Errands and Research

The past few days have been fairly regular around here. After our wonderful pancakes on Sunday, we headed out and saw "The Duchess" at one of the older theatres in Bucharest. It was a nice theater with a large screen. Luckily, it was fairly warm outside, so the lack of heater didn't really affect us until towards the end of the movie. We both enjoyed the film, despite the sad story. Apparently it had rained while we were in the movie, so it had cooled down a bit. After the movie, we walked next door to a bookstore that some folks had mentioned to us called Curturesti- a great bookstore with about 4 floors. The store had a large selection devoted to travel guides to many destinations, as well as a substantial collection of art books. It also had a room devoted to English language books, 2 rooms of CDs and DVDs, as well as typical bookstore holdings. The main purpose for our visit was that we had been told they sell posters and we are in need of some decorations in the apartment. We found a couple we liked, as well as a pocket map of Bucharest and also a Yankee Candle in my favorite scent of theirs-clean cotton. On our way out, we noticed a nice children's lit room and a tea room. This place was great and I have a feeling we will be visiting it again.

Yesterday was a pretty typical Monday- B went back to his research and I ran errands (3 grocers and the dry cleaners) and had my tutoring session. After all of the running around, we were both exhausted and opted to use one of the boxes of Mac 'n Cheese we brought with us for dinner- it was good and comforting, especially with some Tony Chachere's on top- yum! This morning I awoke with very sore shoulders- probably from all of the grocery bags and took it slowly in the morning. B went back to researching and I eventually went to Starbucks to review for my Romanian class over a cappuccino and then went back to the grocery store for some forgotten items. When I returned home, I spent some time working on judging some essays for a contest for Romanian high school students about what they feel the most important human right is (as outlined by the UN- this is the 60th Anniversary of the Declaration of Universal Human Rights) and then headed to class. When I returned, B and I were working on a late dinner (at about 9PM) when the cable repairmen, who were supposed to come at 6PM- cable guys are the same everywhere, I think--arrived. After all of this, we finally ate and are just resting a bit before bed. We have plans to meet with some friends tomorrow evening, which should be fun. -S

Pancakes!

This will be short, but SWEET- I just had to share that after much searching and longing- we were able to have delicious homemade pancakes with real maple syrup this morning! And thank you to Cooks.com-possibly the least flashy cooking magazine/website, but they do seem to always have the best recipes. B and I agreed these pancakes were the best I have ever made. Having pancakes on Sunday morning is something I have missed a lot and so now I am so thrilled to have been able to have that here. It also looks like it will be yet another sunny day, so we plan to take another walk around the city and see what we can find. -S

Friends and Sunshine

We haven't written in a bit, and thought it was past time for an update. This week we got back into our regular routine--I went to do research every day, and S had her tutoring, language classes, and usual errands. After I came home from research and S finished her tutoring Monday, we decided to take a walk down an unexplored street in our neighborhood, and found three sites of interest. First we found a small specialty food shop that also had a cafe and even sold a wide variety of fine chocolates, and right next door was an organic/natural food store. Frankly it didn't have much, but we might pop in there from time to time just out of curiosity. We also discovered a Lebanese restaurant and decided we'd have to try it soon. On Tuesday we both had a pretty rotten day: S was confronted with more than the usual amount of rudeness while shopping, and I had numerous hassles at the archives, topped off with someone attempting to steal stuff out of my shoulder bag. We decided to head to the Lebanese restaurant we found the day before to cheer us up--I think I enjoyed it more than S did (my kebab was delicious, whereas her baba ganoush wasn't terribly interesting), but it did put us in a better mood.

Wednesday and Thursday were fairly uneventful, but on Friday we met our friend Diana for dinner at what has become our favorite restaurant, Karishma (see one of our earlier restaurant reviews). As always, we had an excellent meal, made all the better by our friend's company. We talked about a wide range of issues, from research, to the ins and outs of life in Bucharest, to American politics. After returning home, we capped the evening off with an episode of our favorite tv show, The West Wing.

