Roaming Around Romania (1/2) By Steve Rudd

(1/2), (2/2).

I was worried. It was four a.m., I was on a train bound for Bucharest, and somebody was tugging at my bed sheets from below. Coming around from a bout of deep sleep, I urged my weary eyes to focus. They were having none of it though, refusing point blank to reveal the person before me. 'Is there a problem?' I asked, hoping that a response might bowl my way in English. 'Yes. This bed has been double-booked. You must get out now.' I recognized the conductor's voice in an instant.

'But I paid you twenty euros for this berth,' I protested. It was no word of a lie, but he had only meant for me to make the most of the bed between us pulling out of Budapest and reaching the border with Romania. Too exhausted to argue any further, I gathered my gear and hopped down, apologizing to the three other men in the compartment for disturbing them. I was promptly led to a second-class seat where I was told I had to stay for the remainder of the journey. I wouldn't have minded if Bucharest bustled on the horizon, but we were still ten hours shy of the Romanian capital.

The upshot was that as soon as the sun came up I got to savour the remarkable scenery that rural Romania proudly bestows. Through a thick veil of fog I managed to make out jumbles of tumbledown shacks lining the railway line. Beyond them, families were out in the fields, harvesting by hand in the company of cows dragging ploughs. Paved roads were few and far between, as were motorized vehicles. Save for a handful of battered pick-up trucks frequenting the dirt tracks, the most common form of transport came courtesy of horses and carts.

The pace of life eased forth at a paralyzed snail's pace. No power-lines were visible, a reality that meant most children were out and about, either larking around near the railway line or toiling beside their parents in the gently undulating fields.

As the train crawled past the village of Predeal, one young girl - decked in traditional attire - was energetically practicing a combination of modern dance steps, as though outside influences in the form of music had had a profound impact on her life, even if she was bound to her village… at least for the time being. Beyond Brasov the grandeur of the scenery accosted my attention like never before.

At least it took my mind off the man who'd got on at Brasov and sat opposite me; he seemed friendly enough, but the hunting knife that was sticking out of the top of his turquoise-coloured corduroy trousers couldn't fail to taunt me. Our train was now trailing beside a river and road in the middle of an overwhelmingly beautiful valley. I couldn't tear my eyes from the scenery, yet the old-timer wanted to talk. His slow Romanian drawl made the language resemble Sioux.

The old town of Bucharest was in complete disarray, with sub-level excavations making an eyesore of many a street, not least the otherwise attractive Lipscani Street. Perhaps the most popular commercial street of old Bucharest, it became a major axis of the trading quarter in the seventeenth century. However, many of its buildings have been rebuilt since 1850 due to extensive damage caused by earthquakes and fires. Even more stunning than the city's old town is The Palace of the Parliament, the world's largest civilian administrative building after The Pentagon. It's a sight to behold, languishing at the top of a long, fountain-graced boulevard.

Continued ... next page (2/2)

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