Oh, Vienna

A short train journey on a fabulous German train took us to Vienna.  We dropped our bags off at the hotel and headed straight to the old town to Café Diglas where Michael was once again able to have his Scheiterhaufen (a magnificent bread pudding topped with six inches of meringue).  He has talked about that cake for nearly 3 years. 

 

 We then spent the rest of the day wandering around the city and enjoying the sunshine.  It was very different from our last visit when all of the streets and parks were covered with snow.  This time, there were many outdoor seating areas at the restaurants and all of the city fountains were running. 

 

We found a lovely wine bar and tried some different Austrian wines followed by dinner at a restaurant recommended by the proprietor – Drei Hacken.  I naturally ordered the schnitzel, which actually turned out to be 2 of the most enormous schnitzels you have ever seen. We struck up a conversation with an American couple seated next to us and they told us about their travel plans.  Michael told them about our travels and how we sold our house and initially left Australia for 6 months and how, nearly 3 years later, we are still travelling.  They declared that we were the first homeless people they had ever met that they didn’t feel sorry for!

The next morning we headed to the Naschmarkt for breakfast.  The market has existed since the 16^th century and is approximately 1.5 km long and filled with fresh fruit, vegetables, meat, seafood, bakeries and restaurants.  It is probably one of the best markets we have been to – up there with Viktualienmarkt in Munich and the Borough Market in London.

It was then time to resume being culture vultures, so we set of for the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, as I wanted to revisit the Last Judgement triptych by Hieronymus Bosch. We arrived as the gallery opened, as I wanted to beat the hordes of people I expected would be there.  Michael and I had the gallery to ourselves and we were able to spend ages examining the triptych up close.  It is a fascinating piece of work.  We also took our time looking at the other artworks on display including several by Rubens.

Michael wanted to see the Beethoven Frieze by Gustav Klimt again, so we walked over to the Secession Building.  Renovations were taking place however we were still able to view the frieze.  I must admit that I am slowly warming to Klimt’s works.

Next stop was the Albertina to revisit Albrecht Durer’s Hare.  The detail on this piece of artwork is extraordinary and it was lovely to once again see it up close.  Naturally we wandered around the rest of the gallery admiring the other artworks as well as the beautifully decorated rooms.

We spent the afternoon wandering the city and admiring the architecture.  Then it was time for another Scheiterhaufen followed by a beer in a leafy beer garden in Karlsplatz.  Vienna is such a beautiful and relaxing city.

The Belvedere was next on our list of museums so that Michael could revisit the artworks of Klimt.  We were especially lucky as there was a special exhibition of more of his works in addition to the ones that are on permanent display.  They are beautiful buildings to walk around and it was especially nice to walk in the gardens as the fountains put on a spectacular display.

One of the quirky things that we noticed when walking around Vienna are the traffic lights.  Some of the standard red and green men at the pedestrian crossings have been replaced to show support for same sex relationships.  Now there are two women holding hands, two men holding hands and just so that the heterosexuals don’t get upset, there are a man and a woman holding hands.  I wonder what Tony Abbott would think?

It was sad to say goodbye to Vienna as we had enjoyed our visit so much.  It really is a city that one should visit in both the winter and the summer, as there is a definite change in the city in the two seasons.  I really hope that we can return to Vienna and I would love to see more of Austria as well.

Michael and I took the fabulous airport train from the heart of Vienna to the airport.  The train takes just 16 minutes and the it looks brand new and is spotlessly clean.  I think it is even better that the Heathrow Express.  We boarded our Aer Lingus flight and touched down in Dublin, our home for the next two years.

Dream in Sighisoara

A quick and comfortable train journey took us back to Bucharest where we had a 2 and a half hour wait for our connecting train.  When we boarded our train at Bucharest, who should we see but our bogus charity collector from our previous journey.  He obviously didn’t recognise Michael and when he approached, Michael looked him right in the eye and said “hello again”.  Recognition dawned on his face and he abruptly turned and walked briskly in the opposite direction.  No help with our luggage this time.

We arrived late at night in the lovely mediaeval city of Sighisoara.  Our hotel was situated opposite the station so we didn’t have far to drag our bags.  Our room was in the attic and I managed to crack my head 3 times during our stay whilst Michael, remarkably, didn’t hit his head once.

