Arrival in Iaşi.

18 October, 2005

I got to Iaşi around midnight, I took the afternoon train since, due to poor planning on my part, I couldn’t get a night train. A sleeper car is a little more than double the price of a seat, already quite cheap, and it saves a night of hotel costs, or a friends inconvenience...

I had hired a driver and guide/translator for this leg of a trip, who would be much more than those things. Sorin C. is my Romanian language tutor, and a very special person. He does translations, teaches English to Romanians, and Romanian to English or French speakers. He is a composer, was a stand up comedian, a computer programmer and a few other things I forgot. Sorin excels at attention to details and I don’t, to say the least, so it was a good match. Sorin is also an excellent traveling companion, most of the time, (heh) and understood perfectly what I was doing and was very enthusiastic about the project.

For my first night in Iaşi I chose the cheapest option for a hotel, which was a big mistake, the place I got was a hell hole called Casa Bucovineană

Okay, not a hell hole, but the worst hotel I've stayed in including that period in my early twenties when I could stay absolutely anywhere.If you do go there make sure you get a room that faces the street otherwise you could end up in a room with a window the gives out on the indoor roofed “courtyard” and the window curtain affords only the minimum of privacy. One star, $20, have a look at the room before you pay.

next: 20 October: Hîrlau