Bucharest - Day 1

This is the last day to myself and it's been raining off and on. Not too bad except for the thunder that warns you when to head inside for a bit. There was still plenty of time to walk around Old Town Bucharest and some of the surrounding areas before the heavier rain came down. This area needs tourism and I can tell the last two years without tourists have been hard. More places are out of business and if possible, Old Town is even more run down that 4 years ago. Side street looking down at the restaurants.

This short tunnel was actually fairly clean. Quite a few people were out cleaning up and getting rid of trash. It's not like the city isn't trying. 

Shortly after the tunnel I went down a side street that I didn't recall going down before and looked over and saw an old orthodox church. Music started up, a choir was singing and I remembered it was Sunday. The mass was going on outside, not in the church and suddenly it clicked in my brain about the taxi driver telling me this was a holiday weekend. I had to look it up but for those who believe August 14/15 is St. Mary's Day and it's a national holiday in Romania.

This little cat looked so weary that I really didn't want to scare it away to look at the memorial. That and there were two local police cars parked right by the entrance so I was okay skipping this one.

Moving along, I headed out of Old Town and walked along the canal. Netflix had taken out a full building mural to promote Stranger Things. That's the upsidedown depicted there.

The rain (I know the sky looks clear here) was starting to come down again and I headed back to the hotel. To keep up the variety I went down another winding street that I hadn't been on before and came upon outdoor mass also going on at this church. Bucharest is dotted with picturesque tiny churches but this one wins for showmanship.