Bucharest, Romania

Rolled into Bucharest early afternoon, and was struck with how beautiful the City is and how far it has come since the ouster (from office and the planet) of Ceausescu in 1989.  Sine then, Romania has ended communism, joined the European Union, and are scheduled to be included into the Schengen Accord. Much of the City is parkland, and due to the end of communism, cars are very prevalent, and the roads are choked by traffic.

Palace of the Parliament

The People Palace (now the Palace of the Parliament), was designed to be used as Ceausescu's Bucharest residence, and was a microcosm of Ceausescu's regime and his dictatorial eccentricities.  The idea to build the facility came after Ceausescu's visit to Pyongyang, North Korea.  He was impressed with how Kim Jung Il was successful in establishing his "cult of personality," partially through construction of grandiose buildings to make him appear godlike. As a result of that visit, Ceausescu built the Palace.  The building ended up becoming the second largest building in the world, the heaviest building in the world, and the most expensive administration building in the world ($3.6B).  The building currently houses the Romanian Parliament, a number of museums, and is barely 30 percent occupied. The Palace and surrounding infrastructure required the displacement of 40,000 people, caused the death of an estimated 3,000 workers, all during a time in Romania history when there was rampant starvation and heaters were not allowed to be set higher than 55F due to a lack of power and money.  The building became the beginning of the end for the dictator and is still not complete to this day.  In addition to this palace, Ceausescu had 80 other palaces and homes, all tucked into a country that is smaller than Colorado.

All in all, Bucharest is beautiful city, people are somewhat friendly, a nice place to visit if passing through, but hardly a destination city.

Stage Distance: 365 mi (589 km)
Total Distance Traveled: 19,976 mi (32,093 km) 
Countries/Territories Visited: USA, Mexico, Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay, Canada, Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Gibraltar, France, Monaco, Italy, Vatican City, San Marino, Slovenia, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland, Ukraine, Transnistria, Moldova, Romania