A Night Out With Our Romanian Friends

Trini and I have been practically cooped up in our hotel room for the last couple of days due to the snow. Temperature was hovering at 0 Celsius (32 F); however, the wind chill factor can make it feel below zero easily. We’ve done some walking but the slushy pavements turned us off. We’ll just have to wait until tomorrow when Viking Cruise will take us on a guided tour.

Bucharest has almost two million people within the city limits and is considered to be the sixth most populous city in Europe after Berlin, London, Madrid, Rome and Paris. It is a booming city that is undergoing a lot of infrastructure projects. It used to be known in the past as The Little Paris due to its similarities in the buildings’ façades with those of The City of Light.

Yesterday afternoon, we met with Izabella who I met in June 2017 while walking the Camino Francés (a walking pilgrimage that starts in St. Jean Pied de Port to Santiago de Compostela). Izabella and her friend, Lucy came to meet us in our hotel and we ended up in the Italian restaurant inside the hotel. Sharing some light snacks and a bottle of Romanian Merlot, we reminisced the joys and hardships of the Camino and how it had affected our lives.

From left to right: Lucy, Izabella, Trini and me at Café Citta

We parted but agreed to meet for dinner along with Claudia Dan who I also met when I did my first Camino in 2015. Mugur Nuta, also a Romanian who I met in my 2017 Camino made a reservation at Caru’ cu Bere (The Beer Wagon). Unfortunately, Mugur did not make it as he had a business at Brasov and could not make it back on time.

Caru’ cu Bere is a very popular hangout for locals and tourists. It was established in 1879 as a local brewery and evolved into a restaurant serving great food and beer. They also provide the guests lively folkloric dances with colorful costumes.

From left to right: Claudia Dan (2015 Camino), Lucy (planning on walking the Camino in the near future), Izabella (2017 Camino) and Trini (who walked part of the Camino from Sarria to Santiago de Compostela – 120 km)

From right to left: My Camino friends 2017 – Mugur Nuta, George (who we hope to meet in Budapest), Izabella, Voltaire, and me celebrating in Santiago de Compostela

On the right is Claudia and her sister, Simona who I met during my 2015 Camino in the albergue’s’ communal dinner

Tonight is our last night at Radisson Blu Hotel. Viking Cruise will take us on a tour of the city tomorrow after breakfast and will take us to our River Cruise Ship after that. Trini is starting to count the days when we get back to the US, She misses our grandson, Geo very much…