2010 Trip: Bucharest Day 1
13th May 2010
Both of my cabin-mates snored, both were just a little drunk. The Israeli was quintessentially Israeli. Rather obnoxious really… maybe it was just the snoring. The Bulgarian was an interesting character. He was a helicopter pilot during the cold war and flew nuclear warheads around Bulgaria. He now works as a Foundry Engineer.
And such it was till 3am. Rudely awakened (well those snoring were) to provide our passports, we were treating to a fantastic sight. A rail bridge over a darkened Danube. Lights from towns on each side reflected long shimmers in the water. In the distance, up the river, dull thunder could be heard. Every now and then a single shot or an entire set of forked lightning brightened the sky. White and gold.
Eventually we arrived in Bucharest just after six. We were late. My fellow Bulgarian had missed his train, he seemed very calm about it. I found a hostel about ten minutes walk from the train station and armed with some lei, another currency starting with ‘L’, I paid the ethusiastic and well-endowed proprietor for a couple of nights. Interestingly, there seem to be three staff members here, all looking strikingly similar, who take the shifts.
After gathering my wits and waiting till a more salubrious hour, I wandered forth into the great unknown (my language is flowery/floury tonight, forgive me).
My first port of call was the Parliamentary Palace, the largest building in Europe, the second largest building by floor area in the world (after the Pentagon), and the third largest by volume. It was built between 1983-1989 by a raving megalomaniac - Nicolae Ceauşescu, the then communist president of the country and now infamous executed individual. Let me give you some stats - 2800 crystal lamps, including 480 chandeliers. 1 million cubic meters of marble, 900,000 cubic meters of wood, 1,100 rooms, 270m x 240m, 9 stories (that the guide was willing to talk about, though it actually has nearer to or more than 12… ), 500 cleaning staff. It houses the two houses of parliaments, a conference centre, a couple of museums, and various other official facilities. In our tour we only saw the 5% of the building we were allowed to, though they didn’t tell us this until the end of the tour.
So yeah, after much bureaucracy, a crappy museum and an hour and a half’s wait, the tour started. Cavernous convention rooms, a massive meeting hall with two stair cases - one for Ceauşescu and one for his wife (that were not to be used by anyone else and were rebuilt five times to achieve optimal stepping height). Ornate pillars, cut crystal chandeliers, decorated ceilings, golden thread woven into the curtains and an estimated construction cost of USD$10 billion. You get the idea.
After this I wandered around the old town and chatted to some guys I had met on the tour of the parliament. This is a huge sprawling city. It is easy to get lost as the streets are not in a grid, they are curved, and they tend to converge on large squares that are weirdly disorienting. At one point the city had the nickname ‘Little Paris’, one can see where the reputation came from, large sections of classical architecture dot the landscape. There are wide tree-lined boulevards, tall columns in curved plazas, and impressive fountains that dot the landscape. They also park atrociously here… We are talking permanent double parking, nearly always parking partially or fully on the foot path, and at atrocious angles.
Eventually, I headed back to the hostel and slept for a few hours. In the evening I headed out to local beer hall, Cara cu Bere. It is one of only a few similar places left in Romania and it is an institution for locals and tourists alike. Rather like the Dux, but more awesome. We’re talking dancing on and around tables, a massive and cheap menu of awesome local fare (including vegetarian food, amazingly), home brewed, local, and imported beers on tap, stained glass windows are everywhere, beautifully carved spiral staircases, and vaulted ceilings, chivalric crests and carvings, all gilded or painted deep reds and greens. A special mention goes to the house bread, a huge loaf, still warm from the oven, delicious, crisp, soft and white.
I might as well mention my meal, for it was awesome. Alongside the ubiquitous beer and bread, a eggplant based, fine ratatouille-type dish, a dish of roasted sauerkraut (surprisingly good), and a polenta dish. Polenta with butter, with a poached egg, smothered in grated cheese, and surrounded with VERY generous lashings of real sour cream. Yummy! I was so full afterwards, I had to stay seated for an hour before I could wander back to the hostel!