Romania Sept 29&30

Monday Sept 29

Early rising. Plane to Bucharest.

Dinner:  Romanian veg soup, chicken cordon bleu ( good), tomato salad, chocolate cake

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Tues Sep 30.

Bucharest (pronounced here Byukarest) has about 2 million people and seems a lot more prosperous than Sofia.  There are lots of belle epoch buildings.  The city sports a Parisian wannabe atmosphere with an Arc de Triomphe and Champs Elysee.  In contrast with the rest of the area, there are virtually no Moslems here.

We drove around by bus this morning, spending time at the Parliament Building.  Begun by the last communist dictator, Nicolai Ceausescu, it was completed in the early 90s. 20,000 workers; all Romanian Materials; 2d biggests administratve building in the world by floor space (after the Penatgon) and 2d biggest building by volume (after a rocket assembly bild at Cape Canaveral.

They razed 4 square miles of the city and put in a monumental allee.

It is not air conditioned because Ceausescu feared poison in the ducts and it is almost unheatable because of the huge amount of marble. It promises to be a conservation nightmare.

The Romanian Orthodox Church seems very powerful here.  We visited its  HQ.

We could not go in because of the celebration of the 7th anniversary of the present Patriarch.  There were people outside that could not get into the relatively small church and the service was broadcast outside.   He is only the 5th patriarch because Romania did not get an independent patriarch until 1925.  Interestingly, his qualification was that he has many orthodox religious media.

Lunch was at a beerhall.  There was a string quartet of young female musicians wearing green evening gowns here.  

We ate vegetable cream soup, mititei (a mixed ground meat skewered  grilled sausage) with potatoes covered with grated cheese.  We are told that no fair or bbq is complete without mititei.  Dessert was apple strudel and ice cream.

This is a 15th Century downtown church:

 

Painted interior:

This 18th Century church shows Ottoman influence:

Manhole cover.

The outdoor museum is a collection  of farm and country buildngs, brought together for conservation, starting in the 1880s.  Romania carpentry is very versatile.

Braided fences:

According to the sign, this effigy was meant to scare off evil spirits.  But it looks more like it wants to be hugged.

Timber church.

The poorest peasants lived near the Danube, in the Northern part of Romania.  These dwellings are called half-buried houses, which they are.   The use materials sparingly on these.

Finally, this intriguing statue of Trajan in front of the National Art Museum.  Combines the Wolf of Rome and the wolf banner carried by the Dacians into battle.  Romanians regard themselves as the descendants of the Dacians and Romans.,

DInner showed the French influence in the starter of chicken and celery root mayonnaise. The main was a classic Walachian (part of Romania) dish of a stew of mixed meats with polenta.  For dessert a cheese doughnut with yogurt.  yummy!