We both managed to sleep in till after 8.00. Obviously after three weeks of travel and a long day in transit from Bonnieux to Bucharest we needed the sleep.

After last night gigantic meal, we decided on brunch rather than breakfast. It being Easter Sunday, we were advised that our best chances would be in the old town. We cannot understand how it could be 15c when we went out 10.30 with a forecast for 25c when Provence is thousands of Km south. There is a simple answer, Bucharest isn't thousands of km north, its east; almost on the same latitude. We just happened to fly thousands north to Frankfurt and then thousands south east to Bucharest. Gee maps can be enlightening.

We walked along Calea Victoriei again. The blue sky set off all the grand buildings that line this main street but could't do anything for the drab ones in between. The contrast is dramatic. We found Strad Lipscani, the best street to lead us into the heart of the old town, and went in search of somewhere for brunch. I had printed off a 90 page Bucharest guide to bring with us and it turned out to be perfect as it included reviews of cafes and restaurants. Grand Cafe Van Gogh has excellent reviews so we found a seat in the sun. Temp. was 19c and forecast for 23c. We reckon it got closer to 27c. A brilliant weather day.

Before I get to brunch and the rest of the day, I must share a couple of observations: At all intersections there is no button to press to activate a green walk sign. The lights are programmed to change at regular intervals and that's it. No warning "beep" when it's green, you just need to keep an eye on the sign.

We’ve haven’t seen more smokers in almost twenty years. I made the comment to Ches that there weren’t as many in France and she claimed that there were a lot who left rrestaurants mid meal for a smoke outside, even when it was very clod. She sighted a couple at the restaurant at Aigues-Mortes and as there were only them and us in the restaurant, that made 50%. Lies, damn lies and statistics … that’s not a valid sample. Worse still in Bucharest, there aren’t any no smoking sections so we were outnumbered 8 to 1 by the smokers everywhere. Now that’s my statistic and its valid.

I’d love to have the contract for supplying red hair dye in Romania. That’s also in numbers close to smokers.

Last year I read a book about the institutionalisation of crime in Eastern Europe after the fall of communism. I don’t know how much advance there has been however the general argument was that the secret police in most countries became the police in the new and organised crime around both prostitution and the usual rackets as well as trade in cigarettes. I can’t remember exactly how it worked and maybe still does but it involved buying bulk duty free at wholesale prices and then using speedboats to "run" stock into Italy. Billions of dollars involved and all sorts of other illegal trading that basically denied their county revenue. In fact, the “black” economy was larger than the real one. That might explain why civic development here has lagged behind countries such as the Czech Tepublic and Slovenia.

Both of us had also read a novel by Peter James in which the them was the harvesting of body parts form the street kids of Bucharest.

Both hadn’t encouraged us to expect much to like in Bucharest. The reality is amazingly different. How could I possibly say that I prefer Bucharest to Vienna?

Ches doesn’t think we gave Vienna enough time and enough of a chance however for me, it was a very clean, white marble Paris without a river running through it. What could possess them to build a canal to divert the Danube around the outskirts of the city. Everything spick and span for the tourists.

Bucharest on the other hand is a mix of grubby grand buildings from its Imperial past, ugly decaying cement buildings both finished and unfinished from the communist era, abandoned and decaying residential building from the imperial era and in among all this little gems. In most cases the gems are churches or cafes/restaurants. They stand out like diamonds in a bed of gravel.

But back to brunch. Despite the fantastic plush interior (gilt panelling and ceilings and plush seating, we sat outside in the warmth. Many of the menus at cafes and restaurants are very American and there is little evidence of traditional Romanian fare. We passed a closed restaurant a little later that featured “Pork with Turkey Testicles” . (I initially wrote “pork and turkey testicles” but I’d never mix my testicles). I’d love to have tried it.

The menu at Van Gogh is very American and Ches had a ham and cheese omelette while I had a “Meaty Pie” that consisted of a small bowl lined with soft tortilla filled with chili concarne two eggs and cheese melted on top. Fabulous but hardly Romanian. I also wondered about the motto stencilled around every servery bench: “Luck is an attitude” The best coffee I’ve had in three weeks made it even better.

We spent the next three hours wandering the streets of the old town. To think that Nicolae Ceaușescu cleared almost a third of the old town to build his “Peoples Pallace”. I guess most people under 40 won’t know anything about this megalomaniac. The second and last communist ruler of Romania was the only one to be overthrown by a revolution (1989) and when captured trying to flee, he and his wife faced a one hour court hearing, were convicted of genocide among other crimes and were executed by firing squad and now are in weed infested graves. They tried to flee by helicopter which raises the question of why he didn’t use either of the escape tunnels from the Palace .. one being 600 km long and the other 200km.

The Palace is now the Parliament and only 1/3 of it is in use. It’s the 2nd largest building after The Pentagon and there was a recent proposal for it to be converted into a shopping centre and entertainment complex …. Highly unlikely.

Anyway, Ceaușescu destroyed 1/3 of the old town and therefore what we had to explore was pretty compact with some absolute gems. Made even more precious because it was the Orthodox Church’s Easter Sunday. Stavropoleos Church was built in 1724 and has survived earthquakes and the destruction of almost every building in the area. The guide book says “diminutive”, and it sure is. It’s a Brâncoveanu style church, which means built in the style Constantine Brâncoveanu adopted in building hundreds of churches in the late 1600’s and early 1700’s. He was martyred in 1714 when Sultan Ahmed 111 captured him and he refused to convert.

The nuns were preparing for one of the Easter Sunday services and tourists continued to enter the church, however they were pretty respectful except for one family which decided to partake of the offering on the alter (bread). A nun whisked the plate away for safekeeping before anyone else could have the same idea. She also had a quiet word with the mother who had lead the assault, and I don’t think they were words of praise.

This like everything else in the old town is better served by photographs. I rattled off dozens of the church and the adjoining nuns residence which was built in the early 1900’s in a similar style.

We walked on down past the old citadel built by Prince Vlad Tepes. That would be “Vlad the Impaler” or “Draular”. Partially destroyed when he regained the throne in 1476 and later by earthquakes, it’s now just some columns, arches and walls. Beside it are two stunningly different buildings: the Old Court Church (1546-58) and Hanul lui Manus (Manuc’s Inn 1808).

The service was being broadcast outside the church, so we could hear wonderful harmonies as they sang . Sounded like all male choirs at most of the services we passed during the day.

We spent hours wandering the streets of the old town before returning to the hotel to change and returned to find somewhere for dinner. As it turned out, half of the youth of Bucharest had also decided that Easter Sunday was the night to eat out. While there are a number of restaurants and cafes throughout the old town, there is a massive number in a couple of streets near Cafe Van Gogh.

We settled on a "grill" restaurant and there were plenty to choose from. We had ribs and pork chops with grilled vegetables and fries, raspberry pancakes and a beer each. All for the princely sum of $AUD53.00