Bucharest - A City of Contrasts

If you are going to visit Romania you probably are not going as a tourist. You probably have a relative who lives there, you may be going to help people, but it is not the first place you think of when you think of tourist attractions. I'll admit I went there to work with orphans, but I was pleased with the amount of things to see in this country.

It was an extremely hot summer day when we ventured away from the outskirts of Bucharest where we had been working with orphans. We drove past the Romanian's version of the Arc de Triomphe and I could see why some people call Bucharest a little Paris. It even has its own metro and bus system. We walked along the streets carefully as to not draw attention to ourselves. We had been warned of the pickpockets all over the city, and had to keep moving when we realized we were being watched.

Along the city streets not far from the ostentatious palace of Ceaucescu along side very old looking cars were gypsy carts. Some of the carts were stopped on the side of the road selling lace and other handmade items, but many were being used as a means of transportation. We stopped in a shop that one of the orphanage workers knew would have decently priced authentic Romanian items. It was nothing like a tourist shop in America. It was clearly owned by a really nice man who had probably gotten these hand carved items from people. There were dolls, whistles, jewelry boxes, some jewelry, lace, and other things hand made. Our shopping trip continued down a dusty path into a glass shop. We watched a lady blowing the glass right there in the courtyard behind the shop. In the shop we picked up beautiful vases, candy dishes, and plates. All hand blown and selling for the equivalent of three or four dollars a piece. Everything in Romania was amazingly cheap, and everyone we met was excited to meet rich Americans.

There were fountains in the street near the Palace of the Parliament that Ceaucescu built in the 1980s. The street children cooling off in them was quite a contrast from the monstrosity of the palace. Tours of the palace are given, and you can see where all the money the government had went while the country was communist.

There are a number of museums in Bucharest, Romania. We ended up not going to an art museum, but The Museum of the Romanian Peasant, a museum that was set up like a Romanian village. There were huts with thatched roofs, fields and different buildings depicting country life. It was quite accurate, as some of the people I was working with had once lived out in villages like that. The contrast between those huts and the palace once again really hit me. The city also has theatres, operas, and many clubs that play music. Tired of authentic Romanian food we ate at a Lebonese restaurant and had ice-cream near the museum. One of the buildings we used to work with the orphans had been a disco at one point. We stepped briefly into an old mosque, that didn't require you to wear long sleeves or pants as many places of worship in Europe do.

The city was fun to explore. It was great to really begin to understand the history of the country and realize why there were so many orphans. Why people still live like they did in America a hundred years ago, but then to also see the progress being made. Newer buildings were being built. Every year the country is becoming more westernized, it has been trying to join the European Union, and perhaps someday it will be able to.