Sunny Bucharest

**Written Wednesday May 1st, mid afternoon local time; in the car driving from Murighiol to Brasov munching on delicious Romanian tomatoes, oranges and sunflower seeds.** -just not a lot of down time (with internet) to write and post at the same time :)

My introduction to Romania has been great and oh so very exhausting. We've been in Europe less than 72 hours but it feels like a week, albeit a very fun week!
Monday(April 29) was our full day in Bucharest and we walked all over...literally half the city. Our hotel, Vila Toparceanu, was a little outside the city but close to the airport which was why we chose it, turned out to be one of the best hotels I've ever stayed at! Had an awesome breakfast then the hotel driver drove us into the city! So nice, he gave us a little information on the city and then drove us up to Ceausescu's Palace, which is now the Parliament house. It is the 2nd largest building in the world, after the Pentagon....I never knew the Pentagon held that record. But since the Pentagon is s military building Bucharest likes to claim the largest (civil) building in the world. My impression is that Ceausescu had a bit of a Napoleon-like complex and he wanted everything bigger, but not necessarily better...and at times it's spilled over to the Romanian culture, they like to claim records and call everything they can a palace (the telephone company building for example...they call that a palace haha)
We were dropped off in old town then worked our way north..even figuring out how to take public transportation. The Romanian people are very friendly. While walking the city we met lots of people who helped us figure out where we were, find what we we looking for and sometimes how to make sue we didn't get ripped off. 2 really nice girls on their lunch break took us to the tourist information center which was a big help. From there we jumped on the metro, stood with some very interesting smelly people, and rode up a few stops to Charles de Gaulle statue in Herastru Park. This is when things got a little frustrating. The weather in Bucharest was beautiful, nice and oh so hot! All a wonderful combo for vacation, just not when you are traipsing around the city looking for what tour sites said was a 'must see', 'one of the best sites in Bucharest'....The Village Museum. Took us an hour to find it and then we were there for 20 min, let's just say it was not the best museum I've ever been to. It gave a good look into what old Romania looked like and how dedicated the Romanian people are to preserving their history. The village is comprised of original, renovated, buildings/homes from different periods that were transported whole to this outdoor museum in Bucharest during the communist reign of Ceausescu. The most interesting thing Mom noticed was the thickness of the thatched roofing....a good 2ft probably.
We trekked back down to about mid Bucharest to do a little self touring. The churches in the city are very beautiful and mostly all Romanian Orthodox (Christian) churches. They are scattered throughout the city in the most random locations. Originally I thought that was because the churches were there first and then the city came up around them like I saw in some places in England. However we learned that Ceausescu had wanted to get rid of the churches, and probably religion eventually, as they were symbols that detracted from communist beliefs. But he knew he couldn't just demolish them as that would create an uproar amongst the people. So he so very cleverly came up with a solution that he thought would give him the result he wanted, extinction of the church. He told his citizens that he needed to make a new road or bulldoze a certain area and that they could move the church if they chose to save it, he gave them about 2 weeks notice....so the citizens were left to figure out how to save their beloved, history filled churches. One church we visited that I found particularly eye catching, Manastirea Stavropoleos, was moved in a very ingenious way. With a couple days left to go a citizen was watching how bottles of the ever important beer/vodka was delivered and decided a church could be moved the same way. Large planks were placed underneath it to raise the foundation then larger blocks with wheels were slid underneath and the church was pushed/carried by many citizens across the city to where the government had designated. So Romanian citizens and culture: 1 point, Ceausescu's regime: 0...although that is not how it stayed :/
Manastirea Stavropoleos is a little church that is being refurbished. The inside had boxes all over but the main chapel, only big enough for a couple people to pray and move comfortably at a time, was painted beautifully and had ornate metal/wood work at the altar. 86% are Romanian Orthodox so most churches are set up in an Orthodox manner. While we were were enjoying the gorgeous interior many people came into pray, all in different ways but they all gave their bows and kisses to the same altars at the front, to Jesus and the Virgin. A wonderful man inside, who I think works at the church or he may have been a priest, tried to explain some of the symbolism of the decor to me. He only spoke Romanian so it was an interesting communication. But we found out there was a saints remains behind the Altar and the ceiling paintings represent heaven and purgatory...it really wasn't the most obvious of paintings that I have seen. Outside the smaller courtyard was also being refurbished. There were huge slabs of stone carvings and print laid up against the courtyard walls and 2 women were preserving them. It was a calming few minutes to stand there in the shade, letting our feet rest and enjoy the beautiful red flowers.
We had been told to have lunch at Cure ce Berre (1st beer house in Bucharest) so we left Manastirea Stavropoleos, walked 30 seconds and there we were! Food was great, but service was interesting. I really have noticed that citizens on the streets are very friendly and helpful but the workers really don't really seem that friendly. The hotel staff are always friendly but in other businesses (stores, restaurants, museums, and some other tourist areas) its very odd really....I've never really experienced that before.
We had about 2 hours to kill before meeting up with the walking tour, so we went down to the park at laid out in the sun watching clouds move! So wonderful :) The walking tour was fantastic, and free (aside from tip)! I was so tired by 4 that waiting for a 6pm tour seemed a horrible idea but I'm glad I went...even with a huge foot blister. We ended up learning a lot about he city and culture, more than I can really remember.

