Houses in bucharest

First up, a guided tour of Ceaucescu's House in Bucharest. The obvious comparison is between the opulence of the Ceaucescu family home and the rest of the Romanian population. But it also illustrates what a dull life his family must have led.
Also noticeable were the gifts from other (often) communist dictators. Decorated screen from North Korea, vases from Mao, huge carpet from the Shah or Iran, ivory from Mobutu, chess machine fro Gorbachev. .

Also photos of family with surprising number of world leaders in addition to those above. The Queen, nixon, Carter, Castro, president of Germany, Bokassa, Kissinger, Mao, Ted Kennedy. . There must have been something about him that all of the above were happy to be seen with him.

In contrast the open air 'House museum' in Bucharest is great. Someone with an amazing vision in 1930s decided to bring dozens of traditional houses from all over Romania and rebuild them in a park in Bucharest. How they found and transported the houses would be a great story. There are now more than 100 of these of many shapes and sizes, including few churches, old Mills, presses.

The counterweight gate was fantastic, the sunken housed, the church and a lot of the carpentry were brilliant.Read more