Bucharest arrival, smooth, friendly, without human contact

bucharest

Suitcases far too large drive flight attendants almost crazy. The overhead bins are stowed with much ado.

We land in Bucharest, or at least the Bucharest airport, which is as far from Bucharest as Schiphol is from Amsterdam.

I install the Bolt app and request a cab. We arrive at our downtown apartment in just over half an hour.

mucharest

We check into our apartment entirely without human contact. We find the key for the front door in a key box and open the door via an app.

We walk into town with no particular destination, with A and P having come to our apartment. P has to go to Luca because he loves it. Luca is a chain serving coffee, and the famous Roumanian pretzels slash hotdogs are stuffed with meat or cheese and olives. I eat vegetarian, so it’s cheese and olives for me.

Shopping at Delhaize, which is called Mega here and is actually just an Albert Heijn, including the price level.

amante

In the evening, we eat Mexican food at Amante, a few blocks away. The restaurant’s choice of loud dance music is strange.

Vacation Photos; and the fun of always taking pictures

Toeristen fotograferen

Kronkeling has the most fun blog about photography.

Kronkeling has a hard time photographing on vacation. I don’t share this struggle. I always takes pictures. Sometimes it’s for the image, the beautiful picture, sometimes for the subject, so just the snapshot. I decide the goals afterward, but then I am different from Kronkeling.

Tips for your holiday pictures from Kronkeling are here.

Sometimes, there are miniseries, like when our car broke down, and we had to wait until a mechanic came to help us. I photographed all the trash in the parking lot.

Or, during vacations, photographing tourists.

Or hotel rooms.

Hotelkamer
Hotelkamer
Hotelkamer
Hotelkamer
Hotelkamer

Or art on the wall.

Or numbers.

47
104

Nina Katchadourian is a super creative source of inspiration.

To Ullapool via Eilean Donan castle and Midge Bite

Eilean Donan castle
Eilean Donan castle

First, we drive to Eilean Donan Castle, originally a thirteenth-century castle that was restored and opened in the 20th century. This famous castle turns out to be a huge tourist trap. We are not the only ones who refrain from visiting, and from the other side of the river, we take some pictures of this castle and the stream of people entering it. There are two rooms in the castle to visit, sic!

Achnasheen, The Midge Bite
Achnasheen, The Midge Bite

To Achnasheen, The Midge Bite where we were before and once again drink a fine cappuccino. Tent lives up to its name. And it’s low season, in terms of midges, and thus bites, too. In the car, we terminate a few more midgets before they can make their move.

Next, we pass Loch Maree, a three-star lake according to Michelin, and the old Caledonian forest—exclusivity largely hidden from us behind roadside bushes.

Gairloch
Gairloch

Gairloch is a nice coastal town where we stretch our legs and eat our sandwiches.

Corrieshalloch Gorge National Nature Reserve, Schotland
Corrieshalloch Gorge

At the waterfall Corrieshalloch Gorge National Nature Reserve, we get out again to stretch our legs and conquer vertigo in a deep gorge with a suspension bridge.

Then we went to Ullapool. We walked into town, which is small but nice. It’s much smaller than we thought, even smaller than Thurso, but also nicer.