Paris or Moscow?
Trip Start
Aug 31, 2007
1
42
90
Trip End
Apr 19, 2008
Bucharest,
Romania
Friday, November 2, 2007
I visited the most grandiose, if you wil, project today: the Palace of Parliament. Beginning in 1984 and built over five years by 700 architects and three shifts of 20,000 workers, land for the building was obtained by bulldozing one-sixth of the city. The final product is the second largest building in the world by surface area (after the US Pentagon) and third largest by volume (after Boeing's facility in Washington state). In the 1980s, when the lights were turned on, it consumed as much power in four hours as the rest of the city did in a whole day
Cool Statue
. It is indeed a grand building. Walikng towards it, it kept popping out at me like some demented 3D glasses experience. I walked around the outside (took an hour) before heading north to the Museum of the Romanian Peasant.Apparently, this museum was voted the best in Europe in 1996. It must have been out of some sort of pity for post-Ceausescu Romania because it is quite the worst museum I have visited this whole trip. There are displays everywhere, numbered but with no explanations unless you buy the audiotour. The currators were also excessively snippy. Generally, I visit a museum and have no interaction with the currators. This morning, the two girls I was with and I managed to get yelled at no fewer than six times! We were too close to the displays or talking to loud or some other infraction. The women didn't speak English too well but were quite good at Romanian admonishments. Once, I went to sit on what appeared to be a bench. I looked around to make sure there were no numbers near it, as those were the only things designating anything as a display. Seeing none, I sat. Boy did I get chewed out! Perhaps they are going for a simplistic design, no words, ropes, or glass to hinder the visitors, but it doesn't work. I nearly asked for my money back it was such a bad experience.
Also during my stay in Bucharest, I tried to enjoy the city. I wandered everywhere, determined to root out charm, character, and romance. Lonely Planet told me to walk Calea Victoriei. I did. They suggested I check out the historic quarter. I got thoroughly lost in it and yet saw nothing particularly historic. I even strolled through several gardens. The charm just isn't there. Bucharest is landmarked by several large squares: Victory Square, Unity Square, Revolutionary Square, etc...Unfortuantely, they're all really just huge stretches of asphalt with cars steaming across them in all directions and policemen blowing whistles in vain attempts to direct traffic
Parisian Building
. One such policeman busily waved a fleet of cars through an intersection where we pedestrians were trying to cross on a green man light. What a mess.Nerves frayed from risking my neck above ground, I descended to the metro. After Kiev, Bucharest's metro is just depressing. For starters, it's far too shallow and you're quite likely to wait nine minutes for a train. Once one comes, it's just too modern and sealed - no rattling or ear popping here. Each station stop seems interminable for the number of people getting on and off and leaving, there's no feeling aceleration. It's a rather lethargic experience, actually.
Bucharest's Prague Factor:
If you just read my entry, you can probably guess that I didn't particularly like Bucharest. It's not that I really disliked it, I just couldn't find much going for it and with four days here, I did try. Every time I went out, though, I'd just get depressed and return to the lovely Midland Youth Hostel. It's not like Prague at all (even the river's pathetic) so I suppose I'll give it a 10%.
