Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Romania Part One: Bucharest

I am back home safe and sound. I got in friday afternoon and then left again saturday afternoon to go up North with some friends. So today is my first official day at home to catch up on everything. My trip was really amazing, despite not so amazing (read: crappy) weather.

Now its time to catch you all up on my week in Romania. We spent the first 2 days in Bucharest, exploring the city and taking a guided tour. I had no expectations on Bucharest before arriving there. It was an amazing and beautiful city. I never realized how much history Romania had!

I'm trying my best to remember all the various place names, but if I get it wrong, perhaps
Miku you could help me? She's Romanian and gave me some great tips on things to see!


One of my favourite places in Bucharest was Unity Square (I hope I have the name right). It is a beautiful square in downtown Bucharest with the most amazing fountains. The day we visited, it was about 37 degrees Celsius, and I was seriously tempted to take a dip in the cool water.

Unity Square

Unity Square

Unity Square

Arch de Triomphe, Bucharest

The People's Palace
Built by Nicolae Ceauşescu during the communist regime, this building is the world's largest civilian administrative building (The Pentagon is the largest overall), most expensive administrative building, and heaviest building. The Palace measures 270 m by 240 m, 86 m high, and 92 m under ground. It has 1,100 rooms, 2 underground parking garages and is 12 stories tall, with four additional underground levels currently available and in use, with another four in different stages of completion. We took an hour and a half long tour and only saw about 5% of the building.

This is the view off one of the main balconies of the People's Palace

Downtown Bucharest, Old Quarter
The city is in the process of restoring the old buildings

Downtown Bucharest
That's it for now. Stay tuned for part two of Romania as well as other updates. Have a great day everyone!

9 comments:

  1. The pics look great! I love seeing holiday pix :)
    xx

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  2. romania looks stunning ella. i have missed u loads. i finished by japan blog posts so please check them out. you'll love them! love your blog

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  3. Wow! It's all just so breath taking...

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  4. wow... i had no idea Bucharest is so beautiful! glad to have you back miss ella... does this mean more updates?!!?!? ehhehe! ;P

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  5. Yey, miss Ella's back! Bucharest -- it's one of those places I've always wanted to go, but didn't get the chance the last time I went to Europe. GREAT pictures of such a GREAT place!

    Welcome back Ella!

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  6. Welcome back, Ella! We've missed you here!!! About Romania, wow! All those places look so picturesque! I wonder how much time it would take to cross 1 floor of the People's Palace on foot.. 1 hour??? I'm waiting for your comment on one of the pictures I put on my post "My little quasi holidays part 1" : )

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  7. Oh I'm SO glad you had such a great trip! From all the pictures, it sure does look like you saw a lot! Glad to have you back! I can't wait to see part two!

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  8. I'm glad you liked my city *teary eyed*

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  9. Wow Bucharest looks beautiful! I really had no idea what it would look like, very grand and full of history! Can't wait to see more of your trip!

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