Friday, October 3, 2008

Village Museum in Bucharest

October 2, 2008

There was a mix-up with the cleaning woman for the apartment. She was told I would be leaving at 10:00am, but Mada was not going to meet me until 11:30 am.

At 11:30am Mada and Mariana arrived in taxi. We went to lunch, at La Mama but different location. I had soup, do not know what it was called. Mada had a meat and cheese plate. Mariana's sister, Simona, arrived and had lunch with us.

After lunch we went in Simona's car to Herăstrău Park. We walked the Village Museum. I had are really nice time walking though park and and museum talking with Mada. We stopped at coffee shop, in the park, for a while.

I took taxi from Park to airport. This had been a interesting, fun and good vacation.

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Leaving Bucharest

October 2, 2008

Today is my last day in Bucharest, Romania. Mada, Mari and I will visit The Village Museum. Then they will take me to the airport.

I have had a great time. Too much to see in so short a time. I will diffently be returning to Russia and Romania.

Too much Vacation

October 1, 2008

Did not feel well this morning. Had stuffy nose and spent a lot of time in 'toilete', :D. Around noon I went to cafe and had a sandwitch, reminds me of a gyro but had more stuff in it. I then went to a coffee cafe that had internet access. Internet was really slow there, but I was able to check e-mail, tweets and plurk.

I went back to apartment and rested for awhile. All this walking is taking its toll on my legs. Shins hurt today. I stopped at a McDonalds for something to eat. Interesting how much it is just like McDonalds at home. I had a filet-o-fish. This McDonalds had Wi-Fi so got on did some searching about the problems I am having receiving sms on my blackberry.

I was walking to a shopping center when Mada called. I took taxi to meet her and Mariana at mall coffee shop. Then we went souvenir shopping. There was a kioske that had handmade and other Romanian souvenirs. Still want to find something for Larry, my grandson.

Traffic in Bucharest is 'interesting'. A lot of close drivingIt took 20 minutes to go about 2 miles. There does not seem to be much 'respect' for traffic laws either. Well, it was just very different than driving in Salt Lake City. I also find it interesting how much the American culture is moving in, McDonalds, KFC, Coca Cola, Pepsi, Mt Dew (yea), cell phones, tv, etc. One thing that has not happend here is the large mega stores, i.e. Walmart, Smiths Marketplace, CostCo, etc. The shopping mall I went to was very similar to shopping malls in US. The shopping mall did have a good sized grocery market in it.

For internet I most the time went to this small Internet cafe just around corner from my appartment in Bucharest, its on Kogalniceanu Avenue.

Oh, I did not take any pictures today.

Bucharest Geocaching

September 30, 2008

Spent most of the day walking. Stopped first at Internet cafe, took my laptop, and made blog entries for the last few days. Walked to Cismigu Park to do some geocaching. Found the are where 2 caches were but too many muggles around to do a really good search. I had lunch at the park, pizza and lemonade. Walked to another geocahe, " the lost park". I found it, micro cache, and wrote in log book.

Walked to Gara de Nord, The North Train Station. Walked around taking pictures. Walked on boarding platform. 2 trains arrived while I was there. I recorded a movie of one comming in and the another leaving. Interesting thing, there is a McDonalds in the train station. My phone went out, battery was going dead.

Mada was not able to arrange for a trip to Brasov, Bran Castle. I am disappointed but understand it is hard to do on short notice. I should of planned my time in Romania better.

Tuesday, September 30, 2008

Palace of the Parliment

September 29, 2008

Slept really late today, must of been really tired. I did not set an alarm, woke up around 7 then again at 9. :D. I had a headache finally got moving around 10:00. I took a shower, felt better. Went for a walk, looking for a cafe or restaurant. I found an Internet cafe just around corner from apartment. I checked balances at bank and emails. Walked to Izvor park by Palace of the Parliament. I got a flat bread sandwich from outdoor vendor and ate in the park. After eating, I walked around the building, it was a very long walk. This building is in the Guiness Book of World Records for a few things, see link. I wanted to take tour but missed the last one by about 20 minutes. Maybe I will go tomorrow.

My feet are not used to all this walking. I got a blister left foot by big toe, this was from day spent with Olesya. Was ok when I left today, but was really hurting after about 3 hours of walking. I hope all this walking is burning off the fat. :D

Mada called and arranged for a taxi to pick me up. We went to Vintel Mall, with Mariana and sister (I can't remember sisters name :( ). We had coffee at Gloria Jeans coffee. All of us went to 'la mama' resturant. Mada ordered for me, a 3 meat dish, and semonlina cooked like a 'mush' . It was very good. I will have Mada write down the names so I can remember. I had a very nice evening with 3 beautiful Romanian women.


