October 2009

With a little effort, Bucharest could be (quite) nice

by Craig Turp October 15, 2009 Bucharest

 Bucharest will never, ever, be an attractive city to look at. It is best we get that hard, cold fact out of the way right at the beginning. But we are increasingly convinced that with a little effort, a little money and a bit of civic pride it could be a perfectly nice place. (And [...]

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Who Knew? Bucharest’s Soviet War Memorial & Cemetery

by Craig Turp October 14, 2009 Bucharest

 Go on, admit it: you never knew there was one, or at the very least assumed it went the way of every other piece of Soviet statuary in those iconoclastic days that followed the 1989 revolution (that being removed, dumped and forgotten). Well, as we discovered (by accident) this morning, Bucharest’s Soviet War Memorial survives, [...]

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Disband the Romanian Tourism Ministry

by Craig Turp October 13, 2009 Romania

 Romania’s Minister of Tourism, Elena Udrea, the woman who brought the world The Land of Choice, was kicked out of office today after Romania’s government lost a no-confidence vote in parliament. We will miss her. While Udrea’s 10 months in office were arguably little short of a total disaster, in that regard she was neither [...]

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Bucharest’s Holocaust Memorial

by Craig Turp October 13, 2009 Bucharest

 Unveiled with great pomp by a vote-hungry President Traian Basescu last week, we decided to go and have a look at Bucharest’s much talked-about Holocaust Memorial this morning. We really ought not to have bothered. For a start, though it was officially unveiled last week, it is nowhere near being finished. This morning, workmen were [...]

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Free, because we paid for the content

by Craig Turp October 12, 2009 Bucharest

 There is now a website that allows you enter just about any city name and get a free, one-page guide to that city appear on your screen in an instant. Try it here. Not altogether unimpressive, until of course you look through the guide and realise that it is (a) not very good and (b) [...]

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Bucharest, Old Chap

by Craig Turp October 7, 2009 Bucharest

 Marvellous. Cancel your appointments and spend the rest of the week browsing this lot… The British Pathe News Romania/Bucharest Archive For those of you who might be a little busy, we have picked out a few gems… Bucharest, 1961 (in colour) Love the clipped accent of the commentator: pure Pathe News. It has been edited [...]

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The Sudden Death of Piata Vitan

by Craig Turp October 6, 2009 Bucharest

 We live in the Bucharest district of Vitan. Very much unloved, and by no means the most salubrious part of Romania’s capital it nevertheless serves as home, and we kind of like it. Close to the city centre it is blessed with decent transport links, and, as it is close to the school our son [...]

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