Text: Peter Johansson
Editing: Christer Lundstedt
Photos: Christer Lundstedt, Peter Johansson, Roberth Nordin
Videos: Christer Lundstedt
Friday 14th of April
08.18 It is morning here at Hotel Casa Iris (http://www.casa-iris.ro) in Sinaia. Sleep has been good in our spacious apartment. Roberth is dressed for his 250th running day in a row. Christer is ready for the shower. When they have done their things, the day continues. Today is Good Friday here in the Orthodox Christian world.
08.46 Roberth is back after a run in the nearby forest. He also woke up the dogs that disturbed his night sleep. Revenge is sweet! As soon as the running friend has finished showering, he and the two of us who don't run can head for the breakfast.
09.31 Buffet breakfast is not bad. Each hotel has its own version and variant. It was decorated for Easter and nice in the restaurant. Now Christer is buying the last Romanian train tickets via the app from the train company CFR.
09.54 We have made the decision to slowly walk down towards the railway station. There is no point in sitting in the room and waiting just to get on the bus.
10.17 Even small and calm steps take us forward. We don't need to stress. It is a dramatic difference to walk these kilometers downhill instead of uphill like yesterday.
10.51 Under an overcast sky and spring birdsong, we take a bench break in the Dimitrie Ghica Park (Parcul Dimitrie Ghica). We are back at the starting level in town. It was good to walk downhill. Near us we have the magnificent hotel Caraiman which, after a renovation, newly opened in 2022. It was first opened back in 1881.
11.07 Now we will finally get our eleven o´clock coffee. We are at Mandinas, a so-called Casa Dolce (sweet house) It is located on Strada Octavian Goga 1.
11.14 Everything does not go as easily as we hope. We have sat down at a table but there is no staff to be seen. Older ladies in face masks pass by picking up bread here, but it's slower to get someone to come to our table to take an order.
11.41 We finally got our coffee but Roberth fills up with more energy. More precisely, he eats a langos. When that objective is completed, the next objective for us will be the railway station.
Easter decorations on the breakfast table.
Roberth has awakened the village dogs.
Today we get to walk downhill.
Peter and Roberth visit Mandinas.
Spring has come to Sinaia.
Roberth was craving langos again.
11.57 Soon it is time to board today's train. We will start the last train journey on this Easter journey, at least outside of Sweden. We'll eventually get out of Arlanda Airport by train as well.
12.18 Roberth just immortalized our carriage in the form of a photo. The journey to this trip´s second capital has begun.
13.10 The journey continues. We just passed a brewery that makes Bergenbier. Now we make a stop again. We are in Ploieşti Vest. There are around 50 minutes left. Ploieşti is a large city with 232,452 inhabitants that is the center of Romania's oil industry. It was included in the initial itinerary for this trip. However, the city seemed so empty of attractions that we replaced it with Sinaia. It was probably a wise choice.
13.26 Suddenly it happens. A man just came by and placed a lot of stuff on the table between Roberth and me. There are lighters, nail care kits, holy pictures, pens and a key ring to name a few. Is it worth selling? How do you remember everything you distributed? Objects have been dumped on a number of tables. The man may have problems with hearing. We remember that deaf people used to sell similar things on the trains in the years we were traveling by train.
13.42 Christer's and my return to Bucharest is close. We both hope for a smoother arrival and check-in than the last time we were here. The truth is that rarely have we had a more chaotic arrival than the one we had in July 2002. Then it ended with an overnight stay in a private room with half-crazy Dorina and her "mama". You can read about this in our travel journal from 2002.
14.07 We arrived and got off at the Gara de Nord station. There is not much here as I remember it from the last trip. Although, as just mentioned, it wasn't exactly last year when we were here.
Longing at a window.
Plenty of people on the move upon arrival in Bucharest.
Gara de Nord, Bucharest.
Our home in Bucharest will be at Hello Hotels.
Late lunch at Grivița Pub & Grill.
Forget-me-not flowers in Cişmigiu Park.
