DAY 88 - Da and Nay...Nod for "No" and Shake for "Yes"

  June 15 - 12 Hours of a Taxi, Car, Train, 3 Buses, and a Metro to the Village of Curtea de Arges

 We started the day at 5 a.m. and by the time we had arrived at Curtea de Arges at 5 p.m., we had ridden in a taxi, a car, a train, three buses, and a Metro.

Our taxi driver was Nasko's brother.

 The connections were a bit tricky, so we were lucky enough to solicit help from several English-speaking Bulgarians and Romanians. People are so nice that way.  

 

Going across the border to Romania

Luckily we got his phone number so he could help us across the border

This girl was so sweet to walk us to the metro

  

 We ended up becoming friends on facebook.

There was one incident where we couldn't find an English-speaking person.  Luckily I had read in a travel book that something as simple as a head shake or nod becomes difficult when it is the opposite of what you have grown up doing.  BUT...although I had read that bit of advice, we were trying to figure out a train connection, and ended up hopping on and off three different times.  Rich asked a lady if this train went to a certain town.  She shook her head back and forth, so we hurriedly got off the train.  Then she motioned for us to get back on.  We re-iterated that we needed to go to this town, and she again shook her head profusely.  We again hopped off the train, and then back on again.  We decided to ask someone else and they, too said "Da, da," but their head went back and forth.  Then I finally remembered what I had read about the opposites, so we got on finally and continued on our way laughing at ourselves.

Special scenery out the window of our bus

Everyone is starting to get into the act of re-cycling

A bus station where we got stuck for awhile...we thought we might have to stay here for a day

This lady had 4 dogs who just followed her everywhere

A field of sunflowers - there were many of them,,,,wish we could have gotten a better photo

We saw more un-finished buildings...they are almost iconic to this part of the world

And yet some more buildings that never got finished

The 2nd floors are not finished.  Evidently the sons are not married yet.  :)

We've seen so many beggars in the streets the last couple of weeks. It is very sad as they begin very young, at the age of 5 or 6. We also see young mothers with babies and then older people.  I'll have a post later that will be dedicated to begging and some of the scams that are linked to it.  Meanwhile, here are some photos of a couple young boys and a man that we watched trying to get money from people (or steal from them).

Some will come up and just follow you and not leave you alone. They even approach you as you're sitting in a restaurant having dinner, but the waiters run them off. They say you have to be very careful of gypsies. We had one little girl about 6 years old beg and beg as we waited at the bus stop for a taxi. Her older brother on a bike was close by. They left eventually, but a little while later when Rich was sitting alone at a table with our two backpacks, a food bag, and my small day pack, several more came up to him and probably would have snatched up one of them, but a shop owner ran them off. Crazy!

Carmen met us at the bus station in Bucharest and we rode together to Curtea de Arges .  She was a ball of fire and we enjoyed her so very  much!

 Brock is the man who got us into couch surfing last spring as we met him through his mother and father from our home town in Idaho Falls. He has used it for several years, meeting people from all over the world with his travels. He met the love of his life in Romania and we were lucky to be in this area the same time as the wedding.

Meet Brock and his bride, Christina, from Romania

  Christina's friends and family were so wonderful as they made arrangements for us to meet sweet Carmen  to travel  together, be picked up at the bus stop by Mihai, and have a very nice room above Alex's restaurant. 

A very comfortable bed provided by Alex

A Balcony Chalet above the restaurant

Alex didn't speak English, but we communicated quite well.  He was getting a degree to become an Orthodox Priest and specialized in early medieval music.

Alex has a restaurant that serves kebabs; a Turkish food that is very popular throughout Europe

We sang this music together by using sol-feg...very interesting and difficult!

Christina's girlfriends got together for a little party at Teia's beautiful home for snacks and girl talk while the guys had their BBQ bachelor party at the restaurant. 

I'm not sure what the 3 is all about?

With beautiful Christina - bride-to-be

We had some healthy fruit, nuts, juice, and more

What a nice setting overlooking the gorgeous Transylvanian hillside

Romania is famous for its beautiful women

 They didn't know that the girls were going to crash their party, however. Surprise...surprise!

Meanwhile, the boys are making a B-B-Q and making toasts

Here we are - the girls are crashing the boy's party night

Salad, rolls, and B-B-Q chicken....They also had sausages later

Rich agrees that Christina is a catch...so beautiful!

 We enjoyed food and drink together until about 10:00 p.m....very early compared to the wedding the next day when we got home at 3:30 a.m. 

We enjoyed a beautiful sunset over the very nice village of Curtea de Arges.  Rich and I really enjoyed our lovely stay in Alex's restaurant chalet.  Come with us tomorrow when we go to a REAL Romanian wedding.