We awoke in Bucharest to a surprise – we could no longer hear packs of dogs barking. This was certainly not the case the night before – our room was ideally situated to catch every bark and exchange. We discussed the phenomenon, and chalked it up to something we had read in our tourist materials – that Bucharest has on the order of a million dogs, many of whom run wild in packs in the streets. We saw more than a few examples on the streets as we toured:
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| This is just one of the many homeless dogs we saw wandering the streets of Bucharest. |
Our plan was marked on our map, and we wanted to see Bucharest’s version of the “Arc du Triomphe,” the Arcul de Triumf (The Triumphal Arch ) that we had seen during our stay in Paris. In fact, Bucharest used to be called “Little Paris,” but this was before the reign of Nicolae Ceausescu. We walked through the Herăstrău Park on our way to the Arc, first seeing a statute dedicated to Charles de Gaulle and walking through a small flea market.
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| Erin sitting in front of the Charles de Galle statue in Bucharest. |
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| James tried to re-create the monument behind him during our walk to the park. |
We continued through a park dedicated to literary giants, including Mark Twain:
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| Mark Twain would probably be surprised to find out he was well-known in Bucharest, Romania. |
We finally arrived at the Arch and took a moment for some pictures:
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| Erin in front of the Arcul de Triumph in Romania. |
On our way back to the city center, we passed the US Embassy. We would’ve taken a picture, but the Romanian guards explicitly told us not to. From there, we stopped at McDonald’s for lunch and to catch up on the internet (a lot of the McDonald's in Europe have free wifi); then it was onto the mall to search for a pair of sunglasses for Erin. The mall in Bucharest was quite interesting - instead of long hallways and shops along the sides of the hallways, the mall was like a maze. You had to walk through stores to get to others and you were never really sure which direction you were going to be heading in.
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| An interesting chair for sale at the mall...would you purchase this? |
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| We thought this mannequin definitely "sold" the robe. |
We had no luck, and walked further down the Calea Victoriei soaking in more of the Romanian culture. A quick stop at the grocery store, and the roadside filming of a television commercial provided our last glimpse of everyday Romanian life, and our stop back at the Hello! Hotel was brief, filled with a convention of the Romanian version of the Boy Scouts.
Our train was set to leave after 8pm, so we hurried across the street, not taking a “student taxi,” and caught our overnight train. It was confusing – not finding the car or the room, which was fine – but speaking with the train personnel in charge of our car, who spoke very little English. For a moment, we were worried our tickets were not in order, but we were able to sort things out, and we were soon on our way.
The train compartment held 3 beds for the two of us, and it was clear that this train car was a hold-over from Iron-Curtain-era rail transportation:
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| Erin was happy to have her own bed on the train, but was a little skeptical about the old-fashioned railcar. |
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| James wasn't really so sure about the blankets that were provided considering they appeared to be as old as the train. |
It was as cold as it looks in the pictures, and we had two more “midnight awakenings” on either side of the Romanian/Bulgarian border. In the first instance, our passports were taken from our compartment, and we patiently waited for their return 20 minutes later. In addition to being cold, the train was (unsurprisingly) not insulated or “shocked” very well – we heard, and felt, every bump on the uneven rails. Finally, at some point (we imagine) we fell asleep somewhere in Bulgaria.
