Have you ever sat on a zebra? If the answer is no then now’s your chance 🙂 These cute zebra benches are awaiting sitters in the Victory Square subway station. The project is called Zebrula and is part of a group of ten installations that will decorate the station. The artist for Zebrula is Mara Patriche.
There’s a simple reason why this cinema has so many flags displayed above its entrance. The European Film Festival had just started in Bucharest. Movie goers are in for a treat: more than 50 European movies to choose from, all from the last two years.
More proof that Bucharest is really green these days: even the tramway rails are starting to grow.
If I were to choose I would say that Bucharest looks at its best in the spring. It’s sunny and warm but not hot enough to feel like the asphalt is melting. But above all I like spring here because it’s all green again: green trees, green grass (still 🙂 ) and the city is full of flowers. I don’t usually photograph flowers but I couldn’t help taking a few shots of the tulips. The city is full of them and they look absolutely lovely.
One of the stupid ideas inherited from the communist regime was that never ever, in any circumstances, one is allowed to step on the grass in a public park. From my childhood I remember that any strip of green grass had a sign on it saying “Don’t step on the grass!”, sometimes with the smaller addition “Fine xxx (some ammount that my parents were not prepared to pay) lei”. After 1989, when Romanians were finally allowed to own a passport and I got to see the world outside my country I was puzzled to find out that most corners of the world don’t have this policing of the grass. First time I stepped on the grass in a park I felt a bit guilty and I asked myself why is it OK to do this in other countries and why is it not OK in Romania? But some things change with time and last summer I’ve read in the press that from now on the citizens of Bucharest will be allowed to step, sit, loiter, etc on the grass in public parks. To be honest I didn’t really believe it to be true. Yet, lo and behold, to my surprise, Cişmigiu Park is full of signs like the one in today’s photograph, reading “It is allowed to step on the grass” (it’s an approximate translation, since the verb used doesn’t translate directly into English). I guess I lived to see the day 🙂
This is my favorite bookstore in my home city of Bucharest. It started with a small shop which opened in 2000 and turned into a chain and a strong cultural brand with many locations in Bucharest and the rest of the country. My favorite location is the one shown in the photo, which is located on Arthur Verona Street, in a beautiful 19th century mansion with high ceilings and big rooms. In my opinion it has the best collection of books in Bucharest, DVDs and CDs and a very nice tea room. It also has a decent collection of English books so if you’re in Bucharest and don’t read Romanian you can still check it out. The house was expanded last year by joining it with an adjacent one and now the selection of books is even better, there’s a cafe in the basement and a garden cafe in the summer. Plenty of cultural events take place here including book launches, concerts, exhibitions and multimedia events.
The new Romanian cinema has been one of the unexpected surprises of the last five years. To quote from an article I found on the web “The notion that Romania could emerge as one of the most vibrant and exciting film-making centers in Europe, if not the world, would have seemed far-fetched a decade ago. And yet, in four short years a generation of remarkably talented young Romanian directors have produced an impressive body of films that have consistently landed at the top of international critics’ polls and in the coveted top tier of film festivals from Cannes to New York”. Some call it the “new wave of Romanian cinema”, some dispute the title, but one thing is clear and that is that for the last five years we’ve seen good movies come out of Romania, something that never happened before. Since most of the directors in this new wave are people in their 20s and 30s, there is hope that this trend will continue (although they’ll have to change the formula before it becomes stale). Most of the films are primarily concerned with the social aspects of the Romanian society and culture, with recovering the communist past seen through the eyes of its victims and with life in the new capitalism society. There’s irony, there’s tragedy, the movies are low budget and there are no special effects to speak of; but they’re heartfelt and they move you even though they probably won’t convince you to visit Romania (we have “Cold Mountain” to account for that 🙂 ). Some of the most known titles, which got international release, are: “The Death of Mr. Lăzărescu” (director Cristi Puiu, won Un Certain Regard at Cannes Film Festival), “Four Months, Three Weeks and Two Days” (director Cristian Mungiu, won Palme d’Or at Cannes Film Festival), “12:08 East of Bucharest” (director Corneliu Porumboiu, won Camera d’Or at Cannes Film Festival), “California Dreaming” (director Cristian Nemescu, won Un Certain Regard at Cannes Film Festival), “Police, adjective” (director Corneliu Porumboiu, won Un Certain Regard at Cannes Film Festival), “Tales from the Golden Age” (directors Hanno Höfer, Cristian Mungiu, Constantin Popescu, Ioana Uricaru, Răzvan Mărculescu). The latest movie to win an award, the Silver Berlin Bear. is the one advertised by the poster in today’s photograph. The movie is called ” If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle” directed by Florin Şerban. I didn’t see it yet, so I can’t tell you if I liked it or not, but I plan to see it later this week.
Why is there a cow flying through the windows of a house in Calea Dorobanti? I was curious so once home I searched on the Internet for the name written on the small black plaque. Apparently she’s either coming to revenge her fellow cows or has a death wish and came to be sacrificed for the delight of the diners: the building houses an Argentinian restaurant.
