The day has come when the cars have stopped, but that doesn't mean a cataclysm has happened or that all of our planet's energy sources have been exhausted. It's not a sci-fi movie, either!
What has really happened is that the month of May has arrived and that is why in the city where I live, Bucharest, this habit of banning cars from certain central boulevards on all weekends until the end of September has started.
For a busy city like Bucharest, the capital of Romania, with about 3 million inhabitants, this means something special, appreciated but also disliked. Every Saturday morning such barriers are erected at the entrances of the chosen boulevards.
Of course, appreciated by pedestrians but hated by those who travel by car, because banning some streets has the immediate effect of overcrowding others...
I am among those who are happy because of this initiative of the city mayor because I have long given up using the car when I want to get downtown, especially because of the parking problems.
This further proves that everyone follows his own interest, appreciating or not something only according to how that situation benefits him or not. I can only say that this is human...
I will show you Victory Avenue, the most spectacular avenue in Bucharest, with the most old buildings, most of them built at the beginning of the nineteenth century.
I like this boulevard because it makes me dream, my imagination is free to send me to the past when these buildings were built and became emblematic of this city. The building on the left that has an antenna on the roof is known as the Telephone Palace.
Palatul Telefoanelor in Bucharest is an Art Deco-style building and until 1956, was the tallest building in Bucharest at 52.5 meters (172 feet). Designed by the Romanian architect of Dutch origin Edmond Van Saanen Algi and built over the course of about 20 months in 1931–1933, it was the first major modernist building on Bucharest's Calea Victoriei. The Romanian government decided to take a loan from the American trust, J.P. Morgan & Co., which obtained from this transaction the granting of a 20-year monopoly on Romanian telephony to the International Telephone and Telegraph Corporation (ITT). Source
The Odeon Theatre was built in 1911. It looks somewhat like the Odéon-Théâtre de l'Europe in Paris but is much smaller. It has something special... it is one of the very few ones in Europe with a sliding ceiling!
Those who walk through this place can also see one of the few buildings built recently, that is after 2000. A hotel.
Hotel Novotel was built on the site of the former National Theatre. This was bombed in August 1944 by the German air force... by mistake (why would they care about the theatre?), the target being the Palace of Telephones!
In order to receive approval to build the hotel on that site, the architects were required to design and reconstruct the entrance to the old theatre. This has led to a strange symbiosis of old and new but also to a special construction that I like. The only glass building in the area that often offers interesting reflections to passers-by.
This boulevard, however promenade-like, still had to let cars pass at some intersections.
But nearby there are once again barriers that give cars no chance to go on their old routes. No mercy for cars!
It follows another small part of the boulevard before reaching the most important part of this route. Revolution Square, formerly Palace Square.
The Revolution is over, The King abdicated (rather forcibly by the Russians) but the Palace is still there.
The Royal Palace. On the left side of the image.
But those who walk around don't think so much about the history and those who contributed to the modernization of Romania. Now everyone is focused on their own problems and the desire to relax. Walking children, walking dogs, walking themselves!
But no matter what people want, the Revolution Square is there and you can see the first distinctive signs, i.e. buildings and monuments:
Kretulescu Church...
Kretzulescu Church (Romanian: Biserica Kretzulescu or Crețulescu) is an Eastern Orthodox church in central Bucharest, Romania. Built in the Brâncovenesc style, it is located on Victory Avenue, nr. 45A, at one of the corners of Revolution Square, next to the former Royal Palace.
The church was commissioned in 1720–1722 by the boyar Iordache Crețulescu and his wife Safta, a daughter of Prince Constantin Brâncoveanu.source
Royal Palace on the left...
The Memorial of the Rebirth, by its full name Memorial of the Rebirth - Eternal Glory to the Heroes and the Romanian Revolution of December 1989 on the right...
Revolution Square, formerly Palace Square.
Revolution Square (Romanian: Piața Revoluției) is a square in central Bucharest, on Calea Victoriei. Known as Palace Square (Romanian: Piața Palatului) until 1989, it was renamed after the Romanian Revolution of December 1989. The former Royal Palace (now the National Museum of Art of Romania), the Athenaeum, the Athénée Palace Hotel, the University of Bucharest Library, and the Memorial of Rebirth are located here. The square also houses the building of the former Central Committee of the Romanian Communist Party (from where Nicolae Ceaușescu and his wife fled by helicopter on December 22, 1989). In 1990, the building became the seat of the Senate and since 2006 it houses the Ministry of Interior and Administrative Reform.
The former Royal Palace now houses the National Art Museum.
Opposite the royal palace is the equestrian statue of King Carol I, and behind the statue is the Library of the Romanian Academy, built at the initiative of the king, who was also a member of this academy.
Charles I of Romania, Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, full name Karl Eitel Friedrich Zephyrinus Ludwig von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, (b. 20 April 1839, Sigmaringen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany - d. 10 October 1914, Sinaia, Muntenia, Romania) was the ruler, then King of Romania, who ruled the Romanian Principalities and then Romania.
This is a segment of Victory Avenue, it's part of the walk that everyone who is in Bucharest takes every weekend. It is enjoyed by both residents who enjoy this opportunity to stroll, without the stress of traffic and cars, and who beyond fun and relaxation, can also take a look at the country's near history.
The numerous foreign tourists are more interested than locals, to learn more about this country. The thought and hope that a possible visitor will be someone who will read this blog makes me keep writing about the tourist side of the city, to repeat myself, because there are not many places that can interest tourists, but to try each time to approach the descriptions from different angles and, of course, with different pictures. I also introduce a lot of, maybe boring, historical information more for me, which I look for when documenting for the writing the blog and which is a reminder of the history learned long ago. I also believe that history can also interest a foreigner willing to understand something about the Romanian people.
It was a long walk that I didn't want to turn into too long a story. I like to say it was part one and there will be a part two to follow.
Written for #SublimeSunday by 