The Lonely Planet describes Sighisoara as being so pretty it should be arrested and for once, this city lived up to its hype.  The city sits atop a hillock and is fortified with a 14^th century wall with 9 of its original towers intact.  It is like stepping into a fairy tale with narrow cobblestone roads wending their way through beautifully preserved 16^th century houses.  The Gothic Church on the Hill sits on the town’s highest point and dates back to 1345.  The church itself is magnificent and is surrounded by a fabulous old German cemetery, which was lovely walking around and watching the squirrels scampering from branch to branch.  An amazing covered stairway with 172 steps takes you up the hill to the church.

We explored the massive clock tower and Michael climbed to the top to admire the view.  The clock dates back to 1648 with wooden figurines representing characters from Greek and Roman times.  The roof is covered with multi coloured tiles and it looks very impressive when the sun is reflected. 

We dined at Casa Dracula, which is situated in the house that Vlad the Impaler was born.  We paid our 5 lei each or 10 lei for 2 people as our dead-pan waiter informed us so that we could see the actual room where he was born.  We climbed the narrow staircase, which led to a darkened room lit only by a single candelabrum.  Dramatic, atmospheric music played and there, behold, was an open satin lined coffin! It was pretty hard to keep a straight face nevertheless we enjoyed wandering around the room and the adjoining dining room as well.

We enjoyed a wonderful dinner, served by our humourless waiter and we were delighted to find papanasi on the menu for dessert.  The papanasi arrived and Michael had just commented that they were very hard, when I heard a loud snapping sound and looked up to discover Michael sitting there covered in jam and cream and holding half a knife.  We sat there, roaring with laughter until Michael signalled to our waiter and requested another knife.  The waiter, upon seeing Michael’s knife snapped in two, cracked his first smile of the evening and declared that Michael was too strong.

Go Back to Where You Came From

It was time to start wending our way back again and unfortunately we needed to retrace our journey to allow ourselves enough time.   A 7hour train trip took us back to Cluj Napoca.  Michael had booked us into a different hotel this time so that we wouldn’t have to drag our bags through the road-works.  How thoughtful, I thought to myself.  What he neglected to tell me was, that this time our hotel was halfway up a near vertical hill.  Not happy.  My good humour returned though when I discovered how nice our room was as also how friendly the owners were.  They recommended a lovely Romanian restaurant for our dinner and a few extra sights that we had missed on our first visit.  One of these sights was the mirror street of Iuliu Maniu Street.  The buildings in this street are the exact mirror image of each other.

I am very glad that we were able to see more of Romania than just the capital of Bucharest.  It is a beautiful country and the people we met were very welcoming.  We would definitely like to return, as there is still much more to see including Sibiu and the wine region.  

Another long train ride of 7 and half hours took us back to Budapest.  At last we could do our washing as we found out the hard way that Romania does not have laundrettes.  We dropped our washing off and were then able to enjoy our dinner followed by a drink in a ruin bar.  Early to bed for us, as you would be surprised at how tired you get sitting and doing nothing all day.

  

Letter from Romania

It was time to move on from Bucharest and head to the Black Sea so that Michael could do some diving.  We arrived at Bucharesti Nord and were looking for our train carriage when a very helpful man approached us and offered to find our seats for us.  He hoisted my suitcase aboard and proceeded to escort us to our seats and then lifted both our suitcases onto the luggage rack.  I was thinking to myself this is too good to be true when he bade us farewell and wished us a pleasant journey.  Just as I was scolding myself for my suspicious nature, the man reappeared, this time with an official looking lanyard around his neck and announced to Michael that he was working for a charity and asked for a donation.  What could you say?  He had lugged our suitcases and even though we were both pretty sure that the charity didn’t exist, you would be pretty lousy to refuse.  Michael parted with $7 and another lesson has been lerned.

Ovid

The train journey was a very comfortable 2 hours and we arrived in the port city of Constanta.  The city has a lot of new development taking place and it is on the cruise ship route, which brings in a lot of tourism.  Our hotel is located in the old town, which once again is a mixture of beautiful restored buildings and derelict, barely standing ruins.

Michael and I had lunch at a lovely seafood restaurant overlooking the harbour.  It is a very beautiful spot and it was relaxing watching the occasional boat sailing out and the fishermen fishing from the embankment.  That night, we happened upon a display of folk dancing.  This time, it was mainly the men doing the dancing in a very similar style to the Greeks – a long line of men with their arms linked around their shoulders.  It was very energetic and one poor man looked as though he pulled his hamstring.  He limped off looking like he was in considerable pain.  There was an inflatable movie screen and a film festival was due to be played after dark.

