Trip Journal

I also have the turistInRomania blog (in Romanian) about the places I’ve visited in my country.

As traveling is one of  my hobbies, I thought of making a list of all the countries and cities that I visited, hoping that some impressions or suggestions will be of help for other people who want to travel in the same places:

Visited countries:

• in 2009
  1. Czech Republic – a little holiday after Easter with some friends; We stayed in Prague for 3,5 days – and it still wasn’t enough, it’s a wonderful city! After a 22-hour journey by train, we finally got to Prague and we started visiting and climbing stairs (be prepared for a lot of stairs!), but we saw a lot of things: the Charles Bridge and the towers from both sides of the bridge (Lesser Town Tower and Old Town Tower), the Clementinium, the Bethleem Chapel, the Tyn Cathedral, the astronomical clock, the Old Town City Hall, the Cehov Bridge, the Dancing House, the Petrin Hill (on which there were a mirror maze, a small replica of the Eiffel Tower – from which you could see the panorama of the city and a wonderful Planetarium – which has a lot of fun and attractive practical activities and interactive learning touchscreens), the Prague Castle (in which you can stay a full day and see interesting things, from cathedrals to art museums, to small old houses and stores, armory exhibitions and last but not least you have the opportunity to shoot the crossbow). The last day was more relaxing, as we visited the Jewish neighbourhood and its synagogues, the Prague Zoo and the cellars of the Old Town Hall. Also we took a boat trip on Vltava and two of the boys went to Kutna Hora, where there’s a cathedral with the interior made out of bones. Regarding the Czech cuisine, I loved the garlic soup and the beer! Before leaving, I bought a Pinocchio marionette which is very funny to play with and also it’s nicely done, as the Czechs are worldwide known for their craftsmanship. If I ever have the chance to go in Prague again, I’ll visit the Tehnical Museum (which has a build-in mine) and also take a trip to Kutna Hora to see the cathedral and the mines there.
• in 2008 – a circuit in Europe together with my mother
  1. Belgium – we’ve stayed 1,5 days in Brussels, near the NATO headquarters, and visited the city, the “Little Europe” and the “Atomium“; also, after returning from the UK, we visited Gent and Bruges (which has a unique and pleasant atmosphere); I really must admit that I tasted the best chocolates there!
  2. France - we’ve stayed 1,5 days in Paris and being the third time we were there, we wanted to try something new, so we went to Disneyland – that was a day when I felt so happy, careless and full of life like when I was a child; it was one of the best days of my life and I would surely go back again for 1 or 2 days to be a child again.
  3. UK – we’ve crossed from Calais to Dover by ferryboat (unfortunately, we were caught by a sea storm, and instead of getting to the destination in 1,5 hours the ferryboat arrived after 4 hours; at least it was an interesting experience, to see all the things move around you); we stayed 3 days in London (which, by the way is the city I liked most from all my visits) and we visited as much as we could: St. Paul’s Cathedral, the Buckingham Pallace and the changing of the guards, Hyde Park, Tower Bridge, the Tower of London (I eat the best sugar-roasted peanuts there and had a great time trying most of the activities in the Tower of London), Picadilly Circus, a boat trip on the Thames, Madame Tussauds’ Wax Museum (which I enjoyed very much and I thought that it was really worth the large sum of money for the entrance) and the British Museum; Unfortunately, I saw only from outside the London Eye, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, but the next time I’ll be in London, I’ll see them inside too. Going further from London, we visited Windsor (where we saw again the changing of the guards and a little live concert – the orchestra sang some very nice old pop songs, like Downtown – by Petula Clark), Oxford (some colleges from outside) and Stratford Upon Avon (Shakespeare’s birth town, the place he lived most of his life and where he is buried)
  4. Holland – we stayed 2 days in a small town of fishermen, in a really cosy hotel, which had near it a parking place for yachts. Close to this town, there was a ‘factory’ (actually, it was more of a museum, but still, the guides there were awesome) for cheese and traditional dutch wooden shoes (they are called clogs) where we could see the whole manual process of making cheese and clogs; I also bought a bottle of tasty wine made of blueberries. Afterwards, we visited Amsterdam: a jewelry factory, Madame Tussauds’ Wax Museum (which was cheaper than the one in London, but also smaller; still, it was high quality), we went for a boat trip on the channels and unfortunately we did not get in time to visit the Nemo museum, which is a modern tehnical museum; Even though I remained with a depressing feeling (probably because of all the humidity, rain, rude bicyclists and superficial shops) after visiting Amsterdam, what I liked most about Holland I found in that small town, while taking a evening stroll: small, simple and yet elegant houses, with no curtains, relaxed and polite people. Next, we visited Anvers and Delft (which I found really pleasant) and Rotterdam : we visited the city center (and saw the Walk of Fame) the Maritime Museum (which has a lot of original activities and games – part of it is an old ship, and the inside reconstruction included also dummy sailors and fun games from which you could try the same experiences they did: putting coal in the steamers, navigating – it’s a definitely must-see in Rotterdam); Last, but not least, we passed through the Hague, and stopped in Schvenigen to see the seaside; of course, I could not just stay there and look at the surfers, so I took my shoes off and walked a little in the Northern Sea’s waters.
• in 2007 – a circuit in Europe together with my mother
  1. Hungary – Budapest
  2. Austria – Vienna, Salzburg
  3. Germany – Munchen, Nurenberg
  4. France – Paris, Versailles
  5. Luxembourg
• in 2006 – holiday in summer time
  1. Bulgaria – just passed through it, on my way to Greece, but I wouldn’t really want to go visit it…the impression I got was of a poor and almost deserted country
  2. Greece – we’ve stayed in the Nei Pori, but also visited Athens, the monasteries from Meteora and a short trip on the Olympus Mountains
• in 2005 – ACSL contest with my high-school team (“Dr. Ioan Mesota” High-school)
  1. USA – We’ve spend: 3 days in New York, 1 day in Washington, 1 day in Philadelphia and another days in Allentown
  2. France – just half a day in Paris because the plane had a stop, but enough to make me want to come back