Wednesday, 18 Sep 2024 – Jesse managed to tag our suitcases and get them in the hallway before the 7:00 AM deadline. He packed our laptops in one of our small suitcases to take with us on the bus. We ate breakfast at about 6:45, after we had most of our essentials packed. It was our last tasty breakfast on the ship and we would miss their delicious Muesli. Jesse gave tips to two stewards last night, and to Abigail, the cabin stewardess, this morning. We were in the reception area ready to leave the ship with the rest of the crowd at 7:30 AM. We all had to walk up a long way on planks to get ashore. Our bus C was easy to spot, and we sat one seat behind where we sat yesterday, near the back. Today was an all-day tour of Bucharest, Romania. At first, the bus drove us around for views of Parliament (the largest parliament building in the world) and other buildings. The bus stopped at gas station, “Petrom,” for a rest stop; some people bought snacks and all used the restrooms. (There was only one stall and a long line of women waiting, and after men had used theirs, women used that one also!) Then we went further and walked through old cobblestone streets, and in the Old town, we ended up at the oldest beerhouse in the city, “Hahul Hahuc.” They served bread with various condiments; then vegetarian (squash) soup, then beef with potatoes and gravy. It was a lot of food, too large of a serving for one person, but all very good. Several young men and young women, dressed in traditional costumes danced for our entertainment. More walking followed, but we tried to sit most of that time. We also went into a very small, but ornate, Eastern orthodox church. After walking to the bus, it drove us to a park with several older houses, moved from places in Romania. Sally looked at the marker for the first one, which noted its history and a note from the owner concerning his being a gypsy and considered different from other people. After using the restroom, we waited at the park entrance until meeting time. (A stray cat was sleeping on that bench during that time. We had been told that strays wandered around and were fed by various people; however, they preferred to be free, not kept by families.) On the way in heavy traffic, the bus took us to Revolution Square, to view the building that was once home to the Central Committee of the Communist Party and saw the building where one man gave his final speech before he was arrested and executed. (Jesse thought our leader talked too long about this!) Then we were dropped off at the JW Marriott Hotel in Bucharest, Romania (about 7:00 p.m.). Our room number was 507; breakfast was the only meal included. Since we had a very large meal today and wanted to eat light tonight anyway, Jesse ordered room service. We got two vegetable cream soups, one very large vegetable salad, and 4 rolls with butter. The soup was barely warm so we ate it quickly. It was all very good. Tonight, Sally typed up our adventures for both yesterday and today. We didn’t totally unpack since we were staying here only one night – we just got out what we needed for tomorrow.
Thursday,
19 Sep 2024 – After leaving the ship, we didn’t receive our
detailed sheet of activities (the Viking Daily), so we didn’t have some
of the details that we had referred to the past several days. Sally guessed on
the weather prediction, but (to be safe) dressed warmly, with socks, boots,
maroon sweat shirt with hood. Outside,
there were no clouds and it appeared to be a very warm day at first. However, later it became very cloudy, and by
evening was raining and chilly! After
finishing our very good breakfast at the hotel, we boarded the bus that would
take us to our next adventure. From our
Viking excursions for today: “Medieval gems in a Pastoral Corner of
Europe. Explore a little touch of Saxony in a
charming village and at a flamboyant neo-Renaissance castle. Meet your guide and drive into Romania’s
dramatic Carpathian Mountains, following a historic route that
linked Transylvania to Walachia.” Our
bus headed to the mountains that could be seen in the distance. After an hour or more, the bus stopped at a
large shopping mall, where we used the restrooms and we walked back across the
parking lot to the bus. A couple of
hours later, we stopped at the town of Sinaia, Romania, and were
told that we would be walking down a long hill toward the Peles
Castle. We walked
down the hill, and at the castle, Sally needed to use a restroom, but they were
closed. Since she was already exhausted,
we decided not to tour the castle/museum. We heard from others later that it was more
like a palace, with lavish decoration (paintings, not bare stone surfaces). We slowly walked back up the long hill,
stopping frequently to sit to rest.
Today Sally really felt her age (her back told her that she was too old
to be doing all of the excessive walking).
We stopped at the top of the hill, where our leader said we would be
meeting our bus. Others started to get
back from their long walk, and we all boarded the bus. The bus took us for 4 minutes to some
restaurants, also in Sinaia. Being the
last ones off the bus, we couldn’t see where others had headed, but we walked
into the Irish House restaurant. Another
couple (Rod & Cathy from Detroit, MI) joined us. We had soup and tuna salad. (Cost was 115 +
tip, totaling 126 lei - Romanian money.)
Then we got on the bus and rode to the Radisson Hotel in Brasov,
Romania for the night. Our room was number
422. We discussed ordering room service,
but Sally suggested walking to find some ice cream. Our leader was in the lobby, and she
suggested a direction to walk to the tourist area. After walking much too far, one of the locals
directed us back to where we had missed our turn. We ended up at a McDonalds. They had a “Flurries Snickers Bar” for ice
cream; we each ate one (they were big), and Jesse had a McCrispy chicken. Then we walked (in the rain) back down the
street to the hotel. The bed had the
usual thick top cover, but too much was tucked under the foot of the mattress,
making it too short until Jesse pulled it up.
