Tuesday, August 14
Another day of abusing tennis balls. This will probably be my last time on the courts in Bucharest because we’re leaving soon for other destinations.
We booked ten days in Brasov, which is in the heart of Transylvania. We intend to use that city as a base and do a number of day trips. We’re really looking forward to this leg of the trip as it’s one of the main reasons we came to Romania in the first place. After that we’re booked in Belgrade, Serbia for two weeks. We plan to hop all through the Balkans until December when we finally reach Greece. We don’t know which places we’re going to like the most so we’re just keeping our plans fluid for now. As soon as we know where we’re going we’ll let you know.
Distance walked: 4.8 miles
Wednesday, August 15
Another trip to Latin Pizza for lunch. We really like this place. It’s a fun experience. Their pizzas are large, rectangular blobs of handmade thin crust goodness. They make over a dozen different types. You pick the type and the size you want and they cut your portion using a pair of scissors – just like they did in Rome. We ordered the margarita pizza and one covered in spicy sopressata salami. It came to about one pound of food and we ate it all.
After lunch we stumbled onto some Romanian style donuts called gogosi that are typically sold out of small street windows. They resemble calzones but are made from light, sweet dough. Often they’re stuffed with fruit and sprinkled with powdered sugar but we got ones that were filled with Nutella and vanilla custard (and covered in powered sugar). They were hot, fresh, greasy and oh so delicious.
(Gogosi – Romanian Donuts)
That evening we went out to a concert at the Romanian Athenaeum. It’s an absolutely gorgeous neo-classical building that’s home to the Romanian Philharmonic. The building was opened in 1888 but suffered significant damage during World War II. It was fully restored after the war during the period of Soviet occupation.
(The Romanian Athenaeum)
The building has an incredibly impressive interior. You enter into a large marble covered hall in the middle of a circular colonnade suitable for fancy receptions. In the back you can see two sweeping staircases that outline a stage-like area where a full orchestra could entertain. Access to the theater is through four unsupported circular staircases. It’s a fairly small, round theater with seating for only about 800, but it’s a grand sight. The ceiling is decorated with intricate patterns. Art Nouveau style light fixtures cover the perimeter and all along the walls are frescos depicting the history of Romania. You can take a paid tour of the building but, as usual, we preferred to see a concert there.
(Graceful Circular Staircase)
The Romanian Philharmonic has the summer off so we saw a concert from the Festivalul International VARA MAGICA. The Summer Magic Festival is an annual event making its seventh appearance at the Romanian Athenaeum. It comprises a number of different groups performing many different styles of music. We saw The Romanian Youth Orchestra perform a program consisting of The Peer Gynt Suite, a short piece for Violin and Orchestra by a modern Romanian composer, a short piece for Cello and Orchestra by a modern Romanian composer, Bartok’s Romanian Dances and Symphony Number 5 by Tchaikovsky.
(Theater Interior)
It’s not clear how old the performers were but they appeared to be college age. The string section was very strong, the woodwinds were good but the brass section left something to be desired. The conductor, 71 year old Horia Andreescu, was a horror. He gave the orchestra no direction, no cues, no beat and was about as unclear as could be. The orchestra could have used his help in some difficult passages but none was forthcoming. They played well in spite of him.
(Stage)
Distance walked: 3.7 miles