2017 August 18-21: Bucharest, Romania for a wedding (Weekend trip)

In May or so, with the ink drying on my freshly-signed contract in my new job in industry -- to start in August -- my friend and former co-postdoc in Münster, Martin, had invited me and several other mutual friends to his wedding -- planned for the weekend of August 20th. Knowing already I would be working then, I planned everything immediately, with a post-work flight Friday (arriving at the hotel by 10pm)  and very-early-morning flight on Monday back (about 8am). Thankfully, another friend decided to also come along, and I had someone to split the hotel with and also pal around town with.

Friday, 18. August: Arrival, incongruous giant posh Bookstore
I did some in-flight reading to get me up to speed on Romania. It seems like Bucharest is growing in hip-ness, and known for a bizarre mix of architecture and good food. Many tourists skip town to go check out Dracula's castle.

I stayed downtown at Capitol Hotel, one block down from the wedding-reception (Sunday 16 to whenever), and the rate was 70 Euros/night for two people (bargain!). Sunday I relocated to a hotel literally across the street from the Airport for my peace of mind in getting to the airport for my 8am flight.

View from hotel room

 
I was worried I wouldn't have time to get any local currency (denoted ROM, but called "lei" (1leu, multiple lei), I'd booked a transfer from the airport to be paid in Euros. Turns out I paid twice as much as I would've with a taxi. Exchange rate is roughly 5 ROM to 1 EUR/GBP/USD at the moment.

PRO TIP: There is a taxi-calling "machine" at the airport, outside. Tell it roughly where you're going, it'll suggest a rate, you say yes, and generally you pay about 30 cents/km, should run you less than 10 Euros from airport to town center.

Getting in, went for a stroll along Lipscani, the semi-gritty club-ish hip etc street which people are surprised was not torn down as part of the communist-era widespread destruction of Romanian historical things.

Went to a very incongruous fancy 6 story tall bookstore (might have needed some wrapping for the wedding present) in that area, open til midnight. The internet tells me it's famous ( bored panda)?  (Here is the actual website of the bookstore)

Bookstore was full of German tourists, btw

Saturday, 19. August: Legal wedding, Open-air museum, Dinner

(1)Legal wedding, walk to/from: 

At some point Friday, we were invited to the legal part of the wedding at the wedding registry. A nice 1 hr walk from the hotel.

Couple and their parents

The ceremony was in Romanian, with an interpreter -- which is legally required if one spouse cannot demonstrate perfect Romanian fluency (I approve).

There was a photographer, but one only pays if one wants the pictures, so I didn't feel too terrible about my tourist get-up. :)

Part of the thing was to throw rice at the happy couple as they exited. Some people threw other things, previously.And once all the pictures were taken, this woman dutifully cleaned it all up:

 On our walk to the registry, we got a taste of Bucharest scenery (in 31-35C heat (35C=95F)):

We got a good sampling of the architecture on our walk, and the mixture of just-built and formerly-decadent but-now-run-down vibe, in addition to some communist-era monstrosities (more on that later):

mix of all the architecture around (communist, art nouveau/beginning 1900s, modern glass-front),

A few more pics from our walks:

Art Nouveau style building

more Art Nouveau

Monument for dead in Revolution (heart on stick)

One of many tiny churches amidst everything

It was asserted that this arch could pass for the Arc du Triumph. I countered it was too small. You guys are welcome to weigh in on this of course.

an arch

(2) After the wedding, we had a long, nice lunch with the other guests at a restaurant in a park. In the same rather large park is also an open-air museum.

Called the "Village Museum", much like the analogous thing I saw in Aarhus (Den Gamle By), but it seems the Romanian stuff isn't generally quite as old, and is very different construction, generally coming from remote mountain villages from what I read.

