Bucharest, Romania: A City of Contradictions

We took the train from Sibiu southeast over the Carpathian Mountains (which are very beautiful) to Bucharest, Romania's capital.  Our discussions and research about this city had left us wary--it has gotten anything but positive reviews--but I found it to be a city of contradictions.  For example, some of the buildings, such as our hostel, were built long ago, in a time where people were much shorter (for evidence, see the image of me standing next to the door to our room as evidence).

There is also a beautiful fountain- and tree-lined street in the city, modeled after the Champs Elysees in Paris, which was built in the 1980s.

However, when you see the Parliamentary Palace at the end of the street--which, though it is the second-largest administrative building in the world behind the Pentagon--you begin to wonder, as it's not all that attractive.  In addition, when you learn that Ceausescu (Communist leader of Romania until the revolution in 1989) tore down an entire district of historic buildings to build this street and palace--to the tune of 3.3 billion Euros, while the vast majority of his people were starving--you get a rather bad taste in your mouth.

Still, it does have its architectural gems, like these buildings in the 'old town'.  All in all, the brand-new metro/hoardes of cars because they just started giving loans/ridiculous inflation (literally double the cost of everywhere else we went in Romania)/new streets but ancient, broken sidewalks/outdoor cafes surrounded by packs of stray dogs left me more confused than anything.  Leaving this half pre-industrial, half trying-to-be-worthy-of-the-EU nation has given me more questions than ever about the past, present, and future of Eastern Europe.