highlights - probably long

Monday morning: Arrived in Amsterdam on Monday at 7am. Checked out Leiden (sp?) during 6 hr layover - 1o minute train ride away. Walked around canals, one historic windmill, ate spinach and cheese pancake-like pastry. Delicious. Old homes lining canal are beautifully quaint, many with a rustic boat tied to backyard dock. Gazillion bikes near train station. All old-style, 100's, if not 1000's, parked in double-decker parking garage for bikes. Roughly half are not locked.

Monday afternoon: Fly to Bucharest at 1pm. Cannot stay awake on plane, though manage to have brief conversation with person seated next to Allison who is Dutch and does a lot of business in Bucharest as a rep for a chicken slaughter machine manufacturer. This guy cycles a lot in Germany and does not own an old-style bike like we say. He says many are community bikes, which is why they're not locked. Ride in on one, ride away on another.

Monday evening: Arrive in Bucharest at 5pm. Groggy. We're very leery of a taxi driver seeking our business, esp when he grabs my luggage and heads to an elevator, away from other taxis. We reluctantly follow. Turns out may taxis are on lower level - and he's on the level. Ha. He swiftly threads the needle thorugh bucharest rush hour traffic, which is horrendous. I've never been in a car with a more reckless driver. He passed a cyclist at well over 100 km/h with no more than a honk - no more than a foot was between the poor biker and our car. Seat belts of course are non-existent. Arrive safely at Hotel Carpati at 6:30. He apologizes that the meter ran up due to traffic. Good guy.

Our room in Bucharest is like a closet w/ two beds. Tiny. Rickety and cool old elevator that is also miniscule. It lurches as it starts and hops when it stops. View from room is good. Weather hot - in upper 80's easily.

We are very close to the center square where the 1989 revolution happened. We see building where Cecsescu (sp?) gave his last speach before being helicoptered away from the roof and shot to death. We wander around this area and marvel at the camoflauged beauty in teh architecure. It's easy to see that the old buildings were once majestic, but now they are covered with a layer of black soot, bricks have fallen off, facades are eroding. I feel like the city is a house with a messy owner who hasn't the resources to put things back together again.

Tuesday: We're awake at 5:30am and outside by 6:15 to see the square before it's awake with the city bustle. Very quiet and peaceful. Unfortunately Allison forgot contacts so we find optometrist which opens at 10am.

At 7am we enjoy large complimentary breakfast in hotel of meat meat meat, including hot dogs with mustard. In the 80s meat was very difficult to find so they appear to be making up for lost time.

Before we leave the hotel the person behind the counter advises us to take a ciruitous route to the square, opposite of how we went night before. I ask why, and she replied becuase of the dogs. I notice dogs in a parking lot the day before and was aware of a stray dog problem. She said they frequenty bite, and our guide book says rabies is a real issue. We avoid that route for rest of our stay. I am highly aware of stray dogs and they tug at the old heart strings. They look so sad. Amazingly they're in Suceava, where I am now, a small town in north romania, also. I saw one today with a grotesque goiter dangling from its chest and with no hair on its tail. So sad!

Much walking to day and a lesson in the Metro. We buy train ticket (for 6am!!) which got us to Suceava today. I ask if we can pay by Visa and get laughed at. Most prices here are in Lei, though they accept Euros, and often do not take credit cards. Then fail to understand how to use the metro ticket and are escorted by a disgruntled guard through a security gate and allowed to ride the subway. The metro was built in 1979, most likely w/ US money given to Romania for their resistance to USSR troops when we thought Ceucescu was a pretty good fellow.

[as I type, thunder storms are starting - very cool].

We visit the Village Museum with a gazillion old buildings from 14th century forward from all over the Romanian area. Fascinating works that were relocated from their original locations.

Next the Peasant Museum with a huge inventory of artifacts from the common people. Many textiles from Romanian peasants over the centuries, as well as windmills, a church, clothing, tiles from stoves, and many decorated eggs. Amazing stuff.

Uh oh - i'm asked to stop internet use due to lighting. More later.

Mark