on the road: Anniversaries in Bucharest

We were fortunate to be in Bucharest for a few days before Christmas for a few important anniversaries.

In December of 1989, a change/shift happened in Romania.  Some call it a revolution; others have the view that it was a violent bit of theater.  Regardless, the last weeks of December that year are historic.  We were interested to see what Bucharest would be like on the 20th anniversary of this time.  There were flowers placed placed in memory around various piatas and small exhibits in metro stations; there were jumbo-trons replaying the TV footage.  But where we in America celebrate our revolution with hotdogs, waving flags, and fireworks, Romanians celebrated this 20th anniversary without such pomp and circumstance.  It was rather stark and muted and life proceeded, it seemed, as usual.  There were overtones of sadness but with a tinge of fierceness.  We read a bit of grafitti that seemed to sum up the general feel of the 20th anniversary of the revolution.  It read: We are not allowed to forget.

The second anniversary we observed was our wedding anniversary.  Although it was a week or so early, we took the opportunity to spoil ourselves (Dr. Dan told us to after all).  There was Starbucks, McDonald’s, a Romanian Mexican restaurant (which kinda disappointed, but had a nice cat), Ikea, a music-store (for a Christmas guitar) AND…. a night at the symphony.  The Romanian Athenaeum is a drop-dead gorgeous building — outside and inside.  Add to that, live classical music and my husband, and I’m in heaven.  It was David’s virginal voyage into the symphony and it provided both a beginner’s education, a few laughs (the bass soloist completely flubbed up), and a Romanian twist (with orchestral and choral arrangements of Romanian carols).