The country came out of communism in 1989 after years of oppression and turmoil. Ceausescu started the communist regime at the end of the 40s. And it finally came to a head during the 5 day rebellion in December of 1989 that ended with the death of Ceausescu & his wife, Elena.
Ceausescu came to power by overthrowing the existing Romanian Parliment. After he came to power he decided to change the whole city and literally did just that. He took the river out from the middle and made it run underground so that he could put in a giant square and fountains where before there had been a huge outdoor market which was very important to the citizens and the economy.
In the early 80s he visited North Korea and saw their grand buildings and came back to Romania wanting to build a grand building. As with everything he did it had to be the biggest, so he designed the Palace which is now the Parliment. The Government didn't have a lot of money and the money it did have was being given to pay off debts, which left very little money for the citizens. The construction started in 1982 and was worked on 24/7, with 3 different shifts. Ceausescu employed citizens which gave them jobs and military. In 7 years it was 80% completed as of Dec 1989 when Ceausescu was killed, the new Romanian government wanted to tear it down but realized it would cost more to tear down than to finish it, so from then until now only about 90% has been completed. There are still cranes all over the grounds, but the building is used for parliament meetings and other special functions. Michael Jackson was in Bucharest in the 90s and wanted to speak with the citizens, so the government let him speak from the building's balcony ...he was the first person to ever give a speech from that balcony, as Ceausescu had wanted that space for him to speak from. MJ started the speech with "Hello Budapest"......which both cracked up and appalled the crowd equally, haha.
Walking the city there is very much evidence of communism and post communism. I am so glad that I decided to come here vs. Italy because this will all change in 40 years, and I like seeing it still so fresh. Ceausescu bulldozed most of the housing and moved people into the traditional communist style tall apartments, drab and gray. And after the fall of communism most people could not afford nicer housing so they stayed. Those that could moved out and the vacant apartments were given to the homeless. However they never did anything to up keep them so all the apartments and building are in disrepair but still inhabited. All over the city you see it. This is also why there are so many stray dogs. When everyone was moved into communists housing they gave up yards and their dogs because it was to hard to take care of a dog on a 7floor walk up with your whole family in a little room. So the dogs were turned out, did what animals do and before you know it there are tons of stray dogs running around. We didn't notice a big problem with stray dogs, you saw them but all looked well fed just a little scruffier than a pet.

The old buildings that made it through the regime are beautiful and ornate. But one of the most interesting parts of the city are the new age artwork. There is a statue of a man holding the body of a wolf with a snake/dragon coming out of its head. When it was revealed it was said to be in the ugliest sculptures (which it really is) but it was placed in front of the National Museum, across the street from the National Bank....so weird. It portrays a naked Roman empower carrying a wolf to represent the blending of Ancient cultures in Romania.
In the square where the revolutions started there are 2 monuments that are particularly significant to today's Romania. 1 is a tree that is barren with missing and broken branches. This is a tree in a drought and it is a parallel to the country/society/citizens during communism. The next is a pillar with a wooden nest on the top. The pillar has young people made out of iron linked together on one side. The pathways leading up the the monument are in the shape of a cross and made out of slices of young trees. These young trees represent the thousands of young lives lost.
Bucharest was definitely not the most interesting cities I have ever been to but I did enjoy learning the history before seeing the rest of the country.
One thing both mom and I were quick to notice is how handsome a lot of the Romanian men are! I was actually really surprised, but they are very good looking-they do become less attractive after I've smelled them though haha. But Mom loves seeing all the men dressed up, and how they wear V-neck shirts that show some chest hair (I say eeww, but to each their own)...it's quite funny actually.

1st Stamp :)

April 29, 00:39 local time Bucharest

This is my first blog entry written on a mobile device (iPhone)...so hopefully it catches enough of my spelling errors :) 

I am currently sitting in one of the cutest hotel rooms in Bucharest at the Vila Toparceanu, being serenaded by, what must be, a pack o dogs.  Mom and I are both so happy to have nice beds.  

I had to get a new passport in January so that it wouldn't be too close to expiration during this trip.  So my first stamp in this new passport is Bucharest! It's a great new chapter in my life. I've become really happy living in SoCal, and this trip has really changed from what I had originally wanted back in November, when I bought tickets.  This is now more vacation than anything else!! and backpacking through countries is new to me.  I'm used to moving, living and then traveling for long periods of time.  So I'm super excited!! 

What a couple of flights! It's been 20 hours of flights and airports.  With the Air Traffic Controller furloughs that happened at home all the flight schedules got pushed behind so our flight out of LAX that was suppose to leave at 9:30 left about 10:45.  That meant more time in the lounge in LAX but also crazy rushing once we got to Heathrow.  The flight to London was great-we had three seats for just me and mom so we got to sleep a lot which was great.  In Heathrow, getting from terminal to terminal, through more security scanners and then out to the plane took an hour which isn't bad timing but by the time we landed we had a 45 min layover vs out orinal 3.5 hour layover....always a blast running through the airport with a huge backpack haha.  But we made it and now we are ready to wake up in 6 hours to see Bucharest! On the plane of love listening to the different languages, and excitingly enough I've realized the Romanian has some similarities to Spanish (mom later read that Romania is a Romance language), which was really surprising to me.  I was expecting a more Slavic language.  I guess I will really see tomorrow when I'm not so tired :)