Sunday June 8 - End of the water

This was the last morning on the ship. We had to have our luggage out of our room by midnight and be out of our rooms by 8am. Busses left at 9AM. We had 3 hour drive from the Black Sea to the capital city. We had a stop for bathroom and coffee about half way to the city.

I wanted to sleep on the bus since I woke up at 3AM and did not go back to sleep until 30 minutes before my alarm went off at 6; but the guide would not stop talking, so I put on my noise canceling headphones and watched the last 2 episodes of Top Chef.

We finally arrived and I decided it was tin to listen to what she had to say. While I missed the history of the country and its fall into communism, and the evils of Nicolae Ceaușescu (a 5 minute read on Wikipedia), we stopped in front of the Palace of the Parliament building (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palace_of_the_Parliament). The 2nd largest administrative building in the world. I have been to the biggest. In front pf the building is a parking lot that can be converted to a public concert stage. This is where Michael Jackson in 1995 said "Hello Budapest", oops. We walked and heard more about the Ceaușescu of the city and stopped for lunch. We started with bread and 3 spreads - Zacusa (vegetable spread made primarily from roasted eggplant and red peppers), Fasole bătută (white bean puree, tases like hummus) and Salata Vinete (Eggplant Dip). This was followed by a vegetable soup, beef stew and and apple cake. There was also some Romanian singing and dancing.

It was time to walk off the lunch in the old town, so we could learn about the old architecture, lousy communist architecture, churches and restaurants. After the walk we had the standard free tine to walk around in the 90 degree heat looking for trinkets or ice cream. We now got on the bus and toured the city and got the December 1989 history about the end of the dictatorship and start of the democratic republic.

Finally it was time to check into the JW Marriot. Someone described it as a hotel whose opulence would fit in Las Vegas, and I agree.

After a relaxing 20 minute nap and shower it was tine to go back to old town and have a dinner. It was great, Cheese and bread, then meatballs, and finally meat wrapped in cabbage with polenta on the side. It was wonderful. We had a little walk and then it was time for desert. There was fried dough which tasted like beignets with a sour cream and blueberry dip, crepes with a cream and honey topping, and an apple strudel type thing.

back to the hotel where I had no reason to set an alarm for Monday.