Friday was also wonderful for another reason--the weather! The temperature soared up to the mid-fifties, and in the afternoon the sun even came out. Today the weather was even better (the temp. was the same, but it was sunnier outside), and we both agreed later that Bucharest is much more pleasant when the sky is clear--it provides a nice contrast to the grey buildings. Even better, we got to enjoy the day with several of our Fulbright friends based in Bucharest. We met them at a cafe on the same street as the National Archives, and after hanging out there for a bit we walked around Bucharest for a couple hours. And based on a tip from one of the Fulbrighters- we actually found Maple Syrup (thanks, Emily)! Tomorrow, depending on the weather we'll either check out a large outdoor market or catch a movie, but so far as I'm concerned, this weekend has been a lot of fun already.--B

Pictures of Transylvania

Here are the photos of our trip to Transylvania this past weekend with the Fulbright folks:

http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=276320469/a=115918513_115918513/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink

Enjoy! -S

Photos of Milan

Finally! We have photos of our trip to Milan to share. Clink the link below to see them:

http://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=276317944/a=115918513_115918513/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink

Enjoy! -S

Fulbright Time

After B and I returned from Milan last Monday, we only had 2 days to rest and (for B) to be productive. On Thursday, B and I attended an all-day Fulbright orientation. The Fulbrighters who arrived in September attended a very similar orientation at that time. However, since September, B and I arrived in November and 4 Fulbrighters (and 1 wife) arrived in January, so this was mainly for our benefit. Fortunately for us, all of the Fulbrighters were asked to attend this orientation so we were able to see some of the ones we had met in December. While the actual orientation was what one might expect, we really enjoyed getting to know the new Fulbrighters and getting to know the others better. We got a chance to really socialize with them on Friday and Saturday during an excursion planned by the Fulbright commission.

We boarded a bus on a rainy Friday morning with the other Fulbrighters and were taken to the town of Sinaia in the mountains-about an hour or hour and a half north of Bucharest. While on our way out of the city, it began snowing. This made for some beautiful views of the mountains and smaller towns we passed. The Fulbright folks had also arranged for a tour guide to accompany us and while she was quite nice, she seemed to feel compelled to fill all the driving time with information and chatter. I and several others really wished we could just enjoy the beautiful scenery in peace and quiet, but it was not to be. Before we exited the bus, our guide informed us she would carry a red umbrella up in the air so we could find her, therefore some in the group dubbed her "Red Umbrella Lady" for the remainder of the trip. In Sinaia we toured Peles Castle, an old castle that was beautifully furnished and showed the grandeur of Romania pre-wars and Communism. After the castle, we had a very nice 3 course lunch at a hotel restaurant in Sinaia and then re-boarded the bus to the town of Bran. We arrived around 5 PM and went straight to our pension. We settled into our room, which was very beautiful with lots of space and a large, beautiful and very modern bathroom. In addition to having such nice accommodations, we also had a beautiful view of the untouched snowy hill opposite the pension. Before dinner, B and I hung out with a couple of the Fulbrighters and took the chance to get to know them better. Since our group filled the pension, we took the entire small dining room and had another lovely 3 course dinner. It was very relaxed and people really got a chance to get to know each other even better. Dinner took a couple of hours and since we were expected to be at breakfast by 8 AM, B and I decided to settle in for the night after dinner. I had a wonderful warm and relaxing bath in the luxurious bathtub and B took advantage of the cable TV.

The next morning, bright and early, we joined folks for a traditional Romanian breakfast. The entire weekend was filled with traditional Romanian cuisine, which is mostly fine. However, for me, Romanian breakfast leaves something to be desired. Their idea of breakfast includes cold cuts and hot dogs and plain soft bread. The yogurt they seem to prefer is plain, so with some added honey, it turned out to be a fine start to the day. After breakfast it was time to leave the pension and we headed to Bran castle, a few minutes drive away. Bran castle is the tourist attraction for all things Dracula even though the real Dracula, Vlad Tepes, probably only spent 3-5 months total at this specific site and the interior of the castle is pretty sparsely furnished. The tour of the castle was nice and short. The castle is situated on top of a hill and the view of the town below is quite nice. At the bottom of the hill, there are several peasants who have stalls set up to sell souvenirs. Some handmade, some not so much. B and I looked around and bought a few things, including a table cloth for our table when we return home. I was even able to bargain for the tablecloth all by myself IN ROMANIAN!

