A Closer look at Bucharest

I woke up thinking that the entire country would be on strike. However, to my surprise the trains, buses and trams were running. I took this opportunity to see more of Bucharest. Many of the landmarks in the city, seem to be the Romanian take on edifices that are landmarks in other cities. I stopped by one of Bucharest’s icons, the Triumphal Arc, and then moved on to the Stalinist “Palace of the Free Press” which resembles a larger, but squattier version of the Palac Kultury i Nauki, in Warsaw. This international flavor persists in many of the names in the city. there is a Charles de Gaulle square, a Latin American Square, and even a Beijing Boulevard. After this I walked through one of the city’s main parks. In the afternoon, I went to southern Bucharest. I started by taking a more in depth look at the Piata Unirii, and the Fountains which Ceausescu built in it. All of the dictator's other architectural blunders aside, I have to say that he did well here. This is officially my favorite place in Bucharest . I walked around the Palace of Parliament, the 2nd largest building in the world. Then, a stroll along Bucharest’s river, which Ceausescu completely concreted in, including the river's bed. I then walked through the old town, which remains relatively untouched by the former dictators’ predilection for tearing down the historic buildings in favor in cinder-block edifices. I visited about five churches. My tour ended with a brisk walk to the subway as it started to rain.