After getting swindled out of a substantial amount of money for a cab ride as a welcome, I was glad to find most of the Romanian people very friendly and helpful. Me and some friends even got escorted by a friendly cop to one of his favorite traditional Romanian places to eat and he came back halfway through the meal to check and see if everything was alright! While in Bucharest, I visited the Palace of Parliament, formerly known as the People's Palace (which is the second largest building in the world, second only to the Pentagon) built during the Communist rule using the people's money while over 70,000 people lost their homes and many more starved in the streets just so it could be built as a house for the dictator. It was an amazingly lavish building and a perfect example of how bad greed mixed with power can be for those being ruled. I hope to visit Romania again, but instead head to Transylvania to see Dracula's castle.

Labels: Travel, World Tour