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Romania & Sweden

September 13-14: 

Max and Maribeth Melcher drove us to the Austin airport for an 18:20 departure on British Airways.  We had a direct hop to Heathrow landing about 9:30am London time with just under a 2 hour layover.  Luckily for us, it took us almost all that time to just traverse back and forth through the terminal getting through security.  We ended up just one gate over from where we had landed.  The flight (British Airways again) from Heathrow to Bucharest was uneventful landing about 16:20 their time.  After a long wait for the baggage (I'm not sure anything is done in a hurry here) we meet the pre-arranged shuttle to the hotel.  After settling in we went for a fairly long walk and ended up eating dinner in the hotel (Ramada).  We chose this hotel as it is close (walking distance) to Mike's SQL Saturday event.  

 

September 15: 

After taking our walk last night, we knew where to go to catch the Hop On Hop Off bus.  We decided to ride the whole circuit just to see what there was to see.  On the second circuit we got off at the Old Town area.  After walking around the pedestrian streets, we stopped for lunch at an Irish Pub.  From there we went to the Bucharest Museum of History which helped us understand what we were seeing.  Neither of us had done any reading ahead of time about Bucharest.  They also had a special exhibit on Leonardo Da Vinci which was interesting.  Since we were hot and tired of walking/standing we decided to get on the bus and ride the circuit again.  Once we got off again at the Old Town area, we walked around there and finally stopped for dinner and just had salads.  We walked some more after eating, and managed to find a gelato shop for dessert.  We rode the bus back to the starting place and walked back to the hotel. 

September 16:  

Mike got up and ready first.  Ate breakfast and headed out to the Microsoft building which was near our hotel (so he could walk to it).  Lynne then got ready and went down for breakfast.  She then walked to where we had caught the bus yesterday.  She intended to “hop off” at a stop where the Museum of the Romanian peasant is located.  However, the whole front was under construction and she couldn’t see a place to go in, so rode on further.  Next destination was a shopping mall where she knew there was an H&M store.  Luckily she found 2 short sleeve and inexpensive blouses, as she only brought long sleeve tops and it has been very warm (in lower 90’s).  She rode the bus back to beginning spot and by then Mike had texted that he was finished and back at the hotel.  His presentation went well—he had about 40 people in attendance, but they finished by 2 pm.  Usually the SQL Saturdays last until 5 or later.  Anyway, we met back at the hotel and then left a little after 4 to catch a taxi to the restaurant where the speaker dinner was being hosted.  It was at the location of a very old inn and our drinks and traditional foods were covered by the SQL Saturday group.  Mike had several beverages and long political discussions with our Romanian friends.  Seems they are unhappy that the US backed out of the environmental pact; they are very concerned about environmental warming.  While they are not happy with Trump, they do understand why and how he was elected.  They are as disgusted with their own politicians as we are with ours.  We took a taxi ride back to the hotel to get this blog completed.

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September 17:  

We slept in this morning.  We woke up at 9:15 and since they only serve breakfast until 10, we hurried and threw ourselves together enough to go down and eat.  Came back to the room to finish getting ready.  We then decided to go to the Village Museum, an outdoor museum of old Romanian houses, churches and other structures.  This museum was within walking distance.  They had said on the bus tour that it is the largest outdoor museum in the world.  After walking for several hours and only seeing about ½ of it, we would agree.  By about 2 pm, we noticed them getting set up for a show.  So we bought some water and found a shaded spot to sit and watch the show.  There were singers and dancers all dressed in native costumes celebrating the grape/wine season.  As you will see from the pictures and the video, they had to be very hot.  The weather was very warm again today (in low 90s), and they were all wearing heavy socks, men had long pants, hats, and vests over their shirts, and the girls had long skirts and long sleeve blouses.  The show went on for about 40 minutes and we finally decided to move on.  We had seen enough old houses and other structures for one day so we walked back to the hotel.  We needed to call and double check on our two tours that we have set up for Tuesday and Wednesday to Transylvania, and Thursday to Bulgaria.  We rested and started today's blog and then left for dinner.  Lynne found a local restaurant within walking distance of our hotel (about 3/4th mile).  We both had (supposedly different) stew like dishes along with a side dish of sautéed spinach (with garlic and olive oil).  The restaurant was very nice with live easy-listening music.  A nice walk back (we only logged 12,500 steps today each) to complete tonight’s blog.  

