December 07, 2005
Palace of Parliament
(Day 290) When they say a building is the nth largest in the world, do they mean by volume? Mass? Or total square feet? I'll have to look it up sometime, but for now, I'll go with what I was told and say that the Palace of Parliament is the second largest in the world, trailing only the Pentagon.
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Posted by markyiin at 11:13 AM | Comments (2)
December 04, 2005
When in Romania...
(Day 289) "Forget Prague, forget Budapest: Bucharest is where explorers are heading," begins the Lonely Planet. According to the guidebook's opening blurb, Romania's capital is 'Eastern Europe's secret', a city with 'Parisian pretensions'. I didn't make it to Prague, but from what I saw at Budapest, that's a high bar being set.
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Posted by markyiin at 05:52 AM | Comments (3)
I have no money!
(Day 288) Exciting, inspirational, and educating describe 99% of travel. The other 1% though, falls into the category of unnerving.
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Posted by markyiin at 05:51 AM | Comments (1)
December 03, 2005
Dracula's Crib
(Day 287) Romania surprises me as being one of those countries where it's possible to go somewhere recommended in a guidebook, and still feel like the only foreigner to ever have been there. Granted, I'm here during low season, but I certainly expected Sighisoara, birthplace of Dracula and owner of a beautifully preserved citadel, to have more of a tourist scene.
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Posted by markyiin at 08:02 AM | Comments (5)
December 02, 2005
Dracula Country
(Day 286) Vlad became the Impaler (Tepes in Romanian) after the unusual punishment he came up with for his enemies. By driving a stake through a certain part of the spine, the victim was ensured at least a day's worth of suffereing before death. Most people would be lucky to be given such a kickass nickname in their lifetimes, but this 15th century Transylvanian ruler managed to go down in history with a second: Dracula.
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Posted by markyiin at 04:09 AM | Comments (5)
December 01, 2005
Roaming Romania
(Day 285) First thing I do when I arrive in a new country is to get some local currency. The ATMs in Romania really threw me off at first.
"Please select the amount you wish to withdraw. 10, 20, 50, ..., 300, 500." Wait a second, I thought the Romanian lei traded at something like 30,000 lei to the dollar.
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Posted by markyiin at 05:57 AM | Comments (3)