Weather today – It was cool (58 F) and cloudy in the morning, but warm (78 F) in the afternoon.

Our first full day on the Viking itinerary began with breakfast at the hotel, then everyone loaded onto buses for one of 3 full-day excursions which all end with our embarkation on the Viking Ullur longboat. In each “port”, Viking has one included excursion offered. The included excursion for Bucharest was Bucharest and the Village Museum (7.5 hours, easy) with lunch and a “folkloric performance”. The two optional excursions were Highlights of Bucharest (6 hours, demanding), which includes a visit to the Spring Palace with lunch at the oldest beerhouse or Bucharest & the Palace of Parliament (8 hours, moderate) which includes a visit and lunch at the massive Palace of Parliament. Based on what we had pre-planned to do on our private tours with Cristi, we chose to pay for the optional Viking excursion to Parliament. This turned out to be a very good choice as only 4 other Viking guests selected this tour, so it was essentially a private tour!

Bucharest & the Palace of Parliament Excursion Description

Viking’s tour description reads:

Discover Bucharest’s Old Town on foot and step inside the opulent Palace of Parliament for an intriguing tour.

Set off by motor coach on a panoramic drive to the Palace of Parliament and learn about the fascinating history behind the impressive site during an inside visit. The second-largest administrative building in the world, it was commissioned by the former Romanian president, Nicolae Ceauşescu, and took 13 years to build. Admire the ornate interior and large rooms adorned with crystal chandeliers and enjoy a traditional lunch at the Parliament’s restaurant. As you dine, listen to stories of how this former Eastern Bloc country overcame an oppressive regime to become a thriving member of the European Union. After, drive to Revolution Square for a guided walk in the old town, strolling the cobblestoned streets to admire the neo-baroque architecture in the heart of the city.

Panoramic Drive

Our guide was Emil, a mechanical engineer by training, now a comedic actor and tour guide. Apparently, he is quite famous for being in a Romanian children’s show as “The American” which has been in re-runs for almost two decades and is easily recognized on the street as evidenced when a young girl ran out of a restaurant to greet him.

On this portion of the tour, we saw many of the same sites as we’d already seen with Cristi, but it’s always interesting to hear differing perspectives and stories from the local guides.  

Palace of Parliament

The third largest administrative building in the world at 3,930,000 square feet, behind Washington, D.C.’s Pentagon (6,500,000 square feet) and Thailand’s Sappaya-Sapasathan (4,560,000 square feet), was begun in 1984 under Ceauşescu  and not finished until 1997. It is considered the heaviest building in the world and is currently sinking approximately 6mm per year. The building goes as deep underground as it is tall approximately 8-9 stories.

Only about a third of the building’s 1100 rooms were ever finished and much of the building remains unused today. In addition to the lower (Chamber of Deputies) and upper (Senate of Romania) houses of Parliament, the building contains the National Museum of Contemporary Art.

On our hour tour, we were able to see about 3% of the building – a couple of salon rooms for meetings, the ballroom, the Senate chamber, and the cafeteria. All the interior spaces are massive – from the staircase to the hallways. Our guide said that Ceauşescu was very picky about the height of the stairs matching his stride and had them rebuilt three times! When communism failed, the building was not completed and a decision had to be made – continue it, tear it down, or sell it. As the labor was all provided by the state, only the amount of raw materials could be accounted for and therefore it is impossible to determine the cost of the building. Ultimately, they decided to finish the construction and utilize it for their new government. Many of the rooms can be rented for various functions. Two of the rooms we saw rent for between 1200-1500 Euros per day which seems very reasonable.  

Lunch

Our lunch was in the Parliament’s cafeteria where we ate adjacent to senators and deputies at least we assumed they were! Who knows? Maybe the next President of Romania was eating his or her lunch within just a few feet of us! They had a wide selection of food, and it was quite good. Emil joked that it is both the most expensive (i.e. the building) and least expensive (i.e. the food) place to eat in the entire country.

Old Town

Following lunch, we went on a walking tour through the historic old town section and saw some of the same places I’d seen with Cristi and some additional places as well. The Manoc Inn where Cristi and I had eaten lunch the day before was also where we crossed paths with the 4 busloads of the Viking guests who were on the included tour as that was where they were eating lunch. The irony is that I had the thought the day before that it would be a good location for the included tour lunch!

Then we were off to the port of Giurgiu on the Danube about an hour away to meet our ship. I spotted this very interesting roof along the way.

Embarkation

We arrived at the ship around 5:00 and were initially greeted by Sonya, our Program Director, and welcomed aboard by additional staff of the Viking Ullur. As we were the first group to board, check-in was very quick with just the six of us! We found our stateroom with our luggage waiting and got unpacked. Dave still wasn’t feeling very well, so after getting refreshed I headed by myself to the lounge (where all entertainment activities occur) for the next day’s port talk, then to dinner. On the river there is no room service, but I asked the Maître d’ if it was possible for them to deliver some soup to our stateroom for Dave as he wasn’t feeling well. He said he wasn’t sure as it was the first night’s service, but he would check and let me know and to go ahead and be seated and he would find me and let me know. The seating is open dining, so I found a table for 8 with six others already seated including the couple that I’d sat by during the port talk and asked to join them. Before we could even order, the Maître d’ came and found me to let me know that they were delivering Dave’s meal. Knowing that Dave was taken care of, I enjoyed meeting some new people and our meal together.

While we ate, the ship left Giurgui for Ruse, Bulgaria. It may have taken 15 minutes as it is right across the Danube on the opposite bank!

Then it was back to the room to catalog pictures, blog (I’m already behind) and sleep.