travelogue: bucharest, romania

never did i imagine a romania stamp in my passport.  while stefan was in bucharest for a week of work, kai and i joined him for a long weekend.  why not, right?

two things surprised me while in bucharest.  the first, i could actually understand some of what was being said because what i was hearing was romanesque italian!  who knew the romanian language was influenced by the italians?!?  another surprise was the lack of colour in bucharest.  it was like i was in a black and white movie with dilapidated buildings and grey skies.  the weather certainly didn't help... rainy and windy pretty much the entire time.  yet, the atmosphere was quite striking.  

cismigiu gardens, a haven among the busy city.

i saw so many women wearing red coats!

on friday with stefan at work, kai and i visited the village museum.  it was established to preserve romanian's rural villiage life.  old houses, churches, barns, windmills and other buildings from as far back as 1775 were brought over from all over romania.  there are even earth houses built into the ground and topped with thatched roofs.  i think kai liked the cats the best.  they were everywhere on the grounds and many very friendly much to kai's delight.

we then walked over to the museum of the romanian peasant.  actually, we wanted to take a taxi but every one we hailed wouldn't take us because the distance was too short.  we were flabbergasted especially since it was rainy and windy and not at all a pleasant day for a walk.

anyway, the museum was filled with household goods, basically all the hand crafted items that would have been inside the buildings at the village museum.  i really wanted to visit their museum shop but it was closed for the season... i hoped to find some elaborately painted eggshells.  

hungry, and not wanting to venture out in the rain just yet, we lunched at the museum cafe.  i can't tell you how taken aback kai and i were by the cigarette smoke, you would have thought smoking was compulsory for entry. i read somewhere that romania is a "smoker's disneyland" and believe me, it's not an exaggeration.  it's been a long while since i reeked of tobacco from head to toe.  kai had never been exposed to such a degree of cigarette smoke and i hope it puts him off smoking for life.

we spent time meandering around the old town, referred to as lipscani.  on saturday morning, we only saw men out and about and my hunch that the women were at home cleaning house was confirmed when we spotted a couple of women on their balcony beating a rug (it's also how my sister and i spent our saturdays growing up, under my mom's supervision).  

we visited the cute stravropoleos church with it's small porch, decorative exterior (every inch of the inside was covered in mosaics), and intricately carved door.  a collection of tombstones being restored were in the garden.  we also sought out curtea veche, romania's first fortress belonging to dracula.

many of the historical buildings hold cafes and restaurants.  this is where we did all of our eating, mostly in non-smoking places or ones that have a non-smoking section.  of mention would be caru' cu bere where the windows are stained-glass, the servers dressed in peasant costumes, ceilings painted, the woodwork ornate, and the food good... i pretty much stuck with cabbage rolls and ciorba wherever we ate.  also of mention are cafe van gogh, they serve a lovely borscht soup, their next door neighbor rembrandt makes decadent waffles, and the artist where the food is presented as art on your plate but you know, it was the best food we ate while there.  

so many 'massage' places (not legal but tolerated) and bridal shops in the old town.

vlad the impaler

wish i had bought one of these floral paintings

the palace of parliament is gigantic, i can't overstate how ridiculously big it is, the second largest administrative building in the world. the dictator at the time, ceausecu, tore down old neighborhoods; houses, schools, hospitals were razed with little regard to their historical significance.  his arrogance and self-importance left many people homeless and without work.  the romanians suffered great hardship under his leadership.  the inside is supposed to be over the top with its grand staircases, one million cubic meters of marble, nine hundred thousand cubic meters of wood and five ton crystal chandelier.

image from here

on our way to see the palace of parliament, we encountered a parade.  a military parade with tanks and other military vehicles in a procession towards the palace of parliament.  it was quite the display and provided a teachable moment for kai who was impressed with all the cool snipers and missiles on display.  i couldn't imagine such an event in canada or sweden!

revolution square, with it's olive on a stick memorial, is where the dictator i mentioned above was overthrown.  it's a busy public square surrounded by the national art museum of romania which was formerly the royal palace and where much of the revolution fighting took place, the romanian athenaeum (a beautiful concert hall built entirely on donation), and the kretzulescu church.

if you have read my travelogues you know that we start our days at a cafe that stefan has carefully chosen for its coffee.  bucharest was no different.  our days began at origo which not only does great coffee but nice tea and breakfast, i'm still thinking about their sponge cake, so good.   then one afternoon, we happened by m60, a cafe with scandinavian design, good food, and lovely drinks.  i'm sure more of these gems are hidden about town as bucharest slowly rebuilds itself.

although not planned, i'm glad i had a chance to visit, to expose kai to other cultures and histories, and continue stefan's quest for really good cafes.