St. Petersburg, Russia to Bucharest, Romania

September 28, 2008

Flew to Romania today. My driver was late this morning, so I did not get to see Olesya again, :((. I got to the airport about 11:00 am. Pulkovo 2 airport was interesting. Checkin is only allowed at 2 hours before flight, they do not let you through security before that. Normal security, bags, jacket, shoes, belt, etc through xray. Checkin next, then passport control. Then when, do another security screening. Pulkovo 2 (International terminal) is small, clean and good services. There is a TGI Fridays by the gates, :)).

Flight form Miraposa Airport was on a Bombardier Jet. I like the seats, they are wider than the other planes I have been on, more comfortable. Flight was short, 2.5 hours. I had OJ and tea and cake.

Mada and Mariana met me at the Airport. Mada is even prettier in person. We went to the appartment she reserved for me. When I got cash, I got Lei instead of Euro, silly me. Apartment is nice nice, clean and looks recently refurbished. It is almost as big as my home, :D. One bedroom, bath, living room kitchen and nook. Mada and I went to get pizza at Pizza Hut, took taxi. We ate the pizza at my apartment, then Mada and Mariana went home.

Peterhoff Gardens

September 27, 2008

Spent most of the day with Olesya. Olesya was going to be to my hotel at 10:00 but she slept in. I walked over to 'The Church on Spilt Blood' to record a geocache find. I walked around The Admiralty, it is the headquarters for Russian navy(????). I stopped at 'The Bronze Horseman'. It is a monument to Alexander for defeating Sweden.

Olesya got to my hotel at 12:30. On the way to hydrofoil dock we stopped and had photo taken with a couple of monkeys, cute picture. We went on hydrofoil to Peterhoff. It is palace and grounds for started by Peter the Great. Alot of the work there was commissioned by Elizebeth of Russia. There are a lot of fountains. We walked around taking pictures of the fountains. Olesya likes to take photos, :D. She had the camera most of the day. We rode the hydrofoil back to St Petersburg.

Walked around on Nevsky Avenue, it is a main avenue in St Petersburg. There are a lot of stores, restaurants, bar's and clubs. There is a HUGE shopping center. I purchased a couple of DVD-R's so I could make a slide show DVD for Olesya. We took the Metro, subway, to see where Olesya worked, then bus to her home. She lives very near the airport, abougt 1km. She has 1 roommate, Sasha. Sasha has a Chinchilla named Burno. Olesya made dinner, very good cook. We rode bus to St. Petersburg center and walked around some more. Went to my hotel where I created a slideshow on DVD for Olesya. I showed her the photos I have on my computer, most are pictures of Larry, my grandson. I walked Olesya to Metro station then to I went back to hotel and to sleep.

Monday, September 29, 2008

Been busy :D

I was very busy on Saturday and by the time I got back to hotel I was really tired. I will create blog entrys for Saturday and Sunday later today. I did upload more pictures to web album, just click on the slide show.

Friday, September 26, 2008

Tour of St Petersburg

September 25, 2008

I arranged a tour with Classic Tours, LLC. The picked me up at 10:00am. The drivers name is Sergy and the guides name is Svetlana. She was very knowedgable of St. Petersburg history, culture, and buildings. We visited these places, pictures on blog pictues website:
The buildings are colorful. The Winter Palace ( part of Hermitage ) is green with white columns. Other buildings yellow, pink, blue, browns. There is something different to see around every corner. I also noticed that the city is clean, not a lot of trash in streets, or graffiti. The traffic was not bad. Only in Trinity bridge did we get stopped because of traffic.

Peter and Paul fortress we could not drive on so Svetlana and I walked though it. On the west there is a nice resturant. Also on the west, the brick walls were faced with granite so the Empress had a pleasant view from accross the Neva river.

It was a very nice tour. Svetlana was very knoledgeable of the area. Sergey is a good driver, he was able to get us around with out an major stops. The tour ended at just before 2:00pm, the dropped me off at my hotel. I think this personal tour was worth the extra cost.

I was tired, we did do alot of walking. I took a nap and woke up around 4:00pm. For lunch I went to a streeet vendor, just outside the hotel and had sausage (hotdog in USA) chips and Coca Cola. Just down the street is an exchange where I was able to exchange dollars for rubles. The prices here are simlar to Utah. A bottle of sparkling water was 40 rubles, about $1.60.

Олеся Ворсина Александровна (Olesya Vorsina Aleksandrovna) met me at my hotel at 7:30pm. We went for a walk to the Neva river, going by the Hermitage and Palace square. At the river we found a ferry that goes to Petrovskia. It is a park on the Bay of Finland and has many fountains. We walk along the rive then back to Nevsky Avenue. Nevsky Avenu is the main street in St Petersburg, lots of stores, shops, resturants, shopping centers. We stopped at a pizza resturant. We had a medium pizza and 2 drinks for 440 rubles, about $18. I walked her to the Metro station, about 5 minutes from my hotel.

Tomorrow Olesya and I will take the boat to Petrovskia and back, walking around the park. Then we will try to get into The Hermitage. If there is time she will take me to see her home and where she works.

