After I wrote that last entry I looked at my watch and realized that I was running about 40 minutes late. I hate when I do that. I’m just doing my thing, whatever “my thing” may be and suddenly realize that I’m late. Not to worry though I made it to the train station, got my ticket, and had enough time to relax a few minutes before the train left. I found out that the train has electricity too, which means that I can write a little, maybe watch a movie and anything else that I need a computer for. This is the first time that I’ve had that kind of luxury.
Bucharest has been one of my favorite cities that I’ve been to either on this trip or any other. I think mostly it was the people, they have in nearly all regards been the friendliest I’ve ever met. I’m not going to go into too many examples here, but one short one should give you an idea of what I mean. I get off my bus in Bucharest and a guy starts talking to me. Not a big deal, but I’m a little bit wary when a local starts a conversation with me, he’s asking all the usual questions like, “Where are you from?” and “Where are you staying?” I kind of brush him off, but just like it seems every time I get off a bus, I have no clue on where I am or where I need to go. I guess he sees my confusion and asks if he can call my hotel, so he does. He gets the directions, and hails a taxi, rides with me in the taxi, and then waits for the hostel owner to show up. The whole thing took about 30 minutes, and even now after walking around the city for two days I think if I were left on my own it would have taken forever to find the hostel on my own. I mean, even the fact that the hostel owner came and picked me up shows the kind of people the Romanians are.
The city is kind of rough, there are a lot of buildings that are in disrepair, some completely gutted, but there are signs that the city is going to be very cosmopolitan some day. Most of the older buildings are very ornate, appearing more to have been crafted than built, very much like Budapest and maybe Paris, but in some regards the Romanians seem to have a unique flair for architecture. I saw a few buildings that looked unlike anything I’ve seen to date. With the restoration that seems to be taking place my guess is that it will only be a decade or two before going to Bucharest will be the same as going to any of the other better known cities like Paris, Prague, or Krakow.
When I got to Bucharest about the only thing that I wanted to see was the People’s Palace. I had seen pictures of it from time to time, but what I remember the most was during the revolution in Romania back during the end of the Soviet Union. If I remember correctly, the building was seen as one of the things that made the people so mad as to revolt. I wanted to go for a tour of it, but I would have had to wait for two hours and I didn’t have the time if I wanted to see anything else. Even though I only knew of the palace before I got here, I did find lots of other things that I wanted to see once I talked to the hostel manager. Pictures will do the job better than writing, so I won’t waste time writing.
In the end I met some very nice people here and continue to be surprised that I only heard negative comments from backpackers that have been here before me. I think it is one of the best cities in Eastern Europe and strongly suggest to any one interested, to go if they have the chance.
