Day 52 - Europe 2011

Day 52 - Friday, July 15, 2011 - Caracal to Turnu Magurele - Trip 76.56 kms Time 4:48:44

I was up at 6:30 and just about ready to go down for b'fast at 7:00 when there was a knock on my door. It was Sofia bringing my b'fast on a tray i.e. orange juice, coffee (very strong), assorted cold cuts and cheese, a hard boiled egg already peeled, tomatoes and cucumbers, bread, butter and jam and a packaged croissant. I couldn't eat it all.
I checked my e-mail and sent a reply to Barrie. I started packing my panniers, which I had put on the carpeted floor next to the A/C, and discovered one of them was quite wet. Well the rain cover was wet. My clothes, etc were all in Ziploc bags so they were OK. When I went down to check out I told the receptionist about the leaky A/C. She came up to my room to see.
There were VISA, etc stickers at the reception but when I tried to pay by VISA they would only accept cash. I asked for directions to Corabia. It was fairly complicated so the manageress sent Sofia to show me the way. Sofia spoke fairly good English and walked with me for about 400 M before indicating that I was to follow this road to Corabia. I thanked her and set off for C.
I noticed my rear tire felt a little soft so I had to stop and pump it up hoping I didn't have a slow leak. I also stopped at a corner store and bought a 1.5L bottle of water. The road was well paved and flat all the way to C. Not much to see - just the usual farm fields of mainly wheat, corn and sun flowers. Very little traffic.
I arrived in Corabia at 11:00 and was feeling quite hungry and in need of a cold drink. After looking around for awhile for a place to eat I asked a young lady if she knew of a restaurant where I could get some lunch. She spoke very good English and tried to give me directions to a nearby restaurant but it was a bit complicated because of roadworks so she decided to show me the way. When we got to the restaurant she spoke to the waiter and told him I was from Canada and wanted something to eat. The waiter brought me a menu. I chose a vegetable soup with bread and a Nestea. The waiter went off to the kitchen to place my order but was soon back. Sorry, no soup for you! No not really - he wasn't the Soup Nazi. He suggested that I should order the Cheeseburger. I decided to take a chance and try it. It actually wasn't to bad. It was a large bun stuffed with a patty of meat, fries, cole slaw, mayo and ketchup.
Since it was still early (noon) and I had only cycled 40 kms I asked for directions to Turnu Magurele. On the way to T-M my pace was much slower because of the heat. Along the way I was passed by a large commercial van and was hit on my back left shoulder by an object thrown from the passenger window! I'm pretty sure it was an empty plastic bottle. It scared the hell out of me. It didn't leave a mark but it sure pissed me off!!! After cycling over 4000 kms to have something thrown at me was unbelievable especially since most people in Romania had been so kind to me.
I arrived in T-M at 2:00 after cycling 76 kms and since it was so very hot and there were no other towns with hotels for quite a distance I decided to stop for the day. I found the Hotel Turris - a fairly large 3 star hotel. A room with b'fast and Wi-Fi and A/C was 180 LEI. I bargained her down to 160 LEI. After securing my bike in the garage I took my apnniers up to my room on the 2nd floor. Had a short nap and afterwards typed Day 49 and 50 of my blog. I then did some laundry and had a large tin of Carlsberg (5 LEI) from the mini bar. (a coke was more expensive at 5.50 LEI).
Later on in the evening when it had cooled down a bit I went out for a walk about/ Took some photos. I couldn't find any restaurants so came back to the hotel for dinner. I sat out on the patio and a mangy dog came and settled down by my chair. Why me? I had to chase it away as they are full of fleas!!! I ordered "chicken chest" with apple sauce and a coke. The "apple sauce" looked revolting but actually didn't taste to bad. It also came with two bread rolls which were a bit on the stale side. It cost 9.50 LEI for dinner.
It was to hot to sit outside and there were mosquitoes buzzing about so I went back up to my room and typed up Day 51 of my blog.

This blog was posted at the Hotel Inter in Zimnicea, Romania, on Saturday, July 16, 2011