Balkans day 26: Bucharest

Switching back into solo ambling plus coffee mode today. My first stop was the fantabulous eyesore that is Bucharest’s Palace of Parliament. Designed at Ceausescu’s bidding in the mid-1980s, it’s the world’s heaviest building.

Side of the Palace with blossoming cherry trees

I signed up for a tour, and after going through airport-like security we were shepherded around the building by a guide who rattled off facts and figures like a machinegun. I asked if it was true that the building was sinking into the ground, and she dismissed this as baseless. Everyone seemed rather on edge, and later we were told why: the president of Romania was visiting, and walked right past our tour.

Performance hall with 5-tonne crystal chandelier

State room

From the Palace I walked into town and had a tasty lunch in the courtyard of the Hanu’ lui Manuc restaurant (thanks to A. for the tip). This is right in the middle of the most lovely part of the city, and I wandered around taking photos of cool buildings for some time.

Stavropoleos church

Old university library with statue of Carol I

Romanian Athenaeum with Eminescu statue

Strangely, I learned on some Wikipedia-ing that the Romanian monarchy from the second half of the nineteenth century onwards were from “my” neck of the woods – they were Hohenzollerns, and Carol I and his son were born in Sigmaringen, near Konstanz. This only reinforces my suspicion that Germany’s most successful export product ever is royalty.