Charles De Gaulle, Paris to St. Petersburg, Russia

September 25, 2008

I watched about 1 hour of 'Live Free or Die Hard' at airport before boarding plane. Plane arrived while waiting. It was interesting that the passengers got off at a gate but were put on busses, not sure why.

Boarding the plane went well, I was able to get in early. I got a window seat just at fount of wing. Dinner was poached egg salad, chicken with vegies, apple tart, roll with butter and stinky cheese ( I am note sure what the cheese was but it was very strong ). The flight left about 20 minutes late, which is not bad. We landed at Pulkovo airport at 11:05pm, went to #2 terminal. Passport and customs was easy, not problems at all. Olesya met me at the airport. Here roomate was there to meet her boyfriend so was able to come with Olesya. The driver was there to take me to my hotel. The drive to hotel was bout 20 minutes.

Hotel is nice, not very big, 130 rooms I think. My room is small but comfortable and very clean. All the items look new. I read about hotel chain and it is only 5 years old. I am in room 404. It has a nice view of the street.

I was dealing with jet lag, did not get to sleep until about 2:00am.

Flying to Charles De Gaulle Airport, Paris, France

I arrived in St Petersburg after 19 hours of travel, 15 hours in flight.

From Salt Lake City to Paris was the longest, about 10 hours. Flight left Salt Lake city at Sep 24th at 5:10pm MDT and arrived in Paris Sep 25th at 11:05am CEST. I was only able to sleep about 2 of that. The monitors had a flight status, except when movie's were playing. At 8:00pm, MDT we were flying over Ontario, Canada.
  • 33026 ft, 10068km
  • 591 mph, 926 kph
  • 1466 miles, 2359 km traveled
I had just finished watching movie 'The Visitor'. I will not try to explain the movie. Durring the movie we had dinner, I had chicken with corn and black bean chipolte, brownie and diet coca cola.

The second movie was 'The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian". I slept through part of this movie, maybe 30 minutes.

At 10:45 pm MDT, 6:45 am CEST:
  • 33035 ft, 10069 m
  • 563 mph, 806 kmh
  • 2996 m, 4747 km traveled
Just about to cross the southern tip of Greenland. About 5 hours left in flight.

At 9:30 am CEST, about to go over Ireland:
  • 33039 ft, 10070 m
  • 601 mph, 967 kmh
  • 4536 m, 7288 km
At 10:20 am CEST, 2:21 am MDT Slept about 1 hour:
  • 33005 ft, 10098 m
  • 565 mph, 909 kmh
  • 5019 m, 8078 km traveled
Flying over England, Worchester. For breakfast I had bagel, cream cheese, OJ and black tea.

At 2:40 am MDT flew over English Channel.

Landed at Charles De Gaulle airport at 11:03 am CEST. Gate was full so the parked the plane, drive up the stairs and we took busses to the terminal. I found my connecting gate, it was not too far, I did ride a tram to another terminal but the stations were not far from gates.

I had lunch at the airport, ham and cheese sandwitch, spicy pringles and water. Then practiced russian and started to watch 'Live Free or Die Hard' on my computer.

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Travel to St Petersburg

Finally got to St. Petersburg Russia. Was a long trip, took about 19 hours, 15 of that was flying.

Getting late. I will write more about my flight when I wake up.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

At the Salt Lake City International Airport

I am at the airport waiting for flight. Got here really early in case of problems or long lines at check-in. The Delta kiosk was not real user friendly, and I am a geek. Took me 15 minutes to finally have the kiosk say I need to go to an agent. Getting through security screening was not too bad, I did not get picked for special searches. I did have to go through detector 3 times because I forgot about my cell phone, it is usally on a belt holster but I am not using one so it was in a shirt pocket. Now I have 1 1/2 hours to wait for boarding.

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Itinerary

Here is my itinerary:

Salt Lake City, Utah, USA to St. Petersburg, Russia
Nevsky Grand Hotel
ул. Большая Конюшенная, 10 - 8
Санкт-Петербург
+7 (812) 703-38-60‎

St. Petersburg, Russia to Bucharest, Romania
  • Sun. Sep 28, 1:25pm, Leave St. Petersburg, Pulkovo Airport 2, Alitalia 547
  • Sun. Sep 28, 3:00pm, Arrive Milan, Malpensa Airport
  • Sun. Sep 28, 3:45pm, Leave Milan, Malpensa Airport, Alitalia 508
  • Sun. Sep 28, 7:05pm, Arrive Bucharest, Otopeni Airport
Gioia Appartments
Bulevardul Magheru, Nr 7
Bucharest

Bucharest, Romania to Salt Lake City, Utah, USA
  • Thu. 2 Oct. 8:10 pm, Leave Bucharest, Otopeni International Airport, Air France 2289
  • Thu. 2 Oct. 10:20 pm, Arrive Paris, De Gaulle International Airport
  • Fri. 3 Oct. 10:20 am, Leave Paris, De Gaulle International Airport, Air France 8990
  • Fri. 3 Oct. 1:30pm, Arrive Salt Lake International Airport