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Incredible
experiences in Bucharest
Admire one of the world's largest buildings
The world's biggest parliamentary building,
Palace of Parliament, happens to be in Bucharest. Hour-long guided tours manage
to take in just a fraction of the building's three-million-plus square feet
(there are more than a thousand rooms) and focus on the tons of marble,
hardwood, and gold used in the building's construction in the 1980s, a time
when Romania was trying to feed its own people. Ceausescu and his wife, Elena,
both played a direct role in the construction. It was originally intended to
house the presidential offices and the Central Committee of the Romanian
Communist Party but was never finished.
See remains of old “Paris”
“Paris of the East” was Bucharest's
nickname in the decades before World War II. Decades of communist misrule and a
tragic earthquake in 1977 brought much of the old city down but there are
places here and there where that former elegance can still be glimpsed. The
Cismigiu Gardens in the center of the city is a pearl of park built around a
romantic lake and featuring old-growth trees and gracious, wrought-iron
signposts and benches.
Learn about Romania's roots
Walking though Bucharest's busy streets, it's
easy to forget that outside the capital and a U large cities, Romania is a
largely agricultural country, with a long and rich peasant tradition. The
amazing Museum of the Romanian Peasant shows off the elaborate woodworking,
pottery-making, egg-painting, and weaving skills of the peasantry in a way that's
both educational and amusing. Small tongue-in-cheek signs at the entrance to
each room poke fun at modern life, bring a chuckle, and draw you in. Downstairs
there's a side exhibition on the Communists' efforts to nationalize the
peasantry in the 1970s and 1980s.
Appreciate 21st-century art
Romania has exploded onto the contemporary
art scene in recent years. The excitement was generated initially by a group of
young painters and visual artists from the northern city of Cluj-Napoca, but at
least some of the action has shifted to the capital as new galleries and design
centers open up. It's hard to pinpoint precisely what constitutes Romanian
contemporary art, though critics point to shared elements of wit and dark
humor, a somber mood, and bits of surrealism in defining a common style.