Sep 26, 2014: My last day in Bucharest it rained. Clearly a museum day, but unfortunately, one of the ones I wanted to see, the National Village Museum, was outdoors. I would visit a similar museum later, outside Sibiu, but there would be no substitute for a walk down Soseaua Kiseleff, the northern extension of Calea Victoriei, out to Herastrau Park.
Instead, I started the day at the Museum of the Romanian Peasant (seems a somewhat politically incorrect name, but I didn’t choose it). This museum was a bit of surprise, as it concentrated very heavily on religion, as if nothing else in people’s lives was of interest. The curator saw crosses in everything, including embroidery where I couldn’t see them myself. However, a huge room of not very good icons was balanced by a complete cottage, and a collection of costumes. The museum had been kicked out of the building under Communism and there was a display in the gloomy basement devoted to that gloomy period.
My afternoon museum was the National History Museum, fronted by a recent and quite bizarre statue of a naked Emperor Trajan, looking stoic, holding a dog (Dacian wolf, I gather, but it looked like a dog to me). Inside I found another good costume display, including a set of diplomatic uniforms, a form of dressing up I don’t think I had previously encountered. The display of a few crown jewels in the basement was way outclassed by beautiful gold artifacts, some prehistoric.
The museum also contained a complete replica of Trajan’s column, broken into pieces so you could get a good look. Now, the column celebrates the victory of the Romans over the Dacians, who were the inhabitants of the area at the time, but rather than identifying with the Dacians, the Romanians seem to have sided with the Romans. In almost every town I visited, a copy of the Romulus and Remus statue was displayed on a tall column in the main square. Any discussion of language would include a reference to Latin roots.
In between the museums I ate lunch, a good mushroom omelet, at the popular Van Gogh cafe in the old town. Thanks to the rain, instead of the usual crowds outside, I shared space inside with just a scattering of people – cigarette smokers, one and all. I also bought my train ticket out, checking the route to the station as well. Buying a metro ticket was easy – a woman in a booth sold them right by the entry turnstiles, two rides for 4 lei ($1.15 US). Navigating was easy – plenty of signs and a simple layout. Changing lines and getting from the metro into the station was not so easy. Bit of a trek, involving stairs, and the metro was very hot and very crowded. I booked the same car and driver who had collected me at the airport for my Saturday departure. Indulgence is a slippery slope – one ride led to another, to another. Of course, once I got out of Bucharest the taxis were very, very cheap.
At first I had thought to spend four nights in Bucharest, but almost every tourist sight in Romania closes on Monday, and the palaces I wanted to see in Sinaia closed on Tuesday as well. So I cut Bucharest to three nights, leaving on Saturday. I had enjoyed my time in Bucharest more than I expected. In some ways it reminded me of Budapest ten years ago: a work in progress, with possibilities. Although, of course, Budapest was much bigger with more possibilities. But Bucharest didn’t seem overrun with tourists, unlike Budapest these days, so I would consider visiting sooner rather than later. It didn’t make my “must revisit” list, but is on my “would revisit” one.
My Time to Travel 