Romania – A Bird's Eye View of Fashion, Food, Travel, Culture, Beverage and Curiosity

The Penniless Pensioner: Misaligned, Maligned but Marvelous (The Final Version): Chapter 47: Surrounded by Gypsies at Three A.M. and My Eye Spies an Old Flame and a Dacian Beauty

I had two days before my little show in Bucharest introducing Romanian restaurants and liquor distributors to India’s finest whisky (in my humble opinion) “Bombay Blues”. After an early dinner at the Westin’s “Vlad the Impaler’s” bistro style restaurant I decided to take an evening stroll to Herastrau Park a huge park encircling a lagoon.Continue reading “The Penniless Pensioner: Misaligned, Maligned but Marvelous (The Final Version): Chapter 47: Surrounded by Gypsies at Three A.M. and My Eye Spies an Old Flame and a Dacian Beauty”

I left India via New Delhi on TAROM Airlines on the Delhi Belly flight to Bucharest aptly named as so many passengers have the trots from Indian food the airplane cabin reeks of poopy runs! Part of the “plan” had me darkening my skin with a couple of weeks in the Bombay sun to bleachContinue reading “The Penniless Pensioner: Misaligned, Maligned But Marvellous (The Final Version) :Chapter 46: Touchdown in Romania Clouded with Poop Gas: An Angry Gun Barrell Never Sleeps”

After dinner Don Lupara’s men dropped me off at the fully renovated seaside home on the Bay of Naples a wedding gift for a wedding that never was to be due to Ginevra’s murder. It was payback time. Cyclops who had planted a roadside explosive device that killed my sweet Campanian plum Ginevra and ourContinue reading “The Penniless Pensioner: Misaligned, Maligned but Marvellous (The Final Version):Chapter 42: How Do You Kill Another Man? The Romanian Revenge Plan: Romanian Lightning Heroin”

In this Romanian documentary we follow the life of Alice, her husband Dorian and their child Aristo. Alice married Dorian aged 53 at 18 years of age due to her pregnancy. Alice has had a traumatic and unloved existence abandoned by her parents and raised by a tyrant grandmother blocking all parental access to AliceContinue reading “RKS 2024 Film: “Alice On and Off”: Misery Justified by the Selfishness of “Trauma”: Sympathy For the Devil?”

Radu Jude’s “Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World” is a Romanian feature film replete with satire, a full panoply of Romanian music and implicit comparisons of modern Romania to Ceausescu’s communist Romania. Angela (Ilinca Manoache) is a production assistant for a Romanian film production company in Bucharest specializing in “corporateContinue reading “RKS 2024 Film: “Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World”: A Wild Ride Through Bucharest and Romanian History! A New Cult Film?”

OK so I had our Bombay Blues Whisky travelling road show at the J.W. Marriot Bucharest Grand Hotel’s “Voice of America” grand suite. The Romanians tanked up on Bombay Blues Whisky. In fact twenty bottles of it for 53 people. They scoffed down pounds of Bombay Fried Okra probably not noticing the inferior Albanian okraContinue reading “” The Penniless Pensioner: Misaligned, Maligned but Marvellous: ” Chapter 48: Rot in Hell Cyclops! May You Be with the Angels Ginevra”

My last day in Romania. I have been here for 29 days and only have scratched the surface. When I return home I will have to read more about Romanian politics and society. I was up at 06:15 for a breakfast of my bartered Romanian honey and some bread. Off on a dilapidated bus courtesyContinue reading ““Travels to a Different Time ” : 22July1974: All Over the Place in Romania and Yugoslavia: The Squawking Plastic Parrot: Being a Community Project and a Cadillac With New York Plates Parked Outside a Shack”

Considering the rain leakage into my tent I woke up in a good mood. I was on the road at 06:30. On a ride in the back of a truck one guy my age went berserk when he saw my belt. He really went nuts when he saw I had a pair of jeans inContinue reading ““Travels to a Different Time” : 21July1974: Motru, Romania: Bartering with a Poor Romanian Dude: My Celebrity Status Continues: Police Chief Warns About Associating with Me”

Up early to perform my morning ablutions and readying for my next destination Sebes. I had to take a bus to Sibiu to get to the main road. A toothless peasant in front of me reeked of wine and we were sandwiched in. I had to mash my way out. I got my first rideContinue reading ““Travels to a Different Time” : 20July1974: Simeria, Romania: Ducks and Chickens Running Around the Street”

I finally bought the sheepskin vest and with help of some black-market exchange I ended up paying $20. The day was roasting hot as I went to the market to purchase ingredients to make another batch of spaghetti. I purchased all the ingredients at the market and went into the “tourist shop” to buy EastContinue reading ““Travels to a Different Time” : 17July1974: Bucharest, Romania: Too Much East German Beer: Jumped by Gypsies at 2 a.m.”