Bucharest - the People's Palace, Kids, and Dogs

 Ceausescu - dictator from 70's until 89 - built the "People's Palace" - actually more of a monument to himself.  Now the parliament building.  The second largest building in the world, after the Pentagon.  Largest civilian building.  Heaviest building (lots of marble, I guess) - though we're not sure how they weighed it.
This is the South side.

 The East side, where Mr. C gave his speeches - including the infamous last speech where he couldn't understand that a protest was going on.  Within a few days, his government was down, he had been tried and found guilty of stuff, and was executed.  Immediately thereafter, the death penalty was abolished.
His style of government, personal style, and architectural style were heavily influenced by North Korea which he visited frequently.  Romanians should be happy that they offed him when they did instead of allowing the North Korean style to persist.
Pictures don't do justice to just how big this sucker is ( ran around it and took 42 minutes - OK, no nasty comments about how fast I run).
C relocated 40,000 people, destroyed much of the historic center of the city, and built an artificial hill to erect the building on.  In all the splendor and beauty of North Korean style architecture.

 This is a park across from the "White Palace".  Not much action now, but last night at dusk it was mobbed by kids in the playground and dogs playing in the park around it (like 4-5 football size park).
All the rumors of dogs in Romania have some basis - there are lots.  Some seem to be free living, but lots that are clearly attached to someone, if not leashed.  Folks in the park were actually "scooping their poops" - though the percentage success didn't seem excessively high.
I had read about the free living dogs learning that the safe way to cross the street was to wait, then cross with a group of humans, and had a chance to see that last night - then trot happily off in a different direction.  Smart little beasties.
There's a canal that had a cute Rottweiler walking in the shallows, seemed to enjoy the escape from the heat, though it was clear how he was going to get out since it was lined with concrete vertical walls.  He seemed to be with a human - neither of with seemed too concerned.

One last view of the monstrosity.  Given that it is the second largest building in the world, please recall that the population of Romania is roughly 4 times that of Colorado, much smaller than places like California, and with a per capita income of about 1/4 that of the US.  Seems Mr C might have found better ways to spend the country's money.
There's a bike path around the building - largely used for car parking.