What I love about walking is that it can happen even if it isn't planned. It happens so many times when we leave home with a chore that ultimately doesn't get solved but trying to solve it pushes us to go for a walk or even more.
The nice thing is that often we don't even realize we've walked until after we get home. We walked to different places and saw many things, we did a lot of steps and it was good for our health.
I mean we walked!
Something similar happened to me yesterday. I left home to visit an exhibition, recommended by a friend, about a historical character I like a lot: Queen Maria of Romania.
The exhibition is hosted by the Village Museum in Bucharest, located in the city's green area, not far from where I live.
The Village Museum is located on Kiseleff Road, which Pavel Kiselyov created.
The road was created in 1832 by Pavel Kiselyov, the commander of the Russian occupation troops in Wallachia and Moldavia. The name was converted from Kiselyov to Kiseleff, using the French transliteration of Russian names at the time.
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We came by bus to the museum and had a nasty surprise. The exhibition we wanted to visit was open since Wednesday, an atypical program we didn't expect.
After being upset about this unexpected miss, we took the bright side of the occasion and decided to go for a walk, both on Kiseleff Road and in the nearby park, which borders a long part of this road.
Kiseleff Road
This avenue is a kind of Avenue des Champs-Élysées of Paris, of course much smaller and less important, keeping the proportions between France and Romania. The similarities are an Arc de Triomphe and military parades are held on this avenue on National Day, just like in France.
Victory Square (Piața Victoriei) and Free Press Square (Piața Presei Libere) stand at its two extreme points. The street has numerous museums, parks (Kiseleff Park and Herăstrău Park), grand residences, and the Arcul de Triumf along it between those end points.
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Also here, almost an integral part of the Village Museum, is Elisabeta Palace, the current residence of the former royal family of Romania.
One of the entrances to the large park, the largest in Bucharest, is in front of the Arc de Triomphe, so the walk continues to this monument that copies the one in Paris.
The Village Museum occupies this part of the park.
With every step, we get closer to the Arc de Triomphe...
The entrance to the park and as you can see from here the monument as mentioned earlier.
King Mihai I Park (former Herastrau Park)
An unplanned walk through the city's flagship park followed.
It's also my favorite park, I'm lucky to live relatively close and go there often.
Trees look strange in this snowless winter.
The Village Museum continues to be close to us.
Leaving behind the Arc de Triomphe we reach the central area of the park.
Here I saw a statue that has a special history for me. 55 years ago this "sleeping muse" was placed in another park, close to the school where I was studying. Most of the time when we left school, my classmates and I would gather around the statue, that was our meeting place.
The huge park is almost deserted. I've never seen it like this before.
In the distance, you can see a massive office building. On that side is the main entrance to the park.
I chose to leave the park there and end the walk there. There is a metro station nearby...
A string of statues representing women wearing national costumes and holding ceramic pots on their heads form a sort of column at the entrance of the park.
I can't remember whether these statues were placed there before or after 1989 when Romania changed its ideology from communist to capitalist.
From the looks of them, they seem to be from the old regime.
Only a few steps left to the square in front of the park.
The statue in front of the park is of former French president Charles de Gaulle.
The transition from nature to asphalt and cars is sudden. The walk no longer has any charm.
Once again we took a walk without it being scheduled. If initially I was annoyed that I missed the exhibition dedicated to Queen Maria of Romania, then, slowly, the walkthrough of King Michael I Park became more and more pleasant.
Queen Maria was the grandmother of King Michael I, so I can say that I was in the family!
I always start with photos when I want to write a blog. Photos remind me of places, events, and feelings that turn into words...
Since we all love photography, let’s explore the captivating details captured in these photos.!
A wise saying goes that a photograph is worth a thousand words, but I don't think so.
It depends on the viewer.
Make a point of looking around and up and see what you can find to get shots of that otherwise you may miss.
This is one of the recommendations made by @tattoodjay for those who prefer walking and are used to sharing impressions and photos in his community, Wednesday Walk, every Wednesday, like this one today.