Michael was up early as he was excited about his wreck dive.  He had a wonderful day in near perfect conditions as he dived the wreck of the bulk carrier You Xiu.  The carrier sank in high winds in January 1995, with the loss of the entire crew of 27.  The wreck is at a depth of 21 metres and he was pretty thrilled to be able to explore such a huge ship (167 metres long).

 The next day the wind had picked up and the dive masters were unsure of diving so they selected the wreck Paris which was bigger than then the You Xin (174m). This ship wreck happened on the same day as the You Xin.  The ship could not get the anchor lifted and so it was swept on to the break wall with 27 lives lost. The bridge separated from the bulk stores and hit the dyke and was a further 50 metres away.

One of the more unsettling things about Romania is the number of dogs that roam the street.  In each city we have visited we have seen lone dogs or packs of 5 or 6 dogs wandering.  Apparently, the problem used to be significant in Bucharest however the numbers have dropped in recent years.  The dogs don’t approach you and I don’t feel threatened by them, I just feel sad that they don’t have a home.  Most look reasonably well fed and we have seen people feeding them and leaving bones out for them but you wonder what happens to them when they are sick or when it snows in the winter.  There are two tiny puppies living outside our hotel.  They only look about 10 weeks old and I feel so sad that they have no one to cuddle or care for them.  There are also cats everywhere.  I am pretty sure that most of them are strays as well however they all look well fed and seem pretty resourceful and adept at looking after themselves.

A Love In Bucharest

Another comfortable train journey took us to Bucharest.  The city is full of grand old buildings, many of them so run down you wonder if they are beyond repair.  The buildings that have been restored look lovely and are resplendent with statues and stained glass windows.  The old town is a maze of winding streets filled with many bars and restaurants.  Unfortunately, there is a lot of visible sleaze, which we haven’t noticed in other old towns.  One wonders if the sleazy elements will move on as more and more of the properties are restored.  Budapest is much more advanced in their restoration works whereas Bucharest seems to be struggling.  Having said that, we felt perfectly safe walking around, even at night.  The police patrol the streets with Alsatians and we didn’t see any drunk or disorderly people around.

We have noticed a number of Romulus & Remus statues in various places around Romania.  The main one is a replica of a similar monument in Rome and was presented to Bucharest by the Italian state in 1906 to signify Romania’s Latin origins.

 






One of the places I was keen to visit was a bookshop that I had read about which had opened for business earlier this year.  The Carousel of Light is situated in the old town and is known as one of the world’s most beautiful bookstores.  There are 6 floors adorned with massive white pillars and it was so beautiful that Michael and I visited several times whilst we were in Bucharest.  There is a lovely café on the top floor serving excellent coffee and food, and it was very relaxing to sit and look at the surroundings and people watch.

There is a lovely park called Cismigiu Garden with shady walks, a lake and numerous park benches to relax on.  We had a bonus when we visited as there was a festival taking place and there were a number of stalls selling traditional folk art, beautiful embroidered blouses and various other items.  Michael found a stall selling many varieties of Turkish delight and he even tried a type of bread beer (he didn’t like it).

We visited the Palace of Parliament, which is the world’s second largest building (the Pentagon is the largest).  The building was the dictator Ceausecu’s brainchild and many citizens of Bucharest had their homes demolished to make way for the 12 storeys, 3100 room monstrosity.  It was built in 1984, however it is already in a state of disrepair and the grounds look neglected.

 






Once again the food was a highlight in Bucharest.  We dined one evening at the Caru’ cu Bere (the beer wagon) which is a restaurant in a stunning 1899 building which has been decorated in the art nouveau style. 

Michael and I sat on the balcony overlooking a performance of traditional folk dancing, which was very entertaining.  The women dance whilst making a curious whirring sound their tongues – not unlike Xena, Warrior Princess when she launches an attack! The food was good and Michael enjoyed his beer.

It may sound morbid, however I wanted to see Ceausecu’s grave.  The image of Nicolae and his wife, Elena being executed by firing squad in 1989 remains one of the defining images of that decade. Michael and I set off for the hour-long walk to the Ghencea Cemetery, which turned out to be a massive graveyard.  We had the row numbers for both graves however, try as we might, we couldn’t find the graves anywhere. 

We walked up and down the rows to no avail.  I didn’t want to ask anyone for directions, as I was not sure that it would be appreciated that we were trying to find the former dictator’s memorial.  We eventually gave up but at least I can say that I have seen a Romanian cemetery.  The average grave markers are very plain, certainly not the elaborate architectural masterpieces of Russia or France.