We spent last Sunday afternoon to Tuesday afternoon in Bucharest, Romania, on our way home from our six weeks in Europe. It was our misfortune to show up just in time for the two hottest days of the summer, which put a damper on our daytime outdoor activities, but we managed. We kept our itinerary pretty unambitious, but here's a sampler of what you do in Bucharest when you are hot and tired and dragging three kids along with you.
First was The Long Walk to dinner. We were exhausted and starving. What better time to set off on a walk of indeterminate length through an unfamiliar city to a restaurant whose location you are not entirely sure of? We wanted to stop because we were hungry, but we knew we wouldn't get food unless we kept going, etc. It was rough, but we made it.
PARK. It had been a few days, so we went to this famous park in Bucharest for the girls to get their playground on. It was fun hanging out with the locals.
Tramming it to the Village Museum.
The outdoor Village Museum was actually really cool. It was full of houses and churches from all time periods and areas of Romania. Some were reconstructions, but some were actual dwellings that were removed from their original remote locations piece by piece and put back together in the museum park. We spent half a day here; in cooler weather, I think we could have spent the whole day.
After a sweltering siesta back at our ho(s)tel, we went on a walk to the Palace of Parliament. By some metric that I'm not sure of, this is the second largest building in the world. And it was BIG. Communists do that really well.
Just down the street, we found the playground version of the Palace. It was a great last night of vacation. We people-watched and played and enjoyed spending time outside as the sun went down.
Maybe someday we can go back and do Romania more justice, but we enjoyed taking it easy in the capital for two days.
Maybe someday we can go back and do Romania more justice, but we enjoyed taking it easy in the capital for two days.