A piece of Heaven - Egy darabka menyország

There are places that attract you by their simplicity.

Last week I visited my relatives in Gyergyó - Gheorgheni.
They have a holiday cottage nearby the town, in an absolutely amazing place.

The fresh air, the smell of pine-trees, the green of the grass, the colourful wildflowers, the taste of the berries and the song of the birds enchants your senses.



The everyday stress disappears in seconds, and in a few minutes you feel totally relaxed. In such moments your elementary instincts wake up and burst out from forgotten inner depths.
You need to go for a walk for the excitement of the discovery: every step leads you to a new wonder hidden in a plant, a flower, a tiny mushroom. If you are patient and humble birds, ants, butterflies accompany you on your way, uncovering their little secrets.
You feel that you rediscover yourself, you feel the joy of freedom.

This is happiness.

Do we need something else?




White wagtail - Barázdabillegető






Bilberry - Fekete áfonya






On the fields - A réten







Tiny wonders - apró csodák

Calea Victoriei Bucuresti

There are many interesting places in Bucharest that worths to visit.
I present you Calea Victoriei (Victory Avenue), the major avenue in the center of Bucharest.

Atheneul Roman (Romanian Athenaeum) with the statue of Eminescu, the famous Romanian poet


Biblioteca Centrala Universitara
The Library of University of Bucharest, restored after burning down during the 1989 Revolution





Galeria de Arta
Entrance to the Royal Palace - which held the Art Gallery


The 1989 Revolution Monument on the Revolution Square








Teatrul Odeon
Odeon Theatre


Old and new: Novotel Building








Hotel Capitol, Palatul Telefoanelor (Palace of Telephones) and Casa Capsa (Capsa House)


Covered street with small coffee houses











CEC -
CEC Building








Bucharest Financial Plaza




If you would like to see more pictures about Bucharest, you may have a look at my highlighted blogs:

Mighty Bucharest
Bucharest

Mighty Bucharest - Nagyszerű Bukarest

If you want to see something unusual, unexpected, funny or weird simply have a walk in Bucharest...and you find treasures. Ha valami szokatlant, váratlant, vicceset vagy furcsát szeretnél látni, egyszerűen menj el sétálni Bukarestben... és kincseket találsz.

... funny street plates, that makes you feel at home,
...vicces utcanevek, amik láttán otthonosan érzed magad,

"The street where I kissed Mimi - Az utca ahol megpusziltam Mimit"

... an old airplane landed in the middle of a roundabout,

... egy régi repülőgép, ami a körfogalom közepén szállt le,

"Happy landing - Boldog leszállás"

... an ingenious way to keep visitors out of the Communist Hero's Mausoleum in Carol Park,
... a látogatók távoltartásának egy leleményes módja, a Kommunista Hősök Emlékművénél, a Carol Parkban,
"No entry - Bemenni tilos"


... pubs with suggestive names,
... sokatmondó kocsmanevek,

"Fără şpagă = No bribe - Megvesztegetés nélkül"




... and the statue of the famouse Romanian writer, Ion Luca Caragiale, having the body of a former Lenin statue, and the head of the writer.
... és a híres román író, Ion Luca Caragiale szobra, aminek a teste egy régi Lenin szoboré, a feje az íróé.

"I.L. Caragiale"



...yes, all these, any many others, could happen only here, as in Romania everything is possible...

... igen, ezek és még sok más, csakis itt történhetnek meg, hiszen Romániában minden lehetséges...

The road to the Fish-lake

I haven't been biking for a long time, as the roads were always under construction and it was dangerous to bike on the side. But years ago I went regularly biking, every afternoon, day by day, until the first snow.
It was a pleasant afternoon, perfect for taking out my bicycle and take a ride somewhere... anywhere... but out of the town! Hmmm... Let's see... what is it at the fish-lake?
Leaving the main road, you find yourself in a beautiful valley, where the road is surrounded by smooth hills, corn-fields and meadows.



There is a small little house at the end of the village, it is like it was dropped there from a fairy tale...










On your way you can see some people making hay...







horses pulling carts...







sheep grazing on the top of the hill...








scarecrows waving along the corn-fields...








birds flying all around the bushes and even a sleeping cat on the tree!






The lake was quiet today, only few fisher-men were staying with their fishing-rods on the shore, no trace of tourist, who usually come here for camping, sunbathing or swimming on weekends.





