Bucharest

A first class sleeper is worth the $20 premium ticket. I slept well for at least seven hours on the train. Come 6:45 in the morning my one compartment mate and I awoke, about an hour before arrival, and had a chat. Turns out he flew cropdusters back under Ceaucescu, both Antonov AN-2s (see another picture in a September posting of such a plane in a Budapest McDonald's Playyard!) and helicopters. So, we did some hanger flying, and warmed to each other. We exchanged phone numbers, and I hope that we will meet again over a beer. (Image from Wikipedia.com)

Casa Victor could check me in upon arrival today, so I had breakfast, then soaked in a tub for awhile, and went to bed until 1:00 PM, then had lunch, and strolled with Charles over to pay a social call on the Fulbright Commission. The day has ended with a good dinner at an Italian restaurant with five fellow Fulbrighters: Charles, David Banville, and the Sherman-Hayes clan. Tomorrow we will visit the Romanian Peasants' Museum and fair, where I hope to find some small cultural gifts to take home to family at Christmas. Then comes the party at the Commission.