Bucharest, Romania (August 2023)

Bucharest is the capital city and the largest city of Romania with a population of 1.7 million inhabitants. We had a city tour visiting various places. 

The first place we visited was Concert Hall, an elegant building designed by a French architect. 

We passed by Intercontinental Hotel that was the first American hotel opened in Bucharest.

One of the most prominent statue in the city was of King Carol I that stood in front of Old Royal Palace, now used as National Art Museum. 

The next visit was to Memorial Monument that expelled the dictator and community leader Nicolae Ceausescu in 1989. The revolution started in Timisoara and spread nationwide, culminating to a brief trial and immediate execution of him and his wife Elena within three hours after the guilty verdict. It is said that Elena received more bullets than Nicolae because of her infamous influence on Nicolae.

Pierce of Evil or Black Heart

We then visited the largest administrative building in the world or the second largest building of any kind after the Pentagon of the U.S., which can be categorized as a military building. But, it is called the heaviest building in the world because of a lot of while marbles used for the construction of this building. It was reported to have 1200 chambers and more than 15,000 chandeliers. The building's construction was initiated by Nicolae but he never saw the completion. It is now called Palace of the Parliament. 

Near the Palace of the Parliament was People's Cathedral stull under construction. 

As we drove around, I found a few interesting statues and structures, such as Victory Gate copied after the one in Paris.

Our tour came to an end after breakfast on August 30. It was an enlightening experience discovering hidden gems of cities in Romania and Bulgaria. - Jeffrey