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Banks
There are a variety of ways to get money when overseas. The best way generally varies by country, but recent sentiment here in Europe is that travelers checks suck and ATM cards are great. It
always helps to have some hard currency to change at the late-night rip-off places when necessary, but generally an ATM is not far away, even in Romania. However, I still have a bunch of travelers checks that I saved for no apparent reason. I found out that they are even more worthless here in the east. One bank wanted to charge me US7 commission on a US50 check. After a lot of walking we found Bancorex which changed them commission free at a decent rate. There was an ATM out front that would have given me an even better rate for a withdrawal from my account back home (thank god for Cirrus and Plus). Luckily I also have some marks and dollars which I could change on the street for an even better rate. Dave found that the only place that he could get rid of his Hungarian florints was on this black market, despite the fact that we are only kilometers from Hungary.
CFR Train Office
The next item on the agenda was a train ticket. After digesting the schedules, prices, and prices, and figuring out which tickets were available at the office versus the station, we made our big purchases. Dave was headed only a couple hours away, but Midori and I will ride over eight hours for about US6. I am a little worried about taking a night train and getting in at 5am, but somehow I feel it will be all right.
Looking Around
We each had different agendas for the day. First, Midori wanted a full meal, I had some soup and Dave went for ice cream for lunch. Then Midori headed back to rest at the hotel while Dave and I took our own little tours of the town. All of the churches and public
buildings were visible from our hotel or the pedestrian zone that we knew well by now. I decided to roam around the residential area instead. I must say this is quite a nice town. I think it has faired better than most of post-communist Romania, but it has
faired well indeed. Almost any consumer item seems to be on sale in the main shopping district. There are lots of appliances and even CD stores and whatnot. In the residential areas there are lots of little convenient stores that sell huge loaves of bread, juices, sardines, sausages, ice cream, etc. There are even many stores which advertise with a phrase popular in Hungary as well: Non-Stop. I don't really think they are all 24hr, but it shows the level of the consumer market here.
Food
We still have yet to figure out what is authentic Romanian food, but what we have eaten is great. I tried to order some creamed corn soup for dinner and instead I got a plate full of maize with cream on top. Wine is pretty cheap here, but you can always get all the Coke products you want. It is amazing how many little stands, umbrellas, awnings, and refrigerators that Coke has set up in order to convert the world into Coke drinkers.
The Hotel
Dave and I both agree that this hotel is sitting on a prime location. Given twenty more years and a little renovation, it
will be quite a high class place. For now, though, it feels big, dusty, and rickety. Midori accidentally pulled the curtains off the wall while trying to close them. The real bummer for the night, though was the cold shower. The concrete shower room for men has three spouts, all of which are lacking a shower head. Last night I proclaimed that the straight stream of water didn't bother me as long as it was warm. Well tonight, it wasn't. I went down and asked at the desk and this is what I got out of the conversation (note: my Romanian is bad): The village is out of coal and there will be no hot water indefinitely. We all decided that we could live with that, besides we leave tomorrow night for Brasov.
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