22. Bucharest Romania

Romania is the largest country in SE Europe, and the 12th largest in Europe. Its capital, Bucharest, is famous for housing the Palace of Parliment, the 2nd largest building in the world behind the Pentagon. On our 10 hour train ride leaving Bucharest, I chatted with a local about politics and infrastructure. Romanians have a parlimentary system of govt and vote for a party, not a person. He is disgusted at the slow pace with which the govt takes action on things. I had to laugh. Some things are the same everywhere.

The train system is fairly dismal, dirty and uncomfortable, but our Romanian friend did talk the conductor into increasing the a/c, and we were very grateful for that. 90° today.

Post WWII, Romania experienced Soviet occupation and communist style rule until 1989, when the Romanian Revolution took place. Prior to that, the infamous Romanian leader Nicholas Ceausescu imposed severe austerity measures that crippled the economy to the extent of literally having no food for people to eat. Pursuant to the uprising, he and his wife were summarily executed for their roles in political suppresion, and "genocide by starvation".

(Sorry for the history lesson - its all so much more fascinating when you're in the thick of it!)

Like Bulgaria, although there is a free market economy, socialism rather than capitalism remains predominant, with many services including healthcare being heavily subsidized by the govt. Unlike Bulgaria there is little appetite for a return to communism.

One of the things that struck me was how big many of the buildings in Bucharest seemed to be, in comparison to the US. My new Romanian friend seemed amused, as this is a trait of many Eastern European cities developed during the communist era. All in the eye of the beholder, right?Read more