random buildings in bucharest

so i don´t know bucharest at all (i´ve been 4 or 5 times and i never remember basic orientation, so each new time feels like the first time, ha). but i´m impressed with the chaos, brightness, and especially the architecture. it used to be a rich and chic place, our old bucharest, and it still shows even in the amalgam of blocks of flats, churches of all ages, houses and ruins.

1. my trip was ´for business´and i was following hand-drawn maps and google print-outs straight to Sector2, so this first section is pictures i took between the railway station and strada viitorului.

´42, former 16´- funny enough to give a hint about how irregular a bucharest map can get. streets don´t have to be straight, people! and numbering here has a special kind of logic.

2. this is from the old center - lipscani&the streetlets around it - where i spent two afternoons getting almost-lost and ogling the terraces. needless to say it was hot!?!? the kind of hot that´s whiter, more glaring - bucharest is ´down south´, a 9 hour train ride south from ´us´. pretty big difference.

3. in the kiseleff park: the temperature seems almost normal, like just another summer day. this (kiseleff avenue ) is the general quarter for embassies, obviously because it´s so cool...(i realize pictures of parks are deceptive: just trees and grass and benches - have to find a way around the obvious one day).

...and voila! the back entrance to the russian embassy (just across the street from the canadian one, in case anyone thinks i was stalking) : for taking this spontaneous picture i had to show my ID et co. ooops.

4. and an extra round of  random photos from around the old center:

had a fun time at the harley terrace: ´awesome and awful´, sort of, as my friend matt put it.
another terrace, good name : ¨niste fii si domni¨.
the old town space is literally full of these outdoor places, kilometers of them side by side.

is this really THE ´hanul lui manuc´? if so, this is the stuff of legend.

i think these were for sale...so charming, and my grandma had a similar type of singer...the guy watching them yelled at me for taking the picture (of course), then said i should have coffee with him to settle it. hmmm.

5. waiting for my train at the station i already know pretty well. huh, i guess the one place in bucharest i know.