First trip to Eastern Europe and it was very impressionable. Quite a bit different than the westernized world that I'm used to, but I really enjoyed the few days I got to enjoy of it.
Piper, Emma and I arrived in Bucharest, Romania on Friday night and were greated by Vlad which Peeps knew from a group at KU. It was really nice to have someone who was willing to show us around a bit and help out especially since I don't think we would have ever come to Romania, if he were not there. The night started out by heading to our hotel then getting money from the bank. Right now Romania has been in the E.U. since 2007 and are slowly progressing towards using the Euro. So we figured that Vlad had the conversion down since he had been there for a few days, but after a few errors on all of our parts, we took out what we thought was $60. After rethinking it a little bit later we realized that it was more like $600 that we each took out, more than enough. A few minutes after this realization I received a phone call from my dad telling my that my account was over drawn and the bank called. Well of course they did! Moral of the story, I have a lot of euros right now after exchanging most of the money I got out.
After that everything else went up hill. We went and met up with Vlad's friends who were all really nice and lucky for us they all spoke english. We got some foods
to eat and they showed us one of the gardens in town and the Parliament building that was built during the Communist regime. It was HUGE. The second largest building to the Penatagon. Like really big! But cool at night. Being from a western nation its hard to believe that so little time ago this country was Communist. Just being there you can tell that it is changing from what it was a few years ago. The divide in class is very obvious, and at times the racism for the gypsies is very potent. We encountered some gypsies and it was actually pretty sad because they were mostly children asking for money, but in cases like that its hard because most likely the money you give them will go to someone else and they won't see any of it.
AFter that we headed to a bar and hung out for a while. It was really nice to talk to the guys we were with. They were friendly and open which was not what we had expected. We felt comfortable asking about Romania and how it works because honestly, none of us knew anything about Romania. The night was really nice and we ended up back at the park just playing around and talking until the boys walked us back.
Piper, Emma and I arrived in Bucharest, Romania on Friday night and were greated by Vlad which Peeps knew from a group at KU. It was really nice to have someone who was willing to show us around a bit and help out especially since I don't think we would have ever come to Romania, if he were not there. The night started out by heading to our hotel then getting money from the bank. Right now Romania has been in the E.U. since 2007 and are slowly progressing towards using the Euro. So we figured that Vlad had the conversion down since he had been there for a few days, but after a few errors on all of our parts, we took out what we thought was $60. After rethinking it a little bit later we realized that it was more like $600 that we each took out, more than enough. A few minutes after this realization I received a phone call from my dad telling my that my account was over drawn and the bank called. Well of course they did! Moral of the story, I have a lot of euros right now after exchanging most of the money I got out.
After that everything else went up hill. We went and met up with Vlad's friends who were all really nice and lucky for us they all spoke english. We got some foods
to eat and they showed us one of the gardens in town and the Parliament building that was built during the Communist regime. It was HUGE. The second largest building to the Penatagon. Like really big! But cool at night. Being from a western nation its hard to believe that so little time ago this country was Communist. Just being there you can tell that it is changing from what it was a few years ago. The divide in class is very obvious, and at times the racism for the gypsies is very potent. We encountered some gypsies and it was actually pretty sad because they were mostly children asking for money, but in cases like that its hard because most likely the money you give them will go to someone else and they won't see any of it.AFter that we headed to a bar and hung out for a while. It was really nice to talk to the guys we were with. They were friendly and open which was not what we had expected. We felt comfortable asking about Romania and how it works because honestly, none of us knew anything about Romania. The night was really nice and we ended up back at the park just playing around and talking until the boys walked us back.
On Saturday we just spent the day enjoying Bucharest and walking around. The city was so different from what I had expected. The mixture of the western architecture with the modern was really intesting to see. And all the churches were fantatic. I believe the main religion is Orthodox, but I could be wrong. Around the center of Bucharest they have these bushes that are carved and those were all pretty interesting to see the different shapes that they became. Overall Bucharest is a really pretty town, and not touristy at all.
Sunday was probab
ly the best day! We got up early and headed over to Vlad's grandma's place for some breakfast. She really was a sweet woman and the breakfast was fantatstic complete with meats, cheeses, eggs, tomatoes, mushrooms and toast. mmmm good. AFter that we headed of the the Carpethian Mountains in the Transylvania area. And it was beautiful. I don't know if I've ever seen anything like it. There was still snow at the top but it was really warm and sunny at the bottem. We stopped off at a little town called Busteni and climbed on the mountains a bit thanks to a walking train. The views and all of it were breathtaking. I really can't describe how beautiful it was. Everything was so green and the air was so fresh. I love it and you can't help but be happy
by it. It was definetly a day I will never forget and I am so glad that we got to climb up. After we had a specialty for lunch called mici. It is pretty much meat with spices in it that you eat with bread and mustard. It was fantastic! Well all the food in Romania was delicious. AFter that we looked around the town a bit more and headed to Brasov, or rather the tourist area a little bit further into the mountains. In the winter they are huge ski mountains but when we went it was warm so all the snow was melted but still a little chilly. That too was beautiful and it was a lot higher in elevation I think. We started climbing up a train near one of the ski runs but decided to let the boys go and we just took another trail and sat and enjoyed the view until they came back from the top. Even just sitting there the view was breathtaking. It was like no other mountain range I'd seen ,or maybe its just been a while since I've seen any mountains, i don't know.
Going to Romania was a really good experience. It was eye opening and quite interesting to experience an eastern country even just for a few days. I loved the experience
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2026494&id=1195471084&I=fe9683999b
Sunday was probab
ly the best day! We got up early and headed over to Vlad's grandma's place for some breakfast. She really was a sweet woman and the breakfast was fantatstic complete with meats, cheeses, eggs, tomatoes, mushrooms and toast. mmmm good. AFter that we headed of the the Carpethian Mountains in the Transylvania area. And it was beautiful. I don't know if I've ever seen anything like it. There was still snow at the top but it was really warm and sunny at the bottem. We stopped off at a little town called Busteni and climbed on the mountains a bit thanks to a walking train. The views and all of it were breathtaking. I really can't describe how beautiful it was. Everything was so green and the air was so fresh. I love it and you can't help but be happy
by it. It was definetly a day I will never forget and I am so glad that we got to climb up. After we had a specialty for lunch called mici. It is pretty much meat with spices in it that you eat with bread and mustard. It was fantastic! Well all the food in Romania was delicious. AFter that we looked around the town a bit more and headed to Brasov, or rather the tourist area a little bit further into the mountains. In the winter they are huge ski mountains but when we went it was warm so all the snow was melted but still a little chilly. That too was beautiful and it was a lot higher in elevation I think. We started climbing up a train near one of the ski runs but decided to let the boys go and we just took another trail and sat and enjoyed the view until they came back from the top. Even just sitting there the view was breathtaking. It was like no other mountain range I'd seen ,or maybe its just been a while since I've seen any mountains, i don't know. Going to Romania was a really good experience. It was eye opening and quite interesting to experience an eastern country even just for a few days. I loved the experience
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2026494&id=1195471084&I=fe9683999b
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