Victims.

A sombering reminder of the victims of the Russian occupation of
Hungary.
Let's hope it's never frogotten.

Simon's arty picture. Where are my millions?

A little note on Bucharest.

Day: 17
Date 17th October
Status: watching the taxi drivers closely
Lesson: sometimes looking like a lost tourist gets you in for free but
not on Mondays.

Having only one full day in Bucharest we wanted to make the most of
it. So we got up early and hit the streets. The problem was Bucharest
was still in bed. It felt like we were walking through the city at 7
in the morning, not 10. The gypsy Market which should have started at
8 was no where to be seen. The shops that should have been open for
half an hour were shut up tight. I know it was the weekend but it was
a saturday. We stopped for coffee and a bite to eat and nothing. What
to do?

We decided to head to the people parliament. One of the biggest
buildings in Romania. In fact it is the Second biggest building in the
world behind the pentagon. In will get to that latter. Needless to say
it was easy to find as it towers over all the other buildings around.
When I say tower it looms. A big beautiful building that you just
can't fathom. Would love to see the pentagon up close to compare.

It is the building that houses the parliament and also one of the
hardest places to find an opening. In the classic case of going left
when we should have gone right we ended up walking around the entire
thing.

The language barrier did help us in one regard though. When we asked a
guard if this was the way in he said yes, great. It wasn't but it was
the entance to an art gallery and we decided to go in. Once in we were
told where to go and pay but before we got there we were ushered in.
We spent the whole exhibition waiting to be told off but all good.

When we were in istanbul we went to the Istanbul modern. Basically the
Tate modern but in another country. And while there I realised that I
just didn't get it. Why oh why is a painting of a girl in a dress that
looks like it was drawn by an eight year old worth a lot of money and
where oh where is the meaning the bit of card next to it says it
has???????

And again I didn't get it in Romania either.

But we did see a very interesting documentery ( yes it is an art
gallery) on shepherds in Moldova talking about there way of life. And
how the communists decided they weren't allowed donkeys and horses
anymore so they walked in, rounded them all up and killed them. Also
try to talked about swimming the river to Romania to talk with and
trade with them. And all that changed when Romania joined the EU and
the Borders became really strict.

Anyway back to this building.

We eventually walked around the entire thing trying different doors
and found the right one. Only to be told we had to have our passports
wih us luckily the next English tour (you aren't allowed in unless you
are in a tour) (infact it is considered a crime if you leave the tour
and walk about on your own.) so we hoofed it back to the hostel and
just made it back in time.

Again our luck helded out. As we walked In there was a big que which
we joined and went in. Only no one asked us to pay, so we saved a
little there too.

On this tour a very bored young lady took around a few rooms and gave
us some facts

1. One pair of curtains are 19m long
2. Some of the carpets weigh 4tonnes. All of them are so large that
they have to be made in sections and brought in.
3. All of the building is Romanian. Everything from the crystal to the
marble to the wood.
4. It was begun in 1984 and with 3 shifts working 24hrs a day 70% was
completed in 5 years
5. Thousands of homes were destroyed to make way for the buildings
6. Some of the curtIns had gold and silver thread in them and were
made by nuns.
7. Some of the carpets were made to match the sky lights

We read that there was a nuclear bunker and we asked about it. We were
told not to ask as there were so many rumour about the building that
she didn't know.

It certainly was an impressive building. Would love to see the
pentagon and compare because we only saw 3% of the building and it was
amazing. But was a little dissappointed with the lack of history we
were told. Just figures. I am an historian after after all.

When we got back to he hostel our host and a friend of his were
watching the soccer. They asked what we thought and I told them what i
thought.

This is when we got the real history.

1. Not only were thousands of houses forcefully destroyed to make way
for this building but they cleared one of the oldest and beautiful
parts of Bucharest. Including the oldest church which they moved
elsewhere.

The reason 70% was completed so quickly was because thousands of
people were forced to leave there homes and made to work on the sight.
Sometimes for months. One of these peope was our hosts friend.

On the tour we also weren't told about the bodies of those who died
while building it. If they felll into the concrete it was not stopped
but thry continued to pour and the poor person who fell were left in
the foundations.

The nuns hated making the curtains.

The building actually has so many floors under ground that only a very
few are allowed to go. Our hosts friend was a manager of the main tv
station in romania and he was only allowed down to the 15th level.

