We spent almost a week on our own at the beginning of the trip in Bucharest. The city, in spite of being a bit ragged and rough at the edges after years of Soviet domination, is a city of wonders and beauty. Small Orthodox churches, never empty, are scattered around the city, even in the courtyards of vast housing blocks where Ceauşescu intended to hide them. Bucharest once had a large Jewish community; several synagogues survive and the Jewish community is slowly growing. Here and in Iaşi there are signs the country is coming to terms with its World War II past. Large, pre-war mansions in northern and eastern Bucharest still have an air of dignity even though their plaster may be chipped — great waves of wisteria covered signs of decay and neglect. Bucharest has several splendid museums, a large well-maintained botanical garden, lovely parks. A highlight of our time in Bucharest was an evening at the Romanian Atheneum where we heard Beethoven and Brahms in a near-perfect acoustical space.
