Regele Berii In Romania

Everything turned out well in the end, although the request to arrive at the airport three hours early turned out to be a complete waste of time as the check-in desk didn't open until two hours prior to departure. I got through all the checks though, boarded the plane and landed in the Romanian capital three hours later, in the midst of a blistering 28 degree heatwave. Being British, I was scared of the flaming golden orb in the sky but thankfully Saturday brought cloud and I felt more at home.

My friend Marius had intended to meet me at the airport but unfortunately he went to the wrong one. I had to convince him that I really was at Bandeasa and not the main one, and he picked me up 15 minutes later, replete in his little sailor boy shirt. This wait gave me enough time to get some money out of the ATM and loiter outside an impressive white memorial and enjoy the autumn heat. I also got talking to a pleasant Romanian lady with a really bad headcold during the chaotic customs procedure. She was coming home for a christening and was really lovely to talk to. She is a resident of Bucharest and told me loads of cool things to do in the city. She lives in Tunbridge Wells, bucking the trend that all people there are angry. She was lovely.

Marius kindly drove me to my hotel and waited outside whilst I checked-in and had a shower. This took some time as I have German kids TV channel Kika here and there was a cartoon about a goth girl who turned into a fox, which grabbed my interest. There's also a Russian channel which always advertises caviar yet every web address goes to a .de domain. Anyway, I digress. When I was ready, Marius then drove me to the impressive Press Headquarters in the northern suburbs of the city. This is a Stalinist type structure which houses the offices of all the major news agencies in Romania. Here, we ditched the car and hailed a cab into the city.

On first impressions, Bucharest is a city greatly scarred from the Communist era. Indeed, of all the places I have visited, this city seems to have been scarred the most. The dominant colour is grey and whilst there are some nice sandstone buildings of a previous age, they are juxtaposed with delapidated grey tower blocks. Many of these are weathered and have mossy trails of water down their walls. The streets are narrow and thin, and can't cope with the tenfold increase in car volume which has been seen in the last ten years. It's dusty, chaotic and a little bit intimidating. And yet I think it's one of the best cities in the world.

Romanians are fantastically friendly and I have had so many spontaneous conversations and experiences already. They are also a very attractive bunch of people, particularly the ladies, which only adds to the sense that this is a special place. Even today, when walking around on my own, I didn't really feel alone as there was loads of people who wanted to chat. Lost ladies, ladies in the pharmacy and in a sports shop I went to in order to pick up some swimming shorts. Everyone was really chatty. Even the taxi drivers were interested in striking up a conversation. And the standard of English here is excellent too.

We met up with Marius's wife outside the Neo-Romanian styled University, a long grey building with exquisite architecture. We loitered on the adjacent Piața 21 Decembrie 1989, so-named due to the events which happened here which led to the overthrowing of Nicolae Ceauşescu, and marvelled at the fountain, which was spraying red water as a promotion for the fourth series of True Blood (which started here last night). The rich red colour really did make the water look like blood and in the waning sun, it felt perversely sensual.

After our introductions, the three of us headed over to the Cişmigiu Gardens, a nice urban park on the western fringes of the old city. Here, we grabbed something to eat. I tried a local delicacy, tochitură moldovenească, which is effectively a pork stew with sausages floating in it. Cheese and a fried egg are added to the mix and I must admit it was rather tasty. I also sampled a few locals beers, which will be reviewed in my next issue of (the hugely popular) Beer Tasting Notes.

It was a pleasant evening sat on the terrace next to a lake, and it was great catching up with old friends and making new ones. However, we soon had to be off as we were meeting more people on the outskirts of town. We had a football match to go to...

Romania 2-2 Belarus

I have never been to an international football match and discovering that Romania were due to play a crucial Euro 2012 Group D qualifier in Bucharest last night, I asked my friend Radu whether he could get tickets. He duly did and so we were going to the match.

Marius, his wife and I arrived outside the newly reconstructed national football stadium half an hour before kick-off. The stadium has just been rebuilt as it's scheduled to host the 2012 Europa League final. It's an impressive structure, akin to the Colosseum in Rome, and the atmosphere heading into the stadium was euphoric. We met up with Radu and his girlfriend on a street corner next to the stadium and he distributed the tickets. We then made our way towards the terraces as we chatted about the fans' expectations ahead of the game.

Bosnia, Romania's main rivals in Group D, were already 3-0 up by the time the game kicked off. This meant that Romania had no chance of qualifying for Euro 2012 unless Luxembourg staged an unlikely comeback. The majority of fans weren't aware of this though and they were fully there to support their team. It was a little odd being a non-Romanian speaker going into the ground. I was frisked, as we all were, and I tried not to speak lest I outed myself as a foreigner. In the end it didn't matter. We picked up some free Romanian flags they were distributing at the turnstiles and made our way to our seats, right at the top of the stadium.

