Snapshots - Bucuresti; Capital of Romania

Sher:

Why Romania?

Our answer may sound terribly incredulous to you... cuz.. it all started when we randomly found a hostel at 10 Euros a night... that provides free breakfast... free hot choc... tea, coffee... After looking at the horrendous prices tagged to Amsterdam and Brussels... it followed quite naturally that the 2 gian-peng Singaporean girls decided to go to this rather unusual holiday destination =P

Hehs I know the above doesn't really put us in a positive light.. but all we wanted... was a new experience with a cheap price tag.. We found out subsequently that Romania wasn't all that cheap.. happily though... we also discovered the charm of this less-trodden country. & yeps. We enjoyed this trip tremendously. The history, the sites... hot choc and all =P



Twin's dream hostel: toast, cereal, muesli, 3 diff types of jam, salami, butter, cheese and hard boiled eggs, milk, hot choc, hot and cold water...
Butterfly Villa Hostel really was one of the best hostels we stayed in thus far...

(I won't be writing much... twin will be filling you in when she's free. I have... 3 more folders of pics fr Romania to post you know... =P)

Random shots along the streets of Bucharest. =)

Village museum!

We were having some difficulty orientating ourselves with the map... and we were lucky to meet a kind doctor who offered us a lift to the place. *I know... shouldn't trust strangers... I have no defence for myself, save he gave us his namecard for his clinic. =)

I love.. the quaintness of the museum. I love.. the serenity of the surroundings. I love.. the unaffectedness of the place.

Hand painted works of art depicting Romanian village life a.k.a souvenirs. The prices are... if I might say so - reasonable. 10 - 15 lei per piece. They are really exquisite works... heh Artist's husband left us his email so that we might advertise and ask if you guys want to order stuffs from him =P So just in case you really do...

Dumitru & Gina: andy_dum_7000@yahoo.com

4 introductory shots to the series on the People's Parliament. Ironies of names still in full play here. hehs I'll leave you to figure this out till twin enlightens you. =) Grin. Did I mention our water supply was running low, so we decided to fill it in the Parliament? =P

Hehs my fascination was with chandeliers... Every material in this palace is MADE in ROMANIA. Even if the country wasn't producing it... they were made to produce it so that the palace could use the material. It's supposed to be the 2nd largest building after the Pentagon in the US and could be seen from the moon. hehs Human beings have this thing about making things huge... but the grandeur of this place cannot be disputed. I wouldn't deny that. =)

And it's also from the balcony within this building, the Michael Jackson addressed his public with "HELLO BUDAPEST!!!" major screw up. But when MJ gets the stage... you never know what will happen eh? =P

The ruins of Vlad Tepes (Curtea Veche) - the old princely court.

And below: the fountains at Piata Unirii - one of the 41 fountains lining the city. Each fountain was supposed to represent 1 city in Romania. And we suspect... (we don't know for sure of course) - that this huge fountain is the one representing Bucharest cuz we know from the tour guide that the Bucharest fountain is the biggest one =)

Romanian food is rich. Really. But our favourite remains the buttery pastry with cheese we get at the Fornetti franchise that litters the entire country where cities are found. =P

Top Left: Chicken from Killer Chicken fast food kiosk. Okie... the pic only showed half of what we were served. We did experience the feeling of being-killed-by-the-chicken. We swore of chicken for the rest of the trip. hahaha

Top right: Kebab from Arabian outlet. Hehs the owners were really worn out by us cuz we made them explain what each item on the menu was. hehehe and the menu wasn't a short one =P
Decided to take advantage of the hostel's kitchen facilities for once =) Romanian instant noodles w mashed luncheon meat. haha Good stuff!

Market at Piata Domenii. The one opp our hostel =)

Guess what stayed in my mind though... is the sight of child-beggars around the place... :(

Decided to have a People-We-Met-in-Bucharest series =)

Hehs... Sherms is tired really... so I'll just briefly say that we were detained at the airport customs upon arrival for some 40 minutes... and it was all because we were holding Singapore passports... foreign to this place... the number of phone calls they had to make... gosh. Thank god for nice officers who entertained us with stories of Vlad Tepes after scrutinizing us to see how we match up to our photos. =)

This is the Animals-we-have-met-in-Bucharest series. hahaha And yeah. Rat counted =P I know it's gross. But perhaps that's why it fascinated me. Hyaks

Closing photos. I leave you with the beauties of the place... There's so much more.. but Shermz cant post everything up... haha Now the exhausted me will get therapy from changing the bed sheets. laaa Hot Shower TIME. Till nxt time... I promise.. the story of Vlad Tepes will stay in my head and I'll blog all abt it here =)

Oh yeah... and b4 I forget... This is the land... where we met and talked to the most people... We met the warmest of souls who gave us directions here and there even though they might not fully understand us... I'm glad.. we decided to visit the country. =)