Bucharest

 September 8, 2025  Bucharest

The trip to Romania was marred by one of those issues which makes getting there the worst part of travel.  As we were driving to Toronto to get our flight, we received messages that the flight from Toronto to Warsaw was delayed.  With only an hour and ten minutes to connect, then started the frantic figuring out what to do.  Our wonderful travel agent, Mel, had it all under control and we were rescheduled on a later flight (yes there was one) from Warsaw to Bucharest.  Instead of arriving in the early afternoon, we arrived at 6:30 PM.  Polish Air was satisfactory.

Our guide Alin met us at the airport and took us to the hotel where we collapsed.  This morning he picked us up at 9:00 and we started out for the parliament.  On the way we passed the largest Orthodox church in the world which is not yet complete and not open.

We heard a lot about Nicolai Nicolae Ceaușescu today, beginning with the construction of the enormous building which now serves as Romania’s parliament: 

Ceaușescu had it designed and constructed as a government building to house, especially, his office which is enormous.  He never got to occupy it, and today it serves as the office of the president of the senate.  The building is incredible, and they knew we were coming to see it.  They put out the red carpet for us: 

Here’s the entrance hall with marble and mosaics: 

There are 15,000 chandeliers in the building, some of which are enormous: 

The hallways are lined with marble columns: 

We saw two magnificent meeting rooms; here’s one: 

And the senate chamber: 

After our extensive tour of the parliament, we drove to the Village Museum, a concept similar to that of the Genesee Country Museum in Rochester, but much larger and far more diverse.  Buildings representing the many and diverse regions of Romania have been moved here and carefully placed to show village life in the various parts of the country.  It is incredibly photogenic, and I’ll only show a few of the truly fabulous things which are here.  Here’s pair of buildings with wonderful thatch roofs: 

Something I’ve never seen before—a fence with a thatch roof: 

Here’s a great wooden church: 

There are paintings/drawings on the side of the church which, in a naïve style, tell stories: 

Here are angels and sinners on Judgement Day: 

And something I don’t ever remember seeing before, Jesus with Moses as a saint:

We spent hours there.  Part of the education we’re getting from Alin is an unfettered assessment of the workings (or not) of the government here.  This museum is full of treasures, but has very little support.  There is minimal maintenance of the artifacts and buildings, and some are falling into disrepair.  The paintings I showed above are on the outside of the church and are not being cared for.  They are fading.  And more.

 I’ll have more to say about post-Ceaușescu governing, health care, and corruption later.

 We had lunch at 4:00, and then drove around some of the old town before I faded.  We were supposed to walk the old town, but crashed back at the hotel.  We did drive past the concert hall where we’ll be next Sunday evening. 

Tomorrow we’re off for Brasov, and on the way will stop at Bran Castle.  More then.