Last weekend I had a quick trip to Bucharest, Romania for an educational conference. We had one evening to explore the city and this post is my initial impressions of the capital. It felt bigger than Belgrade, with an unofficial population of over 3 million in the metro area. I enjoyed my visit to the nation’s capitol, as this is now the third time I’ve been to Romania, but my first to Bucharest.

Above is the weird Palace of the People built during the time of the bizarre “Genius of the Carpathians” reign, Nicky Ceausescu. It is the second largest building in the world, after the Pentagon and was constructed at the end of his time in power. He started it in 1984 and it ended after he was executed in 1989. It is quite an imposing building but unfortunately, we couldn’t go in as it was closed. It would be great to have free reign of the place for a few days. It is 12 stories high and several (unknown) floors deep. Much of it is still unused. It would be a great place for a movie.

Leading from the building is the “Victory of Socialism” boulevard, a replica of the Champs de Eleyse.