Bucharest Bound

Waking up at five a.m. is not a hobby of mine, but I was still mildly jetlagged when my alarm clock and the phone call from the front desk shattered my sleep (simultaneously) at that early hour this morning, so it wasn't that big of a deal. I had been having a dream about my grandma's house in Escondido, California, a place I hadn't thought of in years, but which had entered my mind the night before as I lay asleep because the sheets and comforter had the great, fresh linen smell of her old house.

Ten minutes passed before I was forced to jump into the cold shower. I had waited and waited, hoping the water would get hot, or even lukewarm, but it was not to be. I even turned the knob to facing the other direction, a trick I picked up last year in Moscow, but it was to no avail. So a cold shower it was, then stumbling sleepy-eyed down to the lobby to wait for the van to pick me up for Heathrow at 5:30. My flight was at 9:30 and I wanted to make sure to be there three hours early.

That all worked out well, but it was all for naught, as we were delayed on the tarmac for like two hours for some reason. This was after I'd had to run my arse off to get to the plane. For a reason that I believe might be terrorist-related, UK airports don't announce gate assignments until 20 to 30 minutes before boarding. As my far-flung gate was a brisk 20 minute walk from the departures area (where I spent $11 on two bottles of water, a banana, and a pack of gum), I was at my sweaty best by the time I lumbered to the gate.

Flight uneventful. Bummer in Bucharest airport, though: no hotel people in the arrivals lobby. Most every other airport I've been to has had rows of people in the lobby trying to get you to come to their hotel as you head out towards the parking lot. All OTP had was annoying taxi drivers.

One of those annoying taxi drivers drove me the 16 kilometers to central Bucharest and called a couple of places for me from out of my Lonely Planet Romania book. So I'm holed up at the Hotel Something Or Other a few blocks away from Gara Nord train station, from where I shall depart tomorrow for Brasov and Transylvania.

I'd planned on getting out and seeing some Bucharest tonight, maybe a nice dinner and Dracula show, but instead I fell asleep after finally getting to my hotel room. So I just wandered around the area for a bit, nothing too exciting, before settling on a coffee shop for some victuals. They had three different dishes featuring pig brains (breaded, broiled, or deep fried) and a large selection of organ-based delicacies, which I passed on in favor of chicken kiev (since Ukraine is the next country over from here). It's 11 p.m. now, and I'm tired out, so I shall end this journal hereabouts and continue next time with whatever I see in Romania on tomorrow's train ride to Transylvania...

whoo haa haa haa haa haaaaaaa.