Romania = Arrival in Bucharest

A weekend in Romania? Sure, why not. Bucharest is only 50 minutes' flight away from Sofia, and we flew there after work on Friday. It just happened to be the hottest weekend of the year, and the Bulgarian Air plane's air conditioning didn't work until well after takeoff. There were only 10 passengers on the plane, and one of them joked to the stewardess: "Can you please open the window?" It was hot.

We stayed at the lovely Rembrandt Hotel in the historic center of the city. Unfortunately, the historical center of the city is undergoing massive street renovations, and there is no end to the gutted streets in sight.


For dinner we went to the nearby Caru cu Bere restaurant for some traditional Romanian cuisine. There was actually a performance of Romanian folk dancing inside, but we sat outside on the street, where the temperature was a sizzling 37 degrees Celsius at 10 pm.
What is traditional Romanian cuisine? One guidebook said you don't come to Romania for the food, but all the food we ate in Romania was very good. Jodie had the delicious Duck Breast with Oranges, Cabbage and Horseraddish. I started with a Mashed Bean Salad, and then had Lamb Chops with Serbian Boiled Rice. The Apple Strudel for dessert made it hard to walk back the short distance to our hotel.

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