece outfit, long blue skirtwith a nice summery top to show off her nice tan. One big hug and akiss later and we make our way outside and bask in the sun while wewait for the number 783 bus. I was well prepared this time wearing khakishorts and flip flops from Dublin. We talked and hugged a littlelonger until the bus came. It wasn't too bad, only a short while toPiata victorei.From there we quickly got the subway to Gara de Nord, then running tocatch the train to Targoviste. Now that was good going, plane to busto subway to train in one hour and a bit. Cristina has obviously doneher homework a little better this time ;)So travelling down to Targoviste in the late afternoon, we managed toget a seat in a carriage with some quite friendly people. Not longpassed and we were passing among each other drinks of whiskey andbaileys. Cristina had a minor guilt complex over some four ron ticket,oh dear. So arrive we did and quickly to a taxi as it started to rain.At this stage Cristina has named me the 'rainman' because apparentlywhen I arrive in Romania it rains!! Oh well that's too bad but I guessfarmers like me :)) Maybe Cristina knows some farmers being a countrygirl :PHome sweet home. Time to unpack the suitcase and relax. Oana was notat home so it was just Cristina and I preparing to eat mici. Whenyou've been travelling that much and with no sleep the night before,it feels like a dream when you are still awake a kinda of surrealism,maybe it suits people like us - we hide from reality online most ofthe time.We spent the first week together in Targoviste relaxing, lazy days wakingup late and sleeping in, going shopping, walks in the park and goingto the zoo with her sister and boyfriend and cousin's. Weather wasgood enough to head towards the pool, we did that twice. I thnk I gotsunburnt on the second day :)Cristina's friend Alex from New York was arriving so we had to pickher up from the train station, I wasn't really in the mood forbabysitting a friend because well when a couple wants to spend timetogether, the friend is going to sit there like a gooseberry ;)So we went out that night for drinks but we didn't stay out too late,Alex found herself a new playmate (total circus freak) to entertainherself for the night as we made our way home.Apparently Alex wanted to stay over at this guys house(having only met him a few hours previous) so this resulted in a fewearly morning phonecalls to resolve leaving keys out or not - annoying.So anyways the next morning a little rascal jumps on me and says wehave to leave. Me being half asleep is like what? Her father wascoming home that afternoon - oh dear. Now there's nothing wrong withme staying here but if he knows im in Romania he will ask me to go toGovora which as Cris and her sister assure me will be quite boring. Soit's time to travel somewhere, about time because we had stayed prettymuch at home for a week.Here's where it got a bit annoying, because Alex having arrived lastnight has to move as well, and I well didn't really like the girl, soI wasn't going to let her ruin our holiday together but at the samestage didn't want to just say ok, bye Alex. So we decide that we willgo to another little town not too far from Govora.Well we decided to get to the bus station anyways, when we find out itwill take four buses to get there, well I started to have my doubts, Alexwould get off after three buses. Four buses? feck that!! where else couldwe go? at this stage Alex is trying to convince Cris to spend a fewdays with her at her place (something I did not want) so I try to takeit into consideration. Cris is just not a decision maker :PEventually Cris points at a bus that is leaving for Brasov in a while,hmm one bus straight to Brasov, a lovely little place in Transylvaniait has been descirbed as the "Prague of Romania" and better yet justone bus. So we try to break the news that maybe that's better for usbecause at the end of the day, it's our holiday and don't have muchtime.I don't think Alex was happy about getting three buses on her own so shedecides to ring Max from last night to stay over and catch justone bus in the morning - fine by me.I just wanted to get out of Targoviste and see the country at thisstage. So after a little tension off we go to get coffee and suppliesfor the journey down. We know this city pretty well so after the busride down to Brasov, we got another bus straight to the city centerand then off for a tasty shaorma of course.For those of you that don't know what a shaorma is, it's like a kebabbut much nicer, fresh