Dateline: BUCHAREST

So I am out of Brussels, flying on the wings of a Mafia-owned, low cost airline. I like mafia-owned airlines, because, unlike regular airlines, they don’t need passengers (the goal is not profit here) so you can enjoy lots of space.

Back to Bucharest, I am greeted by a taxi driver with ‘buongiorno, segnore’, offered a taxi for 8 RON/Km, unable to find a regular taxi that would take me home (too close by), and too lazy to order one by phone. So I am on the bus, with my huge suitcase, huge duty free bag and backpack, dragging my suitcase home while three fire trucks and a paramedics are trying to make their way through clogged traffic (I am really sorry for the victims of the accident they were trying to get to, it really sucks to be killed by… traffic).

Bucharest is fresh, muddy, crispy, full of puddles and stray dogs: reality shock. It takes me a few hours to recover.

On a more positive note, let us (Romanians) rejoice the fact that Parisians are assholes too (and therefore is okay for us to be assholes , as we live in ‘little Paris’):

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utYyB96u0uw&hl=en]

Is not Leffe, is not Hoegaarden (which, by the way, is served without lemon or lime here), is not even Duvel, Orval or Chimay.

Her name is Grimbergen, it is blonde (naturally), and her taste is smooth, full but not over-filling, and with a nice aftertaste. Even the buzz is sublime. My favorite beer so far in Belgium.

P.S. I agree that Gentse Tripel is not quite up to the Belgian standard. Fizzy and fussy, but no substance and overall unsatisfying.

Manu Chao will be coming to Bucharest for Best’Fest. When is that by the way? I am excited, have been waiting to hear him live for a while now. I guess now it’s a bit late, I am no longer as rebel as I was when Radio Bemba came out in 2002, but I still love his last album La Radiolina, and so I am looking forward to seeing him there.

Also, dEUS will be coming to StufStock! Now that came as a bit of a shock, I don’t think that Stufstock deserves dEUS. By the way, they came out with a new album a few weeks ago. You can listen to it here, although the link was down at the time I tried (Thanks, Z.)