On to Romania: Bucharest, City of 3 Million! (July 24th - 31st)

 And... LIKE any major city, there are aspects that resemble any--and all--major cities of the world. Namely, heavy traffic, noise, busy-ness, people, a (happily decent!) Metro system, busses, fairly good markets, high-rises, etc. And then, there is the historic center, which the walking tour guide remarked was known as "little Paris" to the locals. Wow, presumptious on their part, me thinks! Granted, they had some French architects do some of the designing a couple hundred years ago, and some nice, French-style buildings were the result. But...this is HARDLY Paris! 

When communism took over the monarchy, one of their first missions was to destroy the beautiful, OLD part of the city and build horrid, characterless buildings which, I suppose, were cheap and "practical". The ONLY lovely (but monstrous!) creation that sprung from that era--also in place of beautiful old buildings--was the Parlimentary Palace, which I will get to in another blog. (Suffice it to say, it was built according to the whim of the communist party leader--Nicolae Ceausescu--and his wife, and has 1,500 rooms!!) The greatest tragedy to the people--and future tourists like myself!--was the almost complete destruction of all of the fabulous churches. (Dozens, according to our trusty tour guide, Julian.) 

But truly my GREATEST challenge being here is that VERY few people speak English--though a major city--and Romanian has got to be one of the most challenging languages to speak/understand! I am madly working on learning the basics with Duo Lingo... to little avail! I mostly walk the streets mute, and pantomime what I need when appropriate! It is MOST frustrating (and rather humiliating, to boot!) I DID at least have the good fortune of getting help from young Romanians--who spoke English--when on the metro for the first time (and utterly confused and lost!). AND, one other time, when trying to purchase reservations for my last two Eurail pass train journeys. (Thank GOD that is the last time needing to do THIS! Good riddance to that MOST problematic Eurail pass!!!) 

My first three days here were also horrifically HOT...AND humid!!! Really, quite miserable, so I didn't have much energy to do a lot of sightseeing, apart from the walking tour of the old town...the photos of which you will see below.

Later today (now Thursday the 27th), I am more hopeful: The weather has changed, bringing lovely thunderstorms and intermittent rain. It is cooler--though still muggy--but my plan to do an evening walking tour in a different part of the city should hopefully be pleasant. 

Meanwhile, enjoy what photos I COULD scrape together of the remains of the nice part of the city:

This first series is of the one--quite beautiful--monastery and church we visited...home to exactly 7 nuns! Most sadly, it is also home to many relics that were scavenged from the other, destroyed churches. Maybe THAT is why the one nun we saw there looked so stern and depressed?!


Stavropoleos Monastery/Church:  (Romanian: Biserica Stavropoleos) is an Eastern Orthodox monastery for nuns and was built in `1724. Other than one other church that we passed, it was the only one we saw/went inside of. 

The beautiful and ornate door leading into the church.


The altar. Apparently, ALL of the inside artwork--paintings and ornamentation--are original. 


                                    
                                                The gorgeously painted dome of the ceiling. 





                                        Just in front of the church entrance: these majestic columns.



                                      Inside the church/monastery's courtyard--small yet charming.



Second series: various other buildings and street scenes. 


This  one is a bank building...do you think the banking business makes a LOT of money, based on what they must have spent to have this designed--and constructed--by French architects?!? I imagine so! This is the building where the tour guide remarked about "little Paris". 

A pretty--and unusual--indoor passageway we went through.


The only other old church we passed on our 3 hour walk! So sad...


Pretty inner courtyard of a building containing restaurants and offices.

Some other few, lovely old buildings we passed by. 





At the train station: One of the most hilarious things I have EVER seen!!! I wanted to sing to this woman: "How much is that doggie in the backpack?!?!"



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