vegetables like peppers, lettuce, onions andthen some french fries, sort of chicken meat cut from a huge rotatinggyro, mayo, ketchup and mustard all wrapped up in something like apita bread. Cheap and perfect for a nice snack on the go. Im surebackpackers live on these hehe..After the food we went straight to our hostel of choice (www.ro-hostel.ro) but you can get a nice private double room (ensuite)which only cost us eight or nine euro each. A quick stayto leave the bags and off we went to look for film for Cristina'sancient camera.The main street leading up to the center square was still underconstruction but we didn't let that dampen our spirits, Cristina and Idisagreed slightly on the price of camera film, after she said I hadbeen ripped off. Anyways turns out we weren't but we've learned fromour mistakes to stay calm in these situations. I of course in trueCristina style (it's contagious) wasted the first whole roll of film,I mean how many people actually use those ancient wind up cameras andknow how to work them??Well I do now after some practice, second roll was easily bought, so Igrabbed the brat and we continued on up the street for some ice-creamwhich always cools down tempers ;)Brasov has too many shoe shops, word of warning for guys, you will bedragged to nearly every window :P Brasov really is a lovely city inthe mountains, I appreciate it more on our second visit even though wewere planning to stay only one night.We went back to our little cafe (www.thecorner.ro) to have a nicebeer and hot chocolate for Cris ;)We got some waitress to take a quick pic before we left and off wewent again. We walked around as it was getting dark, topped up on theice-cream again and then headed back to the hostel. We had a nicenight at the hostel hehe and in the morning we were strained for timeI wonder why hehe ;)So a taxi straight to the train station for a train to Sighisoara(www.sighisoara.com). The journey down was quite nice,we had our heads sticking out the window most of the time :PThink of one of the oldest little medieval type saxon villages and youcan picture the magic of this place. It's quite small in comparisonwith Brasov but here lies it's beauty. I mean this is the kind ofplace you would retire to when you are old. Well kept, sleepy feeling,beautiful houses and fortified castles and keeps splattered over theplace. Each year, a Medieval Festival takes place in the old citadelin July.The sunshine was splitting the stones when we arrived and aftermeeting an old age pensioner at the train station who invited us tostay at his home for a mere five euro, we decided to head out for somefood. A few restaurants and menus later we settled on a nice onecalled 'the rustic'. The food here was delicious I mean we werestarving at this stage because we had no breakfast and we had a lovelylittle seat outside in the shade at the hottest part of the day. Crisordered the chicken schnitzel with vegetables and french fries and Iordered the mixed grill...Oh Yummy !!We were planning to stay in sighi for two nights but we had done lotsof walking around and covered most of the sights it had to offer. Thefamous clock tower was open for tourists and we took in a germangraveyard too, spooky :P I should mention the German influence inthis town, well during the 12th century, German craftsmen andmerchants known as the Transylvanian Saxons were invited totransylvania by the king of Hungary to settle and defend the frontierof his realm and that's where it started to take shape.So most signs are in German as well as Romanian :) I would definitelygo back to Sighisoara , just to relax and let time pass by. It's aplace that well, people just get on with things. It's like thecommunist regime didn't even affect this place. This town rulesthemselves and everything in it.But one day was enough, after six to seven hours of walking around thatday we settle into a club for a few nightcaps that some hungarian girlescorted us too (only cost us 10 ron :P ) Not much happens here fornightlife during the week, so after about half an hour we returnhome only to find that we have no hot water NOOOOO!!Believe me.. we tried to do the best we could and our host even heatedup some water in a big steel bucket for us but it wasn't the same. Wemade do with the best we had and relaxed before trying to settle downfor the night. Ever get sunburn on your back and it get's itchy? Ohchrist it's not funny, cristina didn't know what to do, it's like youwant to tear your skin off and scratch it underneath, I must havelooked funny. After