Friday, October 11, Pro Vita to Bucharest

Spent the morning wrapping things up but had more company than anticipated.  Several others stayed behind.  Finished our chores early and hiked up the hill behind us to one of the shrines and enjoyed the views.  It is beautiful country, with the leaves beginning to turn.

Up the hill behind our place

Across our Valea to yet another shrine

Back down the hill, Mary, me, Judy, the three married women and the three major curtain makers

Had lunch without cabbage, but both French fries and mashed potatoes with our sandwiches.  Many Romanians are a little heavy, but not obese.  I don't know how they avoid it.  Said our farewells and thank yous, took our final photos, and hit the road for Bucharest.  Again we ended up in the back seat of the old van because so many of our fellow travelers are prone to carsickness or were just recovering from intestinal ills.  We survived the trip.

The woodworkers say goodbye to Ion, who shared his space and tools so generously

First tourist stop in town was the Romanian Museum of Villages, an outdoor museum of reconstructed houses from the fifteenth to the twentieth centuries from all the various regions of the country.  Very interesting though I must admit they started to blur.  Some very unique-- like the subterranean one or the one that looks like an early Californian adobe, but with blue trim to match our gate.  But many with subtle differences, like the way they weave the fence or shape the pickets on their fences.

The museum of villages

Then to the hotel, which is a vast improvement over Pro Vita, but still has a leaky shower!  While the others settled in, we had a little walk.  in fairness to Bucharest, we did see some nicely maintained buildings and parks, but my initial assessment still holds.  Nothing is finished. It is either falling down or under a long, slow, sporadic, construction.

Once beautiful

Churches tend to be better maintained than other buildings

Lovely stonework, building gone to pot

Dinner was an experience.  The vast and beautiful restaurant in Old Town looked like a tourist trap, but we seemed to be the only group and the only foreigners.  We were on the mezzanine and the deejay was below but it was very loud.  They had dance entertainment, both folk and modern, a la Dancing with the Stars.  It took forever to get food that was pretty mediocre.  It was a good opportunity to see how city folk live after our weeks in the country and they live much like we do, some coming to this fancy place all dressed up and others in jeans, dates who brought flowers and three generation families.  I suspect this is a place for "special occasions".

11900 steps (5.1 miles), finally a respectable walking day