Latest Romanian adventures

For the past couple of days I've been loafing in my hometown with mom. Since the weather has been pretty moody I've had an excuse to work on a paper I have to submit before Jul 15th. Yesterday morning I finished the bulk of the work, so me and my mom went for a walk through town. I found some really nice shoes which I didn't buy but suggested to my mom as an excellent Christmas gift. We pretty much walked from one end of the city to another in a couple of hours, shopping in a few stores along the way. We then stopped at the supermarket where I bought lots of chocolate and some cheap tasty beer. Catalin, my mom's business associate came to give us a ride back home. On the way home he got stopped by the cops and had his drivers license taken away for 30 days!! Apparently he didn't yield to a pedestrian waiting to cross the street, although this happened in a bumper to bumper situation in 10 mph traffic on the busiest street in town. I don't know if the cops were expecting some bribes and he didn't want to deliver but I think he's going to contest it so the cops will have to show him some video proof of the offense. While we were waiting for the paperwork, the cops stopped 10-15 cars, including all the ones in front and after us. It deffinitely turned out to be one of the most expensive supermarket runs ever.

Today I will go back to my grandparents, say goodbye to them and my uncle and tomorrow morning I will drive myself back to Piatra. On Sunday I am flying back to Boulder, on a 4 stop flight: Bucharest - Frankfurt - Brussels - Washington - Denver.

Romania sweet home

I am finally back to Romania after a few years of absence. Yesterday I slept at my dad's small apartment in Titu, DB, where he works. Today we drove to Piatra Neamt and now I am writing from my (Vlad's) room.

Here are the most important highlights of the trip in Romania so far:

• Since Romania is now an EU member the airport experience was flawless. The bags showed up quickly, and no bribes were to be given when I exited.
  
• The area around Bucharest, I mean the drive, the houses, the people were all horrible. Lots of stray dogs, dirty people, rude drivers and roads full of gigantic potholes and dirt.
  
• Titu is a total shithole
• The drive from Titu to Romania was quite pleasant, except the first hour or so, what was needed to get out of the Bucharest sphere. It is now a seamless 4 lane road (1 big, 1 small on each side). The speed limit is a little small (30mph town, 55mph outside) but overall the road is very smooth and safe.
• We stopped on the way and got two watermelons and some apricots. We just finished one of the melons and it was delish.
• Piatra Neamt is very nice now. They pulled out any old ugliness and replaced with goodness, beautiness, efficieness, ..etc. They put in a lot of new parking spaces, and if you park where you're not supposed to the cops are actually going to do something about it. They also have the first pro tuned police car. It looks quite ghettofabulous.
  
• The town now has a little gondola the zips between the buildings to go the top of the mountain - quite touristy. They put a lot of new grass and trees and painted a few of the old commie blocks of flats. Tomorrow I am going to take a trip with the gondola and walk around a little bit.
  
• My parents redecorated the apartment where I grew up and lived most of my life. It is a little more spacious and has a more modern look.
  
• I had some really good beer, good food, and , unfortunately, not so amazing bread. They've figured out that they can make more money selling fluffy american style shitty bread. I don't think you can still find the thick crust, heavy, consistend bread anymore.

More stories, and more pictures soon. Stay tuned.