Some parts of Sally’s night were very good, but she was awake (and
hurting) for some of it.
Friday,
20 Sep 2024 – Jesse
set the alarm for 8:00 AM, but realizing it was too early, reset it. Today was our day of rest, with no
tours! We got up about 10:00 and went
downstairs to the hotel’s restaurant near the end of the 11:00 breakfast serving
time. We made sure to pick up all the
food we wanted before they closed. For
the most part, we got everything we needed.
After returning to our room, Sally took a short nap. Jesse watched TV and looked at his
laptop. Then Sally worked on her laptop and
wrote up yesterday’s adventure. About
7:00 PM, we realized we should be thinking about dinner. We walked down the street, and turned to the
right. (We knew the way this time!) Soon, it became a festival! Several sets of musicians were performing,
either alone or with others; people were sitting under very large umbrellas in
the middle of the wide walkway, drinking and/or eating. We walked most of the way to the end of the
street, which was close to a cathedral.
There, a loudspeaker was generating music with English words, and a big
crowd of people were standing there, listening.
The band that was performing was “Don’t Stop the Queen.” If Sally had been in better condition (and
without her cane/seat), we might have danced!
After a while, we turned around and started back up the street. We stopped at a very small place (Gra’tar
Restaurant) about 8:30 PM. They didn’t
have soup, but we got bowls of very hot melted cheese with small pieces of
sausage in it, along with a mug of beer. (“Probably the Best Beer in the
World,” the edges of the canopy said.) Sally also got a cappuccino. Then we walked back to the hotel – it was
dark and quiet as we approached the hotel, and 8:50 PM when we got there. It was a good adventure tonight, and didn’t
cost much. Also, it wasn’t very
far. Sally did sit on her cane seat a
couple of times near the far point of our walk, but we walked slowly enough
that she didn’t have any back pain! (She
had also taken an extra pain pill not long before we left, which might have helped
by the time we were returning to the hotel.)
Saturday,
21 Sep 2024 – Today was our last excursion, and it was an
all-day affair. First, we had an early breakfast at the hotel and a very short
bus ride. We visited “the fabled castle
that has come to be associated with Bran Stoker’s most famous creature – Dracula.” Beforehand, our guide (Ionoa, pronounced
“Joanna”) told us that much of what we know about Dracula is actually
legend. He was a cruel ruler, who
impaled people for offences, large or small.
Impaling was very bad because it took the person up to three days to
die. It was rumored that he drank their
blood in an attempt to obtain immortality, but this was never proven. The first part of his name means “devil.” (More Americans seem interested in Dracula
than others are because of the legend.)
The bus took us into the “sylvan landscapes of Transylvania, Latin for
‘land beyond the forest.’ This rural
expanse of hills, mountains, and tidy villages is one of the last great
unspoiled wildernesses of Europe. There was the red-roofed medieval fortress,
perched atop a rocky outcrop. This grand
structure actually has no link to Stoker’s fictional character, though the 15th
prince upon whom he was based, Vlad the Impaler, is said to have stayed there
for a couple of nights. Today, Bran
Castle is a “repository of period furnishings owned by
Queen Marie of Romania, the nation’s last queen consort.” From the parking lot, it was a long hill to
walk up to arrive at the base of the castle.
It did appear intimidating.
Inside, we climbed many staircases, sometimes long ones, sometimes only
a few steps. Often it was fairly
dark. In at least two staircases, the
passageway was very narrow and dark (VERY dark for Sally); she needed to feel
ahead with one foot to ascertain where the next step was before she negotiated each
step! There were a lot of small rooms
with furniture, some large rooms, and some places in open air where we could
stop to see the landscape. It was a
challenging walk. At the bottom was the
usual souvenir shop, and then the long hill to walk down. Sally was happy to realize that she had
succeeded in navigating through the castle, and managed the hills okay, too! Although it wasn’t the most exciting site in
the world, it was interesting – and Sally would have been disappointed if she
hadn’t been able to see it. (By then, she
realized that her problem was with standing or walking at a fairly brisk pace
for very long; however, she managed stairs better than Jesse.) By 4:30 we were back at the Bucharest
hotel. (This time, our room had two bath-rooms:
one was the toilette with sink; the other with a shower, tub, and sink – as Sally
remembered her old German apartment having.
After doing some packing, we went down to the hotel restaurant for
dinner at an Italian restaurant. (There
were at least three restaurants in the hotel.)
We ordered Romanian beer (good), “cici suppa” (chick pea soup) for each
of us, salad to share, Linguine pasta with seafood (also to share), and fig
crostata with maple walnut ice cream for dessert – all very good. After eating, by the time we completed the
regular nightly tasks, took a bath in the big bathtub, and finished packing, it
was very late for the short night’s sleep!
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