Palaces, Parks, and Puddles

This is probably my last blog of the trip! So crazy!  Tonight is my last night in my Bucharest apartment, and tomorrow night I will crash for a few hours at my friend Adoriana's apartment before heading to the airport really early (like 3am or so) to catch my first of 3 flights.  Pressure's on to sleep well tonight :)

Today was another fun day of exploring this city.  And now of course I want to come back in nicer weather and explore it properly!  But I feel like I did a great job, all things considered.

one of the streets in old town.  I'd have taken
 better and more pictures if it wasn't raining!

I started my day at Origo again, and the same baristas were there and were just as friendly and the coffee was just as fantastic.  I had set a different exploration route today, and my first priority was to explore Old Town just a little more.  By the end of the day, I actually explored it several different times! Old Town is a relatively small area of town that was not demolished to make way for Communist projects, so it retained some of it's quaint old European character.  I like it a lot.


I think our guide said yesterday that this is the oldest church
in Bucharest

  From there, I tried to find the Jewish history museum.  Tried, with no success.  I found the synagogue that at one time hosted the museum, and found a sign in Romanian that seems to talk about that, but the museum itself was not to be found. 

window of the synagogue

 I was satisfied with my effort, though, and headed toward my next stop: the "House of the People" or "Palace of the Parliament."  This monstrous building (2nd largest administrative building in the world, heaviest building in the world, all sorts of other superlatives...) was masterminded by communist dictator Ceausescu, and cost insane amounts of money and resources and people to build, while the people of Romania themselves had not enough food, heat, or electricity. I could tell you much more but you should come and tour it yourselves (or listen to me blab on about it in person sometime :) )  I was happy to catch a paid tour, but decided not to pay to take pictures. This was actually kind of a relief - no pressure to take pictures so I just got to take it all in. It really is a breathtaking place on the inside (but I guess you have to take my word for it) , and one of the reasons it is called the People's House is that everything inside was Romanian-made (except for some mahogany panels in one room that were a gift to Ceausescu from a foreign leader).  Pretty impressive.

beautiful mosaic along Bulevardul
 Unirii, on the way to the Palace

view from the front



view from the east side, taken from nearby Izvor Park

Ok, so this isn't the Palace.  This is just a super cool playground,
also at Izvor Park.

the only picture I took in the palace.  I had to exchange my passport
for this badge, so it was pretty important (Don't worry, we traded
back at the end :) )

After that I headed north a bit to catch part of Parcul Herastrau and Romania's own Arc de Triumf - smaller than the one in Paris, but still impressive (Sorry, Vasi, I didn't make it to Parcul Carol, I decided I wanted to see the Arc more than the mausoleum :) ).  Being that it was still cold and rainy, I was one of the only people in this park too, but I do remember being in this park in early May in 2007 and it being quite lovely.  Today it was a bit dreary but still pretty.

 

I found a fun place to eat a late lunch/early dinner, back in old town at a place called "La Mama."  I chose it because of the soup menu - I seriously love Romanian soup! This time I had a sour soup with chicken and garlic - so good!  It came with bread (oh yeah, I love Romanian bread too!) and I ordered fries to go with it and a mint lemonade that was amazing and served in a fancy mini-pitcher with a straw.  I will also miss Romanian lemonade :) I wandered around a bit after eating, but puddle-jumping was getting a little old and my feet were getting a little tired, and it was going to be dark soon anyway. 

I actually went out of my way today,
in the rain, to take a picture of this
 sign I saw yesterday.  Instead of a
sign saying to keep off the grass,
 this happy sign says being
on the grass is allowed!

Another successful subway ride back, and here I am.  I'm in a funky mood right now - excited to be home and to see family and friends and clients and live in a world where I'm not a cultural outsider, nervous about all the travel that needs to happen between now and then, and sad to leave this amazing place.  Every time I leave Romania, I am so aware that there is a chance I won't return, and it breaks my heart each time.  This time is no exception.  But my faithful God is in control, and He is as good in Tempe as He is here, and He is faithful to His people here at the exact same time He is faithful to His people in Arizona.  He's pretty amazing.  This trip has been amazing.  Thanks for reading!