The Romanian Way #001

Mira sitting pretty at Univesitate Metro Station

When you leave your homeland and go and live somewhere new you expect a few cultural differences. In Romania however I frequently stumble accross things that defy logic and sidestep common sense so much I just cannot explain them. So, welcome to chapter one of what will be known as THE ROMANIAN WAY. If any locals are reading this blog perhaps they can offer up some sort of explanation to these bizarre situations.

On the platforms in London Underground we have digital displays telling us how long it will take the train to arrive at the platform. This is useful information. In Romania they have a similar concept but instead of telling us how long we have to wait for the next train they tell us how long it has been since the last train left the platform! To make it worse the display only goes up to 09:55 so if the next train has not arrived ten minutes before the last train departed the display goes back to 00:00. This is completely useless information!!

Saying that underground travel on Bucharest's metro system is a joy to use compared to London. The trains were introduced in 1979 and at that time there were hardly any cars in the city, so everyone used the metro. Fast forward to 2006 and the roads of Bucharest are overrun with cars, intersections gridlocked, the sound of car horns filling the air. So the metro is relatively quiet, and at around 10 pence a journey its a bargain!

The Bukresh love their cars and where there used to be just Dacias, there are now mostly 4x4's which are required to drive over the trenches and holes found in the cheaply tarmaced roads. More about Romanians and their cars in a later post.