tempting Cristina to eat a piece of my snickersbar we eventually fall asleep. I like Sighisoara.The next morning with the thought of no hot water, we didn't want tostay another night, the pensioner and his family were lovely and wehad paid them in advance for two days but alas clean freaks withouthot water? I don't think so :PSibiu it is!! I liked deciding on places in the spur of the momentafter discussing where to go, we had no formal plan mind you on wherewe should go, we just went with the flow. Mabye not Cristina'sprefered way to travel because she feels more comfortable knowingwhere she is going to sleep at night. I can dig that security feeling;) I don't think Cris is an outdoorsy camping kinda gal :DSo off to Sibiu, we bid our old hospitable host farewall and make forthe bus station. Which, in most cities in Romania is beside the trainstation. Sure enough it was.We didn't have to wait too long for the bus around 45 mins, enoughtime to grab a coffee and sandwich, metled cheese and ham in a hotbaguette.Now when travelling via bus in Romania it's normally by maxi-taxi, sono it's not a taxi like a car or anything it's a minbus and mixed witha crazy driver it can be leathal. We all barrel in to this minibustrying to get seats, immediately opening all windows because of theextreme heat. We got some seats beside some German girls and a ladyfrom Taiwan.As far as I can remember the journey down was not too long but thedriver? Wow I'm sure he bribed his way past the driving test. Afterthis journey we said we'd stick with the train. How many times do yousee some tourists injured in these types of minibus' in some foreigncountry after it overturned taking some corner - believe me, ithappens alot!!So we get to Sibiu and straight away we ask for the the city center, abit of confusion amongst the passengers as to which way it is. TheGerman girls arrived like the rest of us (obviously) at two in theafternoon, they were planning to get the bus back at five?? Three hoursto see a city? Silly planning. At this stage we had picked up anacquaintance in the form of a Taiwanese backpacker called Wei.Wei had been travelling around Eastern Europe and South America for twomonths. Cris couldn't believe that she travelled alone because wellreally Cris needs help ordering food from a menu in a restauranthaha.. And she certainly had covered alot of ground, it was all aboutpreparation she said, a thrity year old school teacher must havepatience anyways. She stayed two weeks in each country.Now here's where it got interesting, we arrived in the city center ofthe old city looking for a net cafe to look for places to stay andbelieve it or not Sibiu bans all internet cafes from the city centerso it doesn't interfere with kid's schooling and studies. Now isn'tthat amazing. We found that delightful piece of info from a local.So while I was trying to decipher Wei's magic tourist book and withCris chewing on a corn on the cob, we managed to pick up anotherstraggler - this girl's name was Michelle which I had first thoughtwas from the United States, but later found out she was from Montreal,Canada. Picture a typical American blonde who was so easy going andditsy you wonder how she ever managed to get so far from Canada on herown.Don't get me wrong, Canadians are quite smart but this girl really didact and sound american which led to some confusion on my part. So shetook us to Sibiu's only hostel (www.hostelsibiu.ro) and asked uswould we like to 'hang out' and would be back in 20 mins. Derry has neverstayed in a hostel, I'm not really the one to share a room with fiveother people who snore or come in late and make noise - would drive mecrazy.But it was like Cris and I were on this ride with rails and you can'tgo anywhere else but forward, so we went with the crowd and arrived atthe hostel and met one of the employees at the bottom of the stairsand he showed us upstairs to the registration desk. Now theres threeof us wanting accomodation and he says I don't have anything exceptone bed.So why didn't he tell us this at the bottom of the stairs is beyond meand I joked with him and said thanks anyways, so of course we said weishould take this one because in the back of my mind I did not want tostay here anyways. Especially if you are a couple, sleeping inseperate beds? feck that!!So after speaking with a lady who was moving accomodation herself(leaving the bed free for wei) we got directions over to the TouristInformation Office. Sorry Michelle we can't wait. Always locate yourTourist Information Office when arriving