Palace of Parliament

We took the "short" tour of the Palace of Parliament -- a little over an hour.

Wow.

It's the 2nd largest building in the world (after the Pentagon). And all of the meeting rooms and ballrooms that we toured were excessively lavish. Built by Ceausescu (though he was executed before being able to preside there) it is a lasting monument to

For example, in this ballroom (where Kevin Costner had just appeared at a charity event for Halloween the day before) there were to be massive portraits of Nicolae and Elena.

And these marble stairs were built and re-built and built again, so that they could be EXACTLY to Ceausescu's specifications (something to do with wanting to be able to walk down the stairs, looking out on the guests, not having to look down at the stairs). Apparently many things in this massive palace were done and re-done until they were *perfect*

On this balcony Ceausescu expected to make speeches to massive crowds. That never happened. Our tour guide said this was where Michael Jackson famously said "Hello, Budapest!" -- but my tour book says that happened at the national stadium

In this wood-paneled room our tour guide said this was to be modeled after Peles Castle. "I've been to Peles Castle!" Peggy exclaimed. There were actually several points during the tour where Peggy was able to make connections and build on her knowledge of Romania, which was pretty cool.

It was certainly impressive - and all of the materials used throughout the building were from Romania - but - thinking of the money that was spent on this building - when people starved, and hospitals needed medicine, and people suffered - certainly detracts from its beauty

Our flight home was on Tarom. Which was nice. But we missed the little bucuria candies that we get on AirMoldova