14.23 After a short walk from Gara de Nord we reached Hello Hotels Bucharest (https://hello-hotels-bucuresti.continentalhotels.ro). At check-in, the man at the reception asked if we really wanted the room we booked. The triple room is apparently designed for two adults and a child. We still accepted the room and are now in the cramped little room 305. Incidentally, SEK 305 is also the room cost per person. There is a double bed and a bed at floor level. We will be leaving this room shortly.
14.52 The noise level is high at Grivița Pub & Grill, which is across the street from our hotel. All three of us have ordered burgers and beer. On the table is a small bowl of peanuts. It seems to be customary here to eat nuts and throw the leftovers on the floor.
15.29 It was high-quality burgers and good drinks. Now we are ready to conquer the Romanian capital.
15.39 With the help of Google Maps, we have found a route that gives the shortest possible walking distance to the more central parts of Bucharest. Today we go for a walk. Tomorrow it will probably be the metro.
15.58 So we arrived at the large Grădina Cişmigiu, Cişmigiu Park. Christer and I, who were also in this park in 2002, are now sitting on a bench. Roberth is somewhere else. He disappeared somewhere in the greenery.
16.10 The three travelers are reunited. We found Roberth on another bench some distance away. The park is another one of those green urban lungs that I like so much.
17.13 At the address Bulevardul Regina Elisabeta 3 we have found a branch of Starbucks Coffee. Outside of us we have the Piaţa Universităţii square. Apparently I got a 50% discount on my next purchase. Does this apply specifically here or at Starbucks in general? Why didn't my fellow travelers get the same offer? It's a hot day today and it's also hot here in the room.
Bench break in Cişmigiu Park.
Park life in Bucharest.
Piața Drapelului, Bucharest.
Ion Constantin Brătianu stands in the middle of a roundabout.
Spitalul Clinic Colțea (Colțea Hospital).
A musician plays behind the Mihai Viteazul statue at Piaţa Universității.
17.36 Coffee is always welcome. As I said, it's hot and the air is completely still inside Starbucks. I've been to the toilet and splashed water on my face. Now we are ready to hit the streets again.
17.46 We are so slowly on our way home for a pit stop. Look, a little bird. However, there is a bit more to be done before we get home.
17.56 We are now sitting on a bench in Piața Revoluției (Revolution Square). A little further away is the Ministry of the Interior. On a balcony there, Nicolae Ceaușescu gave his last speech before he lost power in December 1989. Here in the square there is also a large statue of a man, the politician Iuliu Maniu. Between his legs, two little girls are having a picnic.
18.10 Motorcycles and pigeons pass us. There will be no going home already. The Starbucks heat was tiring and we wanted to go home, but now everything feels better.
18.37 In slow motion we have made our way to the beautifully flourishing Parcul Ateneului at the Atenaul Romăn concert hall, Romanian Athens. The building is also called the Athenaeum and is said to be one of Bucharest's most beautiful buildings. Some Spanish-speaking tourists wanted our help to take photos. Of course we helped.
18.52 We walk along Calea Victoriei and reflect on how much Bucharest has changed since we visited the city in 2002. Whole blocks have been demolished and it is difficult to recognize ourselves in some parts of the city.
Iuliu Maniu sits on Piața Revoluției (Revolution Square).
Biserica Kretzulescu, Bucharest.
Roberth in front of the Ministry of the Interior, a historical place.
Beautiful flowers in front of the Athenaeum (Ateneul Român).
Biserica Albă, White Church.
Biserica Sfântul Nicolae Tabacu, Bucharest.
19.06 Now we take a break in Parcul Nicolae Iorga by the church Biserica Sfântul Nicolae Tabacu. An Easter mass is taking place inside the church.
19.44 The music (jazz?) just ended here at the Pizzamania restaurant. This is where we will have today's dinner. We have each ordered pizza and beer from the brand Zăganu.
20.22 The restaurant which at first felt like an acceptable solution turned out to be really good. The pizzas were simply amazing.
20.42 After buying evening snacks at Carrefour Express, we will now go home in the increasing drizzle.
21.03 Going home went like a breeze. We had good pace in the steps along Strada Buzești. At the end of this street we stayed in 2002. Then Hotel Marna was located here. Now that hotel and many other older buildings are demolished. Now it will be private time in our little room.
