As I had planned I spent the best part of the morning visiting the National Museum "Al Satului". I wish I had more time, as I only scratched the surface of this truly amazing place. Beginning in 1936, up to the late 60s, the government of Romania, in some form, literally moved hundreds of typical houses, churches, farms, mills, wells, even a fishing shack, from all regions of the country, and transported them to a large area in Bucharest, along the river, to depict the rural architecture of all regions of Romania. These are not reproductions, but real abodes, where people lived and functioned.
The result is simply amazing. You really need at least a full day to see all of it, but what I saw left me agape. There is also an interesting museum displaying various regional clothing of the time. It doesn't make for exciting blogging, but it is definitely a highlight of a trip to Romania. What I liked is that there was no kitsch, no people pretending to be ancient inhabitants, no story-telling. Each house or farm building posted a picture of where it had been located, the date it was moved, and photos of the last people that had lived in it. You could walk in and literally walk back in time.
These photos might give you an inkling of the place, which again, I only saw partially.
In the museum:
In the afternoon I headed to Otopeni airport for my required COVID test. Now you tell me what's wrong with this picture. In August, we had a similar test performed in El Salvador for $15, today's test at the airport cost me $37; before I left Boston, the same test at Logan cost me $250!! Pure insanity.
Anyway, I'm now back in Italy. Tomorrow I'll be heading home. It's been wonderful spending time with all my relatives and friends, and having time for my favorite hobby, discovering new places. My hotel for the night is simply astounding. It's a palatial villa near the Malpensa airport in Milan, which was built at the turn of the century by Count Gianni Caproni, the founder of Italian aviation. Once again, booking.com did not let me down. I was able to get a room here for only 71 Euros, if you can believe it, breakfast included. For my last Italian meal, I had me another steak, which was scrumptiously tender and delicious. And with a picture of this dish, also this blog comes to an end. Until the next adventure. Thanks for coming along.
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