Sep 4 2025

Up again early to enjoy my coffee and second hand smoke in the square. 

Went back to Shakespeare and Poetry for my coffee. 

Then on the tram to the train station for the scenic train ride to Bucharest. The ride took us through the clever engineering of a big loop under the mountain to gain elevation. 

Yes everyone else was oblivious. 

Was a beautiful ride through the mountain pass. Just a shame that we couldn’t hike any of it. 

Bucharest train station was the first on this trip where we felt like we had to hold onto our stuff carefully. Maybe because it was tired and run down. Just had time for a quick bite of a massive Indian donair before walking into the old town for our walking tour with extremely enthusiastic and entertaining Simona. 

The rest of Bucharest is like the train station. A bit tired and run down. As the potato on the stick monument indicates, it still has the thumb print of communism on it. While there was some nice-ish bits our overall impression was not a warm one. Maybe because we were quite tired and hot by the end of the walking tour. And Simona’s regularly repeated phrase of, “You could go there but o wouldn’t really recommend it” wasn’t exactly buffing it up. 

While Bucharest may have been touted as the Paris of the east in its hey day that day is long past. It could learn about regreening from Paris. The parks in Bucharest were hot, dry and uninviting. Where they could be found. And we were admonished for standing on the grass under the shade of a tree. 

We then walked to our restaurant which was also just OK. But we toasted Collingwood beating Adelaide.