This morning, I walked over to the Museum of the Romanian Peasant (http://www.muzeultaranuluiroman.ro/en/index.php) with a few of the fulbrighters staying at the hotel. One of the new Fulbrighters (named Silvia) is going to be located in Timisoara, which is near the Serbian border. She is really nice, and we both hope that we will be able to travel some together. Yay, a travel buddy!
Such an old, imposing building for something called the Peasant Museum, don't you think?
The back of the museum. You can just make out the small, wooden church that was reconstructed there.
Okay, so the Peasant Museum. The Fulbrighters actually were meeting there to go to the St. Nicholas Day (the day is actually Sunday the 6th) fair behind the museum. There were lots of people there selling traditional crafts like embroidery, tuica, pottery, etc. I ended up buying two felted Christmas balls for a tree, 2 neat little felt dolls (actually made in Cluj!), and 2 travel books that were half price (on Norway and Hungary - yay!). I also was able to meet some interesting people who were working at the booths. One table was run by students from the University of Art and Design in Bucharest. They had some great things and all seemed so nice - some of the items were made at the university and some by them individually. I got a name and email address, and hopefully I will be able to be in touch with them if I move down there. They seem like just a fun group of people, and it would be fun to get together with them and be crafty :)
Not just a picture of the sign for the fair, but a great shot of a cute, little Romanian man. I love it!
These are traditional Romanian holiday treats (I think they appear around Easter, too) - kind of like gingerbread men.
Silvia and I posing with our purchases. My first one ever, and her first one since her family left Romania when she was around 10 years old!
A nice display of the more traditional Romanian pottery. Not my thing, but it looks nice
Now, this is probably my most favorite discovery in Romania - kurtos (actually a Hungarian delicious treat). My dad needs to pay attention to these pictures because I expect to receive my own kurtos machine when I get home! I will start making the fair rounds in the US :)
Gary, you only think I am kidding. Seriously, take note!
After a little time at the craft fair, we all went to lunch. A fairly traditional place with things like ciorba (sour soup), mici (sort of like sausages), and mamaliga (polenta). The mici (which means small) were huge, naturally.
Seriously, how insane is that? And, the regular portion comes with 6 of them?! My sister would be in meat heaven....
And it wasn't just the meat that was huge. Check out the size of this roll - it is almost as big as my head!
After lunch, most of the group split up. Some were feeling a little rough after the long night the evening before. Since I didn't drink (just a vin fiert!), I was up for some more exploring, so Silvia and I decided to head back to the Peasant Museum and actually look around the museum. It won an award not too long ago as being the best museum in Europe. I am not so sure about that - perhaps more of a political statement than anything else, but it was still a very nice and interesting place. Again, I managed to sneak a few pictures, but it was trickier at this museum. It was strange because just like the national art museum, there were many more guards than visitors. It is great that people have jobs, particularly in this economy, but it is just strange that there are more workers than visitors in all of the museums here.
Just a pretty basic set-up in the beginning. It was a little strange because there were not really signs next to the displays. Instead, each room had a pocket of flyers with information in different languages. You could read this first or bring it through the room. An interesting idea, but not as effective as actual signs.
A section set up as a village classroom. I wonder if they have any educational activities in here? They also had some scrapbooks that discussed the creation of the museum. A great trove for public historians interested in museums in Romania!!!!
Such interesting attention to detail. To get into a room on religion, you had to go through this curtain with a cross cut into it.
Definitely more interesting to interact with than having documents or things just along the wall, but hard for an outsider to understand what everything is.
This was a fun little exhibit. Called "grandma's kitchen" but seemed more like her living room :)
This was a very well-done room. All about cooking and food - displays of spices and recipes and all kinds of things.
And, I just loved all the writing on the wall. It kind of looks hand-made, but it is clear that a lot of work and thought went into this design. Clever.
The strangest thing ever. This was downstairs, where the bathroom was hidden - a room filled with all of the communist-era things.
I have heard that this stuff is here because the communist party used this building during the communist era. Who knows if that is true.
In a way, it makes sense to have this in the Peasant Museum because communism had a very big impact on the rural communities in Romania. Many villagers were forcibly relocated to bloc apartments in cities and everyone was forced to give time at the big coop farms and orchards.
Not exactly sure what this is. I think names of people who were arrested or killed for protesting.
It tends to seem more like a shrine, though, than a commentary. Lots of pics of Stalin and busts of Lenin. Just so weird.
And, Ceausescu in a tiny little picture. Likely the only one you will find in all of Bucharest. Definitely more of a shrine than a critical eye here!
After we exhausted the museum, Silvia and I walked back to the museum. There are metro stops at the museum and the hotel, but it really is just like a 15 minute walk. And, there was another St. Nicholas fair happening in the park between the two areas (Kisseleff Park). Nothing I would really want to buy, but fun to look at. It just had a really nice feel and made me think that Bucharest might be a nice place to be for the spring (I know, it is hard to believe that I am saying that!).
Small picture of the fair in the park.
Christmas was basically outlawed here during communism (it was a work day), so Romanians have re-embraced it whole-heartedly since then.
