My Images of SEE – 20:57, Tuesday 16th August

We arrived at the hotel, and then freshened up. We went to the bar and had a beer while reading. It was quiet in the hotel, only us and the reception staff. Later on a couple went to the restaurant are and ate, joined by another two tables later still. An English man bar then a Romanian joined him. The Romanian asked what he was doing here. He replied “Business”. The Romanian then asked if he was bringing a woman back to his room. He said no. The Romanian then persistently badgered him about it. The English guy did well, but why do people have to be brash about it. We left after an hour and slept. And gosh did we sleep. From 22:00 until 09:15 the next day – like logs.

We awoke fresh, yet dozey. We decided upon an Ibis breakfast – so we went downstairs and asked to put it on our invoice. We filled up for the day in the shadow of the Parliament building.

I asked reception for our check out time. 12:00 she said. Excellent. We went back up, and read for a while, then slowly got showered, changed and packed. We went downstairs for 11:45, paid, then left our luggage there for later.

We walked up to Izvor park, and its Metro station. We caught the train to Piata Unirii, changed, then onwards to Piata Victoriei. 

The Metro system is small, yet dazzingly modern in a not so modern city. Both comfort and uneasiness came with an armed guard on each train. They were similar to the German U-Bahn ones that have no connected parts, but are hollow from front to back like a fleshed out snake. We arrived at Piata Victoriei, and reached ground level. It was a massive expanse of concrete with confusing traffic measures, a car park seemingly in the middle, and surrounded ¾ in the way by past Soviet buildings. 

We were here though for another purpose. That was, to the north, the Museum of the Romanian Peasant. We located it within 300 yards of the Piata, in a building seemingly constructed for its purpose. Its surroundings were leafy and suburban. We went in and viewed the exhibition in 4 parts.

The first part was mostly wood cross carvings and religious iconography on wood. However, there was an original village church hut that they moved here. No more than a shack, but it held the village together via faith. The second part was an extension of the collective prayer theme previous. There they had a massive boat-like construction that was another prayer room. The third was more ethnographical and to my taste. Upstairs it had male and female clothes, pottery, and kitchenware – and again, a massive construction. It was an actual village house. It had a dark, aged wood as its material of construction, obviously weathered through time. It had an ‘allsorts’ part for tools and labouring. It had a kitchen, and then a bedroom. The attic was used for storage and, quaintly, Christmas decorations. The final part was a look at Soviet propaganda in the village, but basically contained busts of Lenin and portraits of past Romanian leaders. 

We got some bits from the gift shop then left. We went back on the Metro to the university then walked to the Romanian History Museum. However, it was closed. So we went for a coffee on the Strad Lipscani. This was the quarter that had a load of cafes and bars, and was in receipt of EU funding. 

We had a coffee, but a disturbed man was kicking off, first with people, then with dogs, some 50 yards away. So I said we should leave and we did. We went to the shopping area and killed time by having a look around. We then walked back to Lipscani. The temperature and sun was unbearable at this point, so we found an Irish Pub, went in a supped two ‘pints’ slowly. This ws the first time we found an internet connection, so we caught up on e-mails. We then walked around the corner to an Italian and sat outside.

The street was becoming busier now. We had a lovely and fulfilling meal then walked through Piata Unirii one last time, up the boulevard to the Parliament. The sun was nearing dusk now. We walked around the Parliament back to the hotel. We picked up our luggage then walked around Izvor park to the Metro, catching it to Gara de Nord. We entered Gara de Nord, which was bustling with activity, and noticed Beograd on the departures – ‘Lina 2’. So we got some snacks from the kiosk and waited on the platform. 

At 20:30 our train arrived, fresh and ready for the journey. We showed our ticket to the carriage guard and he nodded us on. The cabin was luxurious. A 3 seater in the day, it was now a two person bunk. A sink, complimentary water and morning bag/pack. It was lovely. We settled in before it departed into the night. Our attendant came to check the tickets, and took ours until Belgrade.