As you enter the arena itself, it is hard not to be inspired. The ground resembled Barcelona's Nou Camp in style, with red, yellow and blue seats layered so as to create the Romanian flag. There was a giant Jumbotron right above the field suspended by cables. This displayed the score and showed some highlights from the game too. The flags of the teams were displayed as rugby balls on the screen for some reason. I wasn't too sure what this was about in all honesty.

The national anthems were another surreal moment for me. A lot of people booed the Belorussian national anthem, which was sad to hear. Then everyone sang the Romanian national anthem with such energy and gusto, it was difficult not to feel patriotic. Not knowing the words to the Romanian national anthem, I just tapped the rhythm on my thigh. I am not sure what that achieved but it seemed like the right thing to do. And by the way, the Romanian national anthem is a proper national anthem as it is uplifting and rouses the spirits, unlike the dirge we have. Sorry, but as songs go, God Save The Queen is dreadful.

The stadium was about half-full - around 29,000 in attendence. Our tickets cost 80 lei, roughly £16, and these were for the best seats in the house. The game started how you would expect, with the Romanians trying to attack and the Belorussians sitting back. They were clearly there for the point and it came as no surprise when Adrian Mutu opened the scoring for the hosts around the 20 minute mark. It was a beautiful free-flowing move and a perfectly worthy goal. The crowd went mental and, just like with the national anthem, there was much flag waving. It was the first goal scored at the new stadium and it was an honour to see it.

Radu and Marius left three minutes before half time to get refreshments and Romania's defence must have done the same. One long ball from the Belorussian goalkeeper saw Cosmin Moti make a catastrophic error in the Romanian defence. The ball fell to Sergei Kornilenko and he made no mistake in his one-on-one situation, burying the ball beyond the Romanian keeper. This unsettled the Romanian backline and the goalie fumbled a cross shortly afterwards. Thankfully for the Romanians, an open goal was missed and the half ended 1-1.

I spent a lot of the half speaking to Radu about football tactics. He knows an awful lot about the game and the people below us quickly sussed I was English. They kept looking at me with suspicion but they were generally cool, which was, erm, cool.

The second half started with beer and crisps in hand. Belarus had increased in confidence due to their late flurry in the first half but it was that man Mutu who struck for the Romanians to put them 2-1 ahead. However, like when they were 1-0 up, they were content to defend their lead rather than go for the killer punch. This always leaves you exposed and a dubious penalty towards the end of the half saw Stanislav Dragun convert and Romania dumped out of Euro 2012. There was much booing at half time, probably harsh booing too, but apparently the lack of a killer touch and a creative outlet had cost the Romanians during this campaign. At least now they seem to be on the right track.

With the Bosnians hammering the Luxembourgers, the result was irrelevant anyway, but there was much unhappiness on leaving the stands. No violence though, just frustration. We saw the mounted police clip-clop off after the game in an almost camp parody whilst we waited for a taxi to take us the five miles back to the centre of Bucharest.

We decided to descend on a bar after the game and ended up staying out until past 3am. Downtown Bucharest is currently undergoing renovation and it has quite a relaxed and bohemian feel. The major bars are in a square kilometer of narrow streets. Most of the bars have seating areas which sprawl on to the pavements, with only a narrow path for pedestrian access. It's a situation we couldn't get away with in the UK, partly down to weather but largely down to the attitudes surrounding alcohol. I saw not one person drunk last night. Not one person was loud and rowdy. Not one person was sick and not one person was violent. Sadly, at 3am, you would never get the scenes I saw last night in Britain. Food was served until late, you could smoke and we spent the night chatting and chilling. At one point, the Heartbeat theme was played in the bar, which was a rather surreal moment. As was the poster for an advertising company in the toilets which urged us (in a slightly kinky fashion) to 'Give Piss a Chance'. Apparently urinal advertising in Romania is a big deal. I must use that line on anyone who is unsure about watersports in future.

At around three o'clock we noticed it was getting quite late, particularly because the quartet had an hour drive ahead of them. So we took a taxi to the Press building, where we picked up the car and they drove me to my hotel before heading home. However, we did have an encounter with the stray dogs. There are stray dogs everywhere in this city, loads of them, and it's heartbreaking to see. There were a few about late last night in the parkland in front of the Press Building. Upon spying us, they started to bark loudly to get our attention. We were the only ones about at this time and clambered into the car quickly before starting to drive off. However, the dogs thought this was a game and they started running with the car. For the next mile. Down every street we turned they were still there bounding along, having fun. I am glad we could give them a bit of fun really as it's so sad to see so many of these dogs without homes. They appear to be tagged but have nowhere to go. It is one of those things which is quite common throughout Eastern Europe.

