Bucharest, Romania (pt 1)

Bucharest is a bit surprising for a european capital city (i know i should have written about it sometime in the past year). When i got here i was all like "um. . . where's the capital part?" there are no skyscrapers and very very very few modern steel and glass buildings. but hey romania has pretty much been on the edge of every empire it was part of. there are loads and loads of small churches and communist block apts. Bucharest didnt fare so well in WWII and then there were earthquakes, and then there was crazy crazy Ceausescu so much of the previous grandeur was lost. much of it is very ugly but there are pockets of loveliness. so we went around and saw some stuff.

Here is the parliament of the people. Ceausescu destroyed 18% of the city at the time to build the second largest building in the world (after the pentagon). Romania has a slightly smaller population (22 mil) than the u.s. so i guess i can see why he needed something so big. actually he was executed before the building was completed so they dont know what he actually intended to do with it. since the end of communism the gov't been working to fix it but apparently it takes much longer to build monuments without the blatant theft and labor that communism allowed. but you have this amazing view of Unirii (unity) blvd. we took a tour and after over one hour, we were told we had seen 2% of the building. Inside was all marble and carvings and pretty awesome craftsmanship. and all the materials are native to romania. we saw a chandelier that weighs 5 tons and had 3 million (!!!) light bulbs. i think it may suck to be a maintenance man there. today its used for conferences and stuff (my school had our international day there).

we went to this balcony near the top facing a plaza and i had dreams of dictatorships and addressing an adoring crowd (or forced to be adoring due to the threat of being shot down). apparently both michael jackson (understandable cause hes crazy) and bill clinton visited bucharest, stood on my balcony, and addressed the crowds as budapest. again bucharest is like the red-headed stepchild of europe.

endings and beginnings

this is a totally dorky post so bear with me!

have been remiss in posting as the holiday ended a while ago. but its been difficult dealing with the 100+ degree heat with no a.c. it seemed like even blinking made me sweat.

kelly left a few days ago and it was awesome having her visit so youre welcome should you feel a yen for bucharest. we had a great time traveling. i saw things in bucharest that i hadnt gotten around to visiting and i totally loved moldova. i recommend it if you happen to be in this neck of the woods and looking for a non touristy place with beautiful scenery and lovely people.

one of the last things that kelly and i did was get me a kitty. YAY!!! been meaning to do it but never did plus the new apt is way more conducive to pet owning. her name is Ziggy (Stardust). i know, i kinda feel bad about it but what can you do? the name just stuck. her hobbies/likes include: napping (gotta admit i join her in those), purring, eating (she purrs and kneads as she eats), kneading my hair (she totally seems to dig the 'fro), head diving my face in the early hours of the morning so i can pet her, scolding me to pet her or if am away for any time.

here's a pic - she looks a little mean but it could be cause she's a cat. she's all marshmallow though.

Targoviste, Romania

This is the former princely court where such greats like Vlad Tepes (Dracula) ruled. its basically a ruin now and we were the only ones there when we went.

we took a maxi-taxi to get there (cross b/t bus and taxi) and had no idea where we were when arrived. i started talking to a girl on the bus asking for directions. she was really sweet (recently completed here university degree) and offered us a ride. we walked to where she was meeting her father and off we were!! sadly Kelly broke their car. it was working fine for an old communist car from the 80s (there was also a lot of bread in the back) but it stopped in the road. the dad tried to get it started but no dice. so we wound up helping to push it across a few lanes of traffic to a side street. the heart was in the right place and i feel really sorry for them that kelly's mojo did not agree with that of their car.

we had some pastries then walked on - now that we knew where things were. we saw an old monastery that htey were making repairs to and went in but no one spoke to us. i think in may have been because we were wearing no sleeved shirts.

mid travel update

currently sitting in an internet cafe in Moldova. we spent a ew days traveling around and visiting postcard perfect places in romania and then endured a ginourmously long bus journey to moldova - it was supposed to be shorter but am thinking the drivers took the scenic route. some of the roads were like driveways. the countryside of both romania and moldova is incredibly rural. people still have outhouses and such but its full of both cultivated and uncultivated gentle rolling hills. you look out the window and see the yellow heads of sunflower seeds dotting the landscape or the grape vines. i saw one of the most beautiful sunrises ever as i watched the sun rise over the hills, diffused through the clouds. it looked like the the clouds were touching the hills with the sun, in all its glory, rising and burning through it. as anti-mush as i am, my heart sung - its indescribable

today i went on a wine tour. gotta say it was the first time in my life i was drunk before noon (well having not begun the night before). had some kick-ass wine though.

holiday

for the next couple of weeks, i will be traveling around romania and moldova with a friend, kelly.
this week we've been hanging out in bucharest and i've been showing her many many famous buildings. okay some are famous only because i said so, but really whose to know?

come and visit and i will make up many somewhat believable stories especially for you. so i have back log of pics from this week - got an excuse as i only got internet last night. will try to post as i travel and finish when i get back. hopefully.

it may be a while so . . . la revedere

3rd times the charm

this time my absence was not due to massive laziness but cause i was moving for the 3rd time in a year. i absolutely hate moving but i seem to do it alot. this time i have moved to what i think is one of the nicest parts of bucharest. its a nice leafy neighborhood - for bucharest - sandwiched between two parks. the apt is bigger and cleaner. thats the totally horrible thing of living as i do. as i try to remain light on the furniture (but am totally into accumulating other rubish), i have to move into furnished apts and sometimes those are scary!

plus in this apt, the landlord is really nice and super helpful. he lives next door and am a little scared that he and his wife will want to adopt me. i have privacy issues but its one of those weird cultural things that is really really hard to explain. i relate it to a cultural thing but its really a me weirdness.

so on my floor are 3 other apts. my landlord and his wife and the other apts have little old ladies in them. as soon as i was moving in, they came checking me out. the landlord told me they knew everything that was going on and were better than guard dogs. dont know whether to be really afraid or feel safe.

the other day i met one in the elevator and we had a 'talk' which consists of me stumbling through the romanian i know and trying really hard to decode the mile a minute talk. the conversation included her trying to figure out which languages i speak, exchange of names, etc. she also said something about visiting. i couldnt figure out if i was being invited to her house or if she was gonna be dropping by to party. but she ended the conversation with a smile, something unintelligible, and a pinch of my nose. am okay with this if it means she will be stopping by with cakes or something but not if its a hookup with her grandson. i seriously need to learn more romanian.