7 June

7 June

At the Istanbul airport I decided I needed to top off before getting on the plane.  Interesting experience.  I went to the WC and came around the entrance and all the sinks were occupied by Muslim robed women who were rinsing their feet, hands, and face at the sinks.  I didn't see any use of soap from where I stood.  Anyway I made my way to the stall, went inside, turned the lock, turned around to get ready to do my business and I promptly turned back around and left the stall.  So gross.  As I left, one of the ladies decided to dry her hands on my back!  I feel so dirty, that the first thing I want to do when I get to Bucharest is to shower and change my clothes.  (Mary Ann would be freaking out.)  I am trying to understand the cultural differences, but in this particular instance I feel insulted.  Our flight to Bucharest left the gate on time and for a while there I thought we were going to drive to Bucharest, as we taxied for 15 minutes.  It is 284 miles from Istanbul to Bucharest according to the flight monitor.  We fly over the western coast of the Black Sea as well as Romania.

There's not much to old Bucharest, as we went walking through it today.  We had lunch at La Ceaunu Crapat, which served Romanian food.  This was our second restaurant, because the first one we sat down at served Italian food which we didn't know by the name of the restaurant.  Roger was a little perturb with me, when I asked the waiter at the Italian restaurant where a Romanian restaurant was.  He pointed next door.  I apologized to the waiter and we moved three tables over to the Romanian restaurant.  The menu was in Romanian with pictures, but that didn't help us any.  We asked the waiter what his two favorite dishes were, and we ordered that.  The first plate had what we think was small stuffed cabbage rolls with what I would describe as a Romanian style grits blob.  The second plate had lamb cooked in wild garlic.  We think we got part of the backbone and maybe a thigh, based on the bones.  Both dishes were very good.  The lamb was really good, because the flavor wasn't strong and I was able to eat it.  The only thing that I didn't like was the sausage, which had a strong meat taste.  (I'll post pictures later.)

While waiting for our meal, I made random notes of things that popped into our minds.  Here's the list:

-  Cell phone addiction is as bad in Europe as it is in the USA

-  Smoking seems to be a lot more prevalent in Europe than the USA

-  English is definitely the second language in Europe and those who speak it well have jobs.

- Roger said that Italian gelato is 100x better than rubbery Greek or Turkish gelato.

-  Converse tennis shoes seem to be a status symbol among younger Europeans who aren't rich.  It appears, based on the shops, that most everybody wants designer labels, even it they are knock-offs.

-  In Turkey, at the metro stations, the metro police chase off the beggars.  You'd be surprised at how quickly a previously lame beggar can scamper off.

-  In Bucharest, 76 degrees Fahrenheit is considered a hot day.

-  In Bucharest, the banks will not accept Euros that have been written on for exchange into Lei.  Roger was extremely annoyed by this, since we had no clue this would be a problem.  It didn't help that the lady was rather harsh with him about the written on Euro.  Hopefully we can get rid of the e50 in Germany.

-  Our Taroma flight was only about 2/3 full and the flight attendants were very nice.  Roger had plenty of leg room.  Easyjet packs the bodies on the plane and Olympic is in between Easyjet and Taroma.

-  Gas in Turkey was about $9/gal.  Diesel was $8/gal.  

-  Romania is part of the European Union, but not part of the Euro Zone so you have to get the Romanian Lei for cash.

-  In Turkey, money is money.  They'll take Lira, Euros or Dollars.  The two times we bought something, the men pulled out money from several pockets to find the correct change, based on the currency offered.  It felt like their pants pockets were international ATMs.

-  There are several casinos by our hotel in Bucharest.

Our driver from the Bucharest Airport spoke very good English, which he learned in high school.  He was very proud of himself when we complimented him on his English.  He said that the only way to get a job that pays well is to speak English.  The small car he picked us up in may have been his own, but was about the size of a Nissan Sentra.  One suitcase fit in the trunk and the other shared the back seat with me.

The pictures are of interesting architecture that we saw on our walk to old Bucharest.  The CEC Palace, is the Palace of the Savings Bank 1876-1900, and is French Baroque architecture.    The Old Court Church, is the oldest church in Bucharest and was the site of royal coronations during the 16th-18th centuries.  It is an Orthodox Church, which had a lot of icons inside.  We walked by the Museum of Art, where there's a statue of Romulus and the she wolf (which Romania was named after).  All in all there's just buildings to see with interesting architecture.

Tomorrow we get an actual city tour as part of the Viking River Cruise, before we get to the boat at Giurgiu.  It is currently thundering, so we're in for the evening.