Bucharest was one of the biggest surprises of our trip. Maybe it is because we’ve been away for a while. Or, probably, because now we are no longer comparing it only with Amsterdam or Prague but also with Bangkok or Tehran. Regardless of the reason, our former home town felt cleaner and much more welcoming than ever before. So many things have changed: there are new buildings, redecorated parks, remodeled museums and even a new elevated road!

So we continued acting as tourists: we went first to the Romanian Peasant’s Museum. It has many interesting exhibitions, including popular art, traditions and technology.
This is a newly opened exhibition, dedicated to the times of forced collectivization, during the early years of the Communism in Romania. Click the newspaper for higher resolution image (“Scanteia”, Feb 8, 1949).
Then we went to the “Antipa” Natural History Museum. This one was recently reopened, after a long restoration process. There displays look fresh and alive and there is lots of information available in foreign languages as well. Worth seeing it! (been there last time probably like 25 years ago…)
And this is the largest infrastructure project completed in Bucharest during the past 20 years, the “Basarab” bridge. Interesting design and, most important, very useful! Thanks to Mr Cristian for facilitating the photo session on top of the apartment building!