Passage to Eastern Europe: Bucharest I (8/16-18/2021)

(Sorry folks, if there are spotty internet connections, this blog cannot be maintained in real time!)

Monday, August 16, 2021

We began our Viking River Cruise, Passage to Eastern Europe, by flying an hour from Philadelphia to Dulles International near DC, then taking an eight-hour flight to München/Munich that left two hours late (due to lightning in DC). To get out of the United States, we had to show proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test result from within the last 72 hours. We had both, in case European countries wanted that test result. Masks required on all flights.

Tuesday, August 17, 2021

In München/Munich, we missed our connection and spent six hours at the airport until the last (two-hour) flight of the day to Bucharest.

It was dark when we arrived in Bucharest. Viking transferred a group of 14 in two mini-buses to the JW Marriott Grand Hotel of Bucharest.

JW Marriott Grand Hotel Bucharest,
this is the only time we stay in 5-star hotels!

A memorial to the Firemen Division of
Bucharest, who defeated the Ottomans
in the final battle of the Revolution of 1848

JW Marriott Grand Hotel Lobby

JW Marriott Grand Hotel Room, compared to our usual
accommodations, this room has an armchair for watching TV

The lavatory is a separate room

The bathroom has a separate shower ...

... and bathtub

We snuck out of the hotel to find a grocery or convenience store to purchase drinks to have with leftover pizza for dinner.

Wednesday, August 18, 2021

Huge buffet breakfast at the JW Marriott Grand Hotel, but servers placed the food on your plate. Masks required.

View from the JW Marriott Grand Hotel, away from the city

JW Marriott Grand Hotel and 1848 Firemen Division Memorial

We checked out of the JW Marriott Grand Hotel and boarded one of three buses, each for a different shore excursion. We chose the optional (rather than the included) tour: Highlights of Budapest for stunning architecture and glimpse of Romania's political past.

Bucharest, the capital of Romania, was once known as the "Little Paris of the East," however, much of it has been replaced by former President Nicolae Ceaușescu's grandiose schemes.

Bulevardul Unirii/Union Boulevard with fountains

București Bărăția/Monk's Church
(est 1314, renovated 1954) (KSS)

Teatrul Național București/Bucharest National Theater
(founded 1852, built 1967-1970, renovated 2010-2014
back to the original design of Horia Maicu, 
Romeo Belea and Nicolae Cucu) (KSS)

Monumentul Eroilor Aerului/Monument
to the Heroes of the Air (1935,
by Lidia Kotzebue and Iosif Fekete)

Casa Ceaușescu/House of Ceaușescu or Palatul Primaverii/
Spring Palace (1964-1965, by Aron Grimberg-Solari,
landscaping by Robert Woll, for Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dejhouse;
enlarged in 1970-1971 for the Ceaușescu family)

This notorious leader of Romania, Nicolae Ceaușescu, was from a peasant family and from early on was a Communist activist. He was often in prison and it is said he became a protégé of Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej. After World War II, when Romania fell under Soviet influence, Gheorghe Gheorghiu-Dej and Nicolae Ceaușescu were well positioned to take leading roles in government. Gheorghiu-Dej was the first General Secretary of the Communist Party of Romania, to be succeeded after his death by Ceaușescu (served 1965-1989; in 1974, after a visit with then President Richard Nixon in DC, Ceaușescu elevated his position to an executive presidency of Romania).

Office of Nicolae Ceaușescu; supposedly he had direct
telephone lines to Washington, DC and Moscow

The Salon with a chess set on the table, and in the cabinet
are ivory chess pieces from then President Mobutu of Zaire

Also an electronic chess set

Examples of Romanian woodwork

Detail of Romanian woodwork (KSS)

Most of the house and décor were made from materials sourced in Romania. However, there were also gifts from leaders of other countries, such as tapestries from Charles de Gaulle and Persian carpets from the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza.

Office of son Valentin Ceaușescu; each of the children of
Nicolae Ceaușescu had his/her own suite of rooms

All paintings in the house were by Romanian artists (KSS)

Valentin's bathroom

Valentin's bedroom contains a Romanian
piece of art made with semi-precious stones

Main entrance hall and stairway

Perhaps Romania's first color television (KSS)

View of back terrace with a peacock; Nicolae Ceaușescu
became enamored with peacocks after a visit to Japan

Dining room, where former President
Richard Nixon dined, or at least had tea, here in 1969

Nicolae Ceaușescu endeared himself to the West by condemning the Warsaw Pact/Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968, in an attempt to assert Romanian independence from Moscow. However, he still seemed to be a Communist/Socialist of the Soviet ilk, and took his own path to totalitarianism.

Upstairs Hallway glass dome

Upstairs Hallway with a Romanian tapestry

One of a pair of Japanese vases

Office of son Nicu Ceaușescu

Umm, Nicu's bathroom (?) with
gold-colored (not even gold-plated) fixtures

Office of daughter Zoia Ceaușescu

Zoia's bedroom, made to resemble Marie Antoinette's
apartment at Versailles in Louis XVI-style

Wife Elena's bathroom with sink
with swan-shaped faucet

Elena's bedroom

Upstairs salon with Murano glass mirror

Nicolae's (and Elena's) bedroom; it seems all the
chandeliers are Romanian copies of Murano glass fixtures

The infamous Golden Bathroom,
although very little is real gold

We had to wear shoe protectors throughout the house

Winter Garden

Romanian mosaic of peacocks

In the Winter Garden (KSS)

One half of the dressing room closet

The back stairway

The spa

The swimming pool surrounded by Romanian mosaics

The Summer Garden

We were not taken to the basement to see the wine cellar or cinema...

This opulent house, and the more public Palace of the Parliament, bankrupted the country. Ceaușescu tried to pay off national debts with Romanian crops, leaving his own citizens on rationed food and fuel, with only a few hours of electricity and running water each day.

Next: Bucharest II.