When the revolution happened they wanted nothing more than to destroy
the building but that was such a huge job they couldn't afford it.

Donald trump offered to buy it for 2 billion. They refused thinking
that to build it cost more like 8. But didn't take into account the
day to day costs of running a building that big and Romanians just see
it as a huge waste of everything.

Our host also told us about the open air peasants village. They
thought this idea was so great that that went and took some peasants
houses and transplanted them in the middle of bucharest.

Problem was that also transplanted the the peasants and told them to
go about their lives while people came and watched them. This idea did
not last long as who would want there lives to be on show 24/7 in the
form of a museum. Although saying that big brother springs to mind.

The next day before we left for sighisoara we went to see the peasants
museum ( not the out door one) and having the idea of going and taking
things still in use for the sake of a museum was so firmly in our
heads that everything we saw was tainted. I am sure this is not the
case though as the museum won the title of best museum in the world 3
or 4 years running so hopefully that is not the case.

We are now in a place called sighisoara. It is the birth place of vlad
Dracula. Or vlad the impaler or better known as the inspiration for
bram stoker's Dracula. A book I am reading now and am actually finding
quite good and suspensful. It is also an old
Medieval town and a UNESCO world heritage site. The entire site is a
medieval town which is still inhabited. Very cool, very beautiful but
closed on mondays. And they are digging up the ancient road so also a
mud bath full of slippery stones and heavy earth moving machinery.

So our one and only day here and we watched GI Joe in a theatre which
is also a night club. We were the only ones there and got to sit on
couches so was very cool. And generally walked around.

Oh well Budapest next

Sent from my iPod

RE: Tale of the ferry boat disartster

Thanks for these updates, we have been following your progress with much delight!  All in all it sounds as if the experience is great, disasters only make you enjoy the good bits more!  We think about you lots, please take good care of you both!  love you heaps, Nana.xx
 
> From: simon.barrett.mail@googlemail.com
> To: simon.barrett.mail.dontpanicsid@blogger.com; suechaddock@tiscali.co.uk; Jonathan.chaddock@homecall.co.uk; edith_barr@hotmail.co.uk
> Subject: Tale of the ferry boat disartster
> Date: Sun, 18 Oct 2009 21:46:55 +0300
>
> Day 14. 14th Oct 2009
> Location: Ferry boat
> Status: Less sick than some
> Lesson: if you tip the cart with wheels on its side it will stop moving.
>
> We left canakkale to Istanbul in the afternoon. There are two
> transport options, 5 hour bus or 2.5hour bus and 2 hour ferry.
> We picked the latter dispite it being a little more expensive, by
> expensive I mean £4 more.
>
> You could tell winter was moving in. The sun was hiding and the wind
> was giving it all it had. All this said the ferry ride was smooth
> enough untill we got to Istanbul!
>
> I have been thinking about health and safety recently. There is a lot
> I want to say on the subject, but this is for another time and what I
> want to say will contradict how I feel now about the Health and Safety
> policies Trukey has implimented in regards to ferry transportation.
>
> We are chatting away to this nice Turkish banker, there is an
> announcement asking drivers to return to their cars as we are about to
> dock. We stay where we are as there is no need to poke the bear that
> is Davina's well behaving motion sickness by getting up when the boat
> is still moving.
> We pass what looks like the dock
> We pass what looks like the dock, again.
> We seam to be going around in circles for about 20mins, almost like we
> are looking for a parking space. The manager explains to us that there
> is not a lot of space at the dock and the rough sea is making it very
> hard to dock. But it will only be 10mins.
> So around and around we go. And it starts to gett rough, very rough.
> People are getting thrown about and some very sick. Glasses are
> smashing.
> Then we hit somthing.
> Everyone comes up from below, many very scared. Some put their life
> jackets on.
> But the priority of the staff is not to reassure people, help those
> who are struggling, give out sick bags. No, it's more important that
> the coffee machine does not fall over! There were 4 members of the
> junior staff having to hold the coffee machine and three trollies in
> place. One of them was terrified and looking very unwell. Customers
> were approching them asking for sick bags or water and while they went
> to get these items they had to hold the trollies!
> I could not believe it.
> So I went up and unable to understand their protests, tipped one of
> the trollies over so it no longer moved allowing the poor scared girl
> to sit down.
>
> During this whole proccess, 1.5 hours of very rough sea, there was not
> one announcement or reassuring word to tell us what was happening or
> that it was all ok. And if you wanted water you still had to pay for it.
>
> Davina missed all this fun as she was doing her best not to feel sick.
>
> Finally we docked. It was raining of course. After a short taxi ride
> we got lost then to our hostel.
>
> I was looking foward to Istanbul. What we saw was stunning. But I was
> very ready to leave. Eveything is expensive and directed at the tourist.
>
> We have escaped istanbul with our lives.
>
> Sent from my iPhone