September 18:

Our original plan was to take the two day tour to Transylvania on Sunday and Monday. Right before we left home, they let us know that was not available, could we do Monday and Tuesday? We agreed and once we got here we called because we hadn’t received a confirmation email. They then said, could we instead do Tuesday and Wednesday, as there was a festival in the town we were supposed to overnight in. So we agreed to that though it meant moving our one day trip to Bulgaria back to Thursday. However, we did get the confirmation and vouchers today, so we are set for the trip tomorrow.
So that meant we had today free. We decided to ride the Hop On-Hop Off bus again and get off at the Parliament building. It is a huge building, second in size only to the Pentagon. When Bucharest had an earthquake in 1977 with quite a bit of devastation, the dictator at that time, Nicolas Ceausescu, decided to do a major rebuild of the city. At that time he decided to build a “people’s house” as he called the Parliament building. We took the tour and to say it is ostentatious does not go far enough. Most everything was marble, inlaid wood, silk curtains for the very high windows, etc. The building was built facing an area that he reinvented into a wide street similar to the Champs Elysees in Paris. In fact, Bucharest has been called “Little Paris”.
By the time we’d finished the tour and walked down this street with fountains all down the median, we went to Old Town and had lunch. We had thought we would then go to the Museum of Romanian History, but when we got there, it was closed on Mondays. The Hop On bus stop was right across the street, so we decided to head back to the hotel, sitting on the upper level and taking pictures.
Heading out nearby for dinner, then finish packing for an 8 am departure in the morning.

September 19:

Up early today to be ready to meet our tour guide at 8 am. His name is Vali and it turned out we were the only people on the tour. We first headed thru the Carpathian Mountains to the Monastery of Curtea de Arges built in 1514. The church was very unusual and was eventually used as a burial place for some the royals, including King Ferdinand and his wife Maria. From there we had a choice to take a short way thru a canyon or take the longer way up and over the mountains thru the Transfagarasan road. We choose the longer route. At the top (about 6500 ft elevation), we got out for a short time and it was very windy and cold. As you can see from the one picture, the road up and down was very windy with many switchbacks. As we were about to leave the top, they made all traffic stop and wait as a movie was being filmed on the road below. We sat about 45 minutes before we were allowed to go on. This, of course, put us late arriving at the next town, Sibiu. It was first documented as being in existence as early as the 1100’s. We had a late lunch and walked around some, taking in an Evangelical Church (Lutheran). They has a large organ and the organist was practicing while we were inside.
We then left to drive to Sighisoara where we checked into our hotel. After we had settled in a bit, we headed out for dinner. This, too, is an old town first documented in the 1200’s. Walking around the town we saw the main city gate and the clock tower as well as a church on the hill with stairs all the way up to it.  Then we went in one of the few restaurants open on a Tuesday night to eat.

September 20:

We met our guide for breakfast at 7 so we could eat and get on the road. We first went to Brasov and saw the Black Church, so called because when it burned in 1689, it left the stones black. We also saw several other parts of town and stopped for a coffee in the square. From Brasov, we drove to Bran Castle, the castle (and the surrounding Carpathian Mountains) that Bram Stoker used as the location for his book, Dracula, in 1897. The actual castle was last used as the summer residence for King Ferdinand, his wife Maria, and their children. He reigned as King of Romania from 1914 until 1927, when he died. Stoker loosely based Dracula on Vladimir the Impaler, who ruled over Wallachia between 1448 and 1476. He was the second son of Vlad Dracul who also ruled Wallachia starting in 1436. Vlad the Impaler was most known for impaling on stakes thousands of his Ottoman Empire enemies and left them to die on the stakes (sometimes it took 3 days to die).

We then drove to Peles (pronounced Pelesh) Castle or Palace. Built between 1873 and 1914 in the Carpathian Mountains near Sinaia by King Carol II. Interestingly King Carol and his wife were Germans, but the Romanians asked him to come and be their king to unite the country and help them drive out the Ottoman Empire invasions. His adopted son Ferdinand became king next and was known as The Unifier.  Upon his death, his son, Carol II, became king. At his death, Peles Palace was inherited by his son, Michael I. Though he abdicated the throne (under coercion from the Communists), he still owns the castle, but lets the country use it as a museum. Peles Palace was the first castle in Europe to have electricity, running water and even had two elevators. At the time this was built, it was the only thing in this location, so they built housing to initially house the workmen, and then later the servants that served the palace. Now a town has grown up around the palace and more recently the area has become a popular ski resort.
We ate dinner in a restaurant that has taken over one of the former servant’s housing. Drove back to Bucharest and got to the hotel before a big storm arrived—hail, thunder and lightning. Unfortunately we got a call this afternoon that our trip to Bulgaria for tomorrow was cancelled. No reason why, so now we will figure out tomorrow morning what we are going to do with our extra day.

September 21:

Slept in this morning since we didn’t get to take our tour to Bulgaria.  Ate breakfast and came back to the room.  Since we leave Bucharest tomorrow, we tried to get our suitcases organized for leaving.  Then Mike did some consulting work while Lynne read.  We decided to go to the Museum of Romanian History which was closed on Monday.  The hotel got us a taxi which took us right to the museum and the taxi was cheaper than buying the Hop On Hop Off bus ticket and we didn’t have to walk to the bus stop.

