Palace of the Parliament

Today we are moving from the north of Romania to the south, right to the Bucharest -  the capital of this beautiful country. As we can see on the map Bucharest is situated on the south near bulgarian border.

This year during my trip to Romania in july I visited all of the most interesting cities in Romania and definitely Bucharest is one of them. At first I went to see Calea Victoriei  "Victory Avenue" the main avenue in the city and I walked around the market where I bought some souvenirs for my family and friends. On the way to the main atraction of this city I saw a lot of monuments and interesting buildings like The Palace of Justice or the Triumphal Arch. Despite the fact that in Bucharest is still a lot of the buildings created in communist period, there are also well developed zones.

From the beggining I couldn't wait to visit the second largest administrative building in the world  - the Palace of the Parliament. Only the Pentagon in United States is bigger so the Palace in Romania really makes a big impression.

 

When I finally entered I saw a big queue of turists and I have to wait about one hour to start visiting. During this time I bought a book which describes the history of the palace and contains a lot of photos taken in various rooms like the room of human rights or union room. I bought it because taking photos is not allowed for the tourists and if somebody wants to take a few photos he has to pay a large amount of money. I also bought a souvenir for myself. A bag with the image of famous Drakula "Vlad the Impaler" and his castle. During this trip I also saw the president of Romania - Klaus Iohannis.

Below one of the amazing rooms in the Palace of the Parliment

At night the Palace is even more impressive than during the day

Merry Cemetery - the most famous cemetery in Europe

Cimitirul Vesel is the cemetery located in northern Romania in the village called  Săpânța in the region Maramureș. This county is famous for carved wooden gates and wooden churches. The culture and tradition have been preserved in this region of Romania. We can find here old villages and houses which still have a vibe of the past.  The map presented below shows the location of Maramureș on the map of  Romania.

 

This cemetery is located in the first place of the funerals monuments in Europe and on the second place in the world. It is not just an usual cemetery because we won’t feel the sad atmosphere as in the others places like this. Here we will find something completely different. The Merry Cemetery is well known for its colorful decorations on the tombstones. The colors and the originality are visible everywhere. Here the death it’s not a sad event but it is converted into a fun event. Below we can see typical gravestones in the Merry Cemetery.

 

The Merry Cemetery was created by Stan Ioan Pătraş – sculptor, painter and poet. The beginnings of this place is estimated circa half of the 30s. The creativity of the artist has become the art. For 50 years Stan Ioan Pătraş has created almost one hundred crosses of wood in his characteristic style. After his dead in 1977 the art was continued by his student - Dumitru Pop Tincu.
Below the grave of the founder of the Merry Cemetery

 

What is more on the crosses there is always a short life story of the dead person. Usually they have a form of the poem written in a humorous way.  Below we can read the example of the inscription on the one of the grave located in cemetery. It describes a short history written by son in law about his mother in law:  

Romanian
Sub această cruce grea
Zace biata soacră-mea
Trei zile de mai trăia
Zăceam eu și cetea ea.
Voi care treceți pă aici
Incercați să n-o treziți
Că acasă dacă vine
Iarăi cu gura pă mine
Da așa eu m-oi purta
Că-napoi n-a înturna

Stai aicea dragă soacră-mea

English
Under this heavy cross
Lies my poor mother in-law
Three more days should she have lived
I would lie, and she would read (this cross).
You, who here are passing by
Not to wake her up please try
Cause' if she comes back home
She'll criticise me more.
But I will surely behave
So she'll not return from grave.
Stay here, my dear mother in-law!

 *the inscription taken from wikipedia.org