First, she came late and that worried us. She was to meet us in front of the Starbucks! Second, she was giving us a Walking Tour of the Jewish neighborhood and shows up with two (not one, but two) giant crosses around her neck (sometimes Jewish people make initial judgements about this especially allowing private tours into their synagogues that have been burned down or destroyed over the years) but we thought it shouldn't matter.
Last, it started to rain, which always makes for challenging walking tours. So this wasn't just a drizzle, this turned out to be really hard and constant rain, in fact down pouring. We had forgotten our umbrella's because the forecast did not predict rain until the afternoon. Did I mention that the tour guide had an umbrella but didn't think to offer us to share it?
So off we went to visit the neighhoods and the temples. She didn't know a lot about the history or any specific stories. She took us to visit two temples-Choral and the other one that used to be the biggest but includes the Holocaust museum. Next we saw the Jewish Theater but it was being renovated so we couldn't go in. Then we visited a Jewish school that was being completely renovated because it has been burned down during the Communist regime. It resembled just a rubble and shell of a building. Last, we visited the JCC. They took one look at her necklace and asked why she was there (the original tour advertised that we would be able to speak to active people in the community about modern day Jews in
Bucharest, or historical recounts, but they had no interest in speaking to her). Plus she was standing next to two Americans that were completely soaked from head to toe, leaving a large puddle in the middle of their JCC lobby! I finally asked to use the bathroom and proceeded to wipe myself down with paper towels. My feet were completely soaked in and out and had to be squeezed out. I swished as I walked and out oozed water all over their clean floors. So that was really disturbing but at this point, we just wanted to go back to the hotel. Then the tour guide tells us we are over a 30" walk back to where we needed to be and by now the monsoons had arrived. When it rains in Bucharest, no one takes mass transit and everyone is on the road so you have huge traffic jams. Taking a cab was not an option and we had a cab meeting us at the hotel to take us to our next destination. We just walked in the pouring rain and finally arrived like wet noodles. It was clearly my most miserable walking tour experience. The after affect was two very large, painful blisters that have taken over my big toes. (WARNING: graphic photos below!). We were happy to say good bye to Bucharet and on to Bulgaria!!
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