Weekend in Bucharest

What can we do in a city like Bucharest? Where can you go when you’re tired of all the noise? I will tell you what I use to do in my weekends. I often like getting out with my friends. So… I like going to the museum, when there’s a great exhibition that I wish seeing. The National Museum of Bucharest is a great place, in my opinion, of course. I like that place. You can choose: European or Romanian art. Visiting the European art section is a nice way to see great masterpieces of the French, Spanish, German… artists. The Romanian art section is divided in three periods: the medieval period where you can see great works of art (icons, holly clothes, manuscripts, silver objects… and other things like that) – I can say that everybody likes the medieval rooms; the second period is the modern one, where we can see paintings or sculptures made by the great artists of the Romanian art (I think everybody knows about Nicolae Grigorescu, Ion Andreescu, Stefan Luchian or Constantin Brancusi – but I suggest when you go there…please look for the other artists too, ‘cause I think that you don’t have to say : "I’ve seen Grigorescu, I can go now!". No! I saw there some great things made by smaller or unknown artists that worth seeing, I guarantee that); the last period is called the "contemporary" one, but is formed from the avant-garde works (the real contemporary art is exposed at the National Museum of Contemporary Art, which is inside the House of People, that everybody knows). The museum hosts also some temporary exhibitions. There was an exhibition about the French art in 2005; I saw there a Britannic sculpture exhibition featuring some Moore works in 2005; this year, 2007, I saw a Bourdelle exhibition and now there’s one about the Abstract Italian Art. So… when you come to Bucharest don’t miss this little trip to the museum. Visit also: www.onlinegallery.ro/home.html www.mnar.arts.ro  ww.onlinegallery.ro/museums/muzeul_de_arta/muzeu-arta.html

What else you can do in Bucharest? You can go to the movies, but not to see the newest movie in town. I know a place where you can see the old movies from the National Movies Archive. There are all kinds of movies which seem so actual now and so great. The place is situated somewhere on the Eforie Street. The room is not the biggest one you ever seen, but the people that come there count more that anything. There come young students or people who just like to rediscover the past centuries and enjoy watching a good movie in a great atmosphere. I can tell you something from my experience. I often go there, see all the students that come there and think: “Is a great thing that young people are still interested on the past.” I say hello to everybody, buy the ticket, get inside and wait enthusiastic for the movie to start. I am excited every time I go there. Is like a date with someone you love, is like a meeting that I can’t miss. There’s one more thing going on here. On Wednesdays and Saturdays there is a “cineclub.” What happens then? Well… after you see the movie, there’s a small break and then we talk about the movie we just have seen. It doesn’t matter if you’re an expert or something like that, the most important is to be interested about movies and you can say your opinion. I think is a nice exercise. Debates in Romania are just a few and that’s why this “cineclub” is so important. It is a way of expressing yourself, a way to meet new people and find out new things about the movies and maybe fall in love with the place.