Some snapshots of what we saw there:





 On the walk back to the hotel, we took a totally different, semi-meandering route, stopping in at a pharmacy for antihistamines for my companion. I have a fair amount of experience picking which words one should use in situations like this (e.g. say "allergies", not "hay fever", especially given that's from French, i.e. probably closer to Romanian) and the pharmacist spoke to us in Romanian. I worked out what it was from context -- so, the stuff we'd asked for (google-translate and holding up the phone of the name of the stuff) isn't there, but they have Claritin (pronounced with a long "i"). I said yes, that, and we were on our way. I also picked up some nice hand-lotion of Greek origin, with beeswax in it -- I learned from Elementary that doctors often use wax-based handcream for their constant nitrile-glove-changing habits.

Along the way we also got some totally rad gelato at a place that also had a counter of middle-eastern foods like hummus.

(3) I suggested dinner at a place rated top 10 for mixed drinks in Romania

On the way there, we passed what looked like a sort of unadvertised hip club thing.


And also this total hipster coffee place:

We don't need to actually use our cups

The place we had dinner was called Energiea  (location). Hip, and we scored a nice table outside. Dinner was a tasty salad(Maybe 10 Euros ~45-50 ROM?) and a cocktail (25 ROM ~ 5 Euros for the cocktail).

Cocktail Menu. I had the "All the Wine"

Sunday 20. August: Palace of Parliament, wedding

Sunday we had time to be tourists in the morning before the wedding (at 14:30) and the reception (16:00 until...). I suggested the monstrous Palace of Parliament, symbol of the excesses of the former communist era.

On the walk there, ran into my second Rome-referencing statue.

nice doggy

What the Romanian-based travel websites have to say about the Palace of Parliament:

"At the border of reason, kitsch and neoclassicism, the building reflects best what Romania underwent in the communist period. Built in a time when the people of Romania have been destitute, it has been regarded with reticence.
Many workers have lost their lives on the site in their attempt to contribute to the construction of this architectural colossus – the world’s second largest administrative building after the Pentagon. 

[...Under the false pretext of the 77’s earthquake, about 7 km (~4.3 miles) worth of buildings from the Old City Center have been demolished. 44,000 people have been relocated. A series of important buildings have been demolished, without any care of the patrimony or their architectural value."

first view of said palace

We walked there (15 minutes or so?) and discovered we needed our passports to go on a tour. We decided to reserve a our and hot-foot it back to the hotel, grab our passports, and grab a cab. We couldn't get a cab to take us there -- it was too close! -- and by the time this was figured out, we'd missed our tour. No worries, we thought, we'll go back and get the next one, that's not as expansive. When we got there, we were told it had been booked out.

me and the palace I didn't get to check out.

Instead, we went for a slow walk and for lunch in the old town.
Leading away from the palace is the clear Romanian version of the Champs-Elysee
. Pictures from our walk along it (it ends in the big fountain):







Past the fountain was the river/canal:

canal

Ah. A diversion about rivers. It is clear from the picture of Bucharest that it used to have a river, and it doesn't anymore per se. It's now become a bunch of "lakes".

 See:



Past the canal, we saw a few more things, like our friend Vlad.

Vlad

And had lunch at a cabaret? Well, it was in the old town and had misters and shade, which was about all I really needed. Plus reasonably fast service, since we were running a little low on time.

I had the salad Bordello-aise

The wedding itself was in a cute old (Russian) orthodox Church, with maybe 6 chairs (clearly only for the elderly/disabled):

they were renovating

very pretty interior

After the wedding, we walked to the hotel for the reception and the 7-course meal, which started with two chocolate fountains (one dark, because Martin is lactose intolerant) and then a little meat-and-cheese setup that was tasty. We ended up at the non-Romanian and not-related-to-the-couple table ;), which we called the "international" table (or Chris called the "party table").  Most of the guests were Mathematicians (especially the Romanians), and the non-mathematicians were still scientists (there were two chemists and two something elses -- people in the same "house"/college as the groom back in his Oxford days).

The format was:
Food
Something (Dancing)
Food
Something else (Speeches and musical performances by Groom, Bride, Groom's brother, Bride's mother (piano teacher!)
Food
Something ("the bride is kidnapped!" -- the groom has to do silly things as "ransom")
Food
etc.

