• Dave HipplerRomania and MoldovaTraveler
    The Romanian Athenaeum
    The Romanian AthenaeumThe Old TownPalace of ParliamentPalace of ParliamentPalace of ParliamentPalace of ParliamentPalace of ParliamentPalace of ParliamentPalace of ParliamentThe Church of the "Stavropoleos" Monastery Biserica Mănăstirii "Stavropoleos"The Church of the "Stavropoleos" Monastery Biserica Mănăstirii "Stavropoleos"Recreation of Trajan's Column from Rome. It's celebrated the victory over Dacia (Romania).National Museum of Romanian HistoryNational Museum of Romanian HistoryNational Museum of Romanian HistoryWe're on the mapMuseum of Romanian RecordsMuseum of Romanian RecordsSound District Floreasca FestivalSound District Floreasca FestivalSound District Floreasca FestivalThe Romanian AthenaeumThe Romanian AthenaeumSite of Ceasescu's last speechCărturești Carusel BookstoreThe National Military MuseumSoyuz module at The National Military MuseumThe Tour de Romania finish lineWe saved over $16,000 on a year's supply of eye meds for Deanne.

    Bucharest

    Sep 11–15 in Romania ⋅ ☀️ 88 °F

    Bucharest is a pretty ugly city, but there are some pockets that are attractive. I found a festival in a park that had opera and classical music over 2 days. That was great.

    We were walking to the festival and saw a young couple on the sidewalk. A black cat walked in front of them and they stopped in their tracks. They looked at each other, took three steps backwards slowly and then they walked forward again. Wow. I've never seen that before.

    We had to see the Palace of Parliament. Ceasescu practically bankrupt the country building this monstrosity. A 1977 earthquake destroyed a lot of Bucharest and he used that as an excuse to destroy a neighborhood and build "The Heaviest Building" in the world. Most of the building is empty but it does house their seats of government.

    There were some fun museums and we visited 3-4 over 4 days. The old town is a little gritty but there's enough to do down there to make it fun. As a history buff, I had to find the building where Ceasescu gave his last speech. In late December of 1989, the protests began in Timișoara. He decided to call the people to the main plaza for a political speech. Big mistake.

    Within a few minutes of his speech someone dared to yell "Timișoara!" Then others joined in. Soon his speech was drowned out. He couldn't believe it. It had never happened before and he was scared. Within 100 hours he and his wife were dead.

    We just happened to be in town for the final leg of the Tour de Romania. It's a huge bike race. This year it started in Chisinau, Moldova, so it's kind of been following where we've been. We walked by the finish line as it ended and got to see the close finish.

    Over the last couple of weeks we noticed that we've been overcharged at restaurants fairly often. It's not a lot but it's noticeable and I'm getting sick of it. There's not a lot of variety to the food here and it's about the same price as in Western Europe, surprisingly. The inflation must be killing the locals. We're both starting to tire of Romania. There's no need to spend this much time here. But, it's not horrible.

    Next, we're heading to the Black Sea coastal city of Constanta, a former Roman town. In the first century CE, Emperor Trajan defeated the Dacians here, hence the country's name.

    More photos and videos are here.
    https://photos.app.goo.gl/QbVRwZnL1H7Kz1ba6    Read more