Repair Shop
Story
Thursday,
and all we can do is hang around.
ADAC called
us back and told us that the BMW dealer will charge us 50 Euro, to just look at
the bike.
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| That Is How I Felt |
Nice guys!
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| The Whole Experience Was Just Weird |
We
discussed the repair, Carol and I. Do we repair the bike or declare it a write
off, a loss. The bike is old, 13 years old and not worth the amount we would
put into the bike. My estimation is that it will cost between $ 2500 and $ 3000
U.S. The bike has about 40,000 KM on the
odometer, so that part is not bad. It’s a 650, so not the most expensive bike
and did I say it’s old? The technology on the bike is dated technology. I asked
Carol if she would want another bike like this and she said, no, she would
rather have a newer bike like the new 700 GS. But now I am thinking of the
logistics in writing off a bike, while being stranded in Bucharest, or
anyplace, really. We would have to tow the bike back to Stefan; the dealer does
not want the bike. I would have to ride back to Germany alone, because we would
not proceed with our trip on just one bike. The ‘stuff’, luggage, riding gear,
spare parts, accessories on bike, etc., would have to be taken off the bike and
shipped to Stefan, too. ADAC would ship the bike back, yes, but is that really
the best bet? We talk back and forth and
decided, no matter what, we need to fix the bike and then see what we will do
later. Yes it will be an expensive repair, it might not even be worth the
repair, but we really have no other choice but to fix it if we want to continue our trip.
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| Not A BMW Bike, It's A Wanna-Be, Like The Dealership In RO ? |
So we tell
ADAC, OK, let BMW charge us 50 Euros to ‘look’ at the bike and tell us what
needs to be done to get it running again.
After a few
hours we call the BMW shop representative Romeo and ask him if he looked at
Carol’s bike yet, but again, NO! He
might be able to look at it Friday, tomorrow.
ADAC is on
our side, they call back and ask if we need spare parts shipped, they can help
in getting them quickly. We cannot answer them, we don’t know what parts we
need so we just tell them thank you, but we don’t know what parts we need yet. BMW
did not tell us anything, they have not even looked at the bike yet. Maybe tomorrow,
Friday!
It is good
that Carol has a cell phone with a Romanian #; we would not know how to do all
of this back and forth without a phone. When I come back to the U.S. or Canada
I need to update my phone as well, so I can have a chip installed just like
Carol with KnowRoaming. In today’s
society, no matter where you are, a cell phone is a must have.
So, here we
are, Thursday, and have all day to do something.
We decided
to take the local bus into downtown Bucharest, walk the ‘Historic’ section of
town; see what that is like. We used Bucharest’s public transportation system. In most
bigger cities in Europe it is just a matter of knowing what stop to get off,
using the bus, tram or train is not that difficult. We asked people and they
told us where to get on and off. Not difficult at all, but one must be aware of
small things, like how it works to validate the tickets, where to buy the tickets,
where to stand to get the bus, etc. But we learn quickly, millions of people do
it every day, so it cannot be too difficult.
We got off at
the right stop, we asked people inside the bus, and we asked the driver.
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| The Presidential Palace |
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| The Presidential Palace, One Of The Largest Buildings Anywhere |
We walk and walk and walk, really searching for
the nice parts of downtown but find mostly eateries and lots of graffiti. I am
not impressed. Some buildings are so old and badly maintained they look shabby. We heard of the famous Presidential Palace and
walked toward that building, but it was too far away for us, we just saw it
from a corner across the street. We took some photos but did not try to get
into the Palace. It is one of the largest public buildings in the world and to find
the entrance, and take the tour, and walk even more would have been too much
for us. Carol is not the best walker; she rides a mean motorcycle, though.
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| Paintings Inside The Monastery |
We did
visit the Stavropoulos, an
old Monastery that time forgot and it stands smack in the middle of old
Bucharest; painted walls inside and out, painted ceilings, gilded altar etc.
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| Caru cu Bere |
We heard of
a famous restaurant by the name of ‘’Caru cu Bere” and
had to find that one. The restaurant was very active and lots of people inside
(too loud for us) and outside (a bit noisy) and we ordered just a soup. We sat
outside on a large veranda in front of the place. The soup turned cold, because
they forgot to bring us spoons, and it took them almost 10 minutes just to
bring a spoon. While the soup was good, the service was horrible. This restaurant was set up in a former church;
the stairway to the pulpit can still be used if you want to preach. Stained
glass windows gave the interior a certain hue of colored, diffused light.
The waiting
for the spoon convinced us that we had had enough of downtown Bucharest and we
took the bus back.
