Stavropoleos church

Thursday
Laura was still in school today, so Roger, Jen and I were sightseeing on our own again. In the morning we joined a free walking tour of the city, principally the Old Town, or as I explained in yesterday's blip, what is left of Old Town. The tour was very well done, and most informative, talking about the Palace of Parliament, Romanian food, money, the Communist era etc. This beautiful little church was one of the highlights for me, with it's lovely cloister, and beautiful painting inside, which unfortunately we were only able to get a glimpse of, since there was a service taking place. It was built in 1724. The tour finished in University Square, which is the place where Bucharest people go to celebrate or protest, and was thus the setting from many scenes from the revolution and overthrow of the Communist regime. When we were finished we got a quick bite to eat nearby, then took the metro to the Village museum, an open-air museum located in the huge Herastrau Park, featuring old houses, farms, churches moved here from various regions of Romania. We had several hours wandering around there, but then it was time to go pick up our rental car for our trip into Transylvania. We were picking it up from a Radisson Blue hotel in a different part of the city, so this meant another metro ride, then quite a fair walk. Having picked up the car, we were then going to pick Laura up from her apartment and go out to dinner. I was rather nervous about this since it was rush hour on a holiday weekend, and Laura is always telling us how crazy Bucharest drivers are! However, Roger took it totally in his stride as usual, and we made it OK.
I have included an extra from the Village museum

One year ago: Buttercups by the lake