21.43 Plopp it said when Roberth pulled the cork from the bottle of Premiat Fretească Neagră. It will be the wine of the evening.
22.52 The first day in Bucharest has been summed up, the wine has been consumed and tomorrow has been planned. We want to see more of the city and will also meet an acquaintance of Christer's who lives in the city. She is one of these wise people who follow our travels on resedagboken.cc. We will meet at a café in the Starbucks chain tomorrow afternoon before we leave for the airport.
Fantastic pizzas at Pizzamania.
Peter at tonight's Pizzamania dinner.
Saturday 15th of April
08.10 Never sllep on a flat pillow! Sleep deteriorates significantly. It is perhaps good for the upcoming journey home to be unhappy about the bed here.
08.59 Roberth postpones the morning run to this evening. The area around Gara de Nord is not exactly ideal for running. He, myself and Christer will soon move downstairs for breakfast.
09.14 We went down to the ground floor, out of the hotel and into the Tekaffe restaurant part of the neighboring house. Here we are currently enjoying our last sensible breakfast in Romania.
09.55 Now, after some trouble, we are checked in for the flight home tomorrow. The code we will provide is JCUTNZ. However, there will be no meeting this afternoon at the predetermined Starbucks. They have time to close before we get there. We have to make a new plan.
09.58 OK, our check-in doesn't seem to be registered. If necessary, everything may be re-entered. It doesn't always go as we think and hope.
10.04 Forget what I just wrote. We are registered after all. We even get to sit on the plane and next to each other. However, they want our passport details.
10.21 Finally we have our boarding passes in our mobiles. It's time to check out and take your luggage to the storage room.
10.41 The luggage is put in storage and we are on our way in the subway with each 10-trip card. The journey started at the Gara de Nord station. We probably won't have time to make ten trips today, but it is practical to have such a card.
We have slept one night in our cramped room.
The last breakfast in Romania.
We got off the metro at Gara de Nord.
Bulevardul Unirii, Bucharest.
Piaţa Unirii, Bucharest.
Fântânile Bucureşti, Fountains of Bucharest.
10.52 At Piaţa Victoriei station we changed from M1 to another line, M2. Now we are on our way again. It is easy to go tubing in this city as well.
11.08 We left the metro system at the Piaţa Unirii station and are now along a large boulevard, Bulevardul Unirii, by a fountain and quite close to the Parliament.
11.23 The sun is shining on this hot day and we have photographed the beautiful fountains (Fântânile Bucureşti) here at Piaţa Unirii. However, it was not possible, as planned, to pre-purchase a ticket for the airport bus. However, it is fine to buy tickets with a card on board. We do that when we boarded the current airport bus this afternoon.
11.33 We have left the fountain-filled square and are now walking along Bulevardul Unirii with tall buildings beside us.
11.45 We have reached Bucharest's most famous building, Palatul Parlamentului (Palace of Parliament). The country's parliament is large. It is actually, second to the Pentagon, the largest in the world. Before the project began in 1978, large parts of historic Bucharest were demolished. What disappeared were 19 Orthodox churches, 6 Jewish synagogues, 3 Protestant churches and 30,000 residential buildings. The aim was not only to create space for the palace, but also for the Bulevardul Unirii parade street which stretches about three kilometers through Bucharest. This street, which starts from the palace, is one meter wider than the Champs-Élysées in Paris, something that the dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu considered important. The building, which began construction in 1984, is 240 meters wide, 270 meters long and rises 86 meters above and 92 meters below street level. The Parliament Palace consists of, among other things, 1,000,000 m³ of marble, 3,500 tons of crystal glass, 700,000 tons of steel and bronze, 900,000 m³ of wood and 200,000 m² of carpets. Some consequences of the costs of the project were electricity rationing, widespread misery and food shortages.
12.06 We couldn't walk around the entire parliament like we did in 2002. Instead, our feet have walked to the river Dâmbovița. On the other side of it is Bucharest's oldest quarter.
12.15 Just arrived in Old town, or at least the older parts of the city, we found a bench. It's time to plan how we go from here.
