A thin layer of snow covers the gray city. Winter wasn't winter, but after the passage of its calendar time, it refused to go away and is now clawing her way into springtime. I walked through the old town during the brief return of winter.
In Bucharest, the old center is a small island in the middle of the city, a center in the center, with some streets that escaped demolition. An area infamous in the last century, full of small shops and slums, most abandoned and populated by homeless people unable to maintain and repair them...until someone thought this place might be of tourist significance.
All the old shops have been transformed into terraces, cafes, and restaurants. Bucharest has an old center where beer flows and is sought after by tourists who don't have much to see but are pleased that the alcohol is plentiful and cheap. For now!
When I walk through this small center that seems to have been from another time, I'm not interested in this aspect; I'm interested in the people, the architecture, and the perspective. Most of all, I like to see the place, the streets, and the people in black and white, to erase the colors that still remind me of the present time.
Although there are many entrances in the old center, I stick to a specific route, which starts with Lipscani Street.
Looking out from the old city center towards the usual city mix.
Straight ahead on Lipscani Street, already in the old center.
One of my many complaints to the authorities about this place is the paving. Initially, after the redevelopment of the space, the paving with cubic stone was perfect, but we Romanians do not know how to maintain what we have achieved. After a few years, the pavement deteriorated and even became a trap for passers-by.
The thin carpet of snow covered all those ugly parts.
Someone with Mexican sympathies has painted the windows of a shop in the style of Frida Kahlo. I don't know what worked there; it's now abandoned.
Probably a former bar that had no success with tequila...
As I said, initially, a few hundred years ago, this was a place of merchandising. I've found another place that reminds us of this.
Some clothes in the snow
I've written about this place before and showed a rainy walk. To compare, look HERE.
Well, I have to admit that the description of this walk is, first of all, a reason to choose a few photos that I think manage, in Black And White, to better convey the atmosphere of the place, in that time of transition between winter and spring, with two seasons equally powerless, one dying and the other at birth.
Moreover, today being Wednesday, we stepped into strolling territory, as 
As the cynical saying goes, "the end justifies the means", so I will continue with a few more photos.
On the more modern side, with amenities that let you see the beauty of winter and snow without feeling the cold.
But some prefer the cold, perhaps less present where they live, here some tourists from Spain( I don't know them, but I heard them talking and recognized the language)
This is the "navel"—the middle of the center, with the building that houses the National Bank of Romania on the right and the Dacia Palace on the left. The Dacia Palace hosts the most interesting collection of art exhibitions, Art Safari. It's my favorite place!
I leave the tourists with their problems and end my walk once I reach the target on Stavropoleos Street. This street that spills into Victory Avenue has at its end another emblematic building of interwar Bucharest, the CEC Palace.
The target is a small monastery and a 300-year-old church, the Stavropoleos Monastery. While the companion of all my walks, my wife, was attracted by the poster of the recent Art Safari exhibition, I tell you that on the left side is the Stavropoleos Church, next is the majestic building of the National History Museum of Romania, which is also about one hundred and fifty years old, at the end of the street you can still see a little bit of the CEC Palace, and on the right you can see part of a National Bank building and a little bit of the Dacia Palace, mentioned earlier.
The most beautiful part, in my opinion, of the Old Center of Bucharest!
These two streets in the Old Center of Bucharest are crossed by most tourists who come to the city where I live. That's why I thought I should put a tag that will lead to those planning to visit this place. Maybe, almost for sure, they will choose a warmer time of spring-summer-fall and won't have the opportunity to see how it is when it snows. If they search in Worldmappin, they will find a lot of information and many, many more, I hope, relevant photos.
This is my entry for the #monomad challenge.
I rely mostly on photos in all my blogs. Words don't help me as much as photos.
I always start with photos when I want to write a blog. Photos remind me of places, events, and feelings that turn into words. The words have even less importance; they are a companion to the photos I want to show. This often makes the story uninteresting or common, yet it is necessary; otherwise, the photos would merely be a series of unexciting images.
I make this statement as a plea to those reading not to overjudge the text and to focus on the photos. The story puts everything in context and provides the explanations and clarifications necessary for the blog to convey something of interest to the reader.
A wise saying goes that a photograph is worth a thousand words, but I'm not sure. My opinion is that it depends on the viewer.
