A Day on the Town

By Saturday, I think Sarah & I were both a little tired of traveling, so we stayed in the city and did the tourist thing. We visited "old town" Bucharest (or what's left of it...Ceaucescu had much of it destroyed to make way for new "modern" construction), Piata Unirii (the "Times Square" of Bucharest), and Piata Revolutiei, where there is now a large monument to the 1989 Revolution. I didn't take any pictures, since I already have lots from all of these places. But, never fear, there was still a lot of day left and a lot of space on my camera card :)
From Piata Revolutiei, we walked to the Romanian Athenaeum, a beautiful concert hall in the heart of the city. The interior is even more impressive than the exterior; I went to a symphony concert there not long I arrived in Romania.

Mihai Eminescu, one of Romania's most famous writers, stands guard at the entrance to the Athenaeum.

And the pigeons stand guard over the entrance.

From the Athenaeum in the center of the city, we drove to the Village Museum at the edges of the city. The village museum was constructed to exhibit the different styles of village houses, churches, etc. from all around the country and from different time periods. Actual buildings were "deconstructed" in their original locations, transported to Bucharest, and then reconstructed in their new setting on the edge of a huge city park. Some are furnished and decorated as they would be in the traditional village setting.

This was my first visit to Muzeul Satului, and it was the absolute best time of the year to visit. Each year during the week preceding Palm Sunday the Village Museum hosts an exhibition of traditional village crafts and music. So, craftsmen from all over the country were exhibiting and selling their wares - all in one place. Sarah had the best souvenir shopping opportunities of anyone I've taken shopping in Romania! We also saw traditional singers and dancers in Romanian national costume. The men's chorus from Bucovina had amazing harmonies and the dancers, well, they were Romanian dancers. They basically shuffle 6 inches in either direction and then back the other way. Sarah says they dance like Baptists :)

I'm not sure that the copper still really qualifies as a "traditional craft", but I guess...

The next shot is my favorite from the whole day (although some of the pottery shots come close). It might even make it into a frame and onto the wall in my black-and-white hallway.


Coming up tomorrow: Going home