Bucharest….Trains & Spies…

We packed up after a nice stay in Brasov
With a bit of time spare, we approached the international window at the station to book some seats for future journeys. Lovely lady sorted it all out, with some bargain tickets!

On the platform, it was clear there were some big school trips on the move 😱
We muscled our way on to the train and grabbed seats: a man was helping settle his elderly mum into a seat and welcomed us to sit with her.
Another fella in a smart long coat joined us.

Then TheKids™ boarded.

It was soon apparent that they had booked the entire carriage. Granny was frostily telling them where to go (we assume), & smart fella urged us to remain seated.
With two kids pluckily trying for their seats (the ones we were sat in), we happily stood up.

Then their teacher told them off, and moved them away.
Granny looked satisfied.
Greatcoat grinned.
We sat back down 💪

I used Google translate to tell Granny “all the fun of travel”, which made her laugh 🤣
I showed her our “find my iPhone” which illustrated how far apart we were from our offspring. She showed us her grandson on hers. She gave us boiled sweets: we knew we had been adopted 💪

We got chatting to the man.
Christine instantly guessed he was Spanish, which impressed him. He claimed to work for NATO, but after a while I saw through his game & told him I was writing my travel book about how we met the Spanish James Bond on the train. He laughed, but I could tell deep down he was concerned his cover was blown 🕵️‍♂️

He was thrilled to discover we played volleyball, & showed us a video he had of his daughter winning her first game, with him (in uniform!) saying some words. Even more thrilled to hear about how we also enjoyed snooker - he discovered the game whilst being posted in England!

The kids left after a few stops, & we continued alongside the Carpathian Mountains: Granny proudly writing the names of the peaks on her puzzle book to share. Turns out you could get the Busteni-Babele cable car to the top. Maybe one day 🏔️

Eventually, we parted at Bucharsti, with sturdy Granny refusing help with her baggage and heading off to muscle her way through the busy and somewhat tired old station.

Our apartment block was another solid and imposing edifice outside. Anyone would think I was deliberately trying to enjoy a Communist Holiday. We got the key from the safe, and discovered we had another slightly dodgy lift to get us to the 4th floor.
Luckily the inside was again nicely fitted out.
After some noodles and plotting and planning, we set out for a little explore.

Bucharest is another grand old place in need of some cleaning and investment….but with a beautiful Romanian Athenaeum concert hall and some grand statues.
A Lebanese place inside the fancy looking Park Hotel provided some fine dining, before the walk home.Läs mer