Quote of the Week, Perhaps a Bit Longer

"The biological community is a vast and complicated system for sharing and distributing the energy of the sun among a diversity of life forms." ~Martson Bates

10/14/09

Romaina: Tulcea, Then the End

After our dinner adventure we hit the hay. We had to get up early the next morning to catch the 7:00 am ferry. This time we took the fast ferry. The fast ferry was more expensive, but very much worth it. The slow ferry took three hours to get from Mahmudia (which is halfway between Tulcea and Sfantu Gheorghe) to Sfantu Gheorghe, the fast ferry took one and a half hours to get from Sfantu Gheorghe to Tulcea--a huge difference, it was amazing. We ended up getting to Tulcea around 8:30 am, a little earlier than we were planning on, although we were planning to spend a few hours in Tulcea before catching the bus to Bucharest.

Gretel, who was with us in Marighiol, is living in Tulcea, so she let us drop our belongings off at her apartment before we went to explore the city. We walked around for awhile and went to an art store that carries pieces created by local artists. We bought a few things, I bought two anchor necklaces--one for me, one for mom--and a small painting for Dan. We then went to the Danube Delta museum. It was really cool, we got to see some of the animals that we weren't able to see in real life. There was an exhibit about the reeds used for thatching roofs. Below the museum was an aquarium where they had sea life on display. When we were done at the museum, we met Gretel for lunch at a local pizza place. It was good, the pizza in Romania is thin crust with no sauce, they give you catchup if you want to add it, but I found it tasty without sauce.

Once we finished lunch it was time to head back so I could catch my plane in Bucharest. We took a bus from Tulcea to Bucharest, it was about four hours, it wasn't too bad, just a bit hot at times. You see, Romanians believe in the "currant". The currant is any little breeze that blows through an area and this breeze will make you sick, perhaps even die. So they tend to dislike air conditioning, especially on buses, and if there is any hint of wind they shut all the windows in the bus. Also, they will bundle up, even in the middle of the summer. It was interesting to witness this cultural phenomenon, although uncomfortable to experience.

After we got to Bucharest we took the train to the airport, actually we took the train to a spot near the airport then took a maxi taxi the rest of the way to the airport. We got to the airport around 9:30 at night, so we then sat in the airport until my plane left at 6:50 in the morning. It was easiest just to stay at the airport, hotels in Bucharest are expensive and going back to Erin's apartment was not an option since the train doesn't start running for me to have time to get to the airport. It was very sweet of my sister to sit in the airport with me, keeping me company. It definitely made the experience more tolerable. It was surprisingly easier than I thought it would be, the time went faster than I thought it would. She left me once I had checked in and headed back to her town of Sfantu Gheorghe (Covasna). My plane trip back to Reno went smooth, no delays, hotels or lost luggage. It was just long, I flew strait from Paris to Salt Lake. I don't think I will do that again, a stop in New York or Miami would break the flights up and make it more comfortable and bearable. So, that was my trip to Romania. I hope you enjoyed it, I sure did.

Oh, and sorry for the lack of photos in this post, my camera ran out of batteries, we forgot the the adapter in Sfantu Gheorghe (Covasna) and were not able to charge our camera batteries the whole time.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

yay, and then you came home! what an awesome trip!

Margery said...

Thanks for writing about your trip! It has such good details, I could picture most of your adventures. Love, Mom

Erin said...

aw, i just got home after a week away and got to read the end of your story. it was a very lovely story and i'm lucky and glad to have been a part of it. yay for traveling and exploring the world! love you lots and lots and lots :)