in a city and looking foraccomodation ;)From Sibiu's website (http://www.sibiu.ro/en/hoteluri.htm)the guy in the tourist office could look up hotels, guest housesand pensioners that we could stay with.We quickly decided on one which was about 80 ron for the night (breakfastwas extra). That work's out at about 11 euro each, the same price wewould have paid for the hostel, but it was a nice big room with adouble bed in some lady's house.So off we went with directions in hand to this lady's home, it took usa little longer to find it because it was literally five mins from themain city center and we thought it was much further - how handy wasthat :D We went in and were greeted by the lady and she showed us theroom straight away. I don't like idle chit chat when you have beentravelling and want to relax in your room so it was nice to leave thebags down and de-stress.The room was nice and big with shutters leading out onto thecobblestone street, the ceiling was arched in a gothic medieval styleand the bed was very comfortable. Think of an airy room where you canstretch out your arms and just twirl around the room and not bump intoanything. Who needs a hostel anyways ;)So after checking in we take the map of the old city which we got fromthe tourist office. It was getting late now in the afternoon and hadto cover a good few sites. One thing I learned from going on holidaysis to go that extra step no matter how tired you are and try to see asmuch as you can because at the end of the day it's worth it and youwill remember all the different and exciting places and things thatyou covered.For example, our third place on the map was a tower overlooking thecity that you walked up to the very top and had a great view and wasideal for pictures. When exiting the tower low and behold we ran intoMichelle who was popping out for dinner. At this stage we had manysites to cover and were not ready to eat. We managed to convince herto go up the tower while we went to our next landmark.Back to my previous rant, here is a girl who when asked what she'sseen or done, hadn't done anything, she basically arrived in Sibiu anhour before us (kinda said ufff there's not much to do here) didn't seeany sites like us, we covered about 15 to 20 in the space of two hoursand decided she was sleepy and will get an early night only to leavethe next morning. Um... hello? Why did you even come to Sibiu ? Seewhat I mean when I thought she was American ;)So we had to go to the bus station after more sightseeing and agreedto meet up with Michelle later on at eight (Cris and I didn't reallywant to but we didn't want to seem rude).We made it to the bus station and who was sitting there only Wei theTaiwanese lady!! She like us was sorting out her route for thefollowing day and when I asked here what she had seen or done it wasreally sad to hear that she was in the same boat as Michelle. I meanshe was like, "Where did you get that map with all the attractions onit?", why do these people backpack at all?If you are going to go to a city, what's the point if you are notgoing to see what it has to offer. I think people just stick to a planso much that each city becomes monotonous and if something happens tocross their path they will do it.Maybe it's just because I'm a hyper person and can manage to beenergetic at the worst of times, ask Cris' poor feet. hehe :P So Weisaid her goodbyes as cris and I couldn't decide over Sinaia or Cluj.Eventually Cris won as we decided upon Cluj which is far up north agood 3 hours from Sibiu. Having that organised we bundled back intotown to meet up with some real locals and take some more pictures.Don't talk to young people if you want to find out what real life islike and you're sure to hear some interesting stories.We interrogated this lovely old lady whom took the time to stop andtalk to us outside her house, she mentioned that one of her sons hadmoved to Cluj and one to Satu Mare. Maybe a sign that Cluj was a goodchoice? I do not know what the life expectancy for people in Romaniais, but within the Transylvanian region I came across alot of oldpeople whom I find are in very good health. Maybe it's their diet or agood six to seven months of sunshine each year.Maybe something secret in the water, the fountain of youth - sign me up ;)Sibiu is a marvellous city, upon entering Sibiu it doesn't look likemuch sets it apart from other ordinary places but its the old townpart of Sibiu that really shines. Sibiu is going to be the Europeanculture capital for 2007 (http://www.sibiu2007.ro/index_en.php)These