---

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Size does matter

Day 18. 18th of Oct 2009
Location: Train
Lesson: Less is more

Today we saw our first snow!
It's seems crazy that just a few days ago it was close to 36degrees
and we were wearing shorts and sunscreen. We are only in Romainia
which is closer to the equator than England so surely it should be
warmer?
We are up in the mountains, so that might explain it. But no one has
explained it to me. I know there is a logical explaination but... We
are up a mountain, mountain closer to sun, sun hot, so we hotter? But
no, higher equals colder.

From D: I have now explained it to him. See Rob I was listening when
it was your turn to teach.

I have been feeling a little strange the last couple of days and
unable to put my finger on it, yesterday it came to me.
Every now and then I would wake up, usually on a weekend meaning a
little later than the working day and under the curtains or through a
gap between them the sun would be streaming, this would signal the
first of some long, hot, happy days.
The opposite would happen months later. It would hit me, normally in
the shower ( unneccessary detail I know), that it was still dark and
for the first time, cold.
Both of these have happened in a mere 17 days. First morning waking in
Turkey knowing it was a sunscreen day and 2 days ago waking on the
train from Istanbul, peaking under the curtains and just seeing grey.
This put an automatic downer on Bucharest. It was an ok city. But for
me it was the first day of winter.

We are currently on the train from Bucharest to a small town in the
romainian countryside called Sighisoara which once might have been
home of/birthplace/once stopped by for coffee of Dracular or someone
that met him it may be just one guy that had heard of him. Really the
whole area has built up this legend to support the tourist trade.
As we crawl up from bucharest we noticed patches of snow on the
ground. It looked like the morning after a day of snow in england. So
nothing impressive, but still it was our first. On the flip side the
journey has been very impressive. Our train has been winding through
the mountains that are covered in massivly tall pine trees
interspursed with small villages of a slightly romantic if not
delapidated style. Large pointy roofs and balconies all made of wood.
Alpine lodge style. The clouds are very low and cut the tops off the
highest trees. It's the kind of journey that could be the setting for
a novel if you could replace our cowded and dirty inter-city train
with a steam train, cosy first class compartment and an old gentleman
wearing a flat cap and walking with a cane.
Possibly even the begining of "the woman in black"!

It's now that I am greatful for the large fleaces and rain coats we
have been hauling around Turkey.
Right from day one I noticed "pack envy". In hostels or stations I
would notice other travels and their bags, were they bigger or small
than ours?
When we were researching our trip I read a post about luggage, it's
main point is that one moves from A to B with your pack but if it's
small enough you can stop off at point C on the way.
We aimed to take as small rucksacks as possible knowing it would make
our life happier.
We are both carrying 55L packs. So not tiny but also not these
monstrous of 65L, 70L or even 90L.
Our main problem was the diffrent climates we are visiting. Sticking
with just tropical warm locations means you need less and when it
comes to washing this takes much less time than in cold damp places.
We had those silly trecking flip-flops and shorts as well as windproof
fleaces and thermal underware.
To compare to those we met in Turkey is just not fair. There were
those that were lugging around huge suitcases, one girl had hair
strainers and a hair dryer. Come on!
Yesterday we went to a supermarket to top up on supplys, the down
point to this is the extra weight. This morning we left with
4L of water
400g of detergentt for hand washing
20 ziplock bags (one of the most important things)
Loaf of bread
Pack of cheese slices
Jar of jam
Jar of instant coffee
Box of tea bags
Apples
Oranges
2 tuppawear tubs for left overs

So we might not have the smallest packs but at least we won't be cold,
wet or hungry.

Sent from my iPod

Night train

Day16. 16th of Oct 2009
Location: night train to Buachrest
Status: Feeling first class
Lesson... Lesson free
Authour: Simon

We have left turkey. What a great place to begin our journey. It was
hot, sunny, beautiful, friendly and easy.
Eveything was easy, arranging hostels, night buses doing the tourists
sites ourselves.

