Anyone ever been to Bucharest (Romania)?

[roz]

Well we see you're back. Tell us about your trip! Post pics!

[Kristie]

Sorry, i had to get some sleep last night since i didn't get a whole lot on Sunday night or Monday night... we didn't get home till 2:30AM on Monday and then had the M&G to go to Monday night....last night, i went to bed at 9:30... really early for me! but i slept good! haha

The pics are over on JC (why repost them?! haha)...

here's the link -> Bucharest Romania Pics

We had a good time! unfortunately did not get out of Rockville Centre and it was simply because we figured out that to get into NYC, it'd be an hour train ride at least and with not being familiar, we just didn't feel we had enough "time" to get something in without wiping doug out... i didn't want him getting overly tired since he'd be flying yet another trip (i could tell he was tired and needed to at least sleep in too).

So we decided we'd make NYC a weekend trip and actually stay in the city at that time. Rockville was a nice area tho! we ate at Croxley Ales (Croxley Ales) and The Blue Moon Italian restaurant..both restaurants were really excellent!! Croxley's has 10 cent wing wednesdays and they don't sell domestic beer like bud, coors etc, everything's from outside the states (something we really liked!). the wings were nice and hot and their irish food was also REALLY good! Blue Moon has great Panini's and salads...The Sunrise Exec Hotel is about a 10-15 min walk from the hotel so we got some good walking in and the hotel (majority of commuters stay there) was pretty darn nice! shower was good, bed pretty darn firm but still good and i'd have no problem staying there again.

Romania was...hmmm how do i put it... different... well, it's eastern europe and has only been a non-communist society for a little over 10 yrs now so they still have a lot of work to do on their part to bring in the capitalists (money/tourists). but it was still neat to see! we'll probably go there one more time just to try and rent a car and drive up to dracula's castle/transylvania (it's about a 3-4 hr drive one way). but we're in no rush to do it....for the most part, we hung out with the crew & language speakers from the flight...they knew where to go and how to stay safe.

here is my *somewhat unfinished* trip report:

Restaurants:
La Mama (cabbage/meat dish & polenta with sour cream and cheese)…mixed grill = kabobs (good food)…beers: Tuborg & Carlsberg…Limonada (lemonade)…La Mama is located right behind the hotel (take a left, left, then another left..and it’s right down the street)...LA MAMA Cafe

The Harbor Club (located near Rainbow supermarket & non-stop nic supermarket): not the best location as there are quite a few kids/gypsies that ask for $$ but food is good.

Lounges/Club action:
Club A: kinda like an underground club in what looks like a bomb shelter/cave…music 80’s/90’s music you wouldn’t normally hear now a days in the states…quite a young crowd (20-30’s)..lots of various beers: Skol, Holsten, Tuborg, Carlsberg….(Club A)

Tonka soul café (tonka.ro): kindof a tiki type of lounge/restaurant..prices for cocktails are pretty high (15/20 LEI = @ 7 USD)…but atmosphere, chairs, music is good. Crowd is various but mostly young (20-40’s)...tonka soul cafÃ

Tips: always(!) watch for added charges on all your bills. At both Tonka and Harbor club, they tried to charge us for items we had not eaten and/or drank

Don’t get mixed drinks or anything that would be considered an “open” drink as we’ve heard people tend to slip mickies…Delta pilot just last month had a ruffie put in his drink and when he passed out, they stole everything.

Walk in groups…you get asked for money quite a bit and you can tell just by intuition that you do have to guard your belongings…I guarded my purse/pockets a little more this trip.. pretty unusual for me.

Do not walk with passport on your person..always leave it in the hotel safe or somewhere you feel is “very” safe.

There is metro but you can easily walk everywhere and see everything…there’s no “tourist” map, per se (not yet) and It’s hard to tell the good areas from the bad areas because of the communist influence in architecture and so forth.. everything is so gray.. buildings are all gray and dull…a lot of graffiti in areas and it seems as though the bad areas have really poor sidewalks, a lot of graffiti and a lot of construction/demolition in the area…the influence of being a communist society will take years to change.. bucharest is just now starting to become more democratic/more affluence with modern society..glass buildings, color that type of thing.

Hotel: Athenee Palace Hilton Athenee Palace Hilton Bucharest hotel….good bed, firm but not so firm you feel like your sleeping on the floor. Pillow are feather and flatten easy plus they have plastic around them or something that keeps the pillow noisey when your moving around (that’s annoying). Shower has good water pressure but temperature does fluxuate some…not so bad that you really feel the difference though. They have a breakfast buffet but even with the 50% discount they give employees, it’s still on the very expensive side ($63 LEI for 2…about $38)...apparently, this is where the "stars" stay...someone said Keifer Sutherland was just there a few days ago. Hotel gave crew 50% off for internet but even with that, it would have been $20 USD...hotel is very pricey. There is a nice pool/spa and we heard from other crew that there are really cheap massages, facials, dematology appts that are SUPER cheap!!

There’s not a whole heck of a lot to do in Bucharest so the idea is to get out of Bucharest and see Romania as it really should be seen…word is that to see Romania, you need to get out of Bucharest and I agree with that. Although we didn’t get out of the city, we did explore the city on foot and other than the eastern communist influence that the city had and the location(s) where the 1989 revolution occurred, there just isn’t much “tourism” in town. We even had trouble trying to find the mall and we think it’s because Bucharest doesn’t see them as being a “tourist” destination (yet). As more and more american’s fly Delta into the city, The romanian’s will probably build up the tourism aspect….I couldn’t even find a tshirt or a sourvenior shop to bring home any or many goodies. I did find a few (FEW) things in the duty free shop at the airport but that was really about it. It seems that most of the tourism is up in the Brasov area where Dracula’s castle and other castle’s/palace’s are located. However, with a 3-4 hr drive, it’s pretty difficult for crew to get up there. Luckily for this crew, one of the language interpreters/FA’s on the flight offered to drive a tour up and around…several of the crew enjoyed the tour but it did last all day and well into the evening because of the drive.

[Kristie]

oh, btw.. while we were in Rockville Centre, we also stopped that this quaint coffee shop on the main strip (Sunrise Hwy) called Serenata Kaffe....it was really cute, kinda french and the coffee was fantastic!! they didn't have anyone else in there at the time and if you ever do need a cup or espresso, they're open till 2am!

[roz]

That's the problem with the suburbs--things close! In Manhattan, things are open all night! Let us know when you are finally ready to see the "City" and we can guide you through it! It's the greatest city in the world! (Not just my opinion--ask David Letterman!--he agrees with my Mom who always said that too).

[Kristie]

your on Roz!!

I'd actually like to come out during the xmas season... i hear it's the best time of year to go check things out (albiet cold)

[roz]

It depends--the botanical garden isn't at its best then! And the Yankees aren't playing so you can't feel the awestruck feeling when you enter the House that Ruth built.

[roz]

Interesting article in today's paper:

Where old ways are real, not re-created | Philadelphia Inquirer | 09/23/2007