Cul

Due to staying out late last night, along with my cold which still shows no signs of abating, I ended up sleeping in until lunchtime today. After all this, plus travelling and my recent workload, I needed the rest and I am glad I took it. However, soon I was up and raring to go, ready to see Bucharest.

In all honesty, you can see the city in about two hours. As I mentioned before, it has been scarred by the Communist era but this isn't to say there aren't places of interest. The pinnacle of my sightseeing was undoubtedly Palatul Parlamentului (The Palace of Parliament), a testament to the meglomania of Nicolae Ceauşescu in the 1980s. Palatul Parlamentului is the second largest government building in the world after The Pentagon. It is truly massive, a building of such grandeur that it dominates the city. It is built on top of a hill and looks down a wide boulevard of exquisite fountains. On either side of this boulevard, a semi-circle of government buildings face the Palatul Parlamentului as if in awe to it. You only get a scope of its size by comparing it to the cars which whizz past the road beneath it. It is 86m high, 270m x 240m dimensionally. You can go on tours of the building but sadly, there was a political function on today and it was closed to the public. This is a shame as the marble, chandeliers and gold leaf interior is exquisite.

Another highlight was observing the Intercontinental Hotel, a Ceauşescu inspired building. This imposing brown Communist structure is typical of the vast majority of buildings in the city and is a legacy of how much Bucharest suffered during this time. This is located opposite Piața 21 Decembrie 1989, which I wrote about in my previous post. In December 1989, demonstrations against Ceauşescu took place in the city of Timișoara. Things reached a head in Bucharest on 21 December 1989 when, during a mass meeting on Piaţa Palatului (since renamed Piaţa Revoluţiei), revolution was instigated. This meeting had been designed as a stage-managed attempt by Ceauşescu to show that his people were on his side. However, this spectacularly backfired. Eight minutes into listening to Ceauşescu's speech, which he made from the balcony of the Central Committee Building (the former headquarters of the Communist Party is still an imposing building here), the crowd soon turned on him, starting to chant, boo and whistle over him. It was from this moment that it became clear the Ceauşescu regime in Romania was over as it fuelled protests across the country and was to result in his execution, four days later.

The Royal Palace is situated in this region too, and is a beautiful building in the Greek style. Next to this building is the similarly styled National Art Museum and across the road is Excalibur, a giant three-sided sword statue which looks like it is piercing a giant egg. That's the only way I can describe it really. In the car park adjacent to this weird edifice, and in front of the former Communist HQ, was an exhibit hosted by Red Bull entitled 'The Art of the Can'. It was on the back of an Austrian trailer and perhaps is a perfect symbol of how Romania has embraced free market capitalism. The exhibit was a collection of artworks made out of Red Bull cans. There was a Cheshire Cat sculpture, a flying wolf type creature, a crocodile, a bull fighting scene and a table football table entirely constructed out of old cans. The match was Red Bull against Red Bull Light. The whole thing was really quite impressive.

There are many monuments around Piața 21 Decembrie 1989 as this area played such an important part in the Revolution, particularly as it's right next to the university. There are many stone crosses in this area to remember those who died in the uprising. The most poignant is probably the black cross marking the death of Mihai Gătlan, who, at the age of 19, was the first one to be killed in the events of that month. This region also contains the National Theatre and Opera House, which are undergoing renovation. There was an interesting violin sculpture though, along with some other pieces of art adorning the entrance to the building. I also visited the site of an old hospital, which had a strong academic theme to it for some reason.

The one thing that struck me about Bucharest today was the sheer number of people getting married. There must have been about 15 brides I have seen throughout the day, all getting their pictures taken in front of the major tourist attractions of the city. There were some outside the National Bank, others outside the National Library and yet more outside the Athaneum. Granted, all these buildings are beautiful but it was a little odd. It must be a tradition in these parts.

One building that wasn't beautiful was the labyrinth that was the major shopping mall in Bucharest. I wanted some swimming shorts and discovered that this mall was the least spacious and most confusingly laid out mall ever. It must also be a massive fire hazard. Still, there was a good recreation area on the fifth floor and I did manage to find what I needed.

I am sure there's a load more stuff to tell but I think I have the majority of it. It's 1.30am here now so I imagine I should get some sleep. It's another busy day tomorrow.