Roaming in Romania: Day 1

December 12th-13th

Off to Bucharest, Romania!

Shortly after arriving in Italy, my friend Amy, whom I had known in Norfolk, invited me on a ladies trip she and some of her friends were taking to Romania.  I was hesitant at first because one, I didn't know anyone else going on the trip, and two, I didn't know anything about Romania.  But, I figured I wasn't going to make friends by NOT going.

It turns out that by the time we took off, I had met everyone.  There was no itinerary, just get to Bucharest and check out the Christmas Markets.

Romania recently joined the EU but is not yet on the Euro.  They use the Lei or Ron. 

1 Lei ~ 0.25 Euro or ~ $0.28 USD

We left in the evening on the 12th and landed in fog like I have never seen before.

The next day, the 13th we all wandered off to do our own thing.  Savannah and I wandered off together.  We did a quick tour of the Christmas Market by our hotel and then headed off to some of the museums.

Christmas Market -

Savannah in a Dracula/Bat cut out.  I was trying to catch my reflection in the Dracula cut out, but it didn't work (left). I'm not sure whom this statue is of, but I feel like he doesn't like the Christmas lights strung up around his head (right).

These are traditional Romanian masks.  They were worn during ceremonies to ward off evil spirits.  I don't know about you, but if I saw a bunch of people jumping up and down or whatever in the dark wearing these things, I'd stay away too.

This concludes, for now, the Christmas Market portion of our adventure.

Wandering Around Begins -

This is from the Colţea Orthodox church.  It was consecrated in 1702.

This is some sort of military building.  Woo Military.

This is the Revolution Memorial.  It is in rememberance of those who died in the Romanian Revolution in 1989. The revolution ultimately overthrew and executed Nicolae Ceaușescu, which ended the communist rule in Romania.

I don't know what this building is, I just thought it was an interesting juxtaposition between the old stone building and the new glass one.

This is Carol the First, the first king of Romania.  He was also a German prince.  

This concludes wandering, for now.

The National Gallery of Art (MNAR Muzeul National de Art al Romaniei) -

The MNAR is housed in the old royal palace in Bucharest.  It has many amazing textiles from the 16th through 18th centuries.  They were in extremely good condition.  They also had many wood carvings and religious artifacts.   Photos were not allowed unless you paid the 200 Lei fee to take photos.  Considering it was all of 20 Lei to get in, I was not paying the fee for photos.  I misunderstood this and took a photo before I realized I had to pay for them. These are the wooden doors of the Snagov Monastery.  Legend believes that the body of Vlad the Impaler was buried here, though there is no evidence to justify this. Anyway, the doors are neat.

The museum also housed many more art pieces.  It was fun to go through the art throughout time, however by the end Savannah and I were mostly skimming through the galleries.  There was a lot of art.  Including the bust of a young girl which I have dubbed "Judgy McJudgerson".

This concludes the National Gallery of Art portion of our adventure.

Wandering Continues -

This is the George Enescu Museum.  Like many things in Europe, it used to be a palace.
Now it is a music museum and concert hall.

This concludes wandering, for now.

Natural History Museum (Muzeul Național de Istorie Naturală Grigore Antipa) -

The Natural History Museum was quite extensive and mostly entertaining for some of it's derpy taxidermy.  Whoever did all the big cats gave them all deeply concerned expressions. This is a Northern Stoplight Loosejaw.  It is the things nightmares are made of (left). This is a Greenland Shark.  He is king of the Derps (below).

We found another cut out for Savannah to be in!

This concludes the Natural History Museum portion of our adventure.

The Peasant Museum (Muzeul Taranului) - 

The Peasant Museum is loaded with traditional textiles and costumes from all over Romania.  It also has many examples of arts and crafts from the various regions of Romania.  It is, however, against any photography.

This is the only photo I took in the Peasant Museum before being chastised.  

It may be my favorite photo from the whole trip.

This is the outside of the Peasant Museum.  The colored 555 is to celebrate the 555 anniversary of Bucharest being a city.  The fives are in the color/order of the Romanian flag.

This concludes the Peasant Museum portion of our adventure. 

Wandering Continues Again -

Entertaining Noah's Ark sculpture.

The above two photos are opposite views of a sculpture called Caruta cu Paiate.  It shows characters created by the Romanian playwright Ion Luca Caragiale.  Off to the side is a statue of Caragiale looking at his creations.  There is an urban legend that body of Caragiale's statue belongs to an old Lenin statue and that they simply changed out the head. 

The tall glass topped building in the middle is our hotel.  At night this intersection lights up with brightly colored Christmas lights.

This concludes our wandering for today.

Christmas Market Part 2 -

The entrance to the market.

Christmas stall and people walking around.  At some point we got hot mulled wine.

These are Kürtőskalács or chimney cakes. They are quite delicious, but you need about four people to eat one. They take dough and spiral wrap it on these spits. They then cover them in sugar and roast them. Then they cover them in more sugar. Then you eat it. Nom!

This is the spunky lady who sold me a salad axe.  She had all these hand carved wooden kitchen/eating type things including a wooden axe.  I tried to ask what it was for, and she said it was for salad.  I'm guessing it's like using a ceramic knife so the green don't oxidize, but either way I like the idea of hacking away at salad with an axe.  I now own a salad axe.

This guy made extremely delicate and intricate glass pieces.  I am not careful enough to get something like this home.  I mostly liked that his torch comes out of a dragon/lizard thing.

Nighttime view of the Christmas Market.

A view of the Christmas Market from our Hotel's glass top restaurant. 

The above two photos are the view from our hotel room.

We got together and tried to go to one place for dinner, but they were packed and then their system for ordering food went down.  We drank some beers but ultimately ate elsewhere. Beer!  Cura' cu Bere for those wondering.   Photo courtesy of Sandy. The Ladies' Bucharest Trip: Emily, Finesse, Me, Callie, Sandy, Amy, Brittany, and Jana.  Savannah and Meagan. Photo courtesy of Sandy

This concludes Day 1 of our adventure.