12.49 We have strolled through Bucharest's city center in search of a lunch restaurant. Now it will be lunch in the courtyard of Hanu Lui Manuc Restaurant (https://www.hanumanucrestaurant.ro/en). It is the oldest inn still operating in Bucharest. It started as early as 1808. The inn was built by the Armenian Emanuel Mârzaian, with the Turkish nickname "Manuc Bey", a grain merchant. He was one of the richest and most influential men in the Balkans in his time.
Three girls play in front of the Parliament in Bucharest.
Roberth in front of the Palatul Parlamentului, the second largest building in the world.
Bulevardul Unirii, slightly longer than the Champs-Élysées.
The river Dâmbovița flows through Bucharest.
Outdoor Easter mass at Biserica Sfântul Anton.
Hanu Lui Manuc, historical inn in Bucharest.
13.02 It's a fantastic environment here in the courtyard. The restaurant is well attended but the service is still quite fast.
13.35 After a good lunch, we are now ready to continue the day.
13.57 From the metro station Universitate we tube our way under Bucharest. It's not the prettiest and most impressive metro I've been on, but it works.
14.02 At the station Aviatorilor we searched above ground. Now we take a bench break in a large well-visited park, Parcul Regele Mihai I.
14.19 There is a lot to see here in the park. There is a memorial to Michael Jackson and a beautiful Japanese garden which we visited to take some photos.
14.51 In front of us is now the city's representative among the world's triumphal arches, the Arcul de Triumf. It commemorates Romania's victory in World War I and the coronation of King Ferdinand and his wife Marie.
15.09 We returned to the subway at the Aviatorilor station. Now we are on our way to where we started today's journey underground.
15.15 After a quick change of line at Piaţa Victoriei, we sprint towards the final station Gara de Nord.
15.35 After both filling and removing liquids, we have collected the luggage at our hotel. Now we hurry towards the meeting place. It will be another Starbucks that is open longer.
15.42 Down in the metro, we just missed the train. Well, there are more to come.
15.57 The train arrived and took us to the station we wanted to go to, Piaţa Victoriei. Now we just have to get from here to wherever we want.
16.03 It was difficult to say the least to get across the large traffic area Piaţa Victoriei. First we ended up underground at a bus platform and then we got stuck at various red lights. Christer has texted that we are somewhat late.
Roberth at Hanu Lui Manuc Restaurant.
Beer in the restaurant's own glasses.
We visit Parcul Regele Mihai I.
Grădina Japoneză din Parcul Herăstrău.
Arcul de Triumf, Bucharest.
Gabriela and Christer at Starbucks, America House.
16.18 Now we have reached Starbucks Coffee at America House and there met Christer's acquaintance, Gabriela, who among other things teaches German. We are at a new Starbucks location and I actually got the promised discount. Wondering why only I got a discount. My traveling companions have made just as many Starbucks purchases on this trip.
16.51 The four of us sit at an outdoor table here at Starbucks and talk about experiences during previous trips and life during the Covid pandemic in Sweden and Romania. Stories about face masks and hoarding of toilet paper are discussed.
17.38 With the help of another guest, a young guy, we have taken a group photo of the four of us together.
18.00 Time flies when you're having fun. After a while we had to change seats because Starbucks started cleaning before closing. Now our paths have parted. We will buy a little of each at Carrefour Express before we board the airport bus.
18.12 There was a problem when I was going to buy Coca Cola and Mentos in the store. Now everything is OK and soon we will go by bus. It is bus 783 that we are waiting for.
18.21 We boarded the bus that will take us out to the international airport. I hope I did the card payment correctly. It was incredibly easy to pay. You just hold your bank card against a reader on board.
18.44 I offered my seat on the bus to an elderly lady with three bags. She kindly declined the offer. She also did that to other gentlemen/women.
19.14 We arrived at Aeroportul Internaţional Henri Coandă (Henri Coandă International Airport) in Otopeni just north of Bucharest. We started wandering towards our final home for this trip but that walk ended in a parking lot. We turned again and were more careful this time by walking along the driveway. Now we are at the Hilton Garden Inn and in room 160. Roberth has run off to run his daily 2000 meters.