After leaving Bran we drove about an hour to another town, Brasov, which has some very clear German influences. We were meant to tour the Black Church, but several of us had had about as much of Red Umbrella Lady as we could take and B and I were invited to take a walk around the old town with the other Junior Fulbrighters. We ended up at an Irish pub and had fun hanging out with everyone. After the pub, we met up with the rest of the gang and headed to our last group lunch. This area of Romania definitely thrives on tourists and there are several hotels/restaurants set up to cater to groups. This was the type of place we ate at and were again filled with a 3 course Romanian lunch before seeing several folks off at the train station in Brasov and then heading back to Bucharest. B and I were both impressed with Brasov and hope to visit the Fulbrighter who is assigned there and to get to see more of the city.

We had a great time getting to know folks better and hope to be able to get to spend more time with them either in Bucharest or other parts of the country. Now that our travels are over (at least for a bit), we will be getting back into the swing of things and hopefully be able to get some pictures of our trips out to folks soon. -S

A Much Belated Milan Conclusion

Sorry it has taken so long to finish this--after getting back from our Fulbright trip Saturday evening, S and I were both exhausted, and spent most of Sunday running errands and relaxing. Without further ado, an account of our last day in Milan!

After a delicious dinner at the Eritrean restaurant Saturday evening (and it was every bit as good as Ethiopian/Eritrean--is there really a difference?--I've had in DC) and a good night's rest, we got ready for another day on the town. S had wanted to check out some of the clothes shops in the Galleria Vittorio Emmanuelle II, the large shopping arcade outside of Il Duomo, so we popped in a few stores. Milan is a major fashion capital, and in the Galleria brands like Louis Vuitton, Gucci, and Prada have stores. Needless to say, they were too rich for our blood, but it was fun to look all the same.

From there, we headed yet again to the Duomo, this time to climb the narrow staircase to the top to take some photos of the spires. While it was sunny, the topmost level of the roof was closed due to ice. Nonetheless, the view was spectacular and I even got a good pic of S. Hopefully tomorrow evening we'll get all our Milan photos organized, labelled, and online.

From the Duomo we headed to the National Museum of Science and Technology. This very impressive museum has multiple hands-on labs dealing with several aspects of technology, including bio-ethics, robotics, and holograms. Most of them weren't open, but we still got to see what for us was the main attraction--a collection of models of machines based on descriptions and blueprints by Leonardo Da Vinci. You really get an appreciation for Da Vinci's genius when, after viewing his most famous religious painting, you then observe several of his scientific breakthroughs. He really was one of the most gifted minds of the last five hundred years.

After a "quick" lunch at the Galleria (which actually took forever, although thankfully the food was better this time), we scoped out a street that supposedly offered some bargains on clothes (not according to our pocketbook!) and then went to the Palazzo Reale, a museum which had two separate visiting exhibits; one a Magritte retrospective, and the other a collections of Impressionist works. We opted for the Magritte, which I enjoyed but I think wasn't quite to S's taste.

After the museum exhibit, we walked around a bit and took pictures of a beautiful church with a tower (which wasn't mentioned in our guidebook and which unfortunately didn't have a name plaque anywhere visible), before going to dinner at a Japanese restaurant we had noticed earlier. Since it was aperitivo time, we ordered drinks--a cosmo for S and a Pimms N. 1 Cup for me. Both drinks were good, but tasted slightly off due to some different ingredients; the Pimms, for example, did not have any ginger ale. With the drinks, as per Milan custom, we received some free spring rolls and other appetizers with our dinner. S ordered a vegetable stir-fry with noodles, and I had a beef noodle curry. Both were quite tasty, although a bit salty. Oddly, a tv on the wall next to us played a Simply Red dvd the whole time we were there. Does anyone actually listen to that stuff? Anyway, after paying the bill we took an evening stroll before heading back to the hotel room, ending our last day in Milan.

After three long but very enjoyable days of sight-seeing, we left Milan with mixed feelings. We felt pretty tired from walking all over the city, and found Milan a bit expensive, but weren't necessarily ready to go back to Bucharest--but that is what we had to do. After an uneventful bus ride back to Bergamo airport (during which we got to see the Italian Alps--beautiful!), we waited for our turn to board. Bergamo is a much nicer airport than Baneasa, and lo and behold, Romanians can actually form lines when forced to, so check-in was much less chaotic. A few hours later, we were back in Bucharest, for two more days of the regular routine before the Fulbright orientation--more on that later!--B

Oh, and happy b-day Nicole!