From Budapest to Bucharest

The trip from Budapest to Bucharest is our first overnight in a train. Actually, it is our first overnight in a train ever. And it was nice, after all. There is five of us in a six-bed-compartment. Suzanna, a woman in her 40s, starts conversation immediately – and soon we realize she is a very well-read woman who impresses us with a lot of knowledge about German history. We learn a lot about Kronstadt, formerly Stalin City, her hometown in Transylvania. The other two are a couple whose names I forgot. They are constantly working on their laptops and the only time they look up is when they hear we are spending the day in Bucharest: They tell us, there is not much to do, but we should go to “Garden Eden”. Which was a great tip.

After arriving at Bucharest main station we first try to buy our tickets to the next stop, Chisinau, which turns out to be more complicated than we thought. The more eastern we get, the less people speak English. Eventually a policeman took us to an “international counter” where we are successful.

Next stop is Grivita Pub and Grill for lunch, where we had quite good burgers, followed by a stroll through the city. Bucharest is not very pretty. Sorry, Bucharest. You are being compared to Vienna and Budapest, so it’s tough competition, but still …

After walking through different, more or less dirty and very Eastern European looking parts of the city without finding anything particularly interesting – there is a church or two, and also the Palace of Parliament is worth a look – we decide to just chill and look for that “Garden Eden”. And, between the ruins, it is in fact a little oasis. We have several Bundaberg and talk and then just sit and read for hours, until we have to leave for our next overnight ride with the train to Chișinău, Moldova.