Date 17th October
Status: watching the taxi drivers closely
Lesson: sometimes looking like a lost tourist gets you in for free but
not on Mondays.
Having only one full day in Bucharest we wanted to make the most of
it. So we got up early and hit the streets. The problem was Bucharest
was still in bed. It felt like we were walking through the city at 7
in the morning, not 10. The gypsy Market which should have started at
8 was no where to be seen. The shops that should have been open for
half an hour were shut up tight. I know it was the weekend but it was
a saturday. We stopped for coffee and a bite to eat and nothing. What
to do?
We decided to head to the people parliament. One of the biggest
buildings in Romania. In fact it is the Second biggest building in the
world behind the pentagon. In will get to that latter. Needless to say
it was easy to find as it towers over all the other buildings around.
When I say tower it looms. A big beautiful building that you just
can't fathom. Would love to see the pentagon up close to compare.
It is the building that houses the parliament and also one of the
hardest places to find an opening. In the classic case of going left
when we should have gone right we ended up walking around the entire
thing.
The language barrier did help us in one regard though. When we asked a
guard if this was the way in he said yes, great. It wasn't but it was
the entance to an art gallery and we decided to go in. Once in we were
told where to go and pay but before we got there we were ushered in.
We spent the whole exhibition waiting to be told off but all good.
When we were in istanbul we went to the Istanbul modern. Basically the
Tate modern but in another country. And while there I realised that I
just didn't get it. Why oh why is a painting of a girl in a dress that
looks like it was drawn by an eight year old worth a lot of money and
where oh where is the meaning the bit of card next to it says it
has???????
And again I didn't get it in Romania either.
But we did see a very interesting documentery ( yes it is an art
gallery) on shepherds in Moldova talking about there way of life. And
how the communists decided they weren't allowed donkeys and horses
anymore so they walked in, rounded them all up and killed them. Also
try to talked about swimming the river to Romania to talk with and
trade with them. And all that changed when Romania joined the EU and
the Borders became really strict.
Anyway back to this building.
We eventually walked around the entire thing trying different doors
and found the right one. Only to be told we had to have our passports
wih us luckily the next English tour (you aren't allowed in unless you
are in a tour) (infact it is considered a crime if you leave the tour
and walk about on your own.) so we hoofed it back to the hostel and
just made it back in time.
Again our luck helded out. As we walked In there was a big que which
we joined and went in. Only no one asked us to pay, so we saved a
little there too.
On this tour a very bored young lady took around a few rooms and gave
us some facts
1. One pair of curtains are 19m long
2. Some of the carpets weigh 4tonnes. All of them are so large that
they have to be made in sections and brought in.
3. All of the building is Romanian. Everything from the crystal to the
marble to the wood.
4. It was begun in 1984 and with 3 shifts working 24hrs a day 70% was
completed in 5 years
5. Thousands of homes were destroyed to make way for the buildings
6. Some of the curtIns had gold and silver thread in them and were
made by nuns.
7. Some of the carpets were made to match the sky lights
We read that there was a nuclear bunker and we asked about it. We were
told not to ask as there were so many rumour about the building that
she didn't know.
It certainly was an impressive building. Would love to see the
pentagon and compare because we only saw 3% of the building and it was
amazing. But was a little dissappointed with the lack of history we
were told. Just figures. I am an historian after after all.
When we got back to he hostel our host and a friend of his were
watching the soccer. They asked what we thought and I told them what i
thought.
This is when we got the real history.
1. Not only were thousands of houses forcefully destroyed to make way
for this building but they cleared one of the oldest and beautiful
parts of Bucharest. Including the oldest church which they moved
elsewhere.
The reason 70% was completed so quickly was because thousands of
people were forced to leave there homes and made to work on the sight.
Sometimes for months. One of these peope was our hosts friend.
On the tour we also weren't told about the bodies of those who died
while building it. If they felll into the concrete it was not stopped
but thry continued to pour and the poor person who fell were left in
the foundations.
The nuns hated making the curtains.
The building actually has so many floors under ground that only a very
few are allowed to go. Our hosts friend was a manager of the main tv
station in romania and he was only allowed down to the 15th level.
When the revolution happened they wanted nothing more than to destroy
the building but that was such a huge job they couldn't afford it.
Donald trump offered to buy it for 2 billion. They refused thinking
that to build it cost more like 8. But didn't take into account the
day to day costs of running a building that big and Romanians just see
it as a huge waste of everything.
Our host also told us about the open air peasants village. They
thought this idea was so great that that went and took some peasants
houses and transplanted them in the middle of bucharest.
Problem was that also transplanted the the peasants and told them to
go about their lives while people came and watched them. This idea did
not last long as who would want there lives to be on show 24/7 in the
form of a museum. Although saying that big brother springs to mind.
The next day before we left for sighisoara we went to see the peasants
museum ( not the out door one) and having the idea of going and taking
things still in use for the sake of a museum was so firmly in our
heads that everything we saw was tainted. I am sure this is not the
case though as the museum won the title of best museum in the world 3
or 4 years running so hopefully that is not the case.
We are now in a place called sighisoara. It is the birth place of vlad
Dracula. Or vlad the impaler or better known as the inspiration for
bram stoker's Dracula. A book I am reading now and am actually finding
quite good and suspensful. It is also an old
Medieval town and a UNESCO world heritage site. The entire site is a
medieval town which is still inhabited. Very cool, very beautiful but
closed on mondays. And they are digging up the ancient road so also a
mud bath full of slippery stones and heavy earth moving machinery.
So our one and only day here and we watched GI Joe in a theatre which
is also a night club. We were the only ones there and got to sit on
couches so was very cool. And generally walked around.
Oh well Budapest next
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