After resting at the hotel for a bit (even if I didn't party it up the night before, I was still up way later than usual and was exhausted), we headed back out to find some dinner. I had basically subsided on sugar that day, so I needed something to soak up all of that sweetness. We ended up at a sort of fast-food place (where I had an awesome sandwich with mushrooms, lettuce, and tomatoes) that I had been to on Thursday as well, but that was okay. We also just walked around for a bit. Took in the stores, Christmas lights (finally lit), and all the people. Kind of an incongruous place - crowded and bustling but also crumbling sidewalks and a little run-down. Also, definitely groups of guys (kind of all ages) saying rude things to women. Why does that always seem to happen, regardless of country? Do they really think any woman would ever respond positively to that? That definitely makes me less interested in Bucharest. That just doesn't happen very much in Cluj. It is a much friendly and more low-key place up here, which certainly has its appeal.
Bucharest at night.
Another one of Bucharest at night.
Sunday, Dec. 6th
Happy St. Nicholas Day! Apparently a lot of people in Romania celebrate this, but I do not know much about it (though I am assuming that St. Nicholas is sort of the same as Santa Claus, good ol' St. Nick). I had no big plans for today and was hoping to find someone to explore the city a little more with. Silvia was supposed to meet a friend, but that didn't end up working out, so the two of us walked around for a couple of hours until it was time for her to catch the train. We walked all of Calea Victoriei, which tooks us through a big part of central Bucharest. Much of the time we were in search of food. Even though a few more things are open on Sundays in Bucharest, it wasn't much better than Cluj. Maybe better isn't the right word since it is kind of nice to have things closed on Sunday (especially if you have a family and work during the week), but since I am here alone and tend to be looking for things to do and since I am coming from the US where lots of things are open on Sunday, it is tricky to get used to.
The George Enesu Museum.
I was hoping to go during this visit, but I think it was closed because of the voting run-off elections. Bummer. It looks so fancy!
See, even Bucharest is dead on Sundays!
The Romanian Atheneum, where the philharmonic performs. It is beautiful, inside and out. The green grass is a little disconcerting though, considering it is December....
This is a pretty neat building. It used to be the headquarters for the securitate (secret police during communism).
A Bucharest street in the center of town. It kind of reminds me of bits of Phnom Penh, Cambodia, with the fancy buildings and run-down buildings right next to each other. Of course, the streets don't even compare (here is way better).
This huge, fancy building is the headquarters of CEC Bank, apparently the only bank permitted during Communism. Interesting....
So, we finally found a snack and then headed to the old, historic part of town. It was such a neat area, although it certainly has fallen on rough times. But, it looks like they are starting to fix things up and redo the streets. I bet it will look great in a few years. Even now, you can get glimpses of the glory days of the city, back in the early 20th century. You can almost imagine people walking around with parasols and bustles! We stopped for a coffee at one place in the area where I got a mint latte. I do not usually like mint a lot, but this was pretty delicious. Refreshing, in an interesting way. I do not know how I have never heard of one before.
This was a really neat little area - all under this roof-type thing. It reminded me of the essays I read in urban history about the Parisian "flaneurs" and early malls. What a sense of history in this space.
An amazing little orthodox church in the middle of the historic part of town. Absolutely beautiful!
Some serious ruins!
All the cobblestones and some dressed up with some kind of music box. You can almost close your eyes and imagine you are back 100 years ago.
As you can see, some of the streets are completely torn up, but I think it is all part of redevelopment (I hope!).
And, because you need to see the mint coffee :)
As Silvia was on her way to the train station, we stumbled on this really neat handmade romania fair. It was so great! If you have heard of http://etsy.com/, it was a lot like the things available on that site. Just nice craft, art, and jewelry things made by younger people. It was wonderful to see that group of people successfully doing things like this in Romania instead of having to leave the country!
Handmade Creations! I do love handmade Romania!!
The fair itself.
These just look fun, and what a great display!
These cards were nice - something to keep in mind for my Christmas cards in future years.
This jewlery is just so neat. She weaves the metal?!
And, I officially want this clock. It would go so perfectly with a yellow chair I bought before I left!
After Silvia left, I got in touch with a fulbright family that is down in Bucharest (the same person I met up with at the women's meeting). They were headed back to the Peasant Museum to pick up some things at that fair, so I just tagged along and then hung out for a while in the museum's cafe. When it started to get dark and drizzly, I went back to the hotel, picked up my bag, and took the bus back to the airport. Lauren was busy with a photography project and just met me there. The bus worked at well, and I managed it all on my own, so I was very proud of myself!
An old building, a casino, and a coke sign. Hmmm.
As you can tell, it looks much better at night. Daytime is a little depressing with the signs, gray, and fog.
I wonder how places like Times Square in NYC and Piccadilly Circus in London manage to make signs look cool while here they just look sad and oppressive????
All in all, it was a great trip to Bucharest. Maybe I liked it because my expectations were so low (everyone outside of Bucharest seems to hate it there!), or maybe I just liked it. Who knows. At the same time, I am still not sure if I really want to live there for a whole semester. There certainly will be different opportunities there - more opera, theater, music, restaurants, stores. And, lots of options to fly to neat places and visit (Jordan, UAE, anywhere in Europe). But, it also will be much more expensive there, so I won't be able to go out and do lots of things and still be able to afford a month of travel at the end of the Fulbright. In addition, it will take time to get settled and find a group of people - and in that vein, I am a little concerned that the women's group there won't really have a space for me. Ack, I just don't know what to do! More on this later, I am sure....
A few pictures of Bucharest to leave you with:
Well, I was in Bucharest, so you have to have some dog pictures. This was too funny. The historic part of town, and they were all curled up on the sections of wood!
Pretty cute - but also strange and sad.
Okay, that is just cute :) The perfect shot!
No comments:
Post a Comment