About Me

About Me

Covrigi and the Unexpected
I was raised in Bucharest at the time when Ceaușescu’s bulldozers were razing Romania’s past, as Professor Dinu Giurescu greatly put it. I still remember waking up at 4, going to the grocer’s and waiting in line for some milk, just to buy some yoghurt or whatever there was left (if anything) by the time I got in front of the line. I grew up in a society based on barter rather than money, as everyone had the money, but there was hardly a thing to buy on the market. Such memories die hard and they have generated some of the life approach one still meets in the streets of Bucharest nowadays.

The chaos of the early 1990s’ Neo-Communist Romania found me eager to discover the city and its still standing, sometimes well hidden heritage, just like a tourist’s going abroad for the first time. I began working on guidebooks about Romania and posting information on various websites. I then realized one cannot take places in this city and put them in a book under the “to do” list. Simply because it is so contrasting, unexpected, nerve blowing, captivating and shocking at times that it does not fit the standards. Any standards. So this website is about chaos and imperfection. About a slice of the Subcontinent thrown in the Danubian plains, an Orthodox cross on top.

I am often asked why I find this city interesting. Maybe because I like pushing people (including myself) to the limit and seeing their reaction when on the edge, at the very moment where rage meets excitement and everything turns into challenge, the surviving kind. Or maybe because Bucharest does not pretend to be something else, people here do not pretend to be polite, that ‘Petit Paris’ calling thankfully belongs to the past, while this city is nothing more or less but itself, chaotic traffic and tasty pastry included.

Would I leave this city and settle elsewhere? Nay. At least not before it turns into a cheezy, Prague - like, comme il faut sort of place.

My Stats
As bad as I get

Alexandru Dumitru

Born in: Bucharest Born: 1977 Religion: Religion sucks
Hobbies: Hiking, cycling, traveling to remote places
Favourite trip: Afghanistan Favourite movie: Alfred Hitchcock’s “The Trouble with Harry”
Favourite book: Jason Elliot’s “An Unexpected Light” Favourite quote: “Happiness is about a night train and a total stranger to talk to.” Favourite colour: Lapis lazuli blue

Music I like
In heavy rotation
Ciocârlia, Phoenix
Pe deal pe la Cornățel, Maria Tănase
Nicorești’s Gypsy tunes
Old ‘lăutar’ music (almost extinct)

My Photo Albums
Mirror, mirror
Bucharest houses
Facades
Deep contrasts
My Other Sites
Das Über-Ich
www.notrails.info
www.suhard.com

Good people
Folks I appreciate
As they themselves have called it, a blog about the city we all love to hate. Not in Turkish.
bukresh.blogspot.com

Something new (well, almost) every day, and all of it from this city, either bland grey or pinky cute.
bucharestdailyphoto.com

What, when and why the hell it all happens. Crude info and plenty of good reviews. Blast it, in Romanian only.
metropotam.ro

...and a piece of notice
Shoot!
This website reflects my opinion on Bucharest, its inhabitants (including my dear self) and places to see or various venues around here. It does not mean to be a complete presentation or an official, professional one. Just like anyone else, I tend to like, be indifferent to, dislike or plain hate things according to my own preferences and perception of the world. Comments on individual pages have been disabled as I do not intend to create blog-like debates or open discussions, but rather to show my take on places or experiences and, when all is said and done, invite to own reflection. If you want to drop me a line, feel free to e-mail me.