BUCHAREST, ROMANIA
BUCHAREST, ROMANIA
We were off on a 2-hour bus ride to Bucharest by 8:30 this morning. We picked up our guide for the day on the outskirts of the city and had a panoramic tour past many of the sights. The Communist leader, Ceausecu, had a grand vision for the city. He wanted the city to be approached by a grand boulevard and to do so, destroyed much of the city for his purposes. (To be fair, the city had suffered greatly in an earthquake a couple of years before he had his vision. He had visited China and North Korea and was highly influenced by what he saw there.) Whole neighbourhoods were eliminated including churches, shops, homes, hospitals, monasteries and upscale Commie Condos were built in place to be inhabited by party members. Other boulevards are lined with Commie Condos inthe usual ugly Russian-inspired 1950s style. Some of the grand houses were left so there is a great mishmash - new and old and partially destroyed. Graffiti abounds and so is the evidence of pollution. Victoria Street has some very attractive buildings left.
We stopped for a photo op at Revolutionary Square that commemorates the uprising against Ceausecu in 1989. Of course, the bottom of the memorial is decorated with the ever-present graffiti.
The electrical grid reminds me of what I saw in India and Southeast Asia. Wires abound. It looks so unsafe and unstable.
From there we were taken to the Cara cu Bere Restaurant in Old Town. It was located in a highly decorated heritage building but don't let that fool you. It was the typical tourist lunch served to tour groups on buses as one after another tour group joined us inside. Outside was a different kettle of fish. There, individuals could order from a menu. We were given a set meal - a huge Greek salad and bread which was the best part of the meal. One hour later, we were presented with a plate of meat - three difference kinds of sausages and some chicken. The only vegetable was potato. Much later we were given a dessert. No one we sat with enjoyed the 2 1/2 hours wasted here. When we mentioned our concern about the time lost and the waste of food, we were told that we should have enjoyed the authentic Romanian meal. Serving meat shows wealth.
We have been unfortunate on the last couple of tours to be accompanied by the resident boor - a man who sits with his big belly hanging over his pants complaining loudly and rudely - shouting out at the guides, yelling about the air conditioning, rolling his eyes. He even managed to insult the Crown Prince. Oh well, we will be rid of him tomorrow. One other couple we had the misfortune to sit with sent their eggs back with the instruction: "We said we wanted our eggs cooked 4 minutes and 29 seconds no more, no less! I hope the cook spat in them.
On the other hand we have met some wonderful people as well. We enjoy conversing with Gary and Consuela, the transplanted Canadians from Washington State; Josephine and Henri, she is from Holland and now both are Americans from Florida; and Sam, Mandy and Sam' sister. They are from India but now reside in the USA. Sam has a wonderful sense of humour and is an eternal optimist. We enjoy each other's company immensely and have had lots of laughs together. For some reason, he likes to take my picture in front of a nude male statue!
After the eternally long lunch, we had a short guided walk around the Old Town then picked up our bus for hotel check in. We have a room with two big beds and a bath with both a shower and a tub. The Internet is fast so have been able to check the email and update the blog. We even had a chance to watch Melodie at her kennel.
Then it was off to the "People's Palace" for a tour and dinner. The People's Palace is a misnomer - other than the fact that for the most part Romanian workers, artisans and materials were used, it really is a tribute to the megalomaniac, Ceausecu. The Grand Boulevard had to be one metre wider than the Champs Élysées in Paris and longer. It ends at the Palace. The Palace is the second largest building in the world - only the Pentagon is larger. The rooms are enormous and each is decorated in a different style. Norma said that each room looks like a 19th century train station. They were certainly big enough to be. The ceilings were 19 metres high in some of the rooms. The chandeliers were so enormous that they could raise the temperature of the rooms by several degrees. The decorations were over the top - gold leaf, crystal not glass windows, the chandeliers had such a high lead content that they looked grey and dirty when they were turned off but once turned on, sparkled like diamonds. I forget how many tons of marble were used in the construction.
The People's Palace is now referred to as the Parliament Palace. Many of the large reception rooms are only suitable for large conferences not offices. Because of the enormous size of the rooms, they cannot be used for much else - just expensively decorated wasted spaces. Ceausecu and his equally hated wife lived there. So much for the vision of communism where everyone is supposed to be equal. It is understandable why the Romanians hate Communism so much. They even considered tearing down the Palace but apparently it would cost in the billions of Euro to do so - as much as it cost to build it.
We had a wonderful guide who kept us enthralled well past the reception time. We were quite annoyed when a Tauck representative told him he had to let us go as the meal was being served. Once again, the amount of meat served was enough to keep me going for a month. There must have been 500 grams of smoked salmon with a few greens followed by an enormous chicken breast, potato, and so few corn nibblets that you could count them and not get to twenty. The cheesecake we had for dessert was delicious though.
