I generally liked Bucharest. Especially compared to Sofia where we'd just left. Not one I'd add to my must see list, but if you're in the area and have the time, it's worth stopping in to check it out. A word to the wise though, this part of Europe (along with Bulgaria) is still very... let's say 'eastern'... compared to the 'western' we're used to. For example, majority of toilets in a toilet block will be the the 'hole-in-the-floor' kind with only one regular toilet, there's generally no toilet paper, and you have to pay for public toilets - which we have found is actually the norm across a lot of Eastern Europe. We quickly learnt to keep loose change and toilet paper in our day bags! They're also pretty slack on the whole OH&S kind of thing with open construction on the road where you hop skip and jump between power cords and open drains and when you pass the guy jack-hammering the pavement, although he stops briefly as you pass, you better go quick or the cement chips will hit you on the way through as he restarts almost immediately!
We stayed a few kilometers out of town, but right near the main railway station, so we scoped out the metro system and were set. We bought tickets on a hop-on hop-off bus and rode the loops round once to get our bearings and scope out the main sights, making a mental list of what to go back and see. Did you know Bucharest has its own Arch of Triumph? It does, just like Paris. Random!
After looping the city once we hopped on and off to see a few sites, including the massive Parliament building that is apparently the second largest administrative building in the world, after the Pentagon.
We spent that afternoon at the open air Village Museum in Herastrau Park. As the name suggests, its an outdoor museum with traditional Romanian houses from different historic periods. They have the houses decked out in the traditional set up and have trinkets and traditional items for sale including pottery, rugs and traditional masks worn to scare away bad spirits. We renamed the museum 'Cat City' however as it appeared every cat in town had taken up residence there. Much to my delight, each of the houses had a different family of cats and kittens living inside that were all fed by the museum workers!
We spent that afternoon at the open air Village Museum in Herastrau Park. As the name suggests, its an outdoor museum with traditional Romanian houses from different historic periods. They have the houses decked out in the traditional set up and have trinkets and traditional items for sale including pottery, rugs and traditional masks worn to scare away bad spirits. We renamed the museum 'Cat City' however as it appeared every cat in town had taken up residence there. Much to my delight, each of the houses had a different family of cats and kittens living inside that were all fed by the museum workers!
We finished the day with dinner at Hard Rock Café, with burgers and the biggest chocolate brownie sundae I've ever seen, and it was all mine - delicious!
Day 24, we spent the morning back on the bus, hopping off at various sites we hadn't covered the previous day then hit the shops for the remainder of the day. While I shopped, Ben set up camp at a bar with his book and a constant supply of beer, he was happy! Shopping in Europe is awesome, I really should have brought less with me to save room, then I could have bought more!
That evening we left Bucharest on an overnight train to Hungary.
That evening we left Bucharest on an overnight train to Hungary.
Ben needs to have a shave!! haha he looks like a scary ranga!!
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