There is one brand of toilet paper in Romania: Old Scratch. Comes in off white and tan, maybe fifty sheets to the roll. I used to to sand down a rough spot on the hotel desk, and to scrub stubborn wine stains off glasses, dried crusty food off plates.
And are they tight with the distribution of that sandpaper. At times, when you go into a bathroom in the bar or cafe or gas station, there will be two or three nicely folded squares of old scratch waiting for you. Even the guest houses are pretty stingy with it.
Which is why, when we packed up this morning, I stashed the left-over half roll of scratch in the side pocket of my pack. Two days until we are out of Romania. This half roll might make the difference.
It rained last night, and this morning it was a slow steady drizzle. All is silent except for bird calls, and the air smells sweet, of flowers and trees. We decided to read and drank coffee until it was time to leave.
Walking to the train station in the rain is out, so we took a taxi to catch the 12:20 IC.
Track three, we were early and so was the train so we boarded. For some reason our seats were across the aisle from each other, me by a window and Gail on the aisle facing the opposite direction. Another couple about our age was standing there looking puzzled, it turns out their seats were apart as well.
But, when we combined the four tickets we had two sets of side by side seats. Our little victory over the dour ticket agent.
The train was packed full, with a few people standing at the end. As we headed south into the mountain canyon the rain increased, but the further south we got the valley opened and the rain stopped.
I am getting close to finishing my latest book, The Longest trip Home by John Grogan. He wrote Marley and Me, and I am sure people on the train thought I was a crazy man laughing to myself.
We got to Bucharest on time and walked into an interesting station. Nice enough, just kind of tired looking. But hey, they have the food booths including McDonald's and a much larger, more detailed arrival and departure board. There are the old, communist era eagles on the wheels, and the building is more utilitarian and less beautiful than some other stations.
Some guy started following us asking if we needed a taxi. Bugging us about a taxi. With meter.
I know this scam. I brushed him of, but still he insisted, so I turned and yelled st him.
He left.
We went out and walked to the front of the taxi line. A bunch of people were milling around but no one was going anywhere of doing anything so I stuck my head in his window and asked, “Hotel Rembrandt?"
He stared at me, I stared at him, he stared at me, I at him, then he said, “You get in?"
Well, OK then.
I moved to the back of the cab and he realized he was supposed to open the trunk. We stashed our bags, and then as we were getting in the taxi an old tall thin guy materialized from the crowd and started yelling at me.
In Romanian.
Waving his cane.
As if I would know what is going on.
The taxi driver started the car, so I shrugged, got in and we were off.
I have no idea what it was about... very weird.
In ten minutes we got to the hotel ($2.50 or 10 RON and that was with a 3 RON tip).
The taxi driver asked where we were from, then practiced his English on us, telling us how the Russians wanted everyone to learn Russian. Now the Germans want everyone to speak German. The people themselves want to learn English because it helps with everyone. He got a real laugh when he found out I am an American who speaks German. Laughed and laughed.
"And in America there are two official languages, English and Spanish." He was very proud he learned that. Shook his head in wonder. “The Spanish. In America."
We did not even really stop to look at our room. We literally dropped our bags, I hauled out the laundry bag, we made sure everything was in it and went out to find the local laundry.
We have a deadline. It is a couple days till the next laundry, and this one closes at 18:00, less than three hours from now. It is also closed Sunday, so it is now, or we wear dirty clothes a few days.
So we walked out with our bag, found the taxis around the corner, and walked up to the first one.
He scratched his head and said he didn't know where it was.
The second in line simply said no.
The next one, a lady, looked it up, shrugged, and we were off. She spoke decent English and as we drove she said, “They won't take you. It is too soon (close).”
I must have looked a little confused.
“No money you understand?”
Oh. Too short for a decent fare. So they pushed us off on the lady driver.
That explained it. Sure enough, almost ten minutes later when she dropped us off the fare was only 5RON ($1.25) so to make her feel better about taking us I tripled the fare.
She was really grateful for that.
I hope she went and told all those jerks who wouldn't take us.
Well we walked into the laundry and sure enough, rows of machines. And bonus! A friendly lady who would do the wash and dry, provide soap, and we just had to show up in two hours. For 32 RON total. We just cannot get over how inexpensive things are here.
So we hit up the cafe around the corner for wine and a thin crust pizza (oil rosemary oregano.).
We “did” our laundry while enjoying surprisingly good wine again with a snack.
All was good until a sudden huge gust of wind almost took over every umbrella, and we turned and looked. The sky was instantly dark and the trees and dust were blowing past. Everyone literally ran into the bar, carrying everything, and as the first raindrops started the staff made a mad dash to grab seat cushions, put down the umbrellas and bring in place settings.
The storm blew in with a dark fierce roar. The rain pounded. But, no matter. We spent the next hour warm and snug inside.
Still, it blew and poured. A second glass of the very smooth wine.
Just as we were thinking our luck may have run out on the rain front, it stopped and the sun came out. Perfect timing: we were just getting ready to pick up our clothes.
Back around the corner.
They were returned folded. One of the best laundries ever.
Side note: Here is a link to the good, centrally located laundry in Bucharest near the old city.
Open 8-8 M-F, and 8-6 Sat. It cost us less than $8 to do a huge bag of wash, have it dried, soap included. And the lady there did it for us. We were prepared to do our own. Check it out if you are in Bucharest.
Speaking of that, there is a huge business opportunity to be had in Romania, providing laundry to tourists. The facilities are basically non existent at least where we went. It is all by piece, which is too expensive, even in a "cheap" country..
We walked back to the hotel, wading through puddles and getting a preview of the city. It took a while to put everything away and look around the room.
Now it was getting late, so we headed out. Every street close to us is packed with cafes. Too many, seriously. We walked several blocks and they all ran together and we were getting hungry so we just finally picked one...
Big mistake.
I cannot think of the last time I walked away from a meal but I did tonight. The food was so horrid it took away my appetite. So we paid up and just left, and spent a little time walking and looking.
Tomorrow we have the whole day to explore.