Many of us already got used to using our mobile phones for more than calls, text messages and surfing the next, Mobiles can be used for various payments, even for authorizing bank transactions. Add something else to your list, if you’re a Vodafone or Orange customer in Romania. You will be able to text your way into the metro system in Bucharest. Both telecom operators allow customers purchase metro cards through text messages to certain short numbers. For Vodafone: 1 trip, send text message to 7477 for EUR 0.5plus VAT , 2 trips, text 7492 for EUR 0.9 plus VAT, 10 trips – EUR 2.2 pus VAT at 7490. For Orange customers, you need to text 1C for one trip, 2C for 2 trips, 10C for 10 trips at 1700, for EUR 0.5, EUR 0.9 and EUR 2.2 (same as in Vodafone). To validate trip, call 1700 free of charge and get the phone close to the orange validation device during the call. In the first stage, the service is available in seven metro stops, namely Victoriei Square, Universitate, Gara de Nord, Timpuri Noi, Politehnica, Grozavesti and Petrache Poenaru.

More about it on Romania-Insider.com.

Looking for special cakes for special occasions? We’ve found someone who creates cakes adorned with the most imaginative things you can think of. The Colloseum? This lady had done a Colloseum cake. Mountain top or igloo (in picture)? Check. Guitar, dinosaur? She’s delivered cakes like these too. All with natural ingredients. Check Elena Craescu’s website here and some of the cakes she’s made so far here. (She speaks English).

Those in search of flowers and in need of plenty of choices – and of lower prices than the round the corner flower shop offers – should visit the George Cosbuc flower market. Not many foreigners know about it, and it is not that well known among Romanians either. But it is a gem. Located just opposite The Ark, on Uranus street corner with Calea Rahovei, this flower market is the place where flower shops owners from across Bucharest come to buy merchandise, and re-sell it a couple of times more expensive in the city. A must visit even if you just want to take some pictures! Best hours and flowers are very early in the morning – at 5AM.

corina@citycompass.ro

This week’s pick for the newcomers’ corner will be useful to those who want something to remind them (or their friends back home) of Romania. Walking down the little streets in the Old Town in Bucharest, we found a souvenirs shop on Blanari street. It’s the first one to have opened in that area, from what we know. It was opened in June and sells cups, T-shirts, traditional Romanian cooking items (pots, wooden spoons), traditional wooden toys and interesting postcards to send back home. Well, basically what you’d expect to find in such a store, with a Romanian spin to it. You can find it on Blanari 5 street.