Sunday, June 22, 2008

Sleeping on the Danube


First I have posted a photo for Janie - she created a pill "popping" system to help me accept the challenges of being on a heavy metal detox protocol while on vacation. Her sense of whimsy has caused at least one nephew to be highly amused and given me daily pleasure. Here's Sam enjoying our bed in Bucharest.

Today, after a long bus ride through Romanian agricultural lands passing wheat,corn, sunflowers, rye and vineyards, we took a much anticipated dip in the Black Sea in the resort town of Mamaia. My mom was stunned by how much it has changed since 1965. It used to be a worker's holiday town - now it is competing to look like any globalized vacation spot. Vodaphone and coke ads screaming from billboards, garish neon signage and an elaborate water park were just part of the scenery. We had a tasty lunch at one of the hotels (although few of us had appetites after our huge buffet breakfast only 4 hours earlier and sitting on a bus for so long). We waded into the cool waters, noticing a large refinery on the shoreline not too far north.

After our swim we went through the town of Constanza visiting Roman ruins from 40 AD and learned more about the origins of the Romanian culture/language. This short visit was followed by a very long bus ride (mostly caused by several traffic accidents on Romanian two lane highway) and finally arrived late to our river boat. It was hot, really hot on the river(especially after our NW spring of Junuary) but we were all happy to get here. Our room is small but luxurious - having a ceiling to floor window that opens to the smell of the river. I will post some photos of the room tomorrow. Our dinner featured very elegant food and service, but Sam had no appetite and seemed a bit disturbed by the excessive amount of rich food. Perhaps drinking a glass of champagne before dinner was not the best strategy for him.

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