The water surface was rarerly disturbed by small waves, created by some jumping fish. All was calm and relaxing...








The wind was shaking gently the leaves, the reeds were whispering softly, swallows were gliding over the lake to catch flyes, the sunrays were reflected by the water and the lake was shining...

The sunset was approaching sooner than I expected...

I took a last picture of the tiny cottage and pedalled fast to get home before getting totally dark.

NATO Summit 2008, Bucharest, Romania

I am not going to write about the 2008 NATO Summit, for further information here you have the links below...

http://www.summitbucharest.ro/en/1.html
http://www.summitbucharest.ro/ro/1.html
http://www.summitbucharest.ro/fr/1.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Bucharest_Summit

... but I would like to present my view of the place where the meetings are held.
Bucharest, the Romanian capital city is the host of 2008 NATO Summit - April 1-3, 2008.
The biggest NATO Summit ever is organized in the biggest building in Europe: The Palace of Parliament in Bucharest.

The House of Parliament - view from Carol Park. Even from this distance it looks huge.







From this angle it doesn't look so scary... but it is at least 1 km far from this fountain.









The Palace of Parliament, the biggest building in Europe.







As you get closer it becomes bigger and bigger.

Bucharest / Bucureşti

Bucureşti... is the Romanian capital city.

I had loads of prejudice when I was told to go there for evaluating the final exam papers. I had some bad memories about Bucharest, as I was there only once, in the darkest period of the communist era and all my fresh information I got from the news and TV. Therefore I was anxious to see how it is in reality.

The Royal Palace

I have to tell you, after getting down from the train at the Gara de Nord, my first reaction was... wow... Am I Gara de Nord, in Bucharest, in Romania? Or I am dreaming? Is this that notorious train station? It was... but it was beautiful, welcoming, neat and clean... As every main train station should be anywhere in the world!

Gara de Nord

Leaving the building the next shock was not as pleasant, as it was extremely hot outside... as usually in Bucharest during the summer. I had to pour the water what was left in the bottle on my neck and head to survive while we were going to the car. It was around 42 C (108 F), but there were hotter days this summer.

The traffic is always busy, with traffic jams during the day, making a nightmare to travel by car or by up-ground public transport in the hot summer days, the underground is cooler, but also busy.

In a traffic jam

Later in the evening all is going back to normal and it is a pleasure to drive on the wide boulevards around the city. Bucharest is amazing by night, all the streets and the most important buildings have beautiful lighting.

The Atheneu

I had the chance to see during my short visit lot of interesting and beautiful places in Bucharest as our host took us for a walk every day. Yes, for a WALK, as we walked nearly all the way, more than 15 km a day! We walked all around the center, and thus I had the occasion to see a lot, not only the main boulevards with rows of block of flats, but also some pretty little streets with beautiful old houses that succeed to survive the destruction of the old Bucharest during Ceauşescu's rule.

The University Square

Lipscani, the old commercial district

Covered street

Caru cu bere

Cismigiu Park

Cismigiu Park

I visited the Palace of Parliament, former House of the People, one of Ceauşescu's megalomaniac ideas. The building and the surrounding buildings are situated on an immense area, where 30000 houses were demolished (old and new as well) to make place for this "house". It is the biggest building in Europe and the third in the world. It is massive and scaring... as you approach it is as mountain, it grows and grows and when you are near it, you can't see the top, having 86 m up-ground.

See this link for details. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palace_of_the_Parliament

The House of Parliament

Colorful fountains

It worth to see and appreciate the quantity of work and materials used to build it, and if you see through the pompous decoration and immense dimensions of the halls and rooms, you will see all the suffering, struggle, sweat and sacrifice that the Romanian people endured for decades to complete such a monster.

Candles

Considering all, I was pleasantly surprised and delighted about Bucharest, as in the past 17 years a lot of work and money were invested in to transform in a European capital city. Usually the news presents the rear side of Bucharest, with bumpy roads and poor outskirt neighbourhoods, but all the city is in a process of changing in better, and you can see the results of this: newly paved boulevards, old monument buildings under restoration, new office buildings, new public transport vehicles, new commercial areas... Of course all need money and loads of suspicion are around corrupt businesses and blackmail, but... the city is developing, changing in better, better for the country and for its inhabitants, as well as for its image, and this is important.

New bank building

Calea Mosilor

Bucureşti... is a European capital city!