Group photo taken by a friendly guest at Starbucks.
Hilton Garden Inn Bucharest Airport.
Last dinner of the trip at the Hilton Garden Inn.
Tonight's simple but expensive meal.
19.45 Roberth ran indoors today, in the hotel gym. We have all taken advantage of the room shower. Just being able to use that shower was worth the price we paid for the room. It was so nice that we think it would be worth another trip here just to use it.
20.33 Now we are going to order the last Romanian dinner for this time. We are in the hotel restaurant. It's not cheap at the Hilton (who would have thought that?) but it's worth staying here when we have such an extremely early flight tomorrow.
21.25 Dinner is over. The alarms are set. At what time I don't want to tell. It's hard to think about.
21.42 It is now time to crawl into the comfortable beds for a while.
Sunday 16th of April
02.56 It is warm in the room and we wake up so slowly. It is time to make ourselves reasonable and ready to travel. Roberth postpones his daily run to Arlanda Airport. Wise!
03.12 Soon we will get out from the Hilton. It will be a short walk to the nearby airport.
03.51 In principle, we made it to and through everything here at the airport painlessly. I had my hands swiped for drug testing. Everything was OK. Now we are benched by the streets.
04.24 The thought of a good cheese and ham sandwich and a coffee at Brioche Dourée stopped at just one coffee. It cost over SEK 100 for a sandwich, no thanks! Why are some airports so insanely expensive? It varies quite a lot. Cheap countries may have extreme prices at the airport and expensive countries may have normal prices.
05.04 Siedząc w fotelu miej pas zapięty, says a sign on the seat in front of me aboard LOT's Embraer 170-200 with destination Warsaw in Poland. It is therefore information about the importance of wearing a seat belt. This will be the last note with Romanian time.
CHANGING TIME ZONE
05.07 Sunday dawns in the east. Here on board the plane, we drank coffee and ate apple cake. It is a calm and pleasant flight.
POLAND
05.55 After landing at Frédéric Chopin Airport (Lotnisko Chopina) in Warsaw, we have passed an extra security check. Now we will look for a light meal, maybe breakfast and some other form of shopping.
07.14 It was not easy to find something suitable to eat. Christer failed to buy anything from a vending machine and we kept looking. Now Christer and I ate some kind of health sandwich (expensive and disgusting) and drank some juice.
We have landed in Warsaw.
On the way to Sweden.
07.56 On the way to the gate, we of course saw several nice kiosks and café options that we had missed before, including Costa Coffee and Paul, chains that pleased us in the past. Well, now we know until next time and visit.
08.31 The home transport continues in the air. Not much is happening.
SWEDEN
10.04 We are home, at least at Arlanda Airport. We landed at terminal 4 and quickly went to belt 2 to collect our luggage.
10.25 Roberth is off to a hotel gym and runs his daily meters. Christer and I are benched in Sky City until further notice.
10.59 Roberth is probably sitting in the sauna now. Christer and I sit at Trattoria Milano instead. We are waiting for our pizzas.
11.30 On the way back to the Skycity bench, we saw a Buddhist monk. I don't know what Roberth got to see.
Peter has finished his early lunch at Trattoria Milano, Arlanda.
Arlanda underground station.
11.50 The three are united for a moment. Long run followed by long sauna has been the activities for Roberth. In an hour I will hopefully be heading north on a train.
12.40 Travel team is about to be split up. I'm going underground to wait for my train. After experiencing spring in Romania, I will now face spring at home.
13.40 If the information is correct and the train runs as it should, Christer and Roberth are also on their way home now. I myself am in Gävle.
15.31 It's nice to just sit down and go along. I don't have to think about what to do when I arrive. Nor how I should act on the evening's accommodation.
17.31 Now I will soon be back in Örnsköldsvik, back in everyday life and teaching life. Now there are just over two months until the next adventure on foreign territory.
You can see 107 photos from April 14 in this photoalbum.
You can see 131 photos from April 15 in this photoalbum.
You can see 10 photos from April 16 in this photoalbum.
