October 2025. Bucharest. Romania.
Yes ! It’s those forrin muck posts you love !
It’s Mrs RM’s fault. With the old folk heading downhill she’s taking every opportunity to kill the planet fly to Eastern Europe for £20 while we can.
A fellow ticker, I expected her to be tackling the “Rest of World” badges with Europe complete*,
Apparently Iran, Ghana and the Falklands (surely a handpump there) can wait, it’s time to do Romania properly.
A 4:30am alarm wakes us in our campervan at Luton Airport, a duff eggs benny at Big Smoke and three hours with squashed knees on Wizz Air.
Two nights in Bucharest in 2018, an unsatisfactory morning this March, and now three full days to determine if it really is all coffee and pot plants.
Mrs RM has done all the planning, and once again she’s played a blinder. As long as she doesn’t go on Mumsnet complaining about doing all the “Life Admin”.
We’re in a modern apartment near the University, Romana a mix of youth and decay.
I feel like I should use “fin de siecle” for the architecture but my Mum always told me not to use words I didn’t know the meaning of.
I love the modernist buildings though.
Mrs RM is less fussed about the architecture, she just wants food.
There was a risk I’d repeat the 2018 trip to see what’s changed, and true enough we again start at Zaganu’s craft taproom, which looks exactly like it did 7 years ago, and the soundtrack is still Rick Astley and Bros. Is that reassuring ?
One of the original craft breweries, their Red and Blonde are high quality, and those burgers and pizzas as healthy as ever.
We walk the mile to what we recall as a seedy Old Town, admiring Macca-Villacrosse Passage till we realise it’s basically a passage of hookah bars.
IIt’s drizzling, and the light rain barely stops all week.
Appropriately, the city is full of umbrellas,
in Umbrella Street and the Grand Café Van Gogh which is one of Mrs RM’s ticks.
Obviously those paintings aren’t all original Van Goghs, that would be silly, but they are high quality prints and this is the classiest place in Old Town by a distance.
Big brewery beer, CAMRA would be appalled, but a black lager is matched expertly with….
….Papanasi, your Romanian mix of doughnuts, cream and fruit.
Ignore the pancakes, look at the fruit.
Think of Van Goghs as Romania’s Betty’s and you’ll get the idea.
Though I don’t think Harrogate has a Gentleman’s Club next door.
*bar Belarus
retiredmartin 
Homebrew!!
https://www.falklandislands.com/things-to-do/shopping-in-the-falklands/falkland-beerworks-p680491
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Wait till Simon’s final year before sticking it in the Channel Islands section.
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It’s a good job you told us they were all high quality prints. The trouble with van Gogh is that, at a glance, everything looks like a crude fake by someone who’s never previously picked up a paint brush.
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Wait till we get to the Mondrian Bistro.
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Ouch !
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“Yes ! It’s those forrin muck posts you love !”
I thought ‘forrin’ was anywhere north of Hadrian’s Wall and west of Offa’s Dyke.
“it’s time to do Romania properly.”
(looks at pic below)
Blimey; you drove?
“and three hours with squashed knees on Wizz Air.”
Ah, you flew.
“a mix of youth and decay.”
That could be anywhere these days.
“but my Mum always told me not to use words I didn’t know the meaning of.”
What was her view on ending a sentence with a preposition?
“Mrs RM is less fussed about the architecture, she just wants food.”
That reminds me of someone ‘with whom’ I live. 😉
“which looks exactly like it did 7 years ago, and the soundtrack is still Rick Astley and Bros. Is that reassuring ?”
Some people prefer things don’t change so… yes?
“and those burgers and pizzas as healthy as ever.”
What do they call those ‘chip’ like things with the burger?
” till we realise it’s basically a passage of hookah bars”
For a second, I thought you were in Amsterdam, but realised you wrote ‘hookah’.
“IIt’s drizzling, and the light rain barely stops all week.”
‘It’s’ not necessary to have two ‘i’s in the first word.
“Appropriately, the city is full of umbrellas,”
Makes sense with all the rain; and looks nice too!
“and the Grand Café Van Gogh which is one of Mrs RM’s ticks.”
Ooh! Do they have tea and coffee mugs with his face on them, making the handle his one good ear?
“Obviously those paintings aren’t all original Van Goghs, that would be silly, but they are high quality prints”
My Mom had the one to the left of his portrait hanging in her hallway.
“Papanasi, your Romanian mix of doughnuts, cream and fruit.”
Dark beer goes great with desert type food.
“Think of Van Goghs as Romania’s Betty’s and you’ll get the idea.”
(looks at pic below)
Finally! A place where my Android phone can have a tinkle.
“Though I don’t think Harrogate has a Gentleman’s Club next door.”
I think in Romania they are called hookah clubs. 😎
Cheers
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I drove from Cambridge to southern Poland once (over 3 days), that was too far.
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It’s all a matter of perspective, or what is ‘normal’ for where one lives. My wife has family who think nothing of driving 7 hours, one way, for the weekend.
Due to being in the military (and my limited choices of postings thanks to what I did) we drove twice from Ottawa, Ontario to Masset, British Columbia (on the Queen Charlotte Islands, or Haida Gwaii to some), and, of course, twice back. One way was 5,200km, give or take, and that didn’t include the 8 hour ferry ride to/from the island.
When we moved from Ottawa to Edmonton, Alberta, I thought we’d be able to ‘pop up’ to Whitehorse in the Yukon to see Rose’s parents. It was still a 2,000km drive. 😏
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I was looking at the badge board and was thinking have you really been to the Marshall Islands?
Then I realised the trick is to remove the badge after the tick
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That’s the problem with getting interesting comments. Alan mentions the Marshall Islands and I spend 20 minutes looking for ways to get there and find a pub there.
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According to What Pub Pacific South West the micropubs on The Marshall Islands mostly serve locally sourced fermented coconut juice but Bass is sometimes available.
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