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New Website, New Blog, but the Old Blog Archive remains: September 28, 2023

After many years of wanting a real website, this month I finally have a website designed by the very knowledgeable Rey Rey Rodriguez ( TheMindOfReyRey ). My old blog,  Vacation-Travel-Adventure .com  continues with the same address but it is located in the "Archives" tab on my new website  https://www.ceciliaclark.com/ . The new blog which is a continuation but with much better resolution for 4K screens is now at  https://www.ceciliaclark.com/blog .

Bucharest, Romania: May 2, 2018


Early this morning we said goodbye to our hostess Maria at Pensiunea Mara in Deseşti to begin the drive to Cluj-Napoca airport for the very short flight to Bucharest. At Diana's suggestion, once in Bucharest we had the taxi drop us as the Ceauşescu House Museum.

The Romanian revolution began on December 16, 1989. Nicolae and Elena Ceauşescu, the presidential couple, were shot by a firing squad on December 25, 1989. Nicolae Ceauşescu was in power from 1965 until the revolution.

Their Bucharest city house has been open for tours only a couple of years. The tour took us through only a small fraction of the 80 rooms in the house. Walking through their house and gawking at their things felt like driving past an accident and being unable to tear your eyes away. It was ghoulish, but I couldn't not look.

The house tour guide said that none of the golden furnishings or plumbing fixtures were gold. He said they were all covered with gold paint not real gold or gold leaf.

The Presidential Couple's bedroom with their night clothes laid out on the bed


Their private movie room
The enormous closets of clothing, shoes, furs are all now tagged and part of the inventory of the house.


The house and its contents are a time machine forever stuck in the 1980s.


While some of the decor would be less than tasteful especially to 21st-century eyes, the many, many mosaics were beautiful 20th century relics.



The walls surrounding the indoor swimming pool were covered in mosaics. It took two craftsmen two years to complete the job.


Detail of brilliant mosaics next to the entrance and exit from the swimming pool room.


The house tour lasted about 45 minutes and ended in a garden space. The peacocks who live here are the 8th generation of those acquired by Ceauşescu. There were several peacocks and pea hens but only one put on a show for us.


When Ceauşescu lived at this property, it was quite secluded. One of the buildings on the former grounds is now owned by the Syrian Government and is the residence of their ambassador. Multi-storied buildings have been constructed on all the adjacent lots. The house is no longer secluded.

Later in the evening we walked around some of Bucharest's old city streets enjoying the classic architecture and the lively pedestrian streets. We re-visited the beautiful Romanian Orthodox Stavropoleos Church built in 1724 in the Brancovenesc style. Despite being dwarfed by the tall buildings that surround, its architecture still demands attention.


Tomorrow afternoon we will begin the long journey home from Bucharest, to Munich, San Francisco, Sacramento. It has been a fabulous vacation.

Particulars:
K + K Elisabeta - our second stay at this hotel. It is close to the old city as well as the metro system. Their rooms are very comfortable and above all their staff is extremely helpful and courteous.

Ceauşescu House also called the Primaveri Palace. Tours can be booked in advance at the website.

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