Bucharest

Last Wednesday, I finally left on my long-anticipated trip to Romania with the 45+ Not Grumpies! (Told the mother last weekend - predictably, it didn't go down well.) That afternoon, most of us flew Ryanair from Stansted. With greater crowds, and longer queues, than I'm used to, I ended up cutting it a bit fine.. and en route to the plane, I had a few things to buy! miniature toothpaste and mouthwash, roll-on deodorant (for cabin baggage) - and continental adaptors, which I'd left in Ireland, blast! Anyway, nothing ventured, nothing gained, and I managed it, and got into the boarding queue before they finished boarding it.

I didn't know where everyone was sitting, but some posted their seat numbers on the WhatsApp channel for the trip, and a couple were in the row right in front of me. We spoke briefly, but not so much at that point.. boy, it's a long flight though - and I decided to eat onboard, for once. Turned out they didn't have quite what I wanted, so I ordered the cheese and ham panini. Fun was had when none of my cards worked except for my third option, the Monzo.. Well, for all their vaunted in-seat pre-ordering, they completely forgot about that panini - one of them, seeing me, was reminded of it and asked her colleague: who said no, there was nothing in the oven.. so I literally got mine last of anyone on the plane. Damn, it was good when it came though..

Upon landing, our English-speaking guide was straight onto the WhatsApp chat and saying what she was wearing, and that she'd be right outside Arrivals. Which she was - and when she'd collected us all, she led us all to the minibus, and we were transferred to the Continental Forum Hotel. We had a whistle-stop tour of some sights on the way - unfortunately, it was dark by this time, and we could hardly see anything.. neither was our minibus conducive to picture-taking. I caught a quick snap of Bucharest's version of the Arc de Triomphe - the Arcul de Triumf:

We also heard a lot about the city's history, and saw a spectacular fountain dedicated to the founder of the city, a shepherd called Bucur, which when we passed, was lit in the colours of the national flag! Unfortunately, I couldn't grab a photo in time - and when we passed again the next day, it wasn't illuminated.

The only other photo I managed that night was of the Palace of the Parliament, right across the road from our hotel!

Built as a private residence for Ceaucescu, he never got to live in it - he was executed before it was completed. It's apparently one of the largest buildings in the world. I resolved to take a better look next day.

Our next item on the agenda was to check in, and get dinner.. and my, the poor man was distressed to see us all arrive within an hour of the restaurant closing. But hey, we got fed - a few of us had the chicken supreme, which we were to see on many menus over the next few days. And which was fine, if nothing special. And I had a glass of wine. Now, I'd heard a lot about Romanian wines - but I have to say, no wine I had on the entire trip made much of an impression on me: perhaps because, ordering a glass at a time, I was restricted to house wines. Ah well..

Have to say though, all the hotel rooms were lovely and spacious, all ensuite, all well-appointed. And in this hotel, they had English-language channels, which I watched briefly before going to sleep - we had to be up early.

And so to Thursday..