Today we saw the real Bucharest. They have a long way to go. I think we are the only tourists here (at least Americans) and we stand out like a sore thumb. While most people speak English, there are still a lot of people who do not. We actually thought it would be very similar to Prague, but Prague is much more tourist friendly and I think has realized how tourism can help their economy, while Bucharest has not done much to promote tourism and we have not felt as welcome here. They are in desperate need of improving their infrastructure

A beggar asking for a handout as we walk by.

Piata Universitatii - This is where the 1989 Revolution began and this cross commemorates the first person who lost their life. Notice the Intercontinental Hotel in the background; this is where journalists were staying when the revolution started.

Bucharest has so many cars! And no place to park them, so people just park on the sidewalk. This makes walking the city very difficult. Crossing the street is also challenging. You must obey the signals otherwise you’ll get run over. At crosswalks where there is no signal, drivers are supposed to stop for pedestrians, but you usually have to step out into the street and challenge them to stop, and pray that they do!

We walked the steps of the revolution on our way to the Museum of the Romanian Peasant. Once again I had to pay to take pictures…50 Ron this time, which is about $20. The museum was nice, but there were not a lot of English descriptions, so we really had no idea what we were looking at. When we first got there I didn’t realize you had to pay extra to take pictures, so I got in a little bit of trouble:( They were very wary of us, and kept an eye on us the whole time. Do we look untrustworthy?

Romanians make beautiful embroidery.

And hand painted eggs.

Doesn’t this look like a Dr. Seuss character?

This is what a typical building looks like in Bucharest.

We stopped at the train station, Gare de Nord, on our way back to the hotel because we have decided to take a trip out of the city tomorrow to a town called Sinaia in Transylvania to visit Peles Castle. We wanted to make sure we knew where we were going and try to get tickets. This was definitely a challenge as they do not speak English there (very similar to Prague), but I learned a great tip from Rick Steve’s travel guide when we went to Prague, and that’s to write down where you want to go, when, etc. and they can usually figure it out. It worked.

No matter where you go in the world you can always find a McDonald’s!

I feel really bad about the dogs. Doesn’t he look sad:( Although we don’t have a dog, we are both dog people, but we feel the fact that we travel so much isn’t suited for dog ownership…cat’s aren’t as high maintenance. The stray dogs here are dangerous and could have rabies so you’re supposed to keep your distance from them. We saw a lot more today than yesterday and I’m sure it’s because of where we were in the city. I took both these pictures shooting from the hip while we were walking and that’s Brendan’s foot in the lower right hand corner.