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Bucharest
Bucharest
City Stroll
City Trip
A small, spontaneous discovery tour through Bucharest by day and by night.
We just wanted to explore an unknown city and drove relatively spontaneously and without any preparation to Bucharest in Romania.
We weren't focused on anything you "absolutely have to see", experienced the city without any time pressure and were happy about everything we encountered.
Because we came without any expectations, we were curious and open-minded, just took everything as it occurred and let ourselves be absorbed by the city and our mood.
After the journey we were first of all a little bit of rest and breathe a sigh of relief.
North of the center the park Herastrau offers exactly that on a quite large area.
The character of the park is characterized by a big lake that alone occupies more than half of the total area.
The park consists of a public part and a museum in which old houses from all over Romania have found a new home and can be visited.
Outside the museum area there are plenty of cosy corners to relax and enjoy the peace and nature of the city.
Tehnoimport Building
This building attracted my attention.
Build in 1935 by the architects Harry Stern, Rudolf Fränkel and Marcel Local.
The modernistic building was the home of the state - owned foreign trade company "Tehnoimportexport", since 1985 it houses apartments.
Caru' Cu Bere
It was time for some night-life.
One might say that it is a tourist place and that is surely true.
But sometimes even tourist places are an original.
And this is one...
The place with its interior designed in art nouveau style opened 1879 and after a chequered history, everything is now largely the same as before.
First we thought that it was too crowded, but then we entered nevertheless.
They brew their own beer, the serve tasty food and the place looks fantastic, nothing wrong with that.
And hey, we are tourists.
Since 2006, the descendants of the founder have taken over the management.
They are trying to preserve the memory and to restore the original condition of the building and its surroundings in every detail.
On the upper floors of the building they also plan to build a memorial to the history of the house and its founder.
Metro System
Entering Piața Aviatorilor Metro Station.
I can‘t miss to checkout the metro system of a city I visit, because the metro system always shows me another face of a place.
It‘s the noise, the smell and the people that give a chity its very own character.
In Bucharest the metro opened for service in 1979 and the network is run by Metrorex.
Piaţa Charles de Gaulle -- Metro Station
Bucharest is the only city in Romania that has a Metro.
As the car traffic is regularly at a standstill during rush hour, it is a really necessary support for all commuters.
During this time it runs every three to five minutes.
In 2016, almost 180 million people used it.
Piaţa Charles de Gaulle
Exit from the subway.
The stations develop their very own charm and in many places also represent a connection system for pedestrians to cross under the sometimes huge streets and crossroads.
Revolution Square
A place of remembrance.
On Dec. the 22nd of 1989 the last uprising against the then communist regime took place here.
It is the place where the then dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu made his last public address - after which he fled and was executed shortly thereafter.
The monument is intended to commemorate these events as well as the rebirth of the nation.
Bold Architecture
Walking through Bucarest, close to the revolution square I found this.
I was surprised and somehow attracted by the mixture of old and new architecture - and no, this is no photoshop, they really built this.
Roof Sceneries
The roof sceneries in Bucharest fascinated me and reminded me again and again of postcards from Paris. I was always fascinated by the substance of the city center. The building opposite is the National Bank of Romania and attached to it is the Museum of the National Bank.
Hey,
I am glad you drop by!
I am Lars, constantly plagued by wanderlust and I do have a preference
for spontaneous individual trips, outdoor adventures and road trips.
...feel free to join me on my endless journey in the moments I like to share within...
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Palatul Parlamentului
Palace of Parliament
ESSAY
A PLACE OF SUPERLATIVES
A PLACE OF CONTROVERSY
THEN AND NOW
THE DREAM OF A DICTATOR MANIFESTED IN STONE
THE PALACE OF PARLIAMENT IN BUCHAREST
The construction began in 1984 according to the ideas of Nicolae Ceaușescu.
Before that, 40.000 people had to give up their, partly historic, houses. Churches and synagogues were torn down as well as a stadium in Art Deco style.
The architect was Anca Petrescu, she won the competition for the palace at the age of 26, immediately after graduation.
The first plan was to build the whole place in only two years, but that period was fast extended until 1990.
Right after the execution of the Ceaușescu‘s a discussion broke out how to use the palace in the future.
In april 1991 the decision fell not to tear down the whole place and instead to finish it.
Today it houses - among others - the senate, the chamber of deputies, three museums and an international conference center.
But still a lot of the more than 5.000 rooms are not finalized. The maintenance cost of the building is 50.000.000 US $ per year.
As for all full-fledged dictators, everything was there for him, the entire resources of his country, the money, the workforce and also the craftsmen.
In this representative room you can get an idea of why they needed 3.500t of crystals for the 480 chandeliers, why they needed 150.000 light bulbs and what it might mean to cover 52.000 square meters with carpets in all the more than 5.000 rooms.
The construction cost are estimated at 3.3 billion US $ that would have been 40% of the gross national product.
In its monumentally, this building is beyond any previously known framework of classical and neoclassical forerunners.
Ceaușescu minutely followed the progress of the construction work.
He came to the site every Saturday and complained about everything he did not like.
This staircase had to be built three times until it met his expectations.
All materials used in the palace, apart from the technical equipment, come from Romania.
The marble used throughout the palace comes from Transylvania and represents the entire Romanian production of ten years.
Leaving the p(a)lace
the disturbing reflection
of the unreal remains
for a while
with a peculiar taste
Of a world out of balance.
© 2018 by Lars Hauck
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