Lesson learned...

We slept in a little bit on Friday morning. Not much really, but then we kind of relaxed for a couple of hours before getting ambitious enough to get outside. It was about 10:30am by the time we left the apartment.

Oh, speaking of which, some of you had asked for pictures of where we're staying. We had booked an AirBnb rental to stay in a private room in a shared apartment in Bucharest. We got lucky in that our hosts Cosmin and Carmen are really nice and helpful people, and we will probably stay with them again when we return to Bucharest in mid December.

So, here are some interior pics. The apartment block is a 1980's communist style concrete building. But they own the apartment and have renovated the interior...

The kitchen.

The main bathroom.

Our bedroom.

Outside in the hallway, it is still 1980's style!

The elevator!

With Cosmin's help, we figured  out the bus route to the Village Museum. Also, he got me to download the Moovit app which is a great addition to our helpful travel apps. This one tells you the best public bus routes, including connections for most cities around the world. Of course it also live maps your route as you travel it, telling you how many stops until you have to get off, etcetera. Neat!

Some European RVs.

We took the Bucharest public bus. Cosmin had given us a couple of rechargeable cards and there was a booth at the bust stop where we put 10 lei ($3.50 CAD, $2.75 USD) on one of the cards. This should do for 8 bus rides. 

Each time you get on the bus, you tap the card on an electronic reader. So I tapped it twice...once for me, and once for Ruth. We thought (incorrectly!) that this was the proper procedure.

We got off the bus, transferred to another one, and tapped the card twice again. No problem.

Then off the second bus, and walked through a beautiful park.

Ruth, walking in Herastrau Park.

I'm sure there's a story to this. 

Seemed an odd place for a Michael Jackson memorial!

Bucharest has it's own Arc de Triomphe.

We made it to the entrance of the Village Museum and paid our 10 lei ($3.50 CAD, $2.75 USD) entrance fee each. Good price. The Village Museum has taken many old homes from the countryside and relocted them here. Some of the homes were brought to the museum when a dam was built in the countryside and the village was to be flooded. Others were donated, and are prime examples of what housing may have been like in the countryside back in the 1700's and 1800's.

Why don't we never see neat fences like this in Canada?

Old church.

Nice view of another church.

Ruth, and another neat fence.

This 17th century country house was transferred here in 1961.

A picture from the dismantling in 1961.

The big wooden church, dates back to 1722. It was brought to the museum in 1936.

The museum grounds have a lot of cats. This one was relaxing in a tipped over garbage bin.

Painted and beaded eggs for sale.

The big church.

We left the museum village at around 3:30pm and started walking back to the bus stop. We decided to walk through the park that borders the lake shore.

Those tall buildings are not downtown Bucharest. Just a north section of the city.

Never did figure out exactly what this building is!

Walking through the park.

We got to our bus stop, and the bus came right away. We got on the rear entrance with a lot of other people, I tapped the card twice on the electronic machine, and we sat down opposite a lady who was right beside the machine.

At the next stop, a couple of inspectors got on and started checking people's cards to see that they had paid. It was our turn, so I pulled out the card and gave it to him. He showed me the reader that said "1", and proceeded to tell me in broken English that I had to pay a fine. 

The woman immediately starting berating the inspector. It was all in Romanian, so we couldn't understand it but we think she was telling him that we had paid, and that we had paid twice. The problem was that I didn't do it properly. There is a small button on the machine that you have to press if you are paying for two people on the same card. Of course we didn't know this.

I explained to the inspector, and he said the normal fine is 150 lei ($50 CAD, $35 USD), but because we didn't do it on purpose he would assign the reduced fine of 50 lei ($16.50 CAD, $12 USD). Not a big deal, and I paid the fine. But many people on the bus were not impressed with the inspector. And especially the lady opposite us who had stood up for us. She didn't speak any English, but she was downright mad at the inspector for charging us the fine.

The inspector then gave us a special card that said we didn't have to pay for the rest of the day. Gee, thanks!

Anyhow, lesson learned and now we know. 

We got off the bus and walked the rest of the way

Somewhere near downtown.

Today, we are on the train to Brasov. You'll have to wait until tomorrow for this story...but what gorgeous scenery. This is what we came to Romania for!!

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