Then it was back to the hotel and bed in preparation for our early start the next day,
We were off on a 2-hour bus ride to Bucharest by 8:30 this morning. We picked up our guide for the day on the outskirts of the city and had a panoramic tour past many of the sights. The Communist leader, Ceausecu, had a grand vision for the city. He wanted the city to be approached by a grand boulevard and to do so, destroyed much of the city for his purposes. (To be fair, the city had suffered greatly in an earthquake a couple of years before he had his vision. He had visited China and North Korea and was highly influenced by what he saw there.) Whole neighbourhoods were eliminated including churches, shops, homes, hospitals, monasteries and upscale Commie Condos were built in place to be inhabited by party members. Other boulevards are lined with Commie Condos inthe usual ugly Russian-inspired 1950s style. Some of the grand houses were left so there is a great mishmash - new and old and partially destroyed. Graffiti abounds and so is the evidence of pollution. Victoria Street has some very attractive buildings left.
We stopped for a photo op at Revolutionary Square that commemorates the uprising against Ceausecu in 1989. Of course, the bottom of the memorial is decorated with the ever-present graffiti.
The electrical grid reminds me of what I saw in India and Southeast Asia. Wires abound. It looks so unsafe and unstable.
From there we were taken to the Cara cu Bere Restaurant in Old Town. It was located in a highly decorated heritage building but don't let that fool you. It was the typical tourist lunch served to tour groups on buses as one after another tour group joined us inside. Outside was a different kettle of fish. There, individuals could order from a menu. We were given a set meal - a huge Greek salad and bread which was the best part of the meal. One hour later, we were presented with a plate of meat - three difference kinds of sausages and some chicken. The only vegetable was potato. Much later we were given a dessert. No one we sat with enjoyed the 2 1/2 hours wasted here. When we mentioned our concern about the time lost and the waste of food, we were told that we should have enjoyed the authentic Romanian meal. Serving meat shows wealth.
We have been unfortunate on the last couple of tours to be accompanied by the resident boor - a man who sits with his big belly hanging over his pants complaining loudly and rudely - shouting out at the guides, yelling about the air conditioning, rolling his eyes. He even managed to insult the Crown Prince. Oh well, we will be rid of him tomorrow. One other couple we had the misfortune to sit with sent their eggs back with the instruction: "We said we wanted our eggs cooked 4 minutes and 29 seconds no more, no less! I hope the cook spat in them.
On the other hand we have met some wonderful people as well. We enjoy conversing with Gary and Consuela, the transplanted Canadians from Washington State; Josephine and Henri, she is from Holland and now both are Americans from Florida; and Sam, Mandy and Sam' sister. They are from India but now reside in the USA. Sam has a wonderful sense of humour and is an eternal optimist. We enjoy each other's company immensely and have had lots of laughs together. For some reason, he likes to take my picture in front of a nude male statue!
After the eternally long lunch, we had a short guided walk around the Old Town then picked up our bus for hotel check in. We have a room with two big beds and a bath with both a shower and a tub. The Internet is fast so have been able to check the email and update the blog. We even had a chance to watch Melodie at her kennel.
Then it was off to the "People's Palace" for a tour and dinner. The People's Palace is a misnomer - other than the fact that for the most part Romanian workers, artisans and materials were used, it really is a tribute to the megalomaniac, Ceausecu. The Grand Boulevard had to be one metre wider than the Champs Élysées in Paris and longer. It ends at the Palace. The Palace is the second largest building in the world - only the Pentagon is larger. The rooms are enormous and each is decorated in a different style. Norma said that each room looks like a 19th century train station. They were certainly big enough to be. The ceilings were 19 metres high in some of the rooms. The chandeliers were so enormous that they could raise the temperature of the rooms by several degrees. The decorations were over the top - gold leaf, crystal not glass windows, the chandeliers had such a high lead content that they looked grey and dirty when they were turned off but once turned on, sparkled like diamonds. I forget how many tons of marble were used in the construction.
The People's Palace is now referred to as the Parliament Palace. Many of the large reception rooms are only suitable for large conferences not offices. Because of the enormous size of the rooms, they cannot be used for much else - just expensively decorated wasted spaces. Ceausecu and his equally hated wife lived there. So much for the vision of communism where everyone is supposed to be equal. It is understandable why the Romanians hate Communism so much. They even considered tearing down the Palace but apparently it would cost in the billions of Euro to do so - as much as it cost to build it.
We had a wonderful guide who kept us enthralled well past the reception time. We were quite annoyed when a Tauck representative told him he had to let us go as the meal was being served. Once again, the amount of meat served was enough to keep me going for a month. There must have been 500 grams of smoked salmon with a few greens followed by an enormous chicken breast, potato, and so few corn nibblets that you could count them and not get to twenty. The cheesecake we had for dessert was delicious though.
Then it was back to the hotel and bed in preparation for our early start the next day,
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