Greetings from Bucharest, Romania. Sunday, June 27, 2010. We are enjoying our third day in Bucharest, preparing to join the two-week Viking River Cruise from the Black Sea up the Danube River to Passau, Germany. This trip began with a refresher on the lesson that we long ago learned—that God is in charge; we’re not. The adventure continues to unfold with surprises.
The trip began with weather and traffic delays on all three flights Wednesday -- from SFO to Chicago to London to Bucharest. Then on arrival in Bucharest, we learned that Betty’s luggage was left in Chicago. It was delivered to us at the hotel two days later. Betty learned to love that blouse and pair of slacks, as well as the t-shirt that I lent her for sleeping!
On Friday we booked a personal guide for a tour of the key interest points of Bucharest, including those in three of the pictures shown here--the Romanian Athenaeum, the Palace of Parliament, and the former Soviet Communist military occupation building.
The Athenaeum is the concert hall, home of Romania’s National Philharmonic, and is located just across the square from our hotel. Completed in 1888, it has become the iconic symbol of Bucharest.
The Palace of Parliament is the massive palace and communist government headquarters built by the notorious dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, who along with his wife Alena, were executed in the 1989 revolution. At 3.8 million square feet and over 1100 rooms, the Palace is said to be the world’s second largest building, after the U.S. Pentagon.
The tall white obelisk in the third photo is a memorial to the 1300 protestors killed in the 1989 revolution, when Ceausescu was overthrown and his army began firing on the demonstrators in the square here.
Yesterday, Saturday, we took a 2-hour train ride north to the town of Sinaia, where we met Connie Fortunato, a family friend from home, who is in Romania conducting music training camps for orphaned children, as a part of her music mission ministry called Music Camps International. With Connie and an associate, we toured the famous Peles Castle, shown in the photo. Peles Castle, completed in 1883, was the summer home of Carol I, Romania’s first King.
For our next surprise, we learned on Friday that our ship, the Viking Primadonna that we were scheduled to board today in Oltenita, 90 miles south of here, is stuck up-river in Belgrade, Serbia because an unusually high water level is preventing the ship from passing under the Danube River bridge at Belgrade! So in response, Viking has set up operation here in our hotel, the Athenaeum Palace Hilton. We stay here until Wednesday morning, and Viking will take us on land excursions to the Black Sea towns of Constanta and Mamaia, Romania; and the Bulgarian cities of Russe and Sofia. Then Wednesday AM, we go fly to Belgrade to join the ship.
So---the adventure continues; stay tuned. And yes, Betty is healthy and showing no signs of her houseboats trip crisis from 10 days ago. We hope all is well with you also.
Bill and Betty
