Day 392: By the Book

Post from Tim:

I can not imagine calling Bucharest a picturesque town, but nor is it ugly - just a town full of large boulevards and hulking concrete buildings topped with company logos. Most of this ungainly architecture can be blamed on Nicolae Ceausescu's outrageous spending and failed plans to shape the capital into a grand Communist showpiece.

Nowhere can his overspending be seen more clearly than the People's Palace, now the Palace of Parliament. This massive building is second in size only to the Pentagon, yet unlike most of the architecture in Bucharest, the Palace of Parliament is more attractive and ornamental. Even the entrance hall is spectacular with glassy stone floors laid out in patterns of five colors, enormous carved marble pillars, exquisite gold and crystal chandeliers, and a gilded wood ceiling.

A huge marble stairway climbs up to the second floor, but sadly I never made it up there. Instead I fought with a tour operator who demanded that I ruin my expensive roll of 3200 high speed film by exposing it to their x-Ray machine. She was the first person in 13 months of travel to refuse my request for a hand search. I left the Palace fuming, having just paid money for a tour I couldn't take.

So much for freedom.

Photos From This Location

A grand boulevard built as part of an ideal Communist city by former Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. Ceausescu and his wife bankrupted the Romanian economy and were executed by firing squad in 1989 during the Romanian revolution. The fountain remains dry. The Romanian Parliament building (Parlamentul Romanie), formerly known as the People's Palace, is the legacy of Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. Its rich interior includes heavily polished marble floors and columns, exquisite chandeliers, and gilded wood ceilings, and holds the record as being the second largest building in the world after the US Pentagon. Its construction wasted millions of dollars at a time when Romania suffered from food shortages. Ceausescu and his wife were executed by firing squad in 1989.
A grand boulevard built as part of an ideal Communist city by former Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. Ceausescu and his wife bankrupted the Romanian economy and were executed by firing squad in 1989 during the Romanian revolution. The fountain remains dry. The Romanian Parliament building (Parlamentul Romanie), formerly known as the People's Palace, is the legacy of Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. Its rich interior includes heavily polished marble floors and columns, exquisite chandeliers, and gilded wood ceilings, and holds the record as being the second largest building in the world after the US Pentagon. Its construction wasted millions of dollars at a time when Romania suffered from food shortages. Ceausescu and his wife were executed by firing squad in 1989.
The Romanian Parliament building (Parlamentul Romanie), formerly known as the People's Palace, is the legacy of Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. Its rich interior includes heavily polished marble floors and columns, exquisite chandeliers, and gilded wood ceilings, and holds the record as being the second largest building in the world after the US Pentagon. Its construction wasted millions of dollars at a time when Romania suffered from food shortages. Ceausescu and his wife were executed by firing squad in 1989.
The Romanian Parliament building (Parlamentul Romanie), formerly known as the People's Palace, is the legacy of Communist dictator Nicolae Ceausescu. Its rich interior includes heavily polished marble floors and columns, exquisite chandeliers, and gilded wood ceilings, and holds the record as being the second largest building in the world after the US Pentagon. Its construction wasted millions of dollars at a time when Romania suffered from food shortages. Ceausescu and his wife were executed by firing squad in 1989.

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