Munich Airport had these neat napcabs. You pay with a card and can take a nap during your layover or before you head out to explore the city. One was being cleaned while we walked by, and it looked quite nice and clean.
German airports have many smoking lounges. I always find these intriguing.
After a little airport exploration, it was time to make our flight to Bucharest!
Flying over Romania
Taxiing to the gate at Henri Coandă International Airport in Bucharest
After we made it to the gate and grabbed our luggage, we headed to the Car Rental area. BY FAR the WORST experience ever renting a car. We had rented an automatic car from Enterprise way in advance. We were assured there was indeed an automatic car available for us. We checked out at the stand, then went outside for the shuttle. When we got to their lot, there was only one employee working. He was working with another group. While we were waiting, this group noticed their automatic car's rear view mirror was broken, and they, rightfully, refused to accept the car. The employee got on the phone and was obviously frustrated. During this, he set us up with a SUV. We put our belongings in the car and as he goes over the car, he mentions and shows us manual transmission. Obviously, this was a huge problem. We refused the car and he said they did not have automatic cars. They list them on the site but do not have them. We pointed out this was not true as the other group had an automatic car and how their website should not list cars being available when they are not. He refused to be of any assistance. We had to hop on the shuttle and go back to the airport (with all of our belongings!) When we finally make it back to Enterprise, no one is in the booth! We stand and wait for what seemed like twenty minutes. Finally, we called a number and someone showed up shortly. They apologized and said they had no automatic cars for us. We cancelled our reservation, got our money back, and took an Uber to the hotel. We stayed at the Crowne Plaza for the night. This had been the plan all along due to arriving in Bucharest late.
View from our balcony of the hotel restaurant
Hotel lobby
At the hotel last night, we researched different car rental companies and booked a car from Autonom Rent-A-Car. We came across this company by seeing their booth in the airport yesterday. We ultimately went with them because they confirmed they did indeed have an automatic car available. After getting our things together, we hailed an Uber to take us back to the airport.
Bucharest traffic can be quite insane. Our Uber driving was even cussing while driving! A lot of roads could use some new paint to designate lanes and how roundabouts work there...I'm still not sure. So many cars pull into the roundabouts and seem to just go whenever. I never could figure out the system. This picture doesn't do it justice.
Autonom Rent-A-Car, the car rental company we ultimately went with. As we experienced yesterday, no one was at the booth when we arrived. We waited. And waited. And waited. There was a number on the booth to call if needed. We called, but the number never worked. Not sure what the deal was. Finally, we went over to the Avis booth (one of the few booths that were staffed) and asked if this company/employees existed. The nice employee made a call and someone showed up eventually. The paper process took quite awhile, but finally, we were on our way to pick up our car.
Empty car booth rental - quite a common sight at the Bucharest airport
Once we finally had a rental car, we headed to our first destination, Sighisaora!
The first sights as we headed outside of Bucharest. These little crossover pathways were quite common. We saw them often.
The first of many sightings of a horse and wagon.
The first of many roadside stands. Some of the stands we came across seemed to operate on the honor system.
An interesting billboard
A local police station headquarter
Mega Image! Being from the south, I know this symbol as Food Lion. Interestingly, Food Lion is owned by a Belgium company. I first came across the Food Lion symbol outside of the US in Luxembourg I always find it interesting to come across them overseas.
First sighting of stray dogs in Romania. Sadly, this is a common sight in Romania. In the '80s, dictator Nicolae Ceausescu wanted to industrialize the country. People were forced to move to cities and into large apartment blocks. There were so many people, families were forced to share apartments. Due to this, animals were let go, and these animals reproduced. This created the huge stray dog problem. Over the years, there have been many attempts to "solve" this problem, many of which are inhumane.
dictator Nicolae Ceausescu
dictator Nicolae Ceausescu
Busteni, Romania. Busteni is a small, mountain resort town located at the bottom of the Bucegi Mountains. I LOVED this little town!
Predeal, Romania
There were lots of Coca Cola signs in this town!
And one lone Pepsi establishment.
A glimpse of the curvy, mountain road ahead
Romanian Driving School Car
Ploiesti Shopping City Mall
In case you've always wondered what a "Baby On Board" sign in Romania looks like...
This was such a nice, modern mall!
Food Court Area
Don't try the American Dining Experience...it's not good.
Back on the road to Sighisoara
Communist-style buildings
Heading into Bran, Romania
Bran Castle (better known as Dracula's Castle) peeking through the trees
There doesn't seem to be any parking area for the castle specifically. We parked downtown on the main road and a man came up to the car to take our payment.
Signs pointing you toward Bran Castle also seemed to be lacking. We happened to turn into what looked like a flea market, but it was the area leading to Bran Castle. Villagers must set up shop to sell to tourists.
Ticket booths are set up right past the booths. Then, you head up the path to Bran Castle.
The path is quite uphill and involves some stairs.
Part of the castle was under renovation. The line to get in was quite long and slow-moving.
Bran Castle
Finally, we made it to the DoubleTree in Sighisoara, our hotel for the next several days! We had a neat little room! It also had an upstairs area where the bedroom was located.
The view outside the window.
Romanian Money
Beautiful sunset view out of the hotel window
This was an entertaining Romanian TV show. I'm not sure what it was called. There was a lot of singing and dancing, though. I really enjoyed the authentic dancing and singing.
Room service - This was a pasta dish with chicken wrapped in bacon. The chicken wraps were really good. I wasn't a big fan of the pasta sauce, though.
Goodnight from Sighisoara!
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