Next stop is Buachrest via a 20hour train leaving at 10pm. I was a
little apprehensive about it.
Back in my "rock and roll" days, by rock and roll I mean low budget
contempary dance, we missed a connecting flight on the way to a show
in Italy so had to use a night train. But this is the first night
train I have arranged and I was not sure what to expect.
As we are on the cheap we opted for a choachett, 6 people to a cabin
and no beds. It's about half the price of a sleeper, 2 people to a
cabin.
We got on the train very early, got our stuff arranged on the
assumption that we might have to share. 10mins before departure no one
else in our carraige, 5 mins still no one. Then the off. As we leave
the guard comes to check our tickets. Leaves and comes back with
pillows and sheets and despite the language barrier we establish that
we are the only two in this cabin all the way!
If you book a sleeper you get bunkbeds and a kind of utililty area,
cupboard, mirror, power socket.
We missed out on this utililty section but did not have to use bunkbeds.

As we left a few other guys got on, all seamed to be friends with the
guard. He introduces us to the second guard that will take the
carriage the final 12 hours after the 20hours to Bucharest onto
Belgrade.
There is also a Police officer in our carriage.
Making the beds up and Mr policeman stops by to show us how to drop
the seat down to make a larger more comfy bed. He comes back a second
time to show us how the heating system works and he let's me hold his
gun. Later he beds down himself in the cabin next to ours.
So we booked second class but were the only customers in our carriage
and got our own armed securty! Beat that you pompous first classers.

Of course sleep was light and regularly disturbed. We had our tickets
and passport checked a number of times as we crossed border points.
Only once did we have to leave the train.
We both slept untill 9.30. Had something to eat then went back to
sleep and also had a little nap after lunch.

All in all. Not a bad way to spend 20hours.

Sent from my iPhone

Tale of the ferry boat disartster

Day 14. 14th Oct 2009
Location: Ferry boat
Status: Less sick than some
Lesson: if you tip the cart with wheels on its side it will stop moving.

We left canakkale to Istanbul in the afternoon. There are two
transport options, 5 hour bus or 2.5hour bus and 2 hour ferry.
We picked the latter dispite it being a little more expensive, by
expensive I mean £4 more.

You could tell winter was moving in. The sun was hiding and the wind
was giving it all it had. All this said the ferry ride was smooth
enough untill we got to Istanbul!

I have been thinking about health and safety recently. There is a lot
I want to say on the subject, but this is for another time and what I
want to say will contradict how I feel now about the Health and Safety
policies Trukey has implimented in regards to ferry transportation.

We are chatting away to this nice Turkish banker, there is an
announcement asking drivers to return to their cars as we are about to
dock. We stay where we are as there is no need to poke the bear that
is Davina's well behaving motion sickness by getting up when the boat
is still moving.
We pass what looks like the dock
We pass what looks like the dock, again.
We seam to be going around in circles for about 20mins, almost like we
are looking for a parking space. The manager explains to us that there
is not a lot of space at the dock and the rough sea is making it very
hard to dock. But it will only be 10mins.
So around and around we go. And it starts to gett rough, very rough.
People are getting thrown about and some very sick. Glasses are
smashing.
Then we hit somthing.
Everyone comes up from below, many very scared. Some put their life
jackets on.
But the priority of the staff is not to reassure people, help those
who are struggling, give out sick bags. No, it's more important that
the coffee machine does not fall over! There were 4 members of the
junior staff having to hold the coffee machine and three trollies in
place. One of them was terrified and looking very unwell. Customers
were approching them asking for sick bags or water and while they went
to get these items they had to hold the trollies!
I could not believe it.
So I went up and unable to understand their protests, tipped one of
the trollies over so it no longer moved allowing the poor scared girl
to sit down.

During this whole proccess, 1.5 hours of very rough sea, there was not
one announcement or reassuring word to tell us what was happening or
that it was all ok. And if you wanted water you still had to pay for it.

Davina missed all this fun as she was doing her best not to feel sick.

Finally we docked. It was raining of course. After a short taxi ride
we got lost then to our hostel.

I was looking foward to Istanbul. What we saw was stunning. But I was
very ready to leave. Eveything is expensive and directed at the tourist.

We have escaped istanbul with our lives.

Sent from my iPhone