Absinterie Sixtina (click for more on metropotam.ro)

Everything is organized according to the motto “Liberté, Egalité, Absinthé” which is also printed on the menus. Beside Absinth (or different versions of the Green Fairy) you can have a wide range of alcoholic drinks, at a pretty acceptable price …let’s say around 3-4$ (of course, a bottle of wine costs more).

The balcony

Good news is that during the weekend Absintherie Sixtina is open from 4 pm until the last client leaves

“I feel this album’s very womanly – like you’re lying next to your lover in bed whispering this in their ear.”

Some music is intended to paint a romantic scene – a candlelit dinner, a walk along a moonlit beach. Quiet Nights – Diana Krall’s twelfth album – ain’t about that. Using Brazil as a musical point of reference, the award–winning pianist and singer is not suggesting a night out; she means to stay in.

She will be playing a live concert on 22 of November 2009 in Bucharest, at Sala Palatului, and you can find tickets here.

       Here’s a bit of what she has to say: ” I spent my first weekend in Bucharest after two weeks in Romania, and I have to say it was quite nice. It seems that, much like NYC and Barcelona, all the city folk head out of town on the weekends (either to the beach or the mountains) so it was pretty quiet here. No construction next door in the mornings, and no gypsy ladies calling for scrap metal. Well, not on Sunday anyway…”

       You can read the rest and take a look at some pics during a summer in Bucharest on her blog!

       For an American traveling alone to Europe for the first time, it was quite a scary experience especially when you don’t speak the language nor understand the culture so well. It was a pleasant surprise to find such a nice people in Bucharest and other parts of Romania. They will try to talk to me even though I didn’t speak the language and they didn’t speak English or Spanish. Many people in the country does speak either language, and they are very nice.

        Even though I am not a night person I really enjoy walking in the streets and also visiting the different museums. I really enjoy the Old Village museum that shows many different kind of buildings from all around Romania. Also the park with all the heads ( Herastrau ParK) was interesting since I haven’t seen one like that before. It was a good experience being there and I hope to go back someday.

       Also, on 15th of May in Control Club there’s going to be a live Handsome Furs ( meaning Dan Boeckner -Wolf Parade and Alexei Perry) concert. Check them out on their myspace.

       On the other hand, if you’re a hiphop fan who’s coming to town this weekend and you’re interested in listening to some romanian hiphop, Bucharest Weekend Buddy – Andrada will be happy to take you to Nimeni Altu’s concert, in El Grande Comandante.

       So, we have the concerts for this weekend and we’re waiting for the main star to appear, and yes, that is you

       Update1: Unfortunately Depeche Mode concert might get got canceled due to David Gahan’s health condition. Stay tuned for more info!

       Update2: However, on 15th of May there’s gonna be a nice Drum&Bass Fever in Fabrica Club, and among guests are invited: Spor, Chris Renegade, John B and Dub FX. This last guy at least is really amazing. Watch this video!

       I think my top 5 experiences where the following:
- Jazz Cafe at night
- Good food and restaurants
- Concerts on the summer weekends
- Fun night clubs
- Medieval ruins and Parks
I especially enjoyed jazz concerts in Green Hours and the atmosphere of night clubs!
Last summer I came back for a few days and I met with all my friend, and I’m planning to return when I get the chance!

       Anyway, what we can say for sure about People’s Palace is that it was built by Communist Party leader, Nicolae Ceausescu, and it’s the second largest administrative building in the world after the Pentagon. It took 20,000 workers and 700 architects to build. The palace boasts 12 stories, 1,100 rooms, a 328-ft-long lobby and four underground levels, including an enormous nuclear bunker.

       Whether you come here to have a coffee in the morning or for a late beer, you will usually find her art students, young aspiring actors, groovy students and open-minded intellectuals. It’s the best place in Bucharest to have a philosophical conversation over a cold beer.
You can see more on their website: http://www.green-hours.ro/

       I’m really not sure about it’s name, I can only guess right, and it knows me too much: not that well, me neither, just so that we’ve reached a point where we became indifferent to one another. Bucharest and me have no clue as to how to spark some small talk any conversation, we avoid each other as much as possible: I, for one, am choosing a path to some place I need to be and I don’t stray away if I don’t have to. We learned to live with each other. after I could go out past my block, we started collecting common stories, remember whens and directions.

       Make a right, the street that runs along this one is Maria Rosetti, for instance.

       With due hesitation, we have occasional conversations, I speak on my blog, it reads over my shoulder. I cannot live in Bucharest, any more than it can live within me, we can only coexist. I’m pretty discontent with Bucharest, there’s stuff I don’t like, but this is so often stated that it has become cliché.

       I get that this class mate approach to Bucharest is shared by many, but since everyone has particular stories and remembering, here are some places I would like to make public:

       - A bench from “Icon’s Park” because that’s where I sat down to write this post. I don’t know if I’ll be able to publish this from the park, if not, there are enough access points in the central area of Bucharest.

       - The Palace of Parliament, formerly the House of the People because there used to be something different in that setting. I don’t like the fact that it had a lot of sweat turned out to be just this and I’m annoyed by the fact that history has been erased so well. Horse drawn trams used to end lines there. People used to stroll around before cars and malls were invented. A whole neighborhood is now only accessible to those curious about Bucharest history and aficionados. Through chance, I’ve overheard.

        -A street I’ve got lost on because I have no clue on how to reach it.There’s a dead end called Margaret Street that could very well stand in, because it’s able to turn time into a mere conventional unit. When i go past, I can only tell the time by looking at the watch, or by the fact it’s dawn.

       I’m not sure when we got to know each other to this extent. Surely, some places I’ve missed:

       - The courtyard of the local mental illness institution

       - A place that I want to keep searching forever”

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