means lots of festivals, plays, artists, shows, exhibitionsyou name it!! This place was exciting for us arriving late on afriday afternoon, imagine what it would be like next summer!!!It will be buzzing - definitely want to be there.Alot of the old city was being refaced and replastered, whole buildingswere getting facelifts and reconstructive planning ; even still the beautyof this city shone through. From the fresh lick of paint on the townhall to the colourful cafes that surrond liar's bridge and the towersthat overlook the city. Old town in Sibiu really is special and itseems very precious to the people who live there. So many grandchurches all around the city and different cultures living there showsthe cosmopolitan way of thinking. Again a heavy german influence.Sometimes I wondered was there any romanians living there ;) Nothingwrong with germans mind you :) We got alot covered in Sibiu but youreally need more time to see everything, one day was not enough. Theyare pumping money into the place for next summer, the EU must havegiven them a big fat blank check :P or a little help along the way ;)So time to meet the Canadian, but alas she was not there (thankgoodness) but soon after this we realised that Cristina decided toplay a game of hide and seek with the camera ;)We retraced all of our steps, the cafe, the seats in the square butno luck. Oh well, wasn't too many pictures on it but Cris felt badabout it - not to worry babes, it's only a camera :)Oh Cris had spotted one of the German girls after five o' clock, guessthey decided to stay longer :) We strolled around Sibiu as the sunbegan to set walking along the square and shops, feeding our weaknessfor ice-cream. We popped into a little cafe because I had heard someIrish music from the street and sure enough it was an Irish musicianplaying a fusion of jazz and folk music. Hard to describe. We didn'tstay but was nice to think of home.We made our way back to the lady's home after I bought a little bottleof beer and some coca-cola. We were exhausted at this stage, it didn'ttake us long to sleep.The next day we got up earlyish to shower, pack and prepare to go tothe park to relax before our bus ride. As we were leaving the lady ofthe house was raising her voice rather angrily and started to show ussomething in the bathroom. She was speaking in romanian and pointingto a dirty towel which I had used to dry the top of my flip-flops.I will be the first to admit that there was dirt on the cloth andnothing a washing machine couldn't sort out and she proceeded to askcris for five euro to replace the towel. I tried not to smirk and saidCris come on let's go, this lady is a chancer. Cris said she threw afew insults at her and eventually we got out of there. Poor Cris was abit taken back by her ill temper. Awww poor Crissy xxx.If there was anything to worry about I would have gladly given moneyso she could have replaced it, but it was nothing! Not worth lettingyour blood boil over something so trivial.We decide to eat some mici first in a restaurant beside the busstation, mici is a traditional Romanian dish made from beef (andsometimes mixed with pork), herbs, and garlic or pepper - kind of likea meatball but alot tastier. When eaten with fresh bread and mustardit's delicious, so plenty of them with some french fries to fill us upfor a while.So relaxing in the park in Sibiu they had this giant chess pieceset which was nice to watch - first time I'd seen a giant size one. Again like alot of parks in Romania on a whole, very clean and tidy. Romania really does have parks all over the place with kids playgrounds and seats and places to sit down and play board games.We stretch out on the grass beside our bags and soak up the midday sunwaiting patiently for our bus. Something tells me we will be back toSibiu.Arriving at the bus station, we buy refreshments and load onto thecoach (not maxi-taxi this time) and we manage to acquire a seat rightbehind the driver. The journey was quite enjoyable, lots of sceneryand a stop or two in between to stretch the legs and grab a drink ofcoffee, we were travelling about three hours on the coach. Next stopis Cluj.Cluj is not as touristy as the other cities we visited, in fact youwon't even find a hostel as one of the travel agencies told us, but wemanaged to find a new one just opened (www.retro.ro) not that westayed there but nice to mention ;) We stayed in a nice enough hotelcalled the Meteor (www.meteor.hotel.tourneo.ro) which had nice standard three star rooms. And off once again to walk