I must write these things down before I forget. Radu, my landlord, picked me up at the Bucharest Airport and gave me a tour of the city as we drove in from the north. The north of the city is full of large parks and lakes and an ideal place for bicycling. In the largest park on the right traveling south there is a series of peasant houses taken from all parts of Romania. Radu says, "So, if you don't get to Sibu, you can always come here and see the peasant houses" Just a little farther on the right is the peasant museum. Apparently on some weekends you can go in the back of the museum and taste different kinds of Romanian food, or look at certain kinds of traditional crafts. Nearby are the streets with wealthy government bureacrats and embassies. Also we see the American Embassy, easy to notice with the giant American flag As we come down Calle Victorie we come to the Plata Victoriei, a network of streets feeding into the plaza and the dividing line between the north side and downtown.
Numerous building, statues and plaques now commemorate the 1989 Romanian Revolution. One of the largest building in Europe is now the parlaiment building, build by Nicolae Ceausescu, but only 80% finished when he was executed. It took ten years to get that far under communism. It took another ten years to finish the last 20% (under capitolism). Radu told me that he wanted to keep an eye on all of his employees.
The city is abuzz with construction, torn up streets and half built office buildings. It appears that half of the infrastructure is torn up, and it is an enormous city, with an enormous job. When Romanians ask me what I think of their city, I tell them that I love it. I say, "It reminds me of the city where I was born, Philadelphia. I also add that they used to call it "Filthy-delphia". There are more wild dogs here than there ever were in Philadelphia, but they are docile and quite a few only have three legs.
Close to where I am staying is the University District and Old Town. This section is a weave of several dozen streets, all closed to traffic with cafes and restaurants on both sides and awnings and seating in the middle of what used to be the street. There are several of the streets that have cobble stones, but most of them are norrow with board porches where dinners eat and sightseers stroll. But nearby these cafes I have also seen tremendous poverty.
I have already tried two of the restaurants and four of the dishes that Radu recommended. Sarmale- wonderful meat stuffed cabbage leaves, with polenta and sour cream. Ciorba de Burta is a smoked bean soup. I ate at Caru'Ce Bere. They advertise "probably the best food in town." A take off of a beer ad that I have seen used in other places. Caru'Ce Bere is large and beautiful beer hall type building, all in decorative woods with a Bavarian flavor. There was a great band there that night. A violinist and accoustic base player went though a steam of tunes, all done with passion and competence.
At Vatra I had Ciorba de Burta (Tripe soup), rich and delicious- lots of cream and butter in the soup along with the tripe. Then my main course was Tochitura, a delicious red sauced stew with several different kinds of meats, delicious. Last night I had some form of beef boilded on a bone, servered with polenta and delicious horseradish. I don't think that they have a word for vegitarian in Romanian.
No comments:
Post a Comment