The museum is housed in a build that was once the Postal Palace.  It had several displays of archaeological digs that are ongoing.  They also had a large collection of jewelry, coins, helmets, etc from about 300 BC up to the 19th century.  But the biggest display in the building was Trajan’s column, which we knew nothing about.  We bought a small book that helped explain.  Trajan was an Emperor of Rome and had defeated the Dacians.  A forum was built in his honor in Rome and the column was built within the forum.  As you will see in the pictures, spiraling around the column were bas relief scenes of his deeds and his indomitable army.  It stood about 130 feet high (not counting the statue of Trajan which was mounted on the top of the column.  The book said the Romanian government paid Rome to have cast replicas of the reliefs made by Vatican reliefs (made during the years 1939 -1943.  However, then WWII and communism delayed transportation of the casts.  Finally in 1967, after negotiations between Romania and the Vatican, the casts were brought to Bucharest and finally ended up in this museum.  What the book did not tell was whether the large part of the base of the column was also a replica.  But regardless of it being a replica or not, the size of the column and the reliefs was overwhelming.

After this museum, we walked to the Royal Palace which is now the National Gallery of Art.  We enjoyed an exhibit of European art, but had mainly gone to be able to see part of the former palace.  It was interesting and elegant.  Leaving there we worked our way back to the restaurant where we had the speaker dinner on Saturday.  We both had a traditional Romania dish: Lynne had pork stuffed cabbage rolls and Mike had Farmer’s Stew (which was spicy).  We tried to get a taxi back to the hotel, but since it was rush hour we didn’t have much luck.  So we walked part way and then decided to try Uber (our first time to do that).  After putting in all the information needed, the driver was 4 minutes away and showed him on a map proceeding to our location.  It then showed us on the map all the way to our hotel (and was cheaper than a taxi would have been).

A few thoughts on Romania by Mike:  The Romanian girls are quite attractive and the younger women tend to wear very tight and short skirts with very high heels.  It may be because of the many armies going through Romania from ancient to recent times.  The country is still hurting somewhat on the economy side.  The people here are very intelligent, but work is lacking.  I was told by some of the Romanian presenters last Saturday that part of the Microsoft in-memory table work was done right here in Bucharest.  Even though they are members of the European Union, they still use their own money and frankly the cost of living here is much less than the rest of the EU.  Interestingly the Romanian language is heavily influenced by Latin and strongly resembles Spanish and/or Italian.  Agriculture is the predominant industry, in spite of the Communists trying to make the country more industrialized. 

September 22:

Shuttle took us to the airport at 10 am.  Flew first hop to Dusseldorf with no problems.  However, the flight from Dusseldorf to Goteburg was delayed first because the plane was late arriving and then because a crew member was sick and couldn’t go on, so a substitute had to be called in.  Finally got to take off and arrived in Gotenburg around 11:15.  We get our rental car and drove to the hotel.  So, obviously no pictures today.

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September 23:

Mike got up and got ready to go to the SQL Saturday event.  We had chosen the hotel because it appeared to be close to the venue.  It was only a block away.  Lynne slept in, got cleaned up, and headed out to walk around the area and find a place to eat lunch (ate at Subway).  At 5:30 Lynne walked over to the building where the SQL Saturday was held and met Mike.  The speaker dinner was that night, so we headed to the bus that eventually got us to the restaurant.  Dinner was at the same restaurant as last year, but with no wind was considerably warmer.  After dinner most of the men and some of the women walked down to a sauna.  The women had a changing room and the men just changed into their swim suits in the yard (luckily it was dark).  After about 30 minutes in the sauna, we all wandered about 20m to the beach.  I only went in up to my knees, but several got completely wet and swam.  Water temperature was a warm 16C.  Afterward some went to the hot tub and others back to the sauna. We then went back to the restaurant for desert and coffee and then got back on the bus.  We had two transfers to get back to our hotel.

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September 24:

At the dinner we were given a suggestion of an activity to do today.  We drove north to Kungalv.  At Kungalv there is a fortress that was originally built in 1308.  For 350 years it was ruled by the Norwegians or the Danish. It only became Swedish in 1658 and was no longer used by 1786 when it fell into ruins.  Restoration began in the late 19th century.  From Kungalv we drove west to Marstrand.  Marstrand is an island.  If you look at a map of Goteburg area, you will see that there is an archipelago (a collection of islands) all off the coast.  They vary in size and are mainly rock. There are several islands on the way there that have been connected by bridges and roads.  However, to finally get to Marstrand, you have to take a ferry.  There are no cars on Marstrand, so you would only walk around.  We decided not to take the ferry because it was rather cool and windy.  We drove back and stopped at a local restaurant for a late lunch.  We then came back to the hotel to get packed and ready to leave early in the morning. This will probably be our last entry as we will be traveling all day Monday.

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