I highly approve. Much better than (FOOD) then (go dance, you stuffed people). :) 

I had to head out around midnight, around course 5 or 6, managed to grab a little dessert before leaving.  The meat course:

I got to the next hotel around 1am. The cab driver asked me why I had come to Romania (for a friend's wedding), if I had a boyfriend/why I hadn't brought him, and told me Germans were very discouraging/unhelpful when he visited Germany, telling him (in German) to speak German. I suggested to him that France would be worse, although he might have an easier time because the language (written, at least) is closer to Romanian. 

My last view (walking to the airport) before leaving town: 

the airport

PRO-TIP: There is more than one check-in area. At 6am on a Monday there was a huuuuuuge line for Security. I went looking around, found a line for a "faster" security, and it was, indeed, much faster. It was kind of left/back as you enter. 

Final thoughts:

Romania is awesome value-for money--- fancy cocktails for 5 EUR/USD, Cabs at 30cents/Km, great food at reasonable prices, lots and lots of museums, pretty architecture intermingled with communist-era stuff that still had a fair amount of windows.  

I think Bucharest is worth a look-see, and, like Athens, something you could take a few days onto when traveling into the countryside if you want to go hiking or looking at castles. 

2016 August - Barcelona, Sagrada Familia

Barcelona! Now with 100% less pickpocketing!

3 years ago I went to Barcelona for the first time (really, Spain for the first time) with friends, and had my wallet stolen (relevant blog post). It was actually retrieved immediately, which I found out later -- once we were 6 hours away by train. I have a very google-able name, and the police officer who'd caught the thief had managed to track me down that way, and after some phone-tag, I arranged to fetch my wallet on the day before I had to fly out of Madrid. 

So, this time, I was prepared to gird my loins and do everything I could to keep thieves away from my valuables.  Thankfully, the measures I took paid off (or luck was with me), and this Barca trip was uneventful on the theft side.

We stayed in an interesting place, Hostal Oliva.  The deciding factor was that *everyone* who rated it on Booking.com loved it.  The building is right on Passeig de Gracia, which might be the best location in town. North of la Rambla, so fewer crowds and pickpockets, and right at the crossing of several metro lines as well as some regional trains. A 5 minute walk to Plaça Catalunya, where you can pick up an airport bus, or find something to eat (or buy).

The hotel is in a cool building with an old-school elevator made (mostly?) of wood.
There were staff around all day, as one had to be buzzed into the building and then let in the door.  The bed was super high quality, the room was small but adequate, and the Wifi was good. I'd definitely stay there again.

elevator of wood

[Aside on the term "La Rambla": Figueres had a "Rambla" as well. When we asked what would happen if they had to empty out all of the cisterns at the fortress, our guide said that the water would go into the river --What river? -- the river that in town was covered up and made into "La Rambla". That is, *that* is effectively the translation of that term. The part of town where they paved over the river (for purposes of hygiene ?!?) and now there's some lush trees and a nice place to hang out] 

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Day 1: Walking around, Flamenco, seeing the beach
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Barcelona has a beach, which I hadn't made it out to during the previous trip (a rainy March week). Not featured in this picture is the beach-based outdoor gym setup that 20-25 dudes were making use of. One guys had some pretty awesome moves.

complete with smudge. I need to have my camera cleaned.

As my companion had never seen flamenco before,  I looked into what was easiest/open on Mondays and got us tickets to the 21:30 show at Los Tarantos.
30 minutes, 15 euros, and their shows cycle regularly (every week or two).  Show up 30 minutes before the show to get in line for seats. I recommend the ones on the side (looking at both audience and stage), to get a good angle on both dancer and singer at the same time.

We were there opening night for the then-current act,  Isaac Barbero (& Compañia) which was absolutely incredible; the main star of the show was incredibly talented. He and the singer had a really great interaction, you could really see how the dance influenced the music and vice versa.

our view of the crowd

our view of the stage

No pictures or video were allowed during the show, otherwise I'd post something here.


