Bucharest, rain or shine

 I'm currently cuddled up in a blanket in my cozy apartment, thawing out from a cold but wonderful day.

 

I rode the subway into central Bucharest with my friend Adoriana this morning.  As soon as we were underground, I got excited.  I remembered that I really enjoy subways, was glad to have her with me to navigate the first ride, and everything was clean and easy to understand.  We got into town, she headed to an appointment, and I headed to Origo coffee shop, which I'd discovered online months ago and was so excited to try.

 

Origo was everything I hoped for and more.  The baristas were really friendly, seemed to really know their coffee, and I had a hot latte that was fantastic.  As I got out my Bible and journal, I couldn't help but think about how not so long ago, reading a Bible in public in this city could have been grounds for imprisonment or worse.  A sobering thought that made me extra thankful as I read God's word!

 

From Origo, I wandered toward a nearby park.  On the way, I stopped at a bookstore (I've finished most of the books I brought on this trip), and bought 4 new books!  Then I had to get out before I picked out any more - books are, after all, a bit of a heavy item to add to my already heavy belongings for the long trip home.  But a coffee shop and a cozy bookstore in one morning made for a really happy Krista!

 

I made it to the park - Parcul Cismigiu - and it was lovely, kind of like a mini Central park with ponds and hills and cool trees and pretty flowers. It had stopped raining for a little bit, and even though it was still cold and wet, I had so much fun exploring and taking way too many pictures.  I wandered around the park for a long time. (I think I gave the security guards something to do, since the park was otherwise mostly empty.  They kept watching me, probably because I made a ridiculously good target - a single American girl with her camera in a mostly-empty city park). 

 

 

 



my fancy lunch

From there, I literally just wandered.  I walked in directions I thought would be interesting, casually watched for somewhere to eat, and ended up just getting colder and colder as it started to rain again.  I found a little restaurant, and ordered a chef's special - chicken rolls with prosciutto and asparagus and gorgonzola and sour cream.  I was proud of myself for eating something interesting :-)  Then I followed Adoriana's tip to another bookstore.  This one was 5 stories tall, right in the heart of old town Bucharest, and so fantastic.  I might go back tomorrow.

 

the beautiful bookstore

From there, I headed to Piata Unirii for another free guided walking tour like I did in Brasov.  I wasn't sure anyone else would show - the weather was only getting worse, it was probably about 45 degrees and raining pretty steadily.  But there were like 40 of us!  Our guide, Stefan, was great, and tried to find us sheltered spaces to explain things: "See that church on the right?  Great, we are going to talk about it when we get out of the rain."  It really is a fascinating city - I'm falling in love with it!  It's not my first time exploring it, but I am way less overwhelmed by it than I was in 2007 (even though I had friends showing me around in 2007!)  And although the effects of communism on the city are horribly sad, it does make for some interesting contrasts: wide boulevards surrounded by plain white buildings, then just a block away old cobblestone streets full of character and history.  Stefan did a good job of making the tour mostly chronological, starting with the old city and ending with some of the communist landmarks and post-communist developments.  The rain did not let up (there was water flowing down many of the streets by the end of our tour), and I was super excited to get warm  and dry again, but I'm still so glad I did the tour.  And now I know what I want to see more of tomorrow if I can.  And to round out this pretty-much-perfect day, I took the subway home, easily navigating a couple different lines and figuring out my way back to the apartment without once doing the obvious-tourist-looking-at-a-map routine. 

 

I took lots of random building pics, I'll spare you
from most of them

part of our tour group.  Stefan has the red umbrella

a rainy-day view of part of Piata Unirii, and the boulevard that
communist dictator Ceaucescu had built so that it would be one meter
wider than the previous widest street in Europe

A fascinating little monastery that also houses artifacts
 from local churches destroyed during communism

Tomorrow I am going easy on myself - I will do whatever the weather permits :)  I definitely want to explore some more, but also love the idea of staying warm.  And now I have some wonderful books to read, so staying cozy sounds even more appealing!

 

Thanks for reading!