Out of hundreds of walks, out of hundreds of places to walk, there are a few that repeat regularly. One of these places is Circus Park in Bucharest. It's a place quite far from my home and where I take a walk every month.
Could, I say, I think one might wonder why there are walks every month, why is a somewhat equal break between walks and why did I make such an appointment?
It's true, it's a schedule, but I don't do it, my wife does, and, strangely enough, even though she comes with me up there, she doesn't walk with me in this park.
I could even do a quiz asking you to guess why all this is happening, i.e. why she schedules but she doesn't walk...
I'm not doing a contest, because some of you who have seen my walks in this park before know the answer, and those of you who happen to read, for the first time, have no way to guess...
The answer is:
My wife doesn't make an appointment for the walk, she makes an appointment for a haircut at a hairdresser near the park, and I take the opportunity to show that I am a loving and caring husband and accompany her but more importantly, I take the opportunity to go to this park not only for the walk, I go for what could be called "walk and photograph" because this park has something special, it has a pond where Egyptian lotuses grow. The only place in my city, Bucharest, and probably the second one in Romania (the other one in Oradea, at Baile Felix).
Every Wednesday I try to tell the story of a walk, as part of #WednesdayWalk, 
My interests in this park and, by extension, in this ride are the following...
The pond
More than a hundred years ago there was a brick factory here. For the bricks they used clay excavated from this site, resulting in a large pit. In this pit, the park was arranged and in the middle of it, the pond, which was formed naturally, because of several springs in the area. Now there are no more springs and the water is piped in, so as not to let the pond dry up in hot summers, as this one is.
The park
The park is small, in the middle of a crowded city full of concrete buildings, glass, paved streets, many cars, and just as many people. It makes for a crowded and very hot place in summers like this. A place where people can hide in the shade and rest their eyes in the green vegetation.
Egyptian lotuses
Always, in midsummer, this little pond was invaded by pink lotuses, Egyptian lotuses!
They are the main attraction of the park. Unfortunately, this year there are very few lotus flowers and very few plants. I think there are two causes. Last autumn I saw that they dredged the pond and I think they destroyed a lot of plants then and, perhaps, the excessive heat this summer contributed to the disappearance of many of these flowers.
Small animals in the pond...
Where there is water, warmth, and vegetation, there are also living things.
The people
I love watching people. I like to photograph them but because I don't have a zoom lens I have to photograph them up close and that's not easy. I have met very few people who enjoy being photographed by a stranger. That's why I have to shoot quickly, so they don't notice and because of that, I lose the quality of the photos.
Grandparents, children, and other... animals!
I didn't mean to offend anyone here, I was simply inspired by the title of a charming book by Gerald Durrell, My Family and Other Animals.
Pigeons
Fugitives from heat...
Most of the walkers who enter the park live in the blocks around it. These blocks made of concrete heat up in the sun like an oven and it is almost impossible to stay inside. These people are saved by this park where they stay most of the day, until late in the evening when the air cools down. I was glad to see that some people still read books and newspapers...
Photographers
(Amateur) photographers, like me, struggle to get closer to a lotus flower to get the best shot. The "hidden" flower...
The "hidden" flower...
... and, of course, the pond again!
I guess I'm not just a stroller in this park. I think I'm also an observer and a witness. I have photos from almost every month of the year except the winter months.
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