Quiet Sunday Morning with Half Marathon

The Bucharest Half Marathon finished near the Palace of Parliament

I had an afternoon flight out of Bucharest for the next destination on this trip. Time of wander down to see the monstrous Palace of the Parliament up close.

Bucharest is an interesting place. People do not come here to see the sights. But oh what sights they are to see:

Gloriously massive structures in various states of disrepair and various points of renovation. It will be interesting to see what Bucharest looks like once all the renovating gets done.

It was a beautiful Sunday morning. Calea Victoriei was roped closed. Apparently there was a Half Marathon happening. I wandered over to the Piata Unirii:

The marathon runners were going through the fountains in the plaza:

The route was heading down Bulevardul Unirii, the grand Parisian style boulevard that Nicolae Ceaușescu insisted on including in his grandiose plans for his capital.

And in front of the Palace of the Parliament building itself:

And here is the magnificent, the glorious, the Pyongyang-ian Palace of the Parliament.

Ceaușescu conceived of this grand building after a visit to Pyongyang to see the massive archiutectural monuments to the dear leaders there.

Ceaușescu brought a little Pyongyang flare to the southeastern corner of Europe.

Runaway!

Again, Bucharest is an interesting mix of grandeur and decay, history and renovation. This bridge over a dry canal south of the Old Town didn't look completely sturdy:

And the canal looked like it had seen better times.

The abandoned canoe adds a post-apocalyptic element, don't you think?

I continued backtracking on the half marathon route. The less-serious runners were now on Calea Victoriei. Still, right in the neighborhood of my hotel, there were some beautiful buildings:

And, of course, there is always time for cat-blogging.

And that's all from Bucharest. Next stop: Prague.