As I may or may not have mentioned, the main purpose of the Romanian section of this trip is to have a family reunion and get to see where my parents came from/grew up/etc. We (Mom, Dad, Brother) spent several days in Bucharest with the intent of mostly visiting those places that are mom related (given that she’s from Bucharest). So here goes:
Tuesday, 11 Sep: After my arrival to Bucharest we caught up a bit and in the evening went for dinner (which was ok but not more than that) at a place called "Carul Cu Bere", which is some famous joint that’s been around since the 19th century.
Wednesday, 12 Sep: We did two things today. First, we went to a Filantropia Cemetery, which is the "noble" Jewish cemetery, i.e. a place where the rich and famous are buried. We met many of my relatives there among them all of my mom’s grandparents who passed away years before anyone imagined that the wonder called Daniel would come to be…
Next, we went to Strada Lunei 5 to see the house where my mother was born, grew up, and pretty much spent her entire life until she got married and went to Israel. It was under renovation, which allowed us to go in freely and examine the place. It was quite impressive indeed due its size and central location.
Thursday, 13 Sep: The vast part of the day was consumed with a 4-hour lunch at my Mom’s first grade teacher’s house. They have been in touch since that first grade…
We arrived there separately, parents with one cab and Talmon and I with another as we needed to get laundry done. The reason I’m mentioning this is because our cab ride was rather eventful. Specifically, due to the local bad driving and disregard to the law some guy bumped into the cab, where I was sitted (back left). What was most amusing was the set of swearing the cab driver came up with quite instinctively (involving ancestors, various genitalia, mouths and so on and so forth). Thanks to Tudor, I managed to understand everything. No doubt Romanian is a very delightful language..
After lunch, Talmon and I needed a breather and so we split from parents and went to some Mall to hang out.
Friday, 14 Sep: We visited Ceausescu’s grand parliament building, which is very famous as it is the second largest building in the world (the Pentagon is #1), and the third most voluminous (Cape Canaveral rocket assembly building is #1, and I forget which is #2). 50% was constructed during Ceausescu’s time, and another 40% after his demise, 10% has not been finished. 700 architects were supposedly involved. It is a true testament to what dictatorship can achieve. It is fairly impressive, yet rather poorly maintained.
We also went to see where my dad used to live when he moved to Bucharest (Taben road). The building was still there.
In the evening we went (with my dad’s friends – Miron and Liana) to a restaurant called "cocosatul", which was quite good and had excellent kebabs. Talmon couldn’t come due to some prior engagement…
Saturday, 15 Sep: We yet again did the "lunch at friends" thing. This time at Miron and Liana’s. The former used to be my dad’s boss some 100 years ago. Unlike the previous lunch, the food here was better and the lunch shorter.
Next, we went to a "Cismigiu Park", which is a nice park in the center of Bucharest. In the evening we all split.
Sunday, 16 Sep: Didn't do much today. Bro and I went to the largest mall to hang out (had a really good pasta thing there), and parents went off to some concert (not guns n’ roses…). We all had dinner in the evening.
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