After the awesome show, we walked around for a while and enjoyed the cooler night air.


Near the hotel is El Nacional. It looks like a former indoor (food) market. Now it's a mixture of restaurants and bars. Very fancy.

I liked the giant carved fish which denoted the fish (sub) restaurant. Super duper expensive, but no line.

Fish restaurant

The only places that seemed to have lines or waits were the tapas place (surprisingly standard/affordable prices) and the bar-areas in the middle.

Also a very fancy (and purposefully "retro") bathroom.  I only dared to snap a pick of the fore-area:

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Day 2: Sagrada Familia! Gelato! Barcelona History Museum!
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Bought tickets for the Sagrada Familia, Gaudi's ongoing masterpiece, way ahead of time, online, and with the Nativity Facade tower access as well, which was new for me. It was totally worth it, the views were gorgeous. This time through, the audio guide announced that there's a projected (mostly) finished date, in about 10 years. That is, they should be done with the Glory Facade and the various towers and things by then. I think there then remains work to go back and renovate the old stuff and add in some adornments and so on.

awesome views

Barca + tree of life

It was also pretty cool getting up in and amidst all of the construction that's been going on. We were right in the middle of a bunch of things which had been added since the first time I saw it (i.e. 3 years ago).

grapes for wine/blood, wheat/grains for bread/body

More grapes. Definitely new.

The audio guide said a bit about how Gaudi really wanted to control the light in the space; one side had glass with cooler tones (lefthand picture), the other warmer tones. Nature is a great painter (paraphrasing them quoting him)


 

We had lunch at an interesting self-serve place (Nostrum) that had pre-packaged (yet tasty) meals because we were in a bit of a hurry to end up at the Barcelona History Museum by 2pm to meet a friend we'd made in France, who was also passing through Barcelona.

With all the hurrying, we ended up with plenty of time to go find some good gelato. Most places had heaped-up gelato, so we kept walking, until we found Chocolat Box. 

I had their incredible super dark chocolate and another scoop of hazelnut.

We then went through the Barcelona History Museum (at Plaça del Rey), which I'd seen 3 years prior. It's an interesting museum as it's excavations, piled atop and to the side of each other (i.e. you go down into the ground for Roman-era Barcino, and walk up to the Gothic church, passing through various stages of the Roman Empire, then when Barcelona became a Gothic stronghold, etc. For a good array of pictures, see the post from 3 years ago.

Roman street, Roman shop, Roman drainage

After the museum, we walked around quite a bit, through the gothic quarter-- whose streets had been wide and on a grid when the Romans put them there, and over time they were made narrower and the drainage abandoned (I'm sure they've put drainage back in since the Middle Ages, though). Ended up taking a break in front of the cathedral. I have a hunch that those towers are reconstructed from the towers originally on the wall (400AD) around the city, based on this picture.

We wrapped up our stay in Barcelona with a stop of the tapas place, Divinus, that was almost adjacent to the hotel, where we had an array of Pinxtos ("pinches"? They are ridiculous mini-bruscetta things with a toothpic through them) and tapas. Very tasty. 

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[[Thoughts on Spain and travel, changes in the last 3 years:]]

I think Spain has been a place people go for vacation (see: Germans on Mallorca) for a while. But I have the sense that it's gotten much worse, that tourism is the main industry, especially with the massive unemployment (20% across all age brackets, but about 50% for ``youth").  

Here's a piece from a year ago on the problem:

"[A] growing number of working poor, with incomes below the state-set annual minimum wage of €9,080 ($9,830). About 24% of salaried workers are on temporary contracts; half of those quizzed by the country's Labour Force Survey say their contracts are for fewer than six months. Part-time jobs now account for 16% of the total. Young people and immigrants are leaving the country, shrinking the labour force—and making the high unemployment rate all the more striking."

One symptom of this (which was for me positive) was the large number of waitstaff and people working in the service sector who've now picked up a small amount of English.  

I hope Spain recovers, rather than becoming simply another resort country, dependent on its neighbors' love of sunshine and good food. 

Until next time.