around the city, there's alot of students in Cluj and a HUGE Hungarian influence.While we were walking around the Cluj city center on the Saturday wemust have seen about five weddings going on, I dunno what it was but itseemed like quite alot. Maybe it's a romantic city or maybe late Julywas a good time to tie the knot :)The last mayor of Cluj painted all the benches the three colours ofthe romanian flag to emphasise the patriotic Romanian citizens much tothe annoyance of the Hungarian population. There really is thisdislike of minds or clash of cultures should I say.A typical scenario Cris told me would be a Hungarian working in a shopwould pretend not to speak Romanian when a Romanian person walks in andthen start talking Romanian when they leave.Well the way I see it, if you are living in Romania you show yourhosts some repect. A good guest knows when to leave. How come theGermans can get along, up until 1991 there was three million Germansliving in Romania, they never had any issues that I know of (excepttrying to leave the country :p ). Their influence was constructive asfar as the cities I have been in.Apparently Hungary ruled parts of Transylvania so this is why so manyHungarians still remain, seriously I thought I was in Hungary. A veryclean city with lots of big statues claiming heroes of the past whosaved and died for the city. Many large churches also around the maintown. Cris and I took it easy in Cluj besides there wasn't too much tosee and I felt like going out to try the nightlife.We went shopping and I bought Cris a new slinky dress for going out inthat night :) It looked very well on her, she only needed a pairof shoes to go with it :) Did I mention the Jolidon lingerie I boughther earlier that day? Funny how clothes can soothe all manners ofstress :) Once sleeping quarters had been located all else fell intoplace :)) Suppose all you need is a good pair of shoes and a bed,because if you're not in one you're in the other!I tried ringing up a German/Hungarian friend Claudia which I had metover the internet but she was unavailable, probably back home in SatuMare. There goes our social tour guide :PSo out for a night on the town we head to a club we saw earlier whichwas quite well hidden in the back of what looked like a Turkishrestaurant/cafe. It was kinda of like an old wine cellar fitted outwith white sheets reflecting fluorescent lights and banging technomusic filling the air. The crowd consisted of mainly college kidschewing on ecstasy tablets and chewing the fat with each other.It wasn't as stylish as the Fashion TV party we went to eariler thatnight but definitely seemed to have more of an atmosphere.So we decide to have a drink or two, well Cris orders a double vodkastraight!! Oh dear, my girlfriend can't drink at all lol.. we finishedour round after about 45 mins and I had to escort cris up the stairsand out into the city night. I think it's good that we left cause crislooked so pretty in her new dress, I might not have been able to helpmyself and we would have made a scene :P I was already trying todefend myself, must have been the ambience ;)It was lashing rain at this stage so we quickly danced in between theraindrops and kept to the side of the street as we hurried back to ourhotel, we didn't stay out long that night and somebody was feeling alittle tipsy to say the least :D Eventually we got back upstairs toour comfy room where Cris' head played spindizzy with the ceiling andI watched some Hungarian tv channels in Romania :)When Cris recovered consciousness it was just about the time that twodozen american tourists decided to check into our hotel at 01:30 a.m.that morning. I have a beef with Americans.. well not all of them, butmost of them, why? they are sooo LOUD. After going out my hotel roomnaked as the day I was born and shouting at the one who seemed to bein charge I also decided to ring reception to complain. Believe me I'veworked in three different hotels and this was disgraceful carry on forthis time of night.Soon after things died down and peace and quiet was once more at handunless Cris started snoring that is hehehee :P but she didn't and offwe went to sleep.Checkout was reasonably easy going and we had some nice buffet stylebreakfast before getting a taxi back to the Cluj bus station for aterribly long four hour bus ride to Targoviste.We got caught in a little roadworks on the way home which delayed useven more, by about an hour. Think maxi-taxi with no room to spare,kinda cramped actually but we had a stop to re-charge with ice-cream.Eventually