Romania and Moldova Part III: Chisinau

After our whirlwind trip to the painted monasteries, Emily and I managed to find the time to hunt down the fortress in Suceava. Currently little more than a pile of rubble, it is in the process of being rebuilt-- but nonetheless still impressive.

Our time in Suceava unfortunately over, Emily and I returned to Chisinau the same way we'd come-- in a very uncoordinated, ad hoc way. Again we missed our bus and had to go through Iasi. Still, we managed to have part of a day in Chisinau to see the sights, such as they were.

Chisinau's "arc de triumphe" in the main square

And of course, the ubiquitous Stefan Cel Mare

We made a short visit to the museum of history and archaeology.

The museum was like a palace inside.

Interesting fountain in the main park

This church became my favorite thing to photograph

And finally, some great engrish for your enjoyment

Sometime during our travels, I lost my cell phone. The next evening we called a taxi to take me to the train station to catch my train. Unfortunately, my horrible luck with taxis continued. Firstly, the taxi was very late and, in fear of missing my train, we jumped into the wrong one. Then, there were the language issues. My struggle to speak Russian instead of surzhyk continued. I asked the driver to take me to the "vokzal"-- which is both Ukrainian and Russian for "station". The driver thought that I meant the "avtovokzal"-- the bus station. Sadly, I did not remember the Russian word for "railroad" and he did not know the Ukrainian one, which I did know. So he took me to the bus station. Once we realized our mistake, I desperately flagged down another taxi driver who (after price-gouging) did take us to the train station. We arrived just as my train was pulling out of the station.

After a very harried discussion with the train station worker, I managed to buy a new ticket for an overnight train. Emily stayed with me as long as she could, since I lacked a cell phone-- but she had to leave to get her bus eventually. Fortunately, I caught the later train with no problem and made it back to Vinnytsia without any more problems. My travel adventures continued!