Boo-charest

We arrived in Bucharest, Romania on Friday night....Bank of Transylvania, baby!
The very cool coat of arms of Bucharest
We took a walking tour of Bucharest, and were surprised at the lovely architecture.
An amazing portal into an Art Nouveau shopping arcade
This gorgeous building is a BANK!
Very different architectural styles crowd each other in the Old Town
In Old Town, there were the ruins of Vlad the Impaler's palace, including this bust of Vlad himself.
The Moorish buildings of Old Town!
Old Town was completely unexpected. I had expected grim concrete, not Art Nouveau and Moorish styles.
Bucharest is very Orthodox, and there are churches everywhere. The city is built up around them. This is a very typical interior.
A lovely building in Bucharest. Apparently at the turn of the 20th century, the royal family sent architects to study in Paris, who then brought back Parisian-inspired designs to the city.
The main square of Bucharest.
The executed dictator Nicolae Ceaucescu wasted an insane amount of money on essentially an ego palace: The Parliament Building.
It is the 2nd-largest administrative building in the world next to the Pentagon.
And a complete white elephant! It is expensive to maintain and has no real use now beyond tours and some government offices.
This is the "front lawn" of the Parliament. Just wildflowers- they can't afford real landscaping. But hey. Nadia Comaneci got married here!
More Parisian-inspired architecture.
A very European square, not at all what you'd expect in Romania.
We went shoppin' at Romania's H&M! Go exchange rate!!! Total bill for my new dresses: $20. Whee!!
The Victory Monument, unofficially renamed The Potato.