9th August Train timetable http://infofer.ro

I was faffing about travel and then it was 1000 and the scheduled power outage until 1300 that they told me about yesterday and I’d forgotten about, so I’ll have to leave.

Let’s skip a bit and come back later. I’m in Caru ‘cu Bere. It’s a bit like the beer hall in Munich with violin music. I wish I was more hungry, but all I can manage is beef soup and bread. The beer is Ursus – Fara Alcool and by the taste it’s 0.5% and it’s in a 0.51L bottle!

The exec lounge was fun last night. I don’t think it was too exclusive. I had a small bottle of beer and was offered another. Seriously, my body is rejecting alcohol.

From my walk around, I can see why this is the Paris of the east. The’re tree, space, and a relaxed feel. The small churches are amazing and there’s still much religion here. Women putting on head scarfs on is old school, and you can walk up to a hatch for a blessing.

This place! Someone is having soup in a bun. carucabere.ro

I need to pay and leave. The place was great, but I need to get out. Feeling and looking impatient I was directed to the till to pay 45 lei and gave them 50.

I had a nice walk and visited the National Museum. It’s interesting to see how borders of other countries change. War did not stop in 1918 or on 1945-6 either.

After a short swim in the pool I ate in the exec lounge. Yes – that’s right, food and Coke. In the end, I had a small glass of red wine, but I don’t know why.

My plan is to camp at Bran.

The other plan is to leave Romania by bus. 23hrs gets me to Zurich. All I need to do is catch the 0730 from Brasov.

I went for a little walk around 2200 looking for the Norwich vs Liverpool game. Refreshingly, I didn’t see the game anywhere. What I did see was loads of great cafes and restaurants.

After sitting outside the Roman building on the steps watching some streetwise cats – one of them staring out a dog – I’m sitting outside in the hotel bar with a pint of Ursus (alchool this time) which doesn’t taste as good as the non-alchool.

I’ve heard the news that the UK had a network power outage. Crazy days! A dam in Derbyshire is crumbling, BoJo got the PM gig, and we are heading for a no-deal Brexit. My view is that there will be a rebellion. Even the loyal Tories will put the brakes on. The Labour Party is so damaged that it can’t do it. I always hoped that we’d muddle through in a very British way, but I didn’t think how bad our country was. There are so many influences, and new external ones.

That’s my Ursus downed. Now that I’m in Bc this is the place I wish most to have shared with someone, but I wouldn’t wish my travel on anyone. Back to my room to see if Liverpool can add to their 0-4 half time score. The Eurosport channel in my room was showing it all along! 1-4 and 20 minutes left.