Palace of Parliament

We walked then to the Piata Revolution and onto the broad boulevard that leads to Bucharest's main tourist attraction, Ceausescu's megalomaniacal Palace of Parliament, the world's second largest building (after the US Pentagon); so it is written. Actually, it does not look that large.

OK, at this point it's still a mile away

Looking the other way on the 3.5km Boulevard Reunii,

deliberately designed to out-do the Champs-E in Paris...

Street lamps very interesting, marred by the

third-world wiring scheme; this outside the

department of tourism, right next to the

world's second largest building

Looking back the whole length of the Reunii

The Palace of Parliament and the square before it; today

was an environmental-themed festival, with yet another

rock concert; what would Ceausescu have thought?!

In fuller glory

Concert just beginning, people not yet arriving

Craft and food fair outside the Palace

Making those delicious roller-pin pastry things we like

And cooking them over an open fire

Too large for my suitcase, damn!

Michas...Anthony Bourdain says you have not really

experienced a country until you have tasted its street

food...michas is "some garlic, some rat, some dog, some cat";

go for it, Tony!

But I did really like the music, the "Rock

Loves Chopin" group from Poland; the

"Revolutionary Etude" really works in

their rendition

More Bucaresti

More Bucharest...

So there we are, walking along Calea Victoriei, remembering

it has been five months since we had a real American pizza,

and

There pops up one of Bucharest's eight Pizza Huts

It was not exactly an Agra-experience (see

November, 2008), but it was great, it was

memorable; I had two beers...

And there were more beautiful chapels

And domes

And more Vlad; Vlad was actually Wallachian,

not Transylvanian (the Dracula thing); this is

the real bust of him; I remember laughing with

colleagues, years ago, that without Lewis and

Clark, Custer, and the Copper Kings, Montana

really had no history--that, of course, is a great

slander, and I am embarrassed ever to have

entertained the thought, even in jest; but...

Romania really needs to find something else

in addition to Vlad

In the old town center where his original

castle lay

Us; memo to camera: when asking someone else to take

your picture (we do this all the time for other people),

give them more explicit instructions about framing the

picture, focusing, waiting for clutter to pass by, etc.

(you should see the ones I deleted)

Bucaresti

We nearly did not go into Bucharest. We are tired. Tired of traveling. And our Lonely Planet guide did not exactly entice (nor enlighten, once we got there; it is the worst LP, the worst guidebook, I have yet seen). But, once more, we went unto the breach. We are glad we did. It was a glorious end of summer day, and the whole city seemed to turn out in a variety of celebrations. And, if it is not a great city, it is one that holds great promise.

The Eonescu concert hall, on Caile Victoria

Part of the National Art Museum

Part of the National Art Museum

All this near a central square, where hundreds
were massacred in 1989

Communist Party headquarters, from the balcony of which
Ceausescu attempted his last speech; as the protest grew,
he was rescued by helicopter; but, within days, he and his
wife were "tried" and executed by firing squad, the only
communist leaders to be so dealt with in 1989-90

One of the several monuments to the struggle, which lasted
several more years

Bucharest's historic district offers a variety of beautiful old
buildings, a variety of styles and forms

Covered arcade

A side street in the historic district, and
the national library

In the banking district

Of course, not everything is historic nor
beautiful

Ploesti

Everywhere we go, there are places we don’t go. Sometimes regrettably; sometimes not; sometimes, “next time.” One of the places we did not go, this time, although we drove perhaps within 50 miles of it, was Ploesti. It is significant, to me, in that it is the only place name in Romania, apart from Bucharest, I knew prior to coming here. And it is significant because of its WWII history.

