Day 1 - Transfer and Arrival

I landed in Frankfurt in pouring rain. The arrival was delayed by a thunderstorm that set back the schedule of all flights including the arrival of connecting aircraft. So, after clearing Passport Control and the duty-free shops - and after I snapped a photo of a life-sized statue of Albert Einstein sitting on a bench - I sat and waited. 

The jet lag began to weigh heavily. It was hard to stay awake, but a gate change kept us on our toes. Eventually, I boarded the flight for Bucharest an hour later than scheduled.

The first thing I noticed in Bucharest’s Henri Coandă Airport - other than the fact that the sun was shining - was an abundance of cigarette smoke. Romanians smoke a lot, even by European standards. 

I withdrew 1500 lei from a banking machine (the equivalent of about 400 US Dollars). Forewarned that taxis flagged down on the street or even at stands are known to rip off customers, I looked for a place to call a registered taxi service. At the Bucharest airport and at other locations throughout the city, taxis can be requested via machine. 

There were three different machines representing a variety of taxi companies. A swarm of people huddled around them. The first machine that I tried claimed that no taxis were available in the area at the standard rate. When a woman had success on a neighboring machine, I tried it and found a cab.

The car was small and old and had no seatbelts. The driver, a young guy, looked rather angry and drove with a heavy foot. The ride was not a calming experience. 

On the way to our hotel, the taxi passed rows of mansions and a grand marble arch that was modeled after L’Arc de Triomphe in Paris. Happily, I made it to the hotel in one piece. The Hilton Garden Inn had opened only five months earlier. Every space and feature was flawless and sparkling clean. Romania is an inexpensive travel destination. You can stay in luxury for under a hundred dollars a night. In Paris, by contrast, you would pay twice that much to sleep in a room the size of a walk-in closet.

I took my bags upstairs, freshened up, and walked through the Old Town looking for a place to have dinner. The cobblestone streets were packed with tourists and locals. A number of singers with guitars performed along the way. I settled on an Italian restaurant on one of the quieter side streets. It was the first of many dinners enjoyed outdoors in the mild evening air.

After dinner, I walked through a square that was hosting a food truck festival featuring local and international foods and desserts. A light show projected complex patterns of shapes and colors onto the surrounding buildings and also on the people gathered in the square in sequences with pulsating electronic music. A geometric arrangement of four-foot long playing cards was part of the light show. It was a dynamic welcome to a country with an equally dynamic past.