6-10 Monday
from the OAT itinerary:
Day 13:
Enjoy an additional day in Bucharest to make your own discoveries. Perhaps you'll visit the majestic Palace of the Parliament, the second largest administrative building in the world—and certainly one of the most impressive. Dive into the controversial history of how the massive palace came to be under the Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. After an earthquake devastated the city in 1977, Ceausescu took advantage of the land and recruited 700 architects and around 1.5 million factory workers to complete the project. Ceausescu passed away before the massive undertaking was finally finished in 1994.
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Breakfast was available from 6:30 to 10:30 am in the hotel.
But at 9 am we were supposed to be ready and at the bus (color coded as always) for the city tour, of course with the receivers which are really great.
We were met by Edmond Puscasu. He was 15 years old in December 1989 during the Romanian Revolution. It was a violent civil unrest ultimately culminating in the show trial and execution of longtime Communist Party General Secretary Nicolae Ceaușescu and his wife Elena, and the end of 42 years of Communist rule in Romania. He spoke from personal experience ... his friend was shot to death next to him ... he was wounded too.
More sightseeing.
We were back at the hotel before noon. The post trip travelers were leaving. The first good-by's.
The afternoon was free for the rest of us. James and I decided just to chill it. We felt like we were already on information overload and just looked for a restaurant in walking distance to the hotel.
James had the Waldorf salad and I had the Salmon salad. Very nice.
At 5:30 pm the farewell drink in the hotel and 6 pm departure for dinner in the old town started. We were surprised to be taken to the famous "Hanul Manuc".
Manuc's Inn was built in 1808 as a khan, and originally owned by a wealthy and flamboyant Armenian entrepreneur, Emanuel Mârzaian, better known under his Turkish name Manuc-bei. By the middle of the 19th century, it was Bucharest's most important commercial complex, with 15 wholesalers, 23 retail stores, 107 rooms for offices or living, two receiving rooms and a pub.
First thing of course was the welcome drink "to prepare the stomach and make you hungry". We had to tease Monica though. Even though that she had told us way in the beginning that you should have two so that you could stand properly, we were only standing on 1 leg. It is a plum brandy "Slivovitz".
Typical Romanian food.
Saying "farewell".
The flowers in the hotel lobby.
Yeah, and that is basically it. Packing. Some have to leave as early as 2:30 am to catch their flights. We have til late morning.
I must say though that OAT (Overseas Adventure Travel) again did NOT disappoint us. Everything was well planned and very interesting. The three tour guides of the three groups were very nice, personal, attentive, knowledgable and made it enjoyable for us. Of course we got to know our guide Monica the best. She gets all the stars and more.
One thing I had been interested from the beginning of the trip though since they were all from Romania. On the first day Alex happen to ask James and me how we had met since we were from different countries. So we told him that it had all started in Romania and I had fallen down on New Year's evening and a Romanian girl had very excitedly told me that this means I would marry the next year. Alex told us right away that this was right. All Romanians believed that this would happen.
When I told Monica that our marriage was all Romania's fault she was very excited and also agreed that this was true, especially when we told her that James had fallen down on that same New Year's evening in Switzerland. AND NOW WE KNOW! And that happened 44 years ago.
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