we got back to Targoviste and back to the flat.It was good to be back I think Cris was feeling a little homesick andshe's not used to travelling like that but we had a great time andmany of the cities we had visited Cris had never been too. So she'sdefinitely spoilt ;) A day or two to wind down in Targoviste beforeheading back to Bucharest on tues to stay the night. You see my flightwas early on Wednesday morning (around 6.50 a.m.) so I'd prefer to bestaying the night in Bucharest only a short taxi ride away from theairport.Dragos, Cristina's sister's boyfriend offered to drive me up early onwednesday morning to the airport but I really wanted to spend onenight in Bucharest and soak up some nightlife, I like Bucharest andI've spent over seven weeks living there before and one night from twoweeks was well deserved. Besides if something were to happen intargoviste or on the way I might miss the flight. It took a littleconvincing on my part towards Cris with the offer, but I guess she sawme declining for the wrong reasons. I just wanted to be in Bucharestbaby ;) xCristina is getting better at organising accomodation so she rang upabout this lovely little apartment that she saw on the internet foronly 25 euro a night - not bad not bad at all.Dragos dropped us to the Targoviste Train Station and I said mygoodbyes and thanked him and Cristina's sister Oana for everything. Isaid that I will meet them again.So away we went via train up to Bucharest's Gara de Nord and then asubway ride to Piata Unirii and then a taxi to our destination. Itwasn't in the nicest part of town, what I mean by that is that therewas alot of construction going on and it was kind of at the back ofthe city centre, starting to get into the suburbs a bit. A little IDcheck at the desk (thankfully the offices were in the same complex)and up to the apartment.It was a very nice size, all modern utilites and a really nicebathroom. Quite clean and was a very good find, country girl does good:P Boy it was nice to relax and recharge before going back out. I wasdying to go out and sample some Bucharest nightlife, but I knew theodds were against us because it was a Tuesday night.We went out for dinner to a nice fish restaurant on Magheru st. Criswas afraid to order the fish because she didn't know how to eat it :PBut i managed to convince her, you see what I have to deal with? ;)Was a small portion but tasty. We ordered Salmon with naturalpotatoes.Cris wanted to leave fast because a singing duo complete with guitarand accordian entered the restaurant and started to sing forcustomers. She was afraid they would appraoch us and was fun to watchher in fear hehehe :DSo off we strolled towards the park in the centre of town trying tofind a club, well to cut a long story short, we didn't find any newclubs, we entered one we were in before but it was a kinda collegehangout and it was empty so we left immediately. I managed to break aflip-flop and DIY Cris managed to fix it after about 10 mins :)For future reference...Bars, Pubs & Clubs in Bucharesthttp://www.inyourpocket.com/romania/bucharest/en/category?cid=3440http://www.sapteseri.ro/index.php?page=club&ln=2&city=1I don't really like Romanian taximen, they have this arrogance aboutthem and most of the one's we've dealt with going to the airport triedto rip us off. Anyways after an unsuccessful attempt at trying to geta taxi home we walked and I could not wait to get to sleep, I was upin four to five hours time.Morning arrived and Cris came with me to the airport, the taxi metercame to 25 ron but of course the taximan had some wild story that hehad to cover costs back to town and tried to charge us 50 ron. I madesure Cris stood firm and said NO you are not getting 50. So weconfirmed from a security guard from within the airport that yes hewas trying to rip us off.We had to go back outside and prove to Cris that the taximan was notwaiting for her when I left. Hopefully now cris knows howto handle taximen :P I had a little sandwich and a soda while wewaited for the boarding time.Cris was glad she came to the airport with me, she got to spend thatlittle bit more time with me which we lost the night before. It wasnice. We kissed and hugged and smiled and laughed. She didn't cry thistime :) So off I went back on the plane to head home.Some day Romania could be my home only time will tell.To my darling Cristina I hope you liked the rough guide of my lastvisit, I spent most of monday evening typing it out. Tell me what youthink.Love Derryxxxx and lots of big bear hugs too xxxx