Yesterday, the charming city of Bucharest was practically buried in snow! Our Viking tour guide apologetically told us that this is a most unusual weather at this time of the year in Bucharest. But the show must go on, so we all waited for the five buses to pick up all the cruisers and take us to a couple of highlights in Bucharest – The Parliament Palace and the Museum.
Our first stop was the enormous Parliament Palace which was very impressive since this is the second largest (by square footage) government building in the world – second only to the Pentagon!
The massive interior and the giant chandeliers were awesome. The inside of the palace was sparse with artworks and decorations compared to the other palaces we’ve already visited but very impressive nevertheless. Nicolae Caecescu built this humongous palace more for his enormous ego than anything else. Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on your nationalistic sentiments), the communist dictator never got to give a speech on the balcony nor did he see its completion.
Our next stop was the National Museum which was equally impressive with its historical collections of artifacts and jewelries, crowns, weapons, etc. Our guide really educated us on how this beautiful country was created – starting with the Dacians until the merging of Transylvania, Valachia and Moldavia. Very interesting history!
After the tour we went to Pescarus restaurant where we enjoyed the regional cuisine and watched folkloric dances.
After lunch, we had an hour and a half to get to Giurgiu where our boat or small ship was located.
Bucharest is a very charming and vibrant city and I wish the weather was different from what it is now so we can really enjoy exploring it on foot. Maybe we can come back in the future when it is warmer to be able to appreciate its unique charm….
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