The Ploesti oil fields provided about a third of Germany’s war-time petroleum usage. Romania was one Hitler's earliest allies. In the summer of 1943, newly entrenched upon North African soil, the US Army Air Force elected to try one of the most daring and ambitious raids of the war: a day-time, low-level raid on Ploesti. 180 B24 Liberators were to fly from Ben Gazzi, across the Mediterranean, across still-hostile Italy, over the Adriatic Sea, and then through much of the Balkans, and Romania, to bomb the Ploesti fields. And then return. 55 did not return. It was one of the most costly raids of the war. Ploesti’s production was interrupted for some weeks, but restored. But many more Axis resources were devoted to its defense. And many more Ploesti raids followed, mostly from Italy, and mostly at high altitude. Five Congressional Medals of Honor were awarded for the initial Ploesti raid, more than any other US air action of the war.

The B17 is more readily identified with the air war in Europe, and the B29 with the air war against Japan. But the venerable Liberator flew more missions than both of these combined. My father was employed building B24s at the Consolidated Vultee plant in Miami in the early 40s, and among my most treasured possessions are a pair of book-ends and an ash-tray made from Liberator pistons.

The photograph is off the web, of course, and, from a US perspective, it is one of the most famous of WWII.

Transfagarasan Road

We thought we would drive a bit up the Transfagarasan Road, one of Europe's high alpine roads (sort of) and a monument of Romania's 1960s-1980s "communist" dictator, Nicolae Ceausescu. The Soviets withdrew in the late 1950s, and Ceausescu pursued an independent sort of course. When the Ruskies re-invaded rebellious Czechoslovakia in 1968, Ceausescu bult the Transfagaran Road to provide ready north-south access to head off the Red Army. As if.... Anyhow, the road is still there, mostly a tourist thing, and also a logging truck thing. We thought we'd give it a go...

The Transfagarasan Road from Vlad's Castle; the nice-looking

bridge was actually an off-shoot, closed

The scenery was very promising

But after a kilometer or so, we decided the construction and

maintenance were maybe not so promising

Particularly the tunnels

Falling down overhead

So we retreated toward Pitesti, visited the Carrefours there,

and then drove on to

Bucaresti, and the wifi-less Casa Alba campground

there, a bit of a rip-off

Ascent of Poienari Fortress

So we spent the night at the lay-by under the Poienari Fortress,

Vlad's place

And bright and early the next morning, Friday,
I climbed the 1480 steps (concrete, with
hand-rails all the way) up to the castle ruins

At least the trail is well-signed

"The Road goes ever up and up"

With all kinds of interesting information

along the way

At last, you're at the top; met by Igor,

the castle-keeper, who charges 5 lei (5 more

for pix)

View back to the valley and our camper, where Vicki

sleeps

Plan of the castle

South wall and tower remnant; the Turks,

led by Mohammed II (conqueror of

Constantinople), bombarded Poienari

from a nearby hill, driving Vlad out; but

he escaped and lived to impale another
day; but not very many more days

After the bombardment and Turkish rule in

Romania, the castle ceased to be of importance

and was abandoned; an earthquake in 1915

tumbled more of the walls away; but they

have been rebuilt in brick, so you can see

what's new, and old, and also the original

extent of the place

View to the north and the beginning of the Transfagarasan

Road, where we'll head next....

Beneath Poienari Fortress

So we drove on up the valley, into another, up more of some of the worst roads I have ever driven...wheel-sized potholes, lane-engulfing wash-outs,  hair-pin after hair-pin; plus crazy Romanian drivers, trucks, maxibuses, tour buses, horse-carts, donkey-carts, packs of feral dogs, etc. The usual. I can't say I am getting used to it. Still, it's better than the road-rage of my homeland, where you could easily be shot for driving safely. At length, we are at a lay-by at the very foot of Poienari Fortress, Vlad Tepes' 15th century castle. I will climb the 1500 steps up to it tomorrow morning.

The most amazing thing is--you can not imagine in what a remote place we are presently, deep in a canyon, the southern terminus of the Transfagarason Road (look it up), miles from nowhere--Vicki turns on her computer, and, voila, connects with the pension/restaurant way back down the road. The place is incredible...

Along the way, some awful river pollution; pretty typical

Old regime province marker; probably what Saruman had

in mind when designing Orthanc, the Tower at Isengard

Hay